Apollo Air Individual Stableford Friday December 7th 2018

Well done Tony, low handicap and very consistent over the year!

 

.

Sorry for the late posting, but had no internet connection until 4.30 Sunday.

A lovely spell of good weather over the last few weeks continued for the 40 golfers in the last qualifier for the annual championship. A bit like the formula one system where each race is very prestigious, but the overall championship is the target. Only one or two were still in the frame for the main prize, but everyone had a chance in the December stableford. But in the end, Tony Andrews didn’t have to post a score as the challengers failed to deliver – Tony is the annual champion!

Well done to Gabbi Buch who had a great scorer to win on the day, and also thanks to our ever-reliable Tanya Seckington for being our starter!

No ladies prize today, only 3 entries.

.

Apollo Air winner

Gabbi Buch (21.3)…………………………………………………………………………45pts

 

1st division

1st     Roy Winter (7.8)…………………………………………………………………42pts

2nd    Jim Chapman (11.6)………………………………………………………….36pts

3rd     Michael Ryder (10.4)………………………………………………………..36pts

 

2nd division

1st   Alicia Saunders (23.9)………………………………………………………….42 pts

2nd  Neil Simpson (18.2)…………………………………………………………….37pts  (on countback)

3rd   Jim Hershaw (16.4)……………………………………………………………..37pts

 

.Annual trophy

 

1st Tony Andrews………………………………………………………………………..190 pts

2nd Shaun Cairney………………………………………………………………………188pts

3rd  Blair Johnstone…………………………………………………………………….183pts

 

.

Gabbi must have played like Nicklaus for 45 points!

.

Well done Roy, 1st division winner…………..

.

no ladies prize but Alicia still in the winner’s circle……………

.

 

Three away days are planned for 2019 – at Lorca, Desert Springs and Aguilon. The first is at Lorca on Monday January 21st, first tee time 11 a.m.. The price is 40€ to include the green fee, buggy, 2€ sweep, bacon bap and coffee on arrival and coach transfer. The bus will leave Al Kasar at 9 a.m. Also included is a packed lunch. A deposit of 20€ will confirm your place or if you are not on site a definite commitment by email with the date of your arrival (when the deposit must be paid). The trip is for the first 40 golfers, plus approximately 15 wives/partners who will go to the Lorca shopping centre.

.

The next is Monday June 3rd at Desert Springs (11 a.m. first tee off). The price is 50€ to include green fee, buggy, range balls, packed lunch and coach travel, leaving Al Kasar at 08. 30 a.m. Breakfast, burger & chips or buffet may be possible but is not included. Again, 20€ deposit is required from the first 40 players (same rules as before) and 15 wives/partners who will go to Mojacar for the day.

.

The last venue is Aguilon on October 7th (maximum 40 golfers, first tee from 11.18 a.m). Price 45€ with deposit required as above. Included is the green fee, buggy, packed lunch and coach return. Departing Al Kasar at 09.30 a.m. again 15 wives/partners going to Aguilas town.

.

The new rules brought in by The Royal & Ancient will be active from January !st 2019, so if anyone is able to bring over a few of the new rule books the committee will be most grateful.

Next week I will post a summary of the main changes – I will copy John Brown’s post from the Camposol Gazette which seems to cover the main points. Hope you don’t mind John, your comments will be so useful.

.

A joke to finish with…………………………………..

.

Paddy was on his deathbed and knew the end was near. His nurse , his wife, his daughter and two sons are with him at his home in Belfast. He asks for 2 independent witnesses to be present and a camcorder be in place to record his last wishes. When all is ready he begins to speak.

‘My son, Seamus, I want you to take the houses in Cultra. My daughter, Geraldine, you take the apartments over in Malone Road. My son Patrick junior – I want you to take the offices in the city centre. Bridget, my dear wife, please take all the residential properties on the upper Lisburn Road’.

The nurse and the witnesses are blown away. They did not realise the extent of Paddy’s wealth. As he slips away, the nurse says to the wife ‘ Mrs O’Shaughnessy, my deepest condolences – your husband must have been such a hard working and wonderful man to have accumulated all this property.’

‘Property?’ his wife replies. ‘the fecker had a window cleaning round!’

.

Barry

Read Full Post »

4 Person Team Friday November 30th 2018

Lots of sunshine, but golfers were wrapped up well against the stiff breeze. 36 players made up 9 teams of 4, with 3 scores to count at each hole. Friday was back to the start of winter golf with the first group out being 10.00 (not 09.00). The reason for this is to avoid delays when the course is hit by early morning frost (not due just yet!). Thanks to Fiona Keating for acting as starter this week.

.

1st     Dave Wareing, Tom Toner, Roy Winter, Shaun Cairney………………………114pts

2nd   Sven Erik & Ellen Gulbrandsen, Andrew & Torild Lailey………………………109pts

 

.

Dave, Shaun, Alicia, Roy and Phil…………………

.

 

Next week if the final Apollo Air individual stableford of 2018 and the annual champion will be crowned!

.

Christmas is nearly here but do we have some cultural differences between nations?

.

 

.

Barry

Read Full Post »

Dublin Crystal Individual Stableford Friday November 23rd 2018

Tony wins the last Dublin Crystal event of 2018 – can he also hold onto his lead in the final Apollo Air in two weeks time?

 

.

A few spots of rain but no wind for the 50 players in the 4th Dublin Crystal of 2018. There were some really good scores and perhaps Roy Winter thought his 43 points would be easily good enough, but he was just beaten by Tony Andrews’ better back nine. Thanks to our ever reliable starter, Tanya Seckington, and also to Iain and Christine Lawson, who have donated biscuits and sweets as prizes for the raffle in the run up to Christmas.

 

Overall

1st      Tony Andrews (7.4)…………………………………………………..43pts (on countback)

2nd     Roy Winter (9.1)………………………………………………………..43pts

 

1st division

1st      Terry Burgess (9.7)…………………………………………………….40pts

2nd     Bernard West (13.7)………………………………………………….38pts

3rd     Ricky Comber (11.7)…………………………………………………..35pts (on countback)

 

2nd division

1st      Colin Lloyd (13.9))……………………………………………………..34pts (on countback)

2nd    Iain Lawson (26.7)………………………………………………………34pts

3rd     Philip Aitkin (17.1)……………………………………………………..32pts (on countback)

 

Ladies

1st      Alicia Saunders (24.0)………………………………………………..37pts

.2nd    Fran Hobson (18.6)……………………………………………………36pts (on countback)

 

.

a great round from Roy wasn’t quite good enough……………………

.

Terry keeps up his winning run……………………..

.

Colin didn’t think his score had a chance, but here he is………………

.

There were 9 ladies………….some great scores and 4 of them had better scores than the division 2 winner but had to compete in their own division. Alicia’s was the best and as she is on ALL the photos no need for an individual one!

.

I played with 3 great guys – Brian Walker was our scratch golfer playing off zero (he hadn’t got enough rounds in this year). Don Henry hasn’t played with us for over 6 months due to his involvement with the Mazarron bowls club, but he hasn’t lost anything – he still played exactly the same as he did before! Neil Simpson is Neil, you don’t know what to expect and lots of low hooks finish down the middle, while other specialities found places that no one has been before. Great company played in the spirit that golf should be played!

.

Don and Brian have not been here for some time but most welcome………..

.

Neil looks for his ball on undiscovered land between the 1st and 2nd holes. Jack Nicklaus never thought to put an out-of-bounds stake over there – that’s why it is full of snakes, lizards and spiders etc. Neil should have shouted ‘I’m a celebrity, get me out of here!’

.

.

 

Neil found A fairway over the water on 11, but this was the 12th……

.

the birds on the 11th green didn’t bother to move for Neil’s second shot. Mind you, they didn’t move for any of our tee shots either!

.

Neil has a different stance for putting as opposed to a tee shot….

.

Next week is a 4 person team event, 3 to count at each hole.

.

Paddy thought his new girlfriend might be the one he could settle down with. But after looking through her knicker drawer and finding a nurse’s uniform, a French maid’s outfit and a policewoman’s uniform he decided that if she couldn’t hold down a job she wasn’t the one for him.

.

Barry

 

 

Read Full Post »

Kevin Smith 4 Person Team Friday November 16th 2018

no buggies allowed today……………………….

.

 

41 players this week, made up 11 teams in Kevin’s special event, but there were problems caused by the recent rains which entailed moving some players between teams. With no buggies allowed on the course some were unable to walk the course and had to withdraw. A minimum of 3 players per team were required to compete and allowances for this were made. Overcast from the start, but very still with no wind and no rain – until 12.30 when the heavens opened. Players needed all their winter gear from back home, waterproofs, umbrellas, towels and dry gloves.

.

Still some good scores though (and some bad ones!), The winners were husband and wife partnerships from Barry (Wales) and Oslo (Norway) where rain is not unknown!

.

 

1st      Colin Lloyd, Lynda Lloyd, Andrew Lailey, Torild Lailey……………………….116pts

2nd     Tommy Toner, Shaun Cairney, Roy Winter, Terry Burgess………………..115pts

3rd      Kevin Smith, Chris McAllister, Noel Brady, Anthony Keating……………113pts

 

.

Kevin presents the new trophy to the winners……..

.

The society is on a healthy financial footing, so the decision has been made to replace practically all our trophies. Also the CDA Golf Society Facebook page has been closed down – it was merely replicating the information which can be found on this blog.

.

The heavy clouds opened as this group got to the 12th, you can see the lake in front of the green that wasn’t there on Wednesday!

.

.

Another disaster occurred at Mar Menor, where their buggy shed was struck by lightning on Wednesday night causing the loss of 10 buggies, Fortunately the rest of the buggies were out of harm’s way in the underground store. La Torre and Saurines also suffered course damage, so no  buggies in use at any of the 6 courses.

.

Next week is the 4th Dublin Crystal individual stableford of the year.

.

As it rained a lot this week, and Christmas is coming, here is a joke combining the two!

.

A Russian couple was walking down the street in St Petersburg when the man felt a drop hit his nose. “I think it’s raining,” he said to his wife.

“No, that felt more like snow to me.” She replied.
“No, I’m sure it was just rain, “ he said. They were about to have a major argument when they saw a communist party official walking towards them.

“Let’s not fight about it, “the man said.” Let’s ask Comrade Rudolph whether it’s officially raining or snowing”.

As the official approached, the man said “Tell us, Comrade Rudolph whether it is officially raining or snowing?”

“It’s raining of course,” he answered and walked on. But the woman insisted “I know that felt like snow!”

To which the man replied quietly, “Rudolph the Red knows rain, dear!”

.

 

Barry

 

 

Read Full Post »

Pairs Stableford Friday November 9th 2018

a lovely November day on Condado…………………

.

This week I was going to call the conditions ‘blustery’ but the players remarked that it was much worse than that – gale force was the term used! The greens were quite testy after being rolled, so once the wind got your putt it just decided to do it’s own thing! Nevertheless, there were 6 teams within 2 shots at the top of the leaderboard. 56 players today.

Thanks again to Liz Beaton for acting as starter.

 

.

1st      Philip Aitkin & Stephen Bell…………………………………….44pts

2nd    Nigel Howson & Tony Andrews……………………………..43pts (on countback)

3rd    Colin Lloyd & Lynda Lloyd……………………………………….43pts (on countback)

 

.

Stephen and Philip, this week’s winners…………

.

no calm lake on 11 today……………

.

 

Next week is a special event, the Kevin Smith team challenge which is a 4 person stableford competition.

.

Barry

 

Read Full Post »

Seniors Trophy Friday October 26th 2018

Terry is our seniors champion for 2018………

.

It gets more competitive every year, as our seniors keep surviving but the young whippersnappers (minimum age 55) keep adding to the numbers! Maybe we need a super- seniors division adding for those over 70 who can still walk? This week concluded a week with 3 shotgun starts, 264  players on Friday, Tuesday and Friday.

Of the 80 players, just 12 of them did NOT qualifying for the seniors. Much brighter weather than the forecast, Thanks to Peter Reeves for collecting the 2 euros this week. Sandy and Dorothy Simpson have sponsored this competition since it’s inception, and I am sure they are following events closely from their new home in Australia.

.

 

Seniors

1st     Terry Burgess (11.4)……………………………………………………………42pts

2nd    Karen Simpson (22.6)…………………………………………………………38pts

.

1st division

1st      Paddy McKee (13.7)………………………………………………………….38pts (on countback)

2nd     Robert Beaton (10.5)………………………………………………………..38pts  (on countback)

3rd      Nigel Howson (10.2)………………………………………………………..38pts

.

2nd division

1st     Jan Bosch (20.3)…………………………………………………………………..36pts (on countback)

2nd    Arve Schmidt (22.8)…………………………………………………………….36pts

3rd    John Killeen (20.1)………………………………………………………………..35pts (on countback)

.

Ladies

Astri Spieler (14.1)……………………………………………………………………………36pts

.

 

Nearest pin

17th………………………………………………………….Dave Lloyd

8th (in two)……………………………………………..Davie McDonald

.

Aggregates

Par 3’s………………………………………………………Liv Haland

Par 5’s………………………………………………………Astri Spieler

.

well done Paddy winning the 1st division………….

.

Jan Bosch won the second division……………..

.

Astri won the ladies AND the par 5 aggregate…..

.

Liv was best on the par 3’s

.

Fran was the best ‘junior’ !

.

I don’t like to get up in the dark to play golf. but I did see the sunrise…………………….

.

Strange? early morning sunrise and still a full moon?

.

Sunday morning the clocks went back (have you done it?) but winter starts with the sun going down early.

.

Hundreds of mature trees on the course, but Barry Answer was stymied by the only one that had a string holding it up? So he got a free drop………..

.

We have an away day to Valle del Este on Monday, bus departing Al Kasar at 08.30 – arrive in good time. Try to look like a team on the day with the new blue society shirts.

 

Next week is the November Apollo Air individual stableford.

 

.

Barry

 

Read Full Post »

Viking Cup (part two)

So many photos, here are some more – no names, you know who you are……………..

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Maybe the last few tomorrow……………………

 

Barry

 

Read Full Post »