Hodson held his nerve to shoot rounds of 73 and 76 over the weekend to finish on 290 for his four rounds, seven strokes clear of Phil Campbell.

Campbell gained ground on Hodson thanks to a third round score of 71 on Saturday but fell out of the hunt with his final round of 80 the following day.

Scott Matheson shot the overall best round on Sunday, a 74, to secure third place (301).

Hodson was thrilled to put his name on the trophy for a fifth time.

“This win feels really good. Bathurst is my home club and to win it five times is pretty special,” he said.

“I love being a member here. It’s a really good golf course with a great bunch of blokes in the clubhouse.”

Winds averaging around 30km/h over the weekend – with gusts of over 70km/h recorded on Saturday – tortured golfers on the course.

However, Hodson’s experience with strong winds at The Australian Golf Club played a major role in his fifth title.

“The fourth round is always a tough day. The wind was still blowing, at least calmer than yesterday, but she still had her challenges out there,” he said.

“I had one birdie, which was on the last hole. Today was just about grinding it out and hanging in there. I played some consistent golf through the middle and just hung in there at the end.

“In the five years I’ve won, today and yesterday were the toughest conditions I’ve played in here. Coming from The Australian I had a bit of an advantage being able to play in conditions like this.

“They call it moving day on the third round, and I thought I had a really good day out there.”

Hodson’s win adds to his previous successes in 2010, 2011, 2014 and 2016.

Defending champion Ben Cummings finished the championships in fourth place with 303.

Ryan Sparke was the A grade nett winner (285), four clear of Bill Casey.

The other scratch titles at this year’s club championship went to Tim McKinnon (B grade) Sauro Gregori (B1 grade) and Alby Davis (C grade).