Well, so much for Spring. After a glorious start last Saturday the weather turned to custard about midday Sunday, forcing the cancellation of the first round of the men’s Stroke Play Championships, and next to no golf has been played on the course since. Fortunately it is looking better for this weekend.

This Weekend’s Events

Tomorrow our women’s Saturday club are playing Bisque Par.

On Sunday, it is the second round of the men’s stroke play championships but with the first round being rained off, this will be the only qualifying round. The draw will by similar to last week and will be posted on our website later today. Seniors will tee off first, starting at 10.02, followed by Intermediates, Junior As, and last but not least the Junior Bs. Players need to print out a score card, which should automatically enter you into the correct division. For those players who have nominated themselves to play in a lower handicap division, still select the option that the screen gives you and we will override it manually. Note that stroke play is played on a gross basis, so other than determining which division you are in, handicaps don’t come into it – ie you are in effect playing “off the stick”. You must count every shot, and must putt out - ie pick ups and “gimmies” are not allowed. The player in each division who shoots the lowest score will be the stroke play champion for that division, and top seed for the match play event.

Shootout

Don’t forget that because the stoke play event is played on a gross basis, from which a net score can also be determined, entrants who are also vying for a spot in the Top Gun Shootout at the end of the year can also count their stroke play round as a Shootout qualifying round, provided you nominate it as such when you print out your scorecard. This is not the case though when you come to play the match play rounds, which being played on a hole by hole basis against a specific opponent can involve holes being conceded which therefore prevents a net score from being calculated. As previously advised, those who paid for a shootout round as part of last week’s stroke play round which got called off part way through can enter this week’s round as a shootout round without paying the $2 entry fee.

A spreadsheet showing men's Shootout qualifying rounds played to end of August is attached, as is a PDF of women's rounds YTD.

Course Closed on Monday for Men’s Veterans tournament

On Monday we will be hosting a Wellington Veteran’s (ie over 55) tournament, beginning with a shotgun start at 10.30am. As a result, the course will be closed for casual play.

Women’s Midweek Club

9 Hole Midweek Women

No chance of play this week so the scheduled competition has been held over to next week.

Men’s Wednesday Club

As with the women’s Midweek Club, Wellington’s inclement weather prevented this week’s outing. For those who feel cabin fever, don’t forget that you can join your fellow golfers for a casual game on Friday mornings, teeing off at 9:30am. We make up groups of threesome or foursome and choose the tees to start eg holes 1, 5 or 8 by disc draws See you there Regards Victor Diem

Men’s Interclub

For those men members interested in playing interclub next year, Club Captain Carl has put up an Expressions of Interest form on the downstairs notice board for you to register your interest. As usual, we will be aiming to enter teams in Divisions 2, 5 and 9 but need to be confident we have enough players willing to play. Interclub begins late January and is usually played fortnightly on a home and away basis, and runs through to May. Teams consist of 10 players but with players not always being available for every match, team captains need squads of around 15 players. Therefore don’t be put off registering your interest just because you are not sure whether you would be available for every round.

Compressed Air Shoe Cleaner

This is now fully operational, with Trevor Brown having fixed the compressor and John Timperley having bought a new hose to replace the leaking one, which Trevor connected on Tuesday. Thanks Trevor and John, all your fellow members will be very appreciative, as well green fee players, many of whom are from clubs which don’t have this luxury.

Farewell Alan and Sue

Long time members Alan Thomson and Sue Murray are about to migrate north, shifting to the Bay of Plenty and fairways anew. Alan and Sue have both made enormous contributions to the success of our club over many years, with the Pitch and Putt course in particular being their vision. Not only did they secure the grant financing that made it possible, they also designed the layout, helped build the course, installed the irrigation and the 15” cups, named the holes, and did all the initial promotion to ensure the public knew about it. They also provided a lot of help to Sara when she first took over the catering for the club. Thank you Sue and Alan for everything you have done for the club during your long membership of it, and best wishes for this next chapter in your life.

Rumour has it that Alan and Sue will be out on the course tomorrow for what will be their last round before shifting – if you do happen to spot them, please take the opportunity to wish them all the best.

Pitch and Putt Divots

The Pitch and Putt course doubles as our practice area and it has been great to see many members out practicing on it recently, perhaps in preparation for the club champs. It has recently been noticed though that there are patches where a lot of divots have been taken and not replaced. Although we don’t pretend to be able to maintain the PnP course to the same standard as our main course, we do wish to keep it as presentable as possible. If you do wish to hit a number of balls from roughly the same spot, can you please choose a spot away from the mown area around the greens, and if you are hitting from an area of fairway, can you please replace your divots.

Recent Press Coverage

For those of you who receive the free weekly Independent Herald delivered to your letter box, did you spot our advert in the 2 page “Join Up Today” feature. In addition to the advert we were also able to include some free copy in which we took the opportunity to promote the Open Day we will be having on Sunday 14^th October. We will be doing other promotion for this event over the next few weeks, including distribution of leaflets which we are currently preparing, and which we hope members will volunteer to help deliver around their neighbourhood.

And for those of you who didn’t see Kevin Norquay’s 2 page special in last week’s DomPost about the troubles facing golf clubs, here is a connection to it in Stuff:

In a Hole

Sponsor Speak

Our first hole is sponsored by local opticians Sercombe & Matheson, who are handily located at 29 The Terrace and at 100 Molesworth Street in Thorndon. If you have an eye-related problem, they're sure they can help. Whether the problem is a red eye, blurred vision or having fallen out of love with your current glasses they can sort it. Contact lenses, eye drops and glasses repairs are all in the day's work. Click here to connect to their website:

Sercombe & Matheson

Happy golfing, play safely,

Your KGC Committee