Easthampstead Golf Club News. May 2016

Transcription

1 News The Captain, Dean Pullen With the advent of April the new golfing season officially begins, and now finally we are getting weather more conducive to playing golf than we have had had for most of this year. Since the last newsletter we ve had the Away Weekend, see below, and matches against the Ladies (won 7-3), and the Alpha Romeo against Downshire GC, who we trounced by a margin of Well done to those who took part in these momentous victories. Congratulations to all our competition winners and a warm welcome to our new members and hope you enjoy being members of Easthampstead GC. You may notice I ve left out the GB Ace result as it s still too painful to talk about. However, well done to Roger Newport & Simon Stephens who won the day, but not so well done to he who shall remain nameless for his performance on the day. The Easter Bunny was a great success thanks to you all for playing, but more importantly for May 2016 supporting this year s charity by purchasing raffle tickets. Dean Away Weekend (aka Keep the Change Weekend) Congratulations to Simon Lennon who followed in his sons footsteps and kept the Reg Dawkins trophy in the family for another year. Simon was followed by James Gibbs and Kevin King who were 2 nd and 3 rd respectively, Our thanks to Dean Farrer for organising yet another excellent weekend, next year its St Pierre, signup sheet now on the Board. The Away Weekend report below explains why future away weekends will also be known as Keep the Change weekends! Membership Steve Eddy (Membership Secretary) is pleased to welcome David Peterken, Paul Sweetman, Stuart Snelling, David Wright, Richard Lake, Nathan Lake, Mark Sweetman, Blaise Murphy, Shaun Wheatley, Alan Houghton. Please take the opportunity to welcome our New Members. Junior success Congratulations to Elise Hunt for her recent win at the 2016 BB&O Girls Championship which was held on April 4 th at The GC. Elise won the Juniors Stableford Competition with 36 points.

2 Easter Bunny Congratulations to Jack Davis for a very impressive 47 points to win this event. Congrats also to these 4 guys for playing in very unconventional golf attire. If you don t recognise them it s Dean Farrer, Richard Calcutt, Kirrill Bates and Simon Harrison. Skittles Evening, 13th May Pinewood Leisure Centre, 7.00pm for 7.30pm start. Cost 17 per person to be paid a week beforehand with choice of menu. Couples of course welcome. Menu - Fish and Chips or Shepherd s Pie. If you would like to come, please contact John Ibbotson asap. Prize Giving This will be on June 23 rd starting at 8pm; list of prize winners to be published shortly. If you're on the list you can choose from shop, tour, away weekend, or 2017 subscription voucher. Competition News We have had some very good turn outs for our competitions and congratulations to all. Winners since last newsletter: March mid week Seniors, Les Smith Away weekend, Simon Lennon Jock Cockburn, Mike Frawley March medal, Jamie Sheehan Easter Bunny, Jack Davis April mid week medal, Steve Cross April mid week Seniors, Les Smith April medal, John Carpmail Founders Pairs, Mike Frawley & Simon Stephens Alpha Romeo (Individual), Dean Pullen Alastair Manson, Darren Joyce Our congratulations to all. Snippets from the Club House We have to mention a valiant effort to beat JM s unofficial record of 18 strokes on the 9 th with a 15 on the par 4 12 th in the mid week April medal; better luck next time DI. You should always mark your ball. This should prevent you playing the wrong ball and costing you a competition win, silverware, and name on The Board - just ask JP! There have been 2 outstanding performances since the last newsletter. Firstly Les Smith has reduced his handicap from 28 to 21 in just 7 weeks; and John Carpmail recorded a nett 61 (gross 76) in the April Medal. Well done both. I ve also been asked (petitioned surely - Ed?) not to mention EL s eagle on the par 4 5 th during the Seniors game v Test Valley, so I won t. Whisky Tasting & Supper Our thanks to Dave Smith for organising a very enjoyable and convivial evening.

3 Diary Dates May 12th, New members evening May 13 th, Skittles evening June 14th, Seniors Open June 22nd, Away Day at Ascot GC June 23rd, Prize giving from 8pm July 2nd, EGC Open August 13th, Captains Day Keep an eye out for signup sheets on the Board or on-line. Alpha Romeo 2016 The Alpha Romeo trophy played for annually against Downshire GC was once again retained and continues to reside in the EGC trophy cabinet. The winning team is pictured below. Thank you to all those have represented the club and given their all this year. Here s to success in the remaining externals. Gary would like to hear from any member interested in playing; you can speak to Kirrill, Dean, or contact Gary at garylopez@ntlworld.com. Stroke Index means... Stroke index 1 is the most difficult hole yes? No is the answer following Jon Morley s analysis of all our individual results over the last year. Unsurprisingly the 11 th is shown as the most difficult and the back 9 plays easier than the front nine which begs the question about our pre match warm up routines. The table below shows for each hole those playing easier than SI (red); same (yellow) or worse (black) and makes for some interesting reading. External Competition Gary Lopez (external organiser) reports that this seasons external competitions are well and truly underway and we've have had mixed fortunes. We're still in the Siemens, Claphams, Hawtree, 2 teams in the NAPGC after good 1 st round results, and the Hillman team went into the 2nd round after a good win against the Royal Household. The Mail on Sunday team lost away in the 4 th round against a very good Castle Royal side, Downshire came out on top 2-1 against us in the NAPGC matchplay competition and the Hawtree team lost to Queens Park. Seniors Season Ian Nicholson (seniors organiser) reports EGC drew the first against Farnham Park away (3-3); then beat Test Valley at home (4½-1½) before losing the return game (2-4). Club Clothing Club clothing can now be ordered on line, check out the pictures of what s on offer.

4 Knock Outs 2016 The draw has taken place and you will be DQ'd if you fail to complete your match by the due date. No Shows, Late Arriving & Walk Offs This is beginning to become an increasing issue and you are reminded that: If you are unable to play after the tee times have been published then you MUST contact the organiser. Details are on the start sheet, a 2 match ban awaits those who don't Likewise you must book in with the organisers (with your green fee receipt) at least 30 minutes before your tee time, otherwise it s a 2 stroke penalty! This applies to Starters also! Failure to complete a round without good reason will result in a 2 match ban. No shows and walk offs (without good reason) show a lack of respect to those who organise and your playing partners. Should you receive such penalties more than once the Club may refer you to the Complaints & Disciplinary sub-committee who could impose further sanctions appropriate to the offence. Slow Play Equally annoying is slow play. We can all lose ground due to a lost ball but please keep an eye on the group behind and call them up or through, if you can. If you re starting to lose ground then walk a tad faster and be ready when it s your turn, eg glove should be on if you need it and the chosen club already in your hand. In summary keep up with the group in front and be ready to play when it s your turn and please remember the 4 th and 7 th are call up holes! Web Pages Hopefully you will have noticed that over the last few months we have gradually improved the information on our web pages. The front page now shows a photo of the winning Alpha Romeo team and will be refreshed regularly. Additionally the news items now roll up the page and are up to date. In the Members area the Members list can be searched; pre 2013 photos and newsletters have been archived; club clothing can be ordered online with photos of all available items; and the calendar is more informative with selection now possible by month and year. Particular thanks to Barry Shackleton who has made these changes and to BP, Ted Rogers, Steve Cross, and Dean Pullen for their contributions and ideas. A couple of other changes are on the way and we are open to suggestions to improve it further, just let one of the above know. Away Weekend at Forest of Arden In the full knowledge that Dean Farrer will have once again organised a magnificent away weekend, Friday 18 th March saw 36 of our intrepid golfers set off for a weekend of debauchery at the Marriott Forest of Arden, oh yes there was a little golf thrown in for good measure!! On Friday the challenge was to take on the Arden Course, used on the European Tour not too long ago, in cold, windy conditions. This proved a tough proposition for most with the top score on the day recorded by Simon Lennon with 33 points. Ian Bond recorded the low score of the day with 10 points, along with 96 Blobby

5 points. Conditions weren t much better on the Saturday, when on the Aylesford course, scoring did improve somewhat, with James Gibbs pipping Simon Lennon on countback with 38 points. There were nearest the pin prizes on both days and congratulations to those who won these, although how you got near to the pin on the 18th on the Arden course is still a mystery to me!! The Overall Winner of the weekend was Simon Lennon, with James Gibbs and Kevin King 2nd & 3rd respectively, well done to all of you. Unfortunately the Mr Blobby Award for the weekend went to Steve Lucas, who amassed so many points the calculator blew up before the total could be recorded! On Sunday we travelled down to Magnolia Park for the final round of the weekend, and the team competitions. Over the front 9 there was a 4/3/2 competition won by Gary Lopez, Rod Clay, Jon Martin & Jimmy Lennon with 51 points. The back 9 held a Texas Scramble which was again won by Gary Lopez, Rod Clay, Jon Martin & Jimmy Lennon with a score of A great weekend was had by all and well done to all those who won prizes. Obviously during the course of the weekend there were a few instances where things didn t quite go as planned, and to the embarrassment of those who underachieved in certain instances, here s a reminder that golf is not always as straightforward as we would like it to be. On Friday, at the first Par 5 on the Arden Course, Ronnie Turner fired an exceptional approach shot into the green, a double green as it happens, to leave himself what he thought was a certain tap in birdie. However when he got to the green he found that he had played to the wrong flag and was over 40 away from the intended hole, where he succeeded in three putting for his bogie. Saturday s Yellow Ball Competition There was confusion with regard to the rules of this competition on the Saturday; Jon Morley felt he didn t need to play the first hole as he was confident that he could handle the pressure of the yellow ball at the second hole without the need to play a shot beforehand. However his confidence was misplaced as he proceeded to lose the yellow ball with his opening shot of the day. There were others who thought it was a yellow tee competition. While George Friedman decided to tee off from the yellow tee on one hole, with the yellow ball, Steve Milne surpassed this by not only teeing off from the yellow tees, but also from outside the teeing ground. Richie Calcutt s Short Game Clinic Richie, known for his short game prowess, has decided to pass on his skills to other golfers who may be struggling with their short game. On Saturday at the 1st hole he was just short of the bunker on the left of the green in two. He then proceeded to play a perfectly chunked chip into said bunker. His instruction must have been perfect as Dean Farrer, from a similar position, executed the same shot to perfection within minutes of Richie s lesson.

6 On the second Richie then perfected the low skidding chip across the green into a pond. He then went over to the third tee where he executed a stunning flop shot from the tee into long grass. By then the ball decided it had taken enough punishment & was never seen again. His piece de resistance however was on the stroke index 1 13th hole, where having decided not to play the hole, he went to the bank left of the green close to a house where he decided to put on another stunning short game display. Trying to chip to his bag some five yards away, he played the most exquisite chip shot over the back fence of the house. We listened for the sound of breaking glass but were left disappointed. Richie will be announcing dates of future clinics in due course. Distance Control with the Club Captain On both the 9th & 11th holes on Saturday, your Captain displayed his consummate distance control skills. On the 9th having checked his GPS for the distance to the hazard on the left of the fairway, and then being told by the man in the halfway hut that the ditch on the 11th was 185 yards from the tee he managed to fly both shots into each on the full. Perfect. The Art To Playing Par 5 s with Dean Farrer On the first par 5, the 3rd, on Saturday, Dean provided the perfect lesson in how to play a par 5. Having just missed the small pond on the left of the fairway and left his ball up against a pile of branches. Having played his first shot left handed and then taken another two to get back in play, he left himself the perfect distance, over 300 yards, with which to hole his approach for par. Stunning. Keep It Under The Wind On the long Par 3 12th hole on Saturday, Kirrill Bates gave the perfect example of how to keep the ball under the wind, catching his iron shot just right to send it skidding along the ground, thus eliminating the wind, before it came to rest approximately halfway to the hole. And Finally!!!! The Generous to a Fault Award Name That Golfer This goes to John Ibbotson, who, when buying drinks at the bar, an unusual occurrence in itself, was told that the bill was 10.10, he then gave the barmaid 10 and told her to "Keep the Change". Priceless. Some of those on the Away Weekend will know who this is, but can you name the famous Easthampstead Golfer from this photo. (Answer in the next newsletter.)