Both our Tuesday women’s and Wednesday men’s clubs enjoyed good, albeit cool, golfing conditions on a sparkling course this week, but our weekend players didn’t fare so well last Saturday and Sunday, and unfortunately it looks like it could be the same this weekend. At this stage, despite the forecast, the Argentina National Day Tournament scheduled for tomorrow is still on. If we have to postpone/cancel, we will send out an email as soon as such decision is made.

This Weekend’s Events

Tomorrow we have the course closed for most of the morning for the Argentina tournament. Our early morning regulars need to tee off before 8.30 and be clear of the first 10 holes by 11am, but also to be mindful that there will also be foursomes teeing off from the 14^th and the 16^th tees at 11am. We have a field of 68 playing in the tournament. Entrants should have received the draw by email last night. Please register at the club by 10.30 with your $10 entry fee. Those teeing off from holes 14 and 16 are welcome to then drive down to the green keepers shed if they prefer.

On Sunday it is the semi finals of the Westward Ho Shield for men – congratulations and best of luck to the 4 remaining entrants.

Other Upcoming Events

Next month is when we play our Club Championships. On Sunday 1^st September men members play their Stroke Play Championship which doubles as the qualifying round for the match play rounds. In the past the stroke play event has been played over 2 rounds but this year it will be played over only one. It is open to all Ordinary Members, including players who are not available for the subsequent match play knockout event. It will be played in 4 divisions, determined by handicap, with the winner being the player with the lowest gross score. Cups are up for grabs in each division, but it is the winners of the match play events, which begin the following Sunday (ie 8^th September) who get their names onto our honours board. To be eligible for the match play Club Championship you must play in the stroke play event which will be used to determine seedings for the match play, with the top 16 qualifiers in each division going on to contest the match play. A flyer and entry sheet is on the notice board in the downstairs foyer.

Women’s Tuesday Club

A large group of 9 hole ladies turned up on Tuesday to play for our Memories trophy. This is in remembrance of Angela England and Eileen Kenna. We played a stableford and obviously the heavy rain the night before did not hinder our winner, Hilary Holm who had a wonderful score of 22 stablefords. Runner up was Ingrid Rampton on 19 and 3rd place was Trish Titcombe with 18 points. Garth England joined us for a shared lunch and presented the trophy to Hilary.

Men’s Wednesday Club

This week's competition was the India Cup to celebrate India’s Independence Day. A larger crowd than normal turned up even though the weather had been dreadful earlier in the morning with heavy rain and wind. The Cup was sponsored by two members of the local Indian Community: Arvind Zodgekar and Satish Chandra. Derek Fitzgibbon also donated golf balls for the prizes. Members were fed with good snacks provided by Ian Bates and cooked by the club's caterer Debbie.

The Cup was fiercely contested with three members on the leader board with an equal score of 38 stableford points. On count back, Saint Kennach became the champion, Victor Diem was the runner up and Mark Graham third. Thanks to numerous prizes donated, balls were given to those on 33 points or better. Some excellent play was accomplished by Adrian Porter who had an eagle on hole 12 and Don McCrone who landed the ball a few inches away from the pin on hole 4, to name a few. Obviously, Don won the NTP prize and didn't have to feed the pig.

Raffles were won by Ian Bates, Steve Robinson and Dick Adam.

We had three TWO's: Don, Trevor Brown and Adrian. Those who played to or better than their handicaps were Peter Kennedy and Jono Wake with 37 points, and Nobby with 36 points. The Bunny prize was contested by Arvind and Satish but Satish finally won the prize and got back some of the prizes he donated.

In the end, 31 members enjoyed the day and the feast. Regards, Victor

Downstairs Office Clean-Up

We are about to have a clean up of the old downstairs shop area to create more room for hire clubs and to remove tripping hazards caused by unwanted gear. Included amongst the stuff that we will be throwing out may be items donated to the club by members – eg TVs, video players – if you think there could be something you have donated and wish to claim it back, please let us know urgently. Similarly, there is a large amount of lost property that hasn’t ever been claimed which members may wish to have a check through for that long lost item.

More on Handicaps

As part of the lead up to the globalisation of the handicapping system next year NZ Golf have advised that, as of this week, clubs will no longer be able to set competitions up for "tournament" scoring. Currently if an event is set up for tournament scoring then good scores in the event are kept in players’ handicapping records for at least 6 months, even if this is for longer than the players’ last 20 rounds. This ability was introduced a few years ago as a means of addressing concerns of “burglars” continually winning major events. Dropping this facility now is due to the introduction of the new world handicap system (WHS) and the transition from current handicaps to the new WHS handicap.

Happy golfing, play safely,

Your KGC Committee