Member News – 15 October 2021

Weekly Update – from Club Captain Phil Barlow

Club Champs Update

The finals for the women’s club champs were played last weekend with some great golf taking place. Julie Jones has a round-up of that below.

Ladies Club Championship Results

• Senior Champion: Debbie Scott (1 up) - Runner Up: Liz Warren
• Bronze A winner: Kelly Nicholls (9/8) - Runner Up: Helen McKay
• Bronze B winner: Annette Hooper (6/5) - Runner Up: Kath Sullivan
• Senior Plate winner: Lynn Brand (4/3) - Runner Up: Jo McNicholl
• Bronze A Plate winner: Ranee Morgan (1up on 19^th) - Runner Up: Jill O'Neill
• Bronze B Plate: Alison Lynch (8/6) - Runner Up: Anne Beckingsale

Congratulations to the winners and to all the ladies who played in Saturdays Finals.

The day started out fine at 8am for the two 36-hole matches. Debbie and Liz, Kelly and Helen. Liz was 2 up at the turn and 1 up after 18 holes. Kelly took the lead early and was 8 up after 18. She held onto her lead to win 9/8. Debbie and Liz battled through the next 18 holes to finish on the 36th hole all square. Debbie going on to win on the 37th. A great match.

All matches having been played in great spirit. Thank you to the Caddies and all the members that came out and supported the players on Saturday. Much appreciated.  Julie Jones

Men’s Club Champs update

The men’s club champs also had a round last weekend with the quarter finals taking place. There will be a break until 6 November now when the semi-finals will take place to allow the greens to get back to their normal state. Results to date are on the notice board in the Pro Shop.

Reminder dates for men’s club champs are:

• Semi-finals – 6 November
• Finals – 13 November

If you were a winner of a cup, trophy or plate from the 2020 Club Champs, can you please return it to the Pro Shop as soon as possible, so they can be presented to this year’s winners on finals day.

Results for Saturday 9 October

The ladies not in the club champs finals had a Stroke round with the following results:

1. Marguerite Leitch (71 nett)
2. Victoria Webb-Smart (75 nett)
3. Valerie Wood (75 nett)

The men who were not playing in club champs had a Stableford round and with the lower numbers there were only 2 divisions. Results were:

Div. 1

1. Pedro Jung (37pts)
2. Matt O’Carroll (37 pts)
3. Andrew Lee (36 pts)
4. Scott van Lieshout (36 pts)
5. Alan Dickson (35 pts)

Div. 2

1. Archie Franks (40 pts)
2. Phil Stevenson (40 pts)
3. Iain Hamilton (38 pts)
4. David Ott (38 pts)
5. William Lin (38 pts)

Remember Saturday 23^rd October is a Shotgun round with starts at 8 am and 12:30pm. This is the Pink and Blue Cancer Charities Shotgun, so please let the Pro Shop know if you are keen to play and when so a draw can be arranged. The course will be closed to any other play until the afternoon round is complete.

Another reminder that the revised schedule for the coming weeks is hanging in the window of the Pro Shop as well as next to the computer in the corner where you login for your round.

Placing, Flags and other information

A gentle reminder too that we are still at Level 2 this weekend, so the same rules apply as last weekend. Please do not remove flags at any stage of your round. Rakes are in bunkers, and toilets, ball washers and water fountains are available to use.

Pro Tip by Craig Mitchell

Use the Tee Box to your advantage especially on our tree lined course

If you fade the ball off the tee, set the ball up on the right-hand side of the tee box, it will give more angle and visually a better look in your mind’s eye. 

Do the opposite if you draw the ball, tee up on the left side of the tee. This advice really works!

Other points to note

We have had some complaints about slow rounds lately, so just a reminder about of things to help speed up your round a bit.

• Walk briskly to your ball after teeing off and between shots
• Play ready golf – have your practice swings while others are playing their shot so you are ready once they have finished
• If you are falling behind, move on to the next tee after finishing a hole
• Write scores down at the next tee, don’t stand around the green
• Don’t leave bags and trundlers at the front of the green, move them towards the next tee
• You only have 3 minutes to look for a ball. If you are unsure if your ball is in play, hit a provisional from the tee
• Most importantly – keep up with the group in front, not ahead of the group behind. If you are losing ground, make the effort to speed up, or you will be asked to skip a hole

Final note, thanks to all who are diligent in filling divots and repairing pitch marks. It does make a difference and I am sure those who “forget” to do those repairs secretly thank you for your efforts!

Enjoy your golf.

Coring Week

It has been a far from ideal week for our annual renovation with horrendous weather on Tuesday and Wednesday. It has been too wet to put sand on until today so this will continue in the coming week. Despite the challenges the boys have done a great job and the greens will recover very quickly. We have also had the asphalt contractors here this week with plans to extend paths on holes 1, 4, 7, 9 & 10. The weather has impacted their progress also but hopefully some of these holes will be completed before Saturday. There may be some disruption next week whilst they complete the planned holes so, please bear with us if some tees are temporarily moved.

Armstrong Motor Group Twilight Series 2 2021

The 2^nd series of 2021 Twilight start on Tuesday October 26^th with a multi-tee start at 6pm. The details are the same as in previous series with it being a 6-week series, a $10 entry fee for all players, 4 from 6 scores counting towards series prizes, weekly prizes and catering and bar being available. Bookings will be essential as will be limited to 48 players each week on one of our 9’s.

Midweek Men Results – from Simon Hubble

Date:               Monday 11^th October - Irish Stableford

Division One

1^st:       Phil Stevenson                       83

2^nd:      Kevin Pritchard                      73

3^rd.       Tomas Hruby                         71

Division Two

1^st:       Eric Wilson                             75

2^nd:      Alastair Christie                     73

3^rd:       Jin Ok Kim                              71

Yellow Tee

1^st:       Derek Rastrick                        80

Date:               Thursday 14^th October

Game:             Combined Pairs Stableford – Russley Golf Course

Results next week

Senior Men’s Interclub – Manager’s Reports

Simon Cup – from Guy Chambers

It was another tough day last Sunday, playing top of the table Waitikiri off the black markers at Christchurch. The new look Christchurch course was well presented, and the greens were well paced, extremely true and played long off the back tees. Some good matches but we came out on the wrong side of a 7-1 result. Conrad Harle and Doug Claridge had their work cut out at 1 and 2 losing 2/1 and 3/1. Otis Holland came up against ex Harewood player Scott Sibley and lost 3/1. David White ground out a half as did Terry Coleman. Andy Lee lost 3/1 and I lost 1 down after leading my match most of the way (disappointed with myself) and Kerry Lake couldn't get a break and lost 5/4., Next weekend we have 36 holes at Templeton so a long day ahead. Any support would be welcome.

Blank Cup – from Neville Bamford

Last Sunday the team had home advantage in Rounds 8 & 9 against Christchurch in the morning and Rangiora in the pm. The course was in magnificent condition on a stunner of a day. It is fair to say that our golf didn’t match the conditions with heavy losses in both games. Against Christchurch the matches were quite tight, but their players managed to close out the close ones for a 5 ½ to 2 ½ win. Solid wins went to Cam Giddens 4&2 and Phil Barlow 5&3, plus a half to Brad Edmonston. If we were disappointed with the morning result, then worse was to come with a surprise 6 2 defeat to 9^th placed Rangiora. Big wins 6&4 to both Adam Highfield and Colin Posa were all we had to show for a poor display overall. A big thanks to Patron Dave Shipley who tried to offer support, on course and over a beer! We still sit in 5^th place but need to beat Waimairi Beach this Sunday at Clearwater to have any chance of reaching finals day. If you fancy an early morning stroll we would welcome any support from 8:00am.

Woodward Cup - from Gavin O’Hara

Last Sunday the Team headed of for rounds 8 & 9 at Pegasus. First up was one of this year’s favourites, Templeton. The team put up a great fight but they were just too strong man for man and we went down 6-2. Mike Toeke lost to Matt McLean 3/2; Dan Laughton bt Kerry Branson 5/4; Ryan Bellamy bt Ryan Barham 6/4; Nick Franzmann bt Gavin O’Hara 7/5; Tom Wilson bt Dan Lundt 1 up; Josh Simpson halved with Sam Watkinson; Jordon Latter halved with Harry Weeds; Sam McGill bt Scott Manyweathers 3/2.

In the afternoon we were up against Christchurch – 2 evenly matched teams and the final score showed that with a 4-4 draw. Matt McLean bt Michael Anderson 6/4; Kerry Branson bt Finlay Jones 2 up; Scott Manyweathers lost to Richard Reed 1 down; Harry Weeds bt Mika MacDonald 4/3; Dan Lundt lost to Jason Sincock 2/1; Sam Watkinson bt John Rademakers 3/2; Ryan Barham lost to Sam Hindle 3/2; Gavin O’Hara lost to Charles Whitwham 2 down.

Harewood now lie 5^th in the table and 3 points behind Russley in fourth. Harewood need to win their final 2 games and hope Russley have an off day to stand any chance of making the top 4.