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Men’s Committee Newsletter

June 2018

54 Hole Strokeplay Championship

This is one of the Club’s two most important Championship events the other being the Matchplay Championship. The first round, of three, was played in VERY testing conditions on the 28th April; with the next rounds played on 5th May & 12th May As usual the final round was seeded to the top 12 players in each division.

The 2018 Strokeplay Championship results were as follows

Division 1. Byron Willis

Division 2 Ben Christensen

Division 3 Rod Laurenson

In addition to the Divisonal Cups each player won a $100 Voucher.

As part of the Strokeplay Championship there were also two Memorial Trophies to be awarded.

The Allen Ward Memorial Trophy.

On the 5th May, after rounds one and two of the Strokeplay, this Trophy was awarded to the best Nett total across the three divisions. This year it was won by Murray Warner

The James Mowat Memorial Trophy

On the 12th May, after all three rounds of the strokeplay had been completed, the Trophy was awarded to the best Nett score across all three divisions. This year it was won by Gerard O’Loan.

Golf Vouchers

$50 Vouchers were awarded to the runners-up in the three divisions of the 54 Hole Strokeplay. Championship.

2019 Club Strokeplay Championship

Traditionally the Strokeplay Championship was played over Four rounds - a 72 Hole Strokeplay Championship – It seems that several years back this was reduced to 54 Holes Championship supposedly as a ‘one-off’ as the final round clashed with some important Regional or National Competition. For some reason it has never gone back to a 72 Hole format and, as a result, many members have been asking for the traditional format to be re-introduced. We took a Club House poll, by way of a show of hands, at the Strokeplay Championship Prize Giving . There was a majority vote for reverting to the traditional 72 Hole Format. The Committee decided that next year we will return to the traditional format and play rounds One and Two on the same weekend (Saturday and Sunday) followed by rounds Three and Four on the following two Saturdays.

Matchplay Cards for Handicapping

It seems a further reminder is needed regarding Matchplay cards.

In short, the NZ Golf handicapping system requires that scores from all forms of competition, including matchplay, must be entered for handicapping purposes. The only exceptions being Pennants and the Club’s Matchplay Championship.

Once you have played 13 Holes of Matchplay if your Match finishes before the 18th and you decide to play on then, for the remaining holes, your score per hole cannot exceed par plus handicap allowance i.e. a minimum of 2 Stableford points for all of your finishing holes.

This rule reminder has already been posted within the locker room and will be strictly enforced as it will help prevent any unfortunate accusations of handicap ‘manipulation’ - particularly if a player’s game suddenly deteriorates after his game has been won or lost.

PACE OF PLAY

Despite several reminders the message is still not getting through to some: with one Saturday afternoon group (3rd off 11 – you know who you are!) losing two fairways after just 6 holes! It was clear that no real attempt was made to catch up or allow the 3 ball being held up behind them to play through. At this time of the year with early sunsets and the increased probability of low thick cloud cover we just cannot have four and a half hour rounds which force the players at the back of the field to finish their last few holes in near darkness.

The following is an extract from dot golf’s web site on Golf Etiquette

“Play at good pace and keep up:

Players should play at a good pace. Each Club has an established pace of play guideline that all players should follow – (At Tauranga you are expected to finish your game on four hours and to help you with this objective you will find your target times per hole on the right hand side of the Scorecard)

It is a group’s responsibility to keep up with the group in front. If it loses a clear hole and it is delaying the group behind, it should invite the group behind to play through, irrespective of the number of players in that group. Where a group has not lost a clear hole, but it is apparent that the group behind can play faster, it should invite the faster moving group to play through

When playing on or near the putting green, they should leave their bags or carts in such a position as will enable quick movement off the green and towards the next tee. When the play of a hole has been completed, players should immediately leave the putting green.” (Do NOT mark your scorecards on or next to the green)”

Golfing Etiquette requires the lowest handicapped player, to be responsible for all of the players in their group; this responsibility covers the group’s adherance to the rules of golf, their pace of play, position in the field, repair of pitchmarks, proper raking of bunkers etc. If a group is falling behind the field the lowest handicapper, within the group being held up, is entitled to ask the lowest handicapper in the group at fault to either play READY GOLF until they have resumed their place in the field or allow them to play through – If the response is verbal abuse or a refusal to speed up please report the matter to one of the Committee members the Pro-shop or Club Manager.

Reparing Pitch Marks and Bunker raking

How to repair a Pitch Mark – Properly

Even if you think you know how to do this vital task properly please just take a couple of minutes to see how the professionals do it; please follow this link to the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuYXMn4tA10

How to Rake a Bunker – Properly

Again, please take the time to watch this short video – if we all do it properly everyone will benefit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mRBMJkmFgQ

The BARCLAY ENGRAVERS Foursomes Challenge 30th June

We have a spare date on the Calendar for 30th June and to make a change from the usual Stableford; Ambrose or Medal format we decided on a Foursome Competition. This will be played in one grade with any combination of handicaps allowed. The Foursome format is quite a fast form of the game and so it is probably best suited to the afternoon field. Morning players CAN play in the competition but as you would only be playing one ball per pairing it might well be slow going for you. Barclay Engravers are sponsoring the event, which is free to enter, and the Men’s Committee are topping up the prize pool to a total $450. The relevant poster and entry sheet will be posted in the Men’s locker room shortly.

WINTER 4 BALL MATCHPLAY COMPETITION

This will be played in three grades Senior, Intermediate and Junior

The poster and entry sheets will be posted in the Men’s Locker room shortly.

Rounds to be played;

14th July

28th July

11th August – semi-finals

The final will be played on Finals day.

THE CLUB MATCHPLAY CHAMPIONSHIP

This is one of the Club’s two most important and prestigious competitions!

To allow players a bit more flexibility we will revert to the traditional pattern of three qualifying rounds of Gross play with the two best rounds to be the counters for the seeded draw in three divisions.

The three qualifying rounds will be played on

1st September

8th September

15th September

The top 16 seeded players in each division will then play their matches on:

22nd September

6th October

13th October – Semi-final

With the final on Finals day

THE TWO TEE TRIAL

With both the increase in male membership and, in turn, more men wanting to play on a Saturday morning the booking sheet is now at full capacity. In short, demand for morning tee times is exceeding the available tee times. At the other end of the day the last few groups of players off of tee one are often finishing in near darkness. Faced with this challenge the option to do nothing is not an option and so we have to do something about it. We could go back to using tee 13 which does work as we can then reduce the number of people going off of tee one, but going off of tee 13 is not popular. There is also the problem, when using tee 13, of certain groups of morning players holding up the Greens staff by starting on tee 11 and not the designated tee 13! With restricted morning light the staff have little time to prepare the course and so this was a constant frustration for them. Most Clubs around the world use a two tee start and so the Players Committee and Pro-shop staff can see no reason why we should not also give it a trial. Reference to the following table will show the positive impact of a two tee start over a three tee start.

 
 3 Tee    2 Tee
 Men am = 56 tee times   Men am = 72 tee times
 Men pm  = 96 tee times Men pm = 96 tee times
 Total tee times = 152 Total tee times = 168

As you can see an extra 16 tee off times are created . We have had 28 new Men members join since April so we have quite a high demand for tee times on the Mens only Club Competition field of the week

To make this trial work it will be essential for players to pay due regard to their pace of play and be prepared to play ready golf. The keen eyed amongst you may also have spotted that we have increased the gap between tee off times from seven minutes to eight minues, which should also help!

Men’s Committee

June 2018

Tauranga Golf Club
http://www.taurangagolf.co.nz
07 578 8465
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