How good was that rain on Wednesday night! According to the green keepers’ rain gauge we received 14ml, our first rain for over a month, and being soft and steady night rain, should have soaked in to give our fairways a welcome refreshment.
Keith Gaskin Update
It is with much pleasure, and much gratitude to all those involved, that we can report that Keith is out of his coma and apparently in good spirits. We understand he is going to be fitted with a pacemaker today so the prognosis is looking good. Best wishes Keith for a full recovery and a return to the golf course.
This Weekend’s Events
Tomorrow is our final organised event of the year, the Closing Day tournament, which will begin with breakfast in the club house and followed by prize giving and presentation of trophies. The breakfast will be prepared by the Committee and served at 8am, along with champagne cocktails, prior to a 9am shotgun start of an Irish Foursomes teams event. In this format members play in teams of 4, and on holes 1-6 the team will score the best individual stableford score of the team members, on holes 7-12 they will score the best 2 stableford scores, and on holes 13-18 the best 3 stableford scores. We will have prizes for the best team results, plus also the best individual stableford scores, so there is lots to play for, and well as lots of fun to be had. The entry cost is $10 per person, which covers the breakfast and prizes, and teams will be drawn at random. However, we will allow players to form their own teams by paying an extra $5 per person which will be put towards the 2018 capital fund. We will also run a raffle, with the proceeds being split between Wellington Free Ambulance and the Westpac Rescue Helicopter, both of whom played a crucial part in stabilising Keith on Wednesday. If you haven’t already entered the event, please do so today by ringing or emailing the club, or by adding your name to the entry form on the downstairs notice board. Late entries will be accepted, but without guarantee as to the size of the team we will be able to fit you into.
Although Closing Day wraps up the year’s organised club events, our traditional summer events have already kicked off. Firstly, the men’s and women’s Summer Eclectics are now open, whereby members track the best score they have recorded for each hole during rounds played in weekends or on public holidays in December, January and February. Forms are on the downstairs notice board to enable you to do this, so start recording those birdies or other good scores, and you will be surprised as to how good a player you could be by totaling your best scores for each hole over the summer period.
Also now open is the Miners Arms Bowl pairs event for men. This requires pairs to play a 4BBB stableford round in each of December, January and February with the winning team being the one with the lowest aggregate total of the 3 rounds. Arrange your own partners, and note that rounds need to be nominated before commencement and must be played in the company of at least one other member.
Christmas Trees
The elves have done their bit and we now have a selection of Christmas Trees for sale at $20 each. They are available for collection from under the club house balcony, and each of them is looking for a good home and wanting to be adorned in decorations.
PnP Christmas Functions
Our Pitch and Putt course is proving a popular choice for workplace Christmas functions this year. Amongst those enjoying the splendour of the South Makara Valley and the friendliness of our club rooms this week have been Beef & Lamb NZ Ltd on Wednesday, Ministry of Primary Industries yesterday, and KiwiRail today. The photo below is of the Beef & Lamb group, who clearly look like they were having a good time, and MPI send us these thank you wishes today:
“A quick email to say a very big ‘thank you’ for putting on such a great event for us yesterday! Thank you for accommodating all of our dietary requirements, and other needs. I’ve had great feedback about the food, in particular the delicious salads, vege patties and meat patties. Everyone enjoyed the golf and the sunshine. We are very sorry to hear of the emergencies you’ve dealt with in the past couple of days. You did amazingly all things considered! Sending positive thoughts your way.”
Photo: David Sercombe
Interclub
The first round of interclub is only 6 weeks away, on 27 January. If you haven’t already advised the club of your interest in participating, please do so by emailing the club.
Recent Results
KGC’s Top Dog for 2018 is a bordercolLee called Geoff. But unlike NZ’s Bird of the Year, no vote was required, with Geoff Lee being the only Monthly Medal winner to return a net score less than 70 in last Saturday’s playoff. Congratulations Geoff, well won.
Also deserving the club’s congratulations is Jane Campbell who won the Pam Bryant Tray for Wellington women’s 9 hole vets this year – congratulations Jane.
Farewell Fraser
We don’t normally use the Friday Flash as a vehicle for farewelling members leaving the club but this week Fraser Lyons deserves one. Fraser and Wendy (who used to do our catering) have shifted up to Levin and Fraser popped into the clubhouse yesterday to drop off his keys and to wish us well. Having lived just down and across the road from the club for the past few years, Fraser has regularly been popping over after work to do maintenance around the club house, such as painting windows and weed eating around the car park, plus has been on call to check out after hours disturbances. Best wishes Fraser, thanks for all your voluntary contributions over the past few years.
Harcourts Twilight Thursday 14th December
Overnight rain, clearing to a gentle southerly and calm fine weather - another perfect night for Twilight golf this week. A good turnout of 21 golfers competing for the prize money and 23 for the bbq. Our winner this week was Graeme Couper a new member whose golf has improved every week and his best score yet with 24 points ($20); second Jo Hurst on 21 points ($15); and joint third Nicola Lowe and John Sarfati on 20 points ($10); and final placings to Gail Kirkland, Doug Calhoun and Tim Brosnahan on 19 points ($5). The consolation prize went to Richard Reith. We had two first time players this week - Nicola Lowe and Richard Juschek who both received our $5 voucher. Special thanks to Sue Murray for preparing dinner at short notice while Sara and Tiffany were on leave, and everyone who helped with the bbq.
All members, friends and visitors are very welcome to join us for Twilight Golf on Thursday night and first time players will get a $5 voucher. It is our last week before the Christmas festivities next week, and we hope to have a Christmas theme dinner to enjoy. Tee off is between 4.30pm and 5.30pm, followed by a bbq dinner and prize giving. Wayne and Tim
Wednesday Club
Following some brief excitement “Rain!!!” the day soon blossomed into near perfect conditions for the 33 Wednesday Clubers who responded with great scores recorded in the main. Two thirds of the field scoring Par or better – great play. The 5 Nine Holers were very happy that the rain had stopped by the time they Teed Off
Winner of the Par competition by count back was Pete McMillen from Graeme Crocker both scoring +8. Whilst Pete is an infrequent attendee unfortunately, he’s managed to cover both ends of the scale with consecutive appearances from “Bunny” to “Winner”… an interesting feat!
Awards were made down to +3 with particular note that Keith Gaskin (our Foundation & Life Member) returned yet another score under his age – well done Keith.
Sheer persistence was duly rewarded for David Ainsworth and Nearest the Sponsors Pin (Prodrive) on the 4th was claimed by Mike Suggate following his recent trip through Africa – he also sank the putt for his “Two” and Chris Pearce scored the only other “Two” on the 13th.
The weekly raffle went to No 1 held by David Norton, second No 31 held by Peter Kennedy and third No 36 Pat Johnson.
Chris Pearce made presentations to those who were not able to receive their 2016/17 Wednesday Club Trophies last week, David Ainsworth (Motor Distributors Cup) & Luke Underwood (overall Stableford Trophy) – well done guys.
He also reminded that the Guess how much is in the “Fine” receptacle for “Missing the Putt on Nearest the Pin 4th Hole” will be opened next week 20 Dec – not sure how long it’s be running, some 5 or 6 years most likely - but it’s heavy!!!
See you all next week – if you don’t make it here’s wishing you a “Great Christmas”. Cheers, DS
Sponsor Speak
The sixteenth hole is another one of our risk/reward holes that makes our course so strategically challenging compared to others. Many of our members choose to lay their tee shot up on the left (“Old Man's Corner”), short of the creek. For the rest of us, it's about hitting straight. The more left you are, the longer the tee shot needs to be to stay dry. It is sponsored by Karori New World, your one stop shop for all your grocery requirements, handily situated in the Karori Mall.
Happy golfing, play safely, Your KGC Committee