This weekend’s Events

Tomorrow it is the semi final of the women’s silver division of the club championships while the rest of the women’s Saturday Club will be playing ISTAS. The men’s club championship quarter finals will be played on Sunday. Best of luck to all competitors.

Also this weekend all members who play a round will have the opportunity to win a 2-for-1 voucher for the film Tommy’s Honour – see below.

Tommy’s Honour

As advertised in last week’s Friday Flash, the film Tommy’s Honour is coming to our cinemas on 28^th September. It tells the story of Old Tom Morris and his son Tommy, who between them transformed the game of golf in the mid 1800s with 8 British Open titles between them. We have negotiated a number of 2-for-1 passes for this film from its promoters, 10 of which we will make available for members to win this weekend. If you are interested in winning one of these, all you need to do is select Tommy’s Honour when you print out your score card which will enter you into the draw for them. With many members playing in the club championships this weekend we didn’t think it appropriate to issue them on the basis of most stablefords or best nett etc, and instead will simply do a random draw of everyone who enters the draw via their score card on either Saturday or Sunday. To be in this draw though, you must select Tommy’s Honour when printing out your score card.

We will also make 5 of the passes available for the Tuesday women’s and Wednesday men’s clubs to use next week as part of their competitions.

For those who missed it last week, click here to see the trailer for the film.

Tommy's Honour

Fire Safety

It became apparent during the upgrade of the men’s bathroom (although it isn’t quite finished yet) that not everyone was fully familiar with the fire exit routes for the club house. Although the emergency exits for the club house lounge area are clearly marked and obvious, being the 2 external doors plus the stairwell down to the foyer, the exits from the bathrooms if the foyer is on fire may not have been so clear. For those not aware, the exit from the men’s bathroom and changing area is from the side door of the changing room next to the lockers. This door is not locked but is only able to be opened from the inside. We have replaced this door with a new one as part of the bathroom upgrade. The exit from the women’s bathroom is via the door into the men’s bathroom from where women can exit into the men’s changing room and through the fire exit door there. If anyone is unsure of these routes please let the shop staff know so that they can show you. For women members, Sara will be happy to arrange a demonstration tomorrow and on Tuesday.

Wednesday Club

Wednesday Club Results for 20 September:

We welcomed back Ian Livingstone, Mike Batley and Chris Prowse, who re-joined us after varying absences, and also showed our appreciation to Jan Sharp for the donation of some of his prize winning golf balls. It was a pleasantly warm, sunny afternoon with 8 nine holers following the field of 32 (16 pairs) who competed for the Oteranga Trophy,(drawn pairs aggregate par) played in conjunction with the regular individual par competition. The excellent conditions were very much appreciated and enjoyed with 13 players playing to their handicaps or better. Jan Sharp had an outstanding round, scoring 73 off the stick, combining with his partner, Keith Gaskin, for an aggregate par score of "plus 3" to win the Oteranga Trophy from Tim Allison and Chris Pearce on "+2", followed by the team of Gerd Warnke and Fergus McLean on "-1".

In the individual competition Jan and Alex Lim (who incidentally was playing in the same four as Jan and scored 80 off his 14 handicap) both finished with scores of "+4" with Alex taking first place on countback. All those with scores of "all Square" or better won a golf ball, as did Tim Brosnahan for winning the "Nearest the Pin" on the 4th hole and another one for sinking his putt for a two. Other twos were scored by Alex (6th), Satish Chandra (4th) and Luke Underwood (6th), whilst Kevin Corrin earned the prize for perseverance. It was obviously Alex's lucky day, drawing first prize in the weekly raffle (26), with Mike Batley (29) and Martin Leung (8) winning the other two prizes.

New Members

The club is pleased to welcome the following new members who have joined recently:

Peter Loeffen, Mark Ware, Heather Ware, Matthew Pankhurst, Bright Zhang, Sebastian Doelle, Peter Duncan, Aaron McKenzie

We look forward to seeing you out on the course – don’t hesitate to ring or email the shop if you would like the club to arrange playing partners for you.

Toro Challenge

Parkland Products in association with New Zealand Golf have announced the return of the Toro Mower Challenge. Starting Monday 25 September and running for 10 weeks to Sunday 3 December, members of NZ Golf affiliated clubs have the opportunity each week to win a new revolutionary Toro “SmartStow” Wide-Cut Self-Propelled Mower valued at almost $1000. The format will split players into 3 divisions - 8 and under, 8.1-18, and 18.1 and over – and each week the player with the best stableford score across NZ in each division will go into the weekly draw for the Toro mower.

Harcourts Twilight

We will be running Twilight golf again this summer, sponsored by Harcourts, beginning on Thursday 5^th October. It’s a great opportunity to utilise the extra daylight hours to play 9 holes of social golf with a competitive but fun edge, followed by a barbecue back in the club house, all for only $15. Non members are also welcome, for whom the cost is $20. Start blocking out Thursday evenings from 5^th October now, and let your non member friends also know.

NZIS Tournament

The NZ Institute of Sport students will again be holding an ambrose tournament this Spring as part of their course studies, on Friday 27^th October. As with previous years, the entry fee will be $25 for club members and $40 for non members. Lock this date into your diaries now, and start thinking about forming your teams.

Committee Feedback

The Committee held its monthly meeting last Monday and can report:

· With our financial year finishing at the end of this month, our finances are holding up well with our end year cash position likely to be similar to last year, although the final invoice for the men’s bathroom will still be owing.

· We have been increasing our promotional efforts, including 2 advertisements in recent editions of the Independent Herald, one of which was accompanied by some editorial about our 50^th anniversary, a Grab-One PnP special designed for redemption over the school holidays, and registration on NZ Golf’s Love Golf website, enabling us to promote monthly “Get-on-the-Green” offers. The Independent Herald intends to write another story about the club next month.

· We will start promoting soon this year’s City of Wellington tournament which is scheduled for Saturday 11 November.

· We intend to hold a major event of some sort next February/March to celebrate our 50^th anniversary. We are also giving members the opportunity to commemorate this milestone personally by donating $600, either individually or in conjunction with others, to produce anniversary bench seats the same as the one on the 12^th tee and the one currently outside the club house (but intended for the reinstated white tee on the 18^th) on which they can have their name engraved. If you would like to sponsor one of these, please let us know.

50^th Anniversary Feb/March 2018

Continuing the history of our club, as part of the build up to the 50^th anniversary of the current club:

The early 80s proved to be tough times financially for the club as falling membership and crippling interest rates (16%) stressed the viability of the club. Members rallied though via a combination of raffles, fundraising events, debentures, advance subscriptions, membership drives, etc. In addition, in 1986 the hillside land to the west of the course which was part of the original property was sold to the Te Kamaru Station, part of the Terawhiti Station. Despite the financial pressures, course development continued as did tree planting. In 1986 Bob Charles and Greg Turner played an exhibition match as part of NZ Cricket Captain Jeremy Coney’s benefit year. Sponsored by the Dominion to the tune of $10,000 on a winner take all basis, Bob Charles won with a score of 70 versus 74 for Greg Turner who unfortunately misread the distance to the 6^th green and overshot the far boundary, plus lost a ball on the 18^th. Bob was very impressed with the course, despite it being much more exposed and windier than it is now, saying that he had not realised there was such a delightful country course so near Wellington. Other participants in the event included cricketers Lance Cairns, Jeff Crowe and Glenn Turner, with spectators paying $7.50 to come and watch the action. The growing reputation of the course led to the North Island Championships being held at the club over Easter 1991 which were won by Stephen Scahill in a playoff with Grant Moorhead and Michael Campbell, still an amateur back then, coming in third. But the financial challenges were never far away, requiring more fund raising efforts in the 1990s.

Sponsor Speak

The fourth hole is a par 3 which offers some respite after the challenges of the third hole. It is sponsored by our headline sponsors Prodrive, who provide the very best in golfing equipment and apparel at their shop at 194 Thorndon Quay and a driving range at Silverstream. KGC members receive a 10% discount on purchases from their shop.

The first hole-in-ones scored at the club were on this hole, with this feat being achieved first by Tom Davis for the men in 1972 (which he repeated on the same hole some 23 years later) and for the women by Joanne Swan in 1976 (after whom the mixed foursomes Joanne Swan Memorial Trophy is named). Originally the stream that meanders across the third fairway and up the left hand side of the 5th also went across the front of the 4th green but with so many balls going into it off the tee, it was quickly decided to extend the original bridge that had been put across it so that the entire front of the green was culverted. This certainly resulted in speedier play but is probably also partly responsible for the boggy patches we get around there over winter.

Happy golfing, play safely,

Your KGC Committee