Well, all our Christmas trees have been bought, our prize givings are over for the year, the last of the PnP Christmas outings was held yesterday, and we here at the golf club are looking forward to a relaxing festive season, and the opportunity for some social golf.
Holiday Hours and Activities
We are intending to have the club house open every day through to the end of January except for Christmas Day. The café wont be open on all these days, and because of the requirement to have a substantial food offering whenever the bar is open, we wont always have the bar open.
Although we don’t have any fixed events planned for the next few weeks, keep updating your best scores on each hole on the Summer Eclectic sheets that are on the downstairs noticeboard in the foyer and in the women’s changing room. Also, for those pairs vying for the Miners Arms Bowl, you only have a week left to complete your December round if you haven’t already done so. As advised earlier this week, we have now opened up this event for pairs of any gender combination. All that it involves is to play one round together in each of December, January and February where you take the best stableford score of the pair for each hole to determine your total stablefords for each round. We already have one female pair who have jumped straight into second position amongst the December rounds completed to date, but it is still early days and not too late to form a pair.
Interclub
The first round of interclub is only a few weeks away, on 27th January. If you haven’t already advised the club of your interest in participating, please do so by emailing the club. We will be having more practice & trial matches on the weekends of 13th and 20th January – both Saturdays & Sundays. Spots will be made available in the calendar closer to the time. In additional, and to accommodate players who may be away or unavailable on those weekends, we encourage you to arrange your own practice matches against players on any day prior to the competition start date of 27th January. Simply mark your card “Interclub Trial” and hand it in to someone in the office. It will be kept for the Interclub Captains, Jay, Mark and Carl to review and to help them select their teams. Remember that we’d like 15 in each team if possible, so please encourage your playing partners to join in.
Air Compressor
One of the air compressor hoses has got a hole it in, so rather than risk the compressor being overloaded, we have turned it off until the hose has been replaced. With the dry conditions, our shoes probably dont need air cleaning, but nevertheless, we apologise for any inconvenience.
Greens Care
Although our fairways may be hard and dry, our greens are being well watered and so still susceptible to pitch marks. Please repair any pitch marks you make as soon as you come onto the green, prior to putting.
Our green keepers spent a day this week manually cutting out toad rush from our greens. If you notice a bald circle 4-5cms in diameter it is probably where toad rush has been removed. There was a lot of it on the practice green, which has now been sanded to help it recover. Note therefore that at the moment the practice putting green is not representative of the actual greens. A big thank you to our green keepers for spending a day on their hands and knees extracting this invader.
Harcourts Twilight Thursday 21st December
Another great evening last night, with 26 turning up to play and to enjoy a Christmas themed feast afterwards. Twilight will now take a break for a couple of weeks, and restart again on 11th January. New players will be welcomed, only $15 for the golf plus bbq ($20 for visitors) plus first time players will receive a $5 voucher for spending at the club. See you all in the New Year, Wayne and Tim
Wednesday Club
Wednesday Club results etc for 20 December 2017:
The day was fine but that southerly was cruel at times but then again, it’s Wellington and 34 stalwart Wednesday Clubbers endured and realised some good scoring in the Stableford competition. Winner on the day with a creditable 39 Points was Doug Calhoun closely followed by runner up Tim Brosnahan by count back from Mike Suggate, Terry Bastion and Gerd Warnke, all with 38 Points.
Nearest the Pin on the 4th was Gunter Karau who also sank the putt for a Two.
Other Twos: Lars Fagerstrom with two on 4th & 13th, Jan Sharp also with two on 6th & 13th, with Peter Kennedy on 13th & Patrick Cordue on 6th.
The Christmas winner of the “Bunny” resulted in Don Smith being award that dubious honour for the week from Paul Hawkes (both with the same scores –nafp!)
Prizes with a Christmas flavour were awarded to all in the clubhouse ensuring everyone went home with a little something to enjoy on or before even after Christmas day!
The weekly raffle won by Patrick Cordue with No 13, second No 37 held by Ian Bates and third No 24 held by Pete McMillan.
Victor Diem announced that the “Fine” Receptacle” for Missing the “Two” Putt on 4th hole for Nearest the Pin initiated by Chris Pearce some 5 or 6 years ago, had been opened and counted revealing $150.80. The winner of the competition to guess how much was in there, was Dave Burton who guessed $153.40 which was astonishingly accurate compared to some!!!
Thanks to all who contributed over the years and in the final guessing competition, all helping to raise funds for the Wednesday Club who in turn support our Karori Golf Club as deemed necessary.
Finally next week 27 Dec’ - it was suggested that while there would not be an official Wednesday Club Competition please take advantage of the web site Tee Booking system, likewise the 9 holers.
Thanks also to Chris Pearce who has organised the Wednesday Club activities over the past 6 years – now you’ll be able to focus on your golf and maybe win a few more haggles...!
Have a great Christmas and look forward to starting all over again in the New Year... Cheers, DS
Committee Update
The 2018 Committee had its first meeting last Monday and can report:
· We have reactivated the Marketing Subcommittee which will be headed by Peter Howman
· We have set up a subcommittee to progress the subdivision proposal voted on at the AGM. It will be headed by Jono Wake and Wayne Cook
· We have bought a new (second hand) ute for the green keepers, to replace the previous one which gave up the ghost a few weeks ago
· We have renewed our insurances but to help offset rising insurance costs we will no longer insure the cowshed building as the cost of its insurance is not worth the value the club gets out of the building. Please note also that, as previously advised, members equipment stored at the club is not covered by the club's insurance. Members need to have their own insurance for these, and/or take up the GEAP scheme through NZ Golf at a cost of $20pa - click on this link for more details:
GEAP
· Carl and Fiona are currently preparing the 2018 program. To help revitalise interest in events, Carl is considering reintroducing the Karori Cup, which is played for on a “Fedex” type points basis
· We have decided that we wont have a dress policy.
Sponsor Speak
The seventeenth hole is often a welcome relief for those who got into trouble in the 16th, but it’s no cinch either, with a fairway slope that takes many drives to an awkward spot behind the trees protecting the green from approaches on the right. It's a rare golfer who can drive the green, so prudence suggests leaving the driver in the bag and focusing on accuracy. For most golfers, it’s the second shot that counts.
Construction of the 17th green, prior to construction of the 18th tee:
The hole is sponsored by Terry Bastion who provides professional accounting and taxation services from his office at 272 Karori Road. His contact details are
Ph: 476-5775 Mo: 027-489-2650
Merry Christmas to all our readers
Happy golfing, play safely,
Your KGC Committee