Hi all,

This email is the first of a monthly email I intend sending out to advise you of upcoming events and news for the Tauranga Men's section as well as a "Did you know" section which will have useful information on Golf Rules, Etiquette and other "fun stuff".

As you will probably already know, the Men's AGM was held and I was elected Men's Captain as Chris McAlpine did not wish to stand this year. Chris did a great job over the last 3 or 4 years and hopefully I can build on this. Stu Mcfadyen was elected as the Men's Vice Captain and the Men's committee is made up of Brian Benjamin, Evan McKain, Vinnie Aston and Craig Griffin.
You will see these guys selling the raffles on Thursdays and Saturdays - please help support the Men's section by buying a ticket or 2, the more support we get, means that we can put more money into things like the Men's Xmas Hamper. If you have any issues or just suggestions with Men's Golf in general, please feel free to speak to me or any of the committee members and we can see what we can do. Buy us a beer and your chances of getting something done will greatly improve!

Upcoming Events - February
Saturday 11th Feb is the Men's Opening Day.
This will be an Ambrose format and a $10.00 per person entry fee.
There will be Meat Packs for prizes, Nearest the pins, as well as Sausage Sizzle.

Pennants
Championship, Senior A and Senior B Pennants start in February and Intermediate and Junior Pennants start in early March.
If anyone is interested in playing Pennants this year, there are sheets in the Clubhouse to register your interest.
We are holding a Pennant "get together/trial" this Sunday; refer to the email sent by John Waretini.
Hopefully we can build on our success from last year, good luck to all who are lucky enough to be selected.
Results will be posted on the Tauranga Golf Club website, so keep and eye out for those.

McGregor's Shootout
Don't forget to enter this comp at the Pro Shop on Thursdays and Saturdays. Pay your $2 at the Pro Shop each time you play and throughout the year your Stableford Points will be recorded and the top 12 from the Thursday players and the top 12 from the Saturday players go through to play in the final at the end of November, it's a great event to be part of, plus there's the big money prize.
You can start entering from Thursday 16th Feb.
Thanks to Peter (Banana) Anderson for his sponsorship in this.

The Matchplay/Strokeplay/Pro's Haggle Debate
If you are playing in one of the club Matchplay Competitions, you cannot enter in the McGregor's Shootout on the day of your Match.
It is a breach of the Rules of Golf to combine Matchplay with Strokeplay and as the McGregor's is a Stableford Comp, it is a form of Strokeplay.
The same goes for the Pro Shop Haggle. If you are playing a Match, you can only enter the 2's and Hidden Hole, you cannot enter the Stableford Haggle.

Men's Strokeplay Champs
This year, we have split up the Matchplay Club Champs and the Strokeplay Club Champs. The 1st round of the Men's Strokeplay Champs starts on Saturday 25th Feb, 2nd round Sunday 26th Feb and the 3rd round on Saturday 3rd March. The Alan Ward Memorial Trophy is also played for at this time which is the Best Nett total over the first two rounds of the Strokeplay Champs. The winner of each grade of the Strokeplay Champs also goes on to represent the club in the Champion of Champions later in the year.

Did You Know?
On the 1st January 2012 there were new Rule Changes that came into effect. There are 2 main changes that you should be aware of.

Rule 13-4. Ball in Hazard; Prohibited Actions
Exception 2 to Rule 13-4 is amended to permit a player to smooth sand or soil in a hazard at any time, including before playing from that hazard, provided it is for the sole purpose of caring for the course and Rule 13-2 is not breached.

Rule 18-2b. Ball Moving After Address
A new Exception is added that exonerates the player from penalty if his ball moves after it has been addressed when it is known or virtually certain that he did not cause the ball to move. For example, if it is a gust of wind that moves the ball after it has been addressed, there is no penalty and the ball is played from its new position.

Good golfing everyone,
Lindsay Klee
Men's Captain