Alida Hooper, David Hooper (twice) and Jack Lamp won nearest the pins on the par 3s.

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1 Fore! Here we are at the end of March, approaching mid-season. The game at Wild Coast was one that was played in wind, as is usual at the Wild Coast Sun course. A strong south westerly wind blew all day and made club selection and alignment tough on an already difficult course. The scores, as can be seen, were lower than usual. Jose DaSilva won on 34 points counting out Julio Leite into second place. Third placed Jack Lamp counted out Joey Salvador into fourth place, both shooting 31 points. Alida Hooper, David Hooper (twice) and Jack Lamp won nearest the pins on the par 3s. The only 2 club recorded was Renzo Avellini. Manny Fernandes was nearest in two on the second hole. Michael Meugens and Alida Hooper took the longest drives on the third hole. I must be losing my touch. The Better-ball competition was won by Renzo and Julio on 41 points. Second place went to Manuel Samapio and Jose da Silva on 40 points. And the chicken goes to: Michael Meugens? No! The Chicken goes to Carlos Teixeira. We had a very nervous and unhappy Michael Meugens sitting at prize giving and when the announcement for the chicken award was made, he was already up and half way to the table to collect it. Then only other time I ve seen someone happier was when Cliffy won the longest drive. (Hahaha) A lot of competition out there, especially in the Michael Meugens Cliffy van Dreuten four-ball with a lot of bantering going on all day.

2 Good to see players fighting it out, out there. Keep it up. Unfortunately we didn t have a Helen Joey type fight at prize giving, so we only collected R310 in fines. And yes, Fernando did put in his R10, once home. He paid so many fines that he ran out of money! Congratulations to all the above winners. We thank our sponsors on the day: Carlos Teixeira, Manny Fernandes, Ricardo Ferreira, Julio Leite and Jack Lamp. As always, without you these golf days are empty! Our next game is at Port Shepstone. Tee off time is at 7:30am with all off the first tee. 15 April 2017 (Third Saturday) Members pay R230 and visitors pay R260. Please allow an hour and 30 minutes from Durban to get there. We again plead for players to get to the course early. At Wild Coast the Committee had to again wait for players that arrived 10 minutes before the first tee off time. Allow for delays along the way. Get to the course 30 minutes before the first tee off time. The day will come when late players will arrive to find everyone has teed off and then they will have to pay the course the full green fees. Remember, this also messes with our groups and tee off times, as we then have to shift players around to accommodate the resultant two-balls. Results and updates are on the website: Please visit the website to see details about upcoming games and for the contact number for the pro-shop at the course, for those that want to book carts.

3 Please book early to secure your place. Carts are NOT included. Please book these direct with the course. Tel: See you there. Hit it long and hit it straight. Jack Lamp Ps. Jack Lamp has finally, after 33 or so LOOOONNNNNNGGGGGG years, got. a Hole-in-one. Yeeehah! Royal Durban. Hole no.2. I was hitting the ball okay the first 10 holes. Ball strike was a bit off and timing was slightly out, but I managed to limp around in 5 over 41 for the first 9 holes. Bogied hole 10. Then I got to the second hole. The pin was about 6 metres on, just over the right side front bunker in terms of line. The choice: Pitching wedge or 9 iron. I decided to go with a nice 9 iron and the plan was to hit it to the middle of the green, rather than force a wedge. As I made contact, my first comment to Alvin, my playing partner, was: That is the best iron shot I ve hit today. The hole never even crossed my mind. I was just happy that I had finally hit a good shot with everything feeling right. The ball pitched about 3,5 metres from the hole and rolled slowly towards it. Even at this point, I ve seen so many balls roll towards the hole and not go in, that I just thought: Oh well, at least I m on the green and pretty close.

4 The next thing the ball disappeared. I was still sceptical and hoping that the ball had not settled behind the flag stick or something. When the guys ahead of us on the tee box started jumping, that was when I realized it was in the hole for real. My memories go back to Jeremy Das Neves on the fourth hole at Simbithi, Fernando Sampaio on the fourth hole at Windsor Park, Shane Balcomb on the then eleventh hole (now second hole) at Royal Durban and Dylan from Mulligan Mules, whom I played with in January this year. All of whom were in my four-ball and all of whom I witnessed getting hole-in-ones. Now I ve joined the league of Hole-in-oners! Finally! Do I get part of the hole-in-one money from Galitos because I was wearing the Galitos cap? Fernando says no! Damn! Pss. Demi played in the Nomads SA Girls Rose Bowl Championship 2017 at Royal Durban this past Monday and Tuesday. The top amateur girls all played in their respective divisions. The no.1 South African amateur also played and the girls came from all over South Africa to play in this event. There were at least 12 club champions in attendance. The format was strokeplay you play till the ball is in the hole. No points. A division: handicaps +2 to 9. B division: handicaps 10 to 18 C division: handicaps 19 and up Demi played in the silver (B) division off a 14 handicap. The first two rounds were played on Monday in that gale force wind. To enlighten you as to how the girls battled, the lowest (best) score in the A division after two rounds was 9 over par. The leading score in the B-division was a Royal Durban girl, Elham Shaik, 10 handicap, who was 33 over after the two rounds. Charlize Coetzer (12 handicap), Royal Durban, (She has played Galitos with us before) was second on 39 over. Demi

5 was lying tied for seventh on 46 over. Tuesday saw Elham shoot 22 over and Charlize shoot 21 over. Demi shot 13 over and made up 9 shots on Elham, finishing 4 shots behind her. Demi passed Charlize, beating her by one shot. Demi finished in second place in the Silver (B) division. Well done girl. Psss. Jonathan Broomhead, Galitos junior member, is the Durban Country Club Champion. He shot 73 at DCC and 69 at Beachwood two weeks ago. Well done. See pictures on the website.