Monday, June 17, 2013

Hills International, Jimboomba game June 16th 2013.

The Fab 4 hit the country.

Well it was just like the return of the Fab 4 to Australia, with Troy (John L) Dan (Paul Mc) Ash (George H) & Ken (Ringo) taking the country by storm again, with a four way split (all on 37 points) well done gents, it just seems so unfair that one person gets 5 points on the table & Ringo only gets one. I’m sure he’ll have a chuckle to himself whilst adjusting the handicaps.

15 was a very good showing for our venture to Jimboomba, so a big thanks to all of you for putting the effort in especially as the temperature was on the low side during the first hour or so.
The course I think pleased all players and despite offering no bail out positions on some of the water holes Judith was managing some great shots to clear the dreaded wet stuff & says she’d like lots more like it in the future.

Jimboomba I think from the general talk will be on the calendar for next year, I just hope that the yellow markers are in play again, if you stood on some of those tee’s & looked backwards to the white tees it started to look a bit spooky & how anyone could play off the blue ones, I don’t know?

Here are the results for Hills:

1st place on 37pts – Troy Grimshaw
2nd place on 37pts – Dan Williams
3rd place on 37pts – Ashutosh Misra
(Missing out on count back for 3rd was Ken Greedy)

NTP on the 8th – Ian Smith
NTP on the 13th – David Coster
Men’s L/D 18th – Ian Smith
Ladies L/D 18th – not taken

Next game we will storm Gailes in celebration of Bastille Day on the 14th of July. (Bring a baguette to put your clubette’s in)

Regards,
Paul (Captain)

P.S. We had an approach from the club marshal on the day stating he had to give a couple of our groups the hurry along as they were holding up the field. Can we all please be mindful of the time we take please & don’t forget:
Pick up your ball if you cannot score,
Walk briskly to your ball & if possible prepare whilst your partners are playing (pick the right club, pick your line etc) & be ready to hit as soon as it is your turn.
When putting please make as many guesstimates for length & line as soon as you get to the green (not just when it’s your turn to putt) only be aware that you do not disturb the player putting at the time.
When approaching the green work out where the next hole starts & put your bags toward the next logical exit of the green, so that you do not have to walk back to the front of the green to pick it up when your group has finished (this means you have cleared the green quicker & the group behind can play on)

I’m sure there are many more, but basically try to keep up with the group in front & we won’t go far wrong.

Thanks.



Thursday, June 13, 2013

Improving the Pace of Play

In having a quite small membership of our social club we are quite fortunate.
We do not have to wait for hours after our round for the final group to finish and we can usually get around the course quite briskly, get the presentations done, then get on with our Sunday.
Speeding up the pace of play is a huge problem for the professional tours. That is probably understandable where Professional's income is on the line. It should not be a problem for amateur players and absolutely should not be a problem for our social golf club.
It is not a huge problem for our members, however there is no doubt that we can be guilty on occasions.
The USGA has launched a "While We're Young" campaign featuring Annika Sorenstam, Paula Creamer, Arnold Palmer, Tiger Woods and Clint Eastwood. Have a look at the videos :-). They offer some useful tips to speed up the play.

For our club, I think the main things we can do are:
  • Speak up - let players know (in a polite way) that the player or the group needs to speed up.
  • Pick up your ball - there is a reason we are playing stableford and not stroke. If you can't score on a hole, there is no shame in picking your ball up and assisting your group finish the hole. "I need the practice" is not a reasonable excuse - that should happen away from our social event.
Let's not turn this into an issue for the club.

Ian