Our greens are recovering well from their recent coring and there is visible evidence of new growth resulting from their seeding and fertilising. Our greenkeepers plan to do one final sanding next week which should smooth them out and set them up for winter.

This Weekend’s Events

Tomorrow our 3 men’s interclub teams are back in action and for 2 of them (Div 2 and Div 9) it is their final round of the season and both will be aiming for good results to avoid the relegation position at the bottom of the table. Best of luck to all 3 teams:

· Div 2 is at home to Shandon

· Div 5 is at home to Otaki

· Div 9 is away to Miramar

It is also the final round of the Autumn Cup which has turned into a one round shootout with the 2 remaining competitors still in the running, Ian Patience and Graeme Crocker, both on 65 points. This round will be played on a Net basis. May the best man win.

Also tomorrow, our women’s Saturday Club will be playing LGU4 / Putting 4.

Recent Results

Last Saturday, being May the Fourth, we held a special Star Wars competition based on multiple stablefords with a few cosmic twists. The super nova points available across our Amen Corner had a big impact on the results, as did zero stablefords on any holes by those who hadn’t paid for protection. We ended up with 21 Jedi apprentices vying to see who could get closest to infinity, 15 of whom bought the radiation shield to convert their 0 stablefords to 1s, and all of whom were also competing for the White Division Monthly Medal. Winners of the respective competitions were

· Monthly Medal: Richard Reith with a net 67

· Star Wars Stablefords without radiation shield: Victor Esguerra with 5,971,968 stablefords, helped significantly by scoring stablefords on every hole and only 1 stableford on the Black Hole which turned out to be Hole 17

· Star Wars Radiation Shield Stablefords: Kevin Norquay, who scored an astronomical 26,873,856 stablefords, mainly as a result of scoring so well on the Amen Corner power holes. Rumour has it that Kevin had set up a worm hole with Augusta’s Amen Corner when he attended the Masters a few years ago and was able to draw on the power of The Force emanating from there.

The spreadsheet of all the results is attached, so interested players can see the effects of 0 scores and the influence of the Amen Corner power holes.

Victor and Kevin both win Star Wars gift packs, including rocket fuel, Chewbacca cookies (albeit past their Best By date on Earth but still edible, and ideal for space travel) and other goodies – pick up from the clubhouse from tomorrow. Richard wins the right to compete for the Top Dog trophy at the end of the year, as does Tim Richards who won the Blue Division Monthly Medal played on Sunday, with a net score of 72.

The April Monthly Medals were played over Easter, with Nelson Laureles winning the Blue Division with a net 68 and Jim Waters winning the White Division with a net 65. They too are now eligible for the Top Dog playoff at the end of the year.

Upcoming Events

With tomorrow being the official final round of interclub (Div 5 will still have one match to play, being their postponed match against Martinborough) our 3 teams will be playing each other next Saturday in our annual Tin Cup event, with the Captain of the winning team earning the right to wear our famed Beige Jacket. Captains will be getting in touch with their team members shortly but in the meantime, please lock in the date. A bbq is being proposed for after play.

Women’s Tuesday Club

No official report this week but great to see so many members out at the club taking advantage of the good weather and course conditions.

Men’s Wednesday Club

Finally, the weekly competition attracted the normal crowd of 33 participants after many weeks of low turnouts. It seems that some travellers have finally come home after long periods of absence. Despite the cored greens which make putting quite difficult and slow, many managed to achieve scores well below their handicaps.

The winners were Paul Hawkes and Terry Bastion with the same score of +5 but after count back, Paul won the competition. Other runner ups were David Ainsworth with +2 and John Markham with +1. Balls were distributed down to even scores. In fact, 7 players had the same score of all square. So, most members had a good day golfing.

Other prizes went to Nobby with NTP but did not have a Two so donated to the pig fund. We had three Twos for Paul, Don and Drew (as guest). The bunny went to Satish, maybe he was more interested in cricket than golf on the day.

The final schedule of events for the year are finalised as follows:

Joe Rivera Farewell Cup is on 3 July, India (Independence) Cup on 14 Aug, Bogey Cup on 11 and 25 Sept, Makara Trophy on 16 Oct, Oteranga Trophy on 6 Nov.

Our end of the year Awards Presentation is on 11 December.

Wednesday club members are requested to mark these events on your calendar so that we have a big field of competitors.

New Rules

With the new rules now having been in place for 4 months NZ Golf have put out the attached recommendations and guidelines for golf clubs. In particular, these guidelines:

  • Recommend that all clubs adopt the alternate Stroke and Distance Local Rule except for "elite" events - we have already adopted it for all play across the whole course
  • Clarify how Match Play is scored where strokes are given - basically reconfirming the way we have always played it
  • Remove the penalty for playing a dropped ball that ends up outside the relief area, provided it is within 1 club length of the relief area and not nearer the hole than the estimated point at which it entered the penalty area
  • Allow players to replace a broken or significantly damaged club during play.

Entertainment Books – Mother’s Day special

It's Mother's Day this Sunday and to celebrate the Entertainment Book producers have come out with a special Gift With Purchase offer. This is a 3 day offer which starts today and ends on Sunday 12th May (midnight). All you need to do is purchase your 2019/2020 Entertainment Book through our Online Order Page to receive the FREE gift. You can order either a digital version for your smart phone or a hard copy, which you can either arrange to be sent to you or picked up from the club.

Entertainment Book Online Order Page

Happy golfing, play safely,

Your KGC Committee