he course is back open for carts. Temperatures may be cooling but no reason not to enjoy great golfing conditions on our course. And didn’t it look good on the TV1 Sports News feature on Len Kenna on Tuesday evening – if you missed it, click here:

Len Kenna 96 yrs young

This Weekend’s Events

Tomorrow we are hosting the Argentina National Day Tournament for which we expect a field of around 50. Entries are now closed and the draw is currently being done by David Hill, the convenor of the diplomatic golfing community. Tee off will be at midday with the front nine closed off from 9.45am to allow for a shotgun start. This means that all our early Saturday morning regulars, and our women’s Saturday club, will be able to play as usual, but please ensure you have played the first 10 holes prior to midday. The women’s Saturday club will be paying Nett.

With the men’s interclub season now concluded, our 3 teams will be battling each other on Sunday morning in our annual Tin Cup competition, with the captain of the winning team earning the Beige Jacket. They will be teeing off at 8.30am from various tees on the front nine so other foursomes teeing off before then are requested to start from hole 8.

Upcoming Events

Following a hectic autumn interclub interspersed with several major events, the club program starts to quieten down for a few weeks. However, next Sunday, 3^rd June, is the qualifying round for the Bertram Cup for men. This is a 4BBB pairs event played off the blue tees and is the major pairs event of the year. Enter your pairs on the start sheet that is on the downstairs notice board or ring/email the club.

Recent Results

Last Saturday our men’s interclub teams played their final matches with the following results:

· Our Div 2 team, playing away to Boulcott in a tussle for second place, went down 8.5-6.5 to finish third in the division.

· Our Div 5 team was away to Titahi Bay and although they lost 10-5, they scored more points that Manor Park did in their match and so avoided the relegation spot at the bottom of the table.

· Our Div 9 team enjoyed a strong win over Ohariu 13-2 to finish in 5^th position in the division, well clear of last placed Ohariu.

Women’s Midweek Club

Men’s Wednesday Club

The week's competition attracted only 25 players, probably because of wintry condition and also due to many members taking a vacation. However the weather was perfect for golf and all enjoyed the game. The winner is Paul Hawkes with 41 points and led the field with a big gap since the runner up is Don McCrone with 37 points, Steve Robinson with 36 points. Balls were distributed to those with 35 points namely Graham Presland, Dick Adam, John Markham and Mike Cox, my partner for the day.

There were many two's probably reflecting the condition of our greens: Don McRone twice on 2 holes 4 and 6, Victor Diem, Steve Robinson and Mike Cox.

The most exercised prize went to Gerd Warnke so that he can do more practice. For Raffles, the first prize went to our Champion Paul Hawkes and the 2nd prize to Peter Kenedy.

For the next few weeks, our committee member Mike Cox will be travelling and his mate John Markham will take his place.

Regards, Victor

Committee Feedback

The Committee held its monthly meeting on Monday and can report as follows

· The green keepers are going to mini-tine the greens next week and then sand them. This should help them drain quicker following spells of rain. They have also raised the greens mowing height to 5mm, from 4mm. This will slow the greens down a bit but will allow the grass to thicken up and handle the winter wear better. They will go back to 4mm in Spring.

· The green keepers have taken possession of the second hand fairways mower we purchased from Wellington College, courtesy of the donation we received from the men’s Wednesday Club, and spent a rainy day last week to set it up for our conditions. This will become our back up mower after we purchase a new one, for which we are currently seeking grant funding. We will also be purchasing a new surrounds mower, for which we are also seeking grant funding, but if not successful, will use vendor financing.

· The green keepers have replaced the flags, pins and cups on the PnP course, courtesy of a generous donation from a club member, and have also replaced the flags on the main course.

· Although we are committing to some major capital expenditure this year, we have not launched a capital appeal, given that we had one last year to which many members responded. However, donations are always welcome, so if you are about to get a tax refund this year and are wondering what to do with it, perhaps use it to generate another refund next year by donating it to the golf club. Our charitable status enables donors to claim a tax rebate on their donations.

· Lukas our apprentice green keeper will be attending his first block course next week – best of luck Lukas, hope it goes well.

· The water tap by the 13^th green is still out of action so make sure you have sufficient liquid refreshment on you when you tee off at the start of your round.

· We have ordered replacement membership tags for those members who joined or renewed in the last couple of months. They should arrive next week. For some reason only about half our members pick up their tags, so going forward we have decided to produce only one tag per member. Note that if you are ever playing at another course and need to prove your membership but don’t have your membership card on you, then the fact that you can print out a scorecard in your name should be sufficient to prove your membership. This does though require you to know your membership number.

· We are currently getting the spare land next to the green keepers shed surveyed, preparatory to preparing a possible subdivision as approved at the last AGM.

· We are considering upgrading our website, partly to make it more suitable for smart phone presentation – if any members have any experience with website and/or App designs, and would be willing to provide advice to the committee, please let us know.

Course Benches

The playing partners of Alan Davies. who sadly passed away earlier this year, have, in remembrance in him, provided a new bench seat for the 9^th tee. It is currently with the green keepers awaiting a remembrance plaque. Members who would like to contribute to the club’s fundraising in a more tangible way that simply making a donation are invited to fund a bench seat for the course. For $600 members can get a bench seat on which they can add a plaque with their names, as per the one outside the clubhouse which was funded $200 each by David Ainsworth, Dick Adam and Geoff Parr. Built by member Laurie Cook, he is currently building another one for a member who will bequeath it to the 10^th tee. Speak to the shop or a committee member if you wish to fund one.

Entertainment Books

These are selling fast so be quick to secure your copy. Purchase one before the end of the month and go into a draw to win a Bali travel package. Don’t forget that the vouchers in the 2017/18 version of the book that many members bought last year expire at the end of the May.

Happy golfing, play safely,

Your KGC Committee