The sound of that soft rain on my roof last night was music to my ears, knowing it would have been giving our fairways a good soaking, along with our own lawns and gardens. The course is in great condition and ideal for summer golf. Hopefully as many of you as are around Wellington this holiday period are getting time to enjoy some social golf, along with the many visitors who have discovered the wonders of the South Makara Valley.
Interclub
For those of you looking for a bit more competitive edge to your holiday golf, pretend you are playing interclub matchplay against the others in your group. The first round of interclub is only 3 weeks away so start getting into the mode of playing hole by hole. If you haven’t already advised your interest in participating, please do so by emailing the club. As in previous years we are entering 3 teams - in Divisions 2, 5 and 9 – and we would like 15 in each team if possible, so please encourage your playing partners to join in. We will be having more practice & trial matches on the weekends of 13th and 20 January – watch out for a separate announcement about these.
Miners Arms and Summer Eclectics
I see some pairs have already played their January round of the Miners Arms, and posted some very good scores. With handicaps tending to come down over summer, no doubt some players are aiming to beat the next handicap revision which takes effect next Thursday, but as usual with this event, it all hinges on the final round to be played in February, so every pair is still very much alive.
Dont forget to keeping recording on the Summer Eclectic form all those very good hole scores you achieve in each of your rounds, to determine by the end of summer what you could have gone round in over summer if you had managed to string them all together in the same round.
Rounds Played in 2017
Dot Golf keep track of the estimated number of rounds played on all the courses around the country, on the basis of cards printed, and for most of 2017 it showed the number of rounds being played as down on 2016, no doubt partly due to the very wet 2017 experienced by most of NZ. However, November 2016 was very wet, whereas last November we had glorious weather, so the trend was quickly reversed. By the end of the 2017 calendar year, the estimated number of rounds played on our course was up 3% compared to 2016, whereas for Wellington overall the number of rounds played was down 8.5% and for NZ overall the number was down 3.7%. The positive result for our club compared to all of Wellington is further evidence of the growing popularity of our course and club.
Wednesday Club Results for 3 January 2018
The first 2018 Wednesday Club Competition (Stableford this week) brought together 25 enthusiasts to take on the Course in very warm and dry conditions. Seven 9 holers enjoyed the opportunity for much needed exercise and played some good shots on the way!
Satish Chandra produced the game of the day to win with 43 points followed a few points away by Runner Up on count back Steve Robinson 39 points from Derek Fitzgibbon. Golf balls were won by those with 36 points or more. Graham Presland was awarded the prize for sheer persistence while Peter Kennedy scored the only ‘Two” of the day on the 4th and received the “Nearest the Pin” prize at the same time.
The weekly Raffle was appropriately won by visitor Gary Morgan with No 12, Martin Leung 2nd with No 8 and 3rd Nobbie with No 16.... Numerologists take note!!!
Looking forward to more next week by which time we may have had some rain! Cheers, DS
Twilight
Twilight Golf starts again next week, on Thursday 11th January. Tee off between 5 and 5.30pm for 9 holes of fun golf followed by a bbq meal. It costs only $15 for members (which covers the meal and prizes) and $20 for visitors. This is a great way to introduce new players to the club – if you know of someone who might be interested, invite them along, and remember, if it is your first outing at Twilight, you receive a $5 complimentary voucher for you to enjoy at the bar.
50th anniversary
With the 50th anniversary of the incorporation of the club due in March, we are planning to hold a special anniversary tournament on Saturday 17th March. More on this later but in the meantime, lock this date into your diaries. With the Miners Arms trophy currently being played for, the attached slide pack includes some photos of the original Miners Arms building, which had an interesting history and served as our original club house.
Happy golfing, play safely,
Your KGC Committee