What a fantastic weekend it was last weekend. The Halberg tournament on Saturday was, as usual, a lot of fun and a great success, with a field of over 60 enjoying terrific golfing conditions followed by a fun time back in the clubhouse where most entrants either won a prize or a raffle, and many opened their wallets for the charity auction. Overall the day raised over $2400 towards the Murray Halberg Disability Sport Foundation. And the following day all the women’s club champions from around the greater Wellington district also enjoyed fantastic golfing conditions, interspersed with an excellent buffet lunch put on by Sara and Debbie. Although many of the bronze division found 36 holes hard going on our course, they all seemed impressed with the condition of the course and how smoothly it all went, with some saying it was the best CoC in recent years. Darae Chung from Shandon won the Silver division with 2 rounds of 71 each, while Charlotte Gillespie from Boulcott won the Bronze. Both Darae and Charlotte are teenagers. Boutcott won the overall best club. Special mention must go to our own Fiona Kearns who won the best net in the Silver division, despite having been heavily involved in organising both the CoC and the Halberg, and despite having played in the Halberg the previous day. Well done Fiona and a big thank you to you and your team of helpers on the day for organising such a well run event that showcased our club as good as any in the district.

This Weekend’s Events

Tomorrow is our 50^th Annual General Meeting to which all members are cordially invited. You should have all received the Annual Report and Financial Statements yesterday, along with the Notice of Motion regarding the Committee’s proposal to subdivide and sell a section of spare land next to Rocky Point that we sold 5 years ago. This is your opportunity to feedback directly to the Committee so please come along if you are able to. We will follow it with a fun disc draw tournament.

On Sunday the gun slingers in the Club will be shooting it out for the glory of becoming the club’s Top Gun. Male shooters should meet at 8am to pick their order of teeing off, in time to make their way to the first tee and an 8.30 start. We have 18 qualifiers but 2 have advised their unavailability so assuming no further withdrawals, the 16 contenders will be teeing off from the 4^th which will leave 2 to shoot it out on the 18^th. The list of qualifies is attached, ranked in order of their qualification (ie average net score from their best 15 rounds). Congratulations to Luke Underwood for qualifying top with an average of 69 - the only entrant to break 70.

The would be Annie Oakleys will be contesting their shootout later in the day.

Top Dog

The winners of the men’s Monthly Medals for November were Geoff Parr in the blue division with a net score of 71 and Tim Allison in the white division with a net of 73. Both now qualify for the Top Dog play off on Saturday 8 December. The full field of MM winners over the year is as follows

All these players are eligible to compete for the Top Dog trophy next Saturday - please advise if you are not available.

Pat Redmond Farewell

As previously advised, our long serving green keeper Pat Redmond will be relinquishing his position at the end of the year. In recognition of his outstanding service to the club over 35 years we will be holding a PR Benefit Tournament as part of our Closing Day event on Saturday 15 December. This will be an Irish Foursomes event which will begin with breakfast in the club house and close with prize giving and an official farewell and thank you to Pat. An entry form will be posted on the notice board in the downstairs foyer this weekend – you are welcome to make up your own foursomes but otherwise the club will organise them. The entry fee which will cover breakfast and prizes will be $10. We have had some great all member events this year – let’s make this one another of them so that we can give Pat the farewell he deserves and finish the 2018 Club program on a high note.

Miners Arms and Summer Eclectics

Tomorrow is supposedly the first day of summer and therefore the start of our annual Eclectic and Miners Arms events. The idea of the eclectics is to record the lowest score you achieve on each hole across all the rounds you play on weekends and public holidays in December, January, and February. The winner will be the entrant with the lowest net score based on the average of their 1 December and 28 February handicaps. A score sheet for the men, who can play off either the blue or white tees, will be posted on the notice board in the downstairs foyer and the women’s one will be posted in their changing room.

The Miners Arms Bowl is a best ball stableford pairs event played over 3 rounds, with the first round to be played in December, the second round in January and the third in February. The best stableford score of the two players for each hole is totalled to provide an aggregate score for each round and recorded on the score sheet that will be posted on the notice board in the downstairs foyer. The round to be scored needs to be nominated before commencement of play and must be played in the presence of at least one other club member. The event is open to all members and teams can be male, female or mixed.

Interclub 2019

Men’s Interclub “trials” are being scheduled for Sundays 9^th and 16^th December. All members who have expressed interest in playing interclub should have received an invitation to play in these – sing out if you haven’t, and if you haven’t already replied to the invitation, please do so.

Women’s Midweek Club

9 Hole Midweek Women

Tuesday was another wet and windy day causing the postponement of the 9 hole ladies games. However a few turned up on Thursday to play Hidden Holes and Kath Robinson was the winner.

Men’s Wednesday Club

27 Wednesday Club stalwarts ignored the forecast and remained dry with a 14 pt spread in the Par scores achieved notwithstanding a reported downpour at 2pm in the CBD! Conditions underfoot were generally excellent although Mike Cox managed to lose his footing twice -- once up the bank on 3 and once in the stream on No 11. Soak those trousers Mike! I thought I was going to have some luck when a bird "Sh-t" on my hat but it was not to be!!!

The best score of the day was Dave Burton on +4 closely followed by Mike Suggate on +3 (one of his best rounds). Others to score balls on +1 were Tim Brosnahan, Gunter Karau, Chris Pearce and Gerd Warnke. NTP was Gunter -- he paid the Pig whilst the person to get the most exercise and save embarrassment for a number of us was Graeme Crocker (don't make this a habit Graeme!). Mike Suggate continued his good luck with a win of $20 in the raffle with Geoff Lee $10 and Keith Gaskin $5.

Remember Next Wednesday 5 Dec is Prize Giving for the year -- 11 Cups and runner ups to be awarded with a finger food lunch for all at the conclusion of play after a 10-30am tee-off.

Also Next Monday 3 Dec -- we have a return match at Ohariu. A 10-30am tee-off is planned and all are welcome to join the challenge (bring your own lunch) -- Please let Ian Bates know if you plan to attend.

Cheers Ian

Team Yip Twilight Golf

The RSPCA were called out to the KGC Twilight in response to several birdies going down. Terry “Toughnut” Bastion was not impressed with the call-out. “I’m always trying to hit birdies, that’s what we do here!” he exclaimed proudly. After a brief scuffle, the RSPCA managed to bundle him into the back of their van and drove off. When asked to comment, Richard Reith stated “I tried to hit some birdies tonight too, I guess I was lucky that I kept missing!” We welcomed Tim Rivers back to twilight although several members questioned whether the operation he had to insert a bionic eye in the last week may have been pushing the boundaries on rules regarding distance-measuring devices. The operation definitely helped his golf as he won on 22 Stablefords, with Gloria Grayson coming in a close 2^nd on 21, and Tim Brosnahan, Terry “Toughnut” Bastion, and Ryan Goodhew all on 20. It was Ryan’s first night at Twilight as it was for Marina Smith. Richard Reith played the most golf and Dick Borgdorff took out his 2^nd NTP since the beginning of the season.

Sponsor Speak

The 13^th hole is the last of our par 3s and not as simple as it looks, with a shallow gully in front of it and protected on the left by a ridge line on which both good and bad things can happen. It is sponsored by Nigel Lockwood of Lockwood & Co, a registered public valuer and property consultant. If you need a property valuation, Nigel is the one to call: 021-687-111

Happy golfing, play safely

Your KGC Committee