Depending on whether you believe seasons change at the end of every 3 months, as opposed to equinoxes, tomorrow is potentially the last day of winter! Yay!
This Weekend’s Events
Tomorrow our women’s Saturday Club are playing the 4th round of the Pinfold Cup. Also it is the last day to earn winter points.
On Sunday it is the Stroke Play championships for men. Entries were due to close yesterday but we will be doing the draw this afternoon so if you still wish to enter, email the club prior to 2pm. The Stroke Play championships are played over one round, in divisions, with the winners being the players with the lowest gross score (ie handicaps don’t come into it). Placings in the event will determine the seedings, and therefore the draw, for the Match Play championships, the winners of which have their name embossed onto our honours board for posterity. You can play in the Stroke Play and not the Match Play (put please let the Club Captain know) but you must play in the Stroke lay to qualify for the Match Play, the first round of which is on Sunday 8th. Best of luck to all entrants.
For those entrants also hoping to qualify for the end of year shootout, you can count your stroke play round as a shootout round, provided you enter it as such when you print out your scorecard and pay the $2 entry fee. Note though that you cannot count your matchplay rounds as shoot out rounds so this weekend could be your last chance to get another shootout round in for a few weeks.
Last week’s Results
What a great day we had last Saturday for the Argentina National Day Tournament. Although the day had started rather dubiously, the forecast was good and the rain radar showed the rain to be clearing so we made an early call to confirm the event was still on and what a great call it was. The field of almost 70 enjoyed an absolutely sparkling course and beautiful weather. All the visitors, including several ambassadors and other foreign embassy staff, were very impressed, so a big thank you to our greens staff. A big thank you also to Debbie and Anna who provided the platters for everyone after play, including the Argentinian empanadas, and of course to Fausto Lopez Crozet, the Argentinian Ambassador who hosted the event and provided the prizes and wine, and to David Hill, the convener of the diplomatic golfing community who organised the event. For the record, it was won by one of the visitors, Yujiro Fujisawa, with 42 stableford point, with club members Matthew Harvey and Jono Wake also in the top 4. Mary Kavanagh was the top women finisher, plus she also won nearest the pin on hole 4 and the longest drive for women – well done Mary.
Argentina Celebs: Jono Wake, David Hill, Fausto, Simon O'Shaughnessy, last year's winner, Yujiro Fujisawa, this year's winner:
On Sunday it was the Westward Ho final for men, which was played in great spirits between Grant Pollard and Antony Kennedy. It was tight all the way, with both playing well. The turning point was on the 15th where Antony, who was 1 up, managed to drain a long curling putt, forcing Grant to also hole a long one to halve the hole but missed, which then put Anthony 2 up with 3 to go and getting shots from Grant on 2 of them. Antony ended up winning 3/2. Well done Antony, but congratulations to both players for getting through to the final and for playing it in good spirits, as golf should be.
Women’s Tuesday Club
A small group of 7 enjoyed, after the early rain, a beautiful, windless day. A net game was played with Connie Lee on 37 being the winner, closely followed by Kath Robinson 2nd and Marion Thompson 3rd, both on 38. The game was followed by Anita’s usual delicious lunch complemented by a sharing of Connie’s prize - a carrot cake which was made and donated by Marge Alcock.
Men’s Wednesday Club
The weekly competition was played in the most magnificent condition with the sunny weather and fantastic golf course, well prepared for the previous Argentina tournament. We reaped the benefits of extra efforts by the greens staff. One would feel lucky to be a member of KGC because we can play virtually anytime in a nice course at the lowest annual subs.
As a result of the condition, most of 28 participants had a good game. The winner was John Markham with +3 and the runner up was David Norton with +2. Balls were distributed to only who played better than their handicap. So those who played on their par or below did not get anything in return. The only TWO was won by the lowest handicapped player: Trevor Brown. The NTP was won by Paul but he had to donate the pig fund since he did not make the putt.
Raffles were won by Graham Presland, Paul Hawkes and Victor. Victor was compensated for the poor play with the raffle and beat Satish for the Bunny prize.
For the annual competitions as patiently compiled by Chris Pearce, he informed us that the final result will be concluded on 31 October, so we all have a chance to win from now on. As of 21 August, for the Par competition, the leaders are Saint Kennach with 101 points, Mike Cox with 78 points, Martin Leung with 73 and Peter with 71 etc. For the Stableford competition, its Mike Cox with 94, Saint 90, Martin 80 and John Markham with 77.
One additional note about the game: slow play. Please ensure that after finishing playing the hole, go to the next one immediately and tee off. Do not write down the scores before teeing off. Even though this sequence may delay only a few minutes but if it is repeated for the whole match after 18 holes, we talk about delay by at least an hour.
Apart from the slow play, the day was enjoyed by most of us. Regards, Victor
Committee Update
The Committee held its monthly meeting last Monday evening and can report as follows:
· The grant funds for the tree work has been received and a meeting has been held with Reid’s Trees who will start the program on Monday 23rd September, working Mondays and Thursdays to progress the first half of the program, beginning first with trees around the 10th green. We will give members a further update closer to the start date including safety considerations for players.
· We have procured a stock of over 200 posts for remarking existing penalty areas, changing many from yellow to red, and for marking out new penalty areas as now allowed by the new rules. We were going to organise a working bee to help paint them but with the forecast for rain next week the greenkeepers may have time to do it themselves but if not, we will put out a call in next week’s Friday Flash.
· We are currently renewing our hole sponsors for next year and currently have a couple of vacant holes – if any member has a business or knows of someone who would like to take up sponsorship of a hole, please contact Adrian Porter or Peter Howman. We are planning to hold another Sponsors Day tournament in March next year.
· Our finances are holding up but the trading surplus for this financial year, which ends on 30th September, will be down on last year. Green fees are holding up but membership numbers continue to decline gradually.
· With spring almost upon us we have begun to roll out advertisements for the club in the Independent Herald and will support these with social media advertising
· We intend to hold an Open Day for the club on Sunday November 24th
· Anita will be dropping her Thursday cleaning role from when she goes on holiday later in September – if you would like to take on this paid role, or know someone who might, please let Jono Wake or Adrian Porter know.
· Our AGM at which we will elect a new committee for next year is scheduled for Saturday 30th November. After 7 years on the committee, including one as Vice President and 4 as President, and 5 years as acting manager, Jono Wake will not be seeking re-election so we will need to elect a new President. Please start considering whether you would like to stand for this role and feel free to ring Jono (027-453-8227) if you wish to discuss what’s involved.
Surrounds Maintenance
The sloping surrounds around many of our greens are currently in the best condition that your scribe can recall, helped immensely by the new surrounds mower we purchased last year. So good in fact that it is now easier for some of us to putt up some of them than to pitch up. However, it is very disappointing to find so many unrepaired pitch marks on the surrounds caused be balls landing short on the currently soft slopes. Please repair any pitch marks on the surrounds, as well as on the greens. If you haven’t got a pitch repairer, ask for a free one from the shop staff.
Recent Press Coverage about the Future Of Miramar
Members will no doubt have seen the press coverage a couple of weeks ago about the potential purchase of half of the Miramar golf course by the Airport and the push by former councillor and now MP Paul Eagle for the sale proceeds to be invested into the Mornington golf course, of which he is Patron. It would appear that some WCC councillors support this idea, thinking that the Mornington course is the only other option for Wellington golfers besides Miramar. If so, then this notion needs to be dispelled. We know that current Western Ward Councillor and Mayoral candidate Andy Foster is a supporter of KGC, and visited the club a couple of weeks ago in his role as part of the Lion Foundation Grant Committee which awarded us the grant for the tree felling, but we encourage all members, if attending electioneering meetings for the upcoming WCC elections, to question all candidates on their position with respect to the possible closure of Miramar and whether they are aware of our course, and to ask why WCC should invest ratepayer funds into Mornington when there is such a good course available to ratepayers in the South Makara Valley.
Here is a list of the up coming Mayor/ Council election meetings in our district:
· September 9th 7.30pm. St Luke's Hall Wadestown
· September 19th 7.00pm. Karori Baptist Church
· September 20th 7.30pm. Ngaio Town Hall
· September 23rd 7.30pm. Northland Memorial Community Centre
Putting with the Flagstick In
This seems to be the new rule that is being taken most advantage of. It was introduced to help speed up play, especially when all players on a green have a long putt, but many players are preferring to keep the flag stick in the cup even for quite short putts. This is quite legal, but if some want it in and some don’t, it is moot as to whether it does always speed up play. Nevertheless leaving it in is allowed and many do so in the belief that it is an advantage to do so. Is this belief well founded? – click on this link for a video to find out.
YouTube video
If you do putt out with the flagstick in the hole, please take care when extracting your ball from the cup – with the flagstick still in, the gap for your hand is significantly reduced, risking damage to the edge of the hole.
Happy golfing, play safely,
Your KGC Committee