Good Morning.

Another great golfing week with a hard and fast course to play on.

Yesterday we hosted the 4th round of College Sport Wellington's golf competition.  The final round is next week.

The Back 9 will be open for bookings. Please check the booking sheet and don't just turn up and start in the middle of the field. 

Our 4 men's interclub teams all played on Saturday for 3 home wins and a hard fought away loss.  Reports below.

The Holland Cup qualifying round is on next Sunday 9 March with Entries closing on Friday 7 March at 5pm.  More information below.

The old chestnut of slow play reared its head again on Saturday with all 3 home interclub matches taking too long to complete.  This was frustrating for a lot of the players in the teams and even more so for those members and visitors stuck behind us. More information below in the Rules section

Competition Results

The Clubday Stableford on Sunday 2 March was won by Terry Bastion on 42 points from Gary Wellbelove on 41 points. 

Leading the Order of Merit after 5 rounds out of 12 by some margin is Gary Wellbelove with 153 points.

Miners Arms - this event finished on Friday 28 February with 2 pairs equal top on 134 points over the 3 rounds. Well done to Ian Dumbleton & Phil Hartley and Victor Diem and Trung Le. There will be a playoff to decide the winners at a mutually agreed date.

Upcoming Events

Holland Cup - This is our premier match play trophy outside of the club championships.  This trophy has been played for in its current edition since 1971. The qualifying round (nett medal) will be played on Sunday 9th March with match play rounds played over the following 4 weeks if you keep winning.

Please go to the Club website Events page to enter. 

Entries close this Friday 7 March at 5pm.  No late entries

Monthly Medal - Sunday 9th March. Enter when you print your card if you are not playing in the Holland Cup

Grant Keats Trophy - Round 2 will be played on 9th March in conjunction with the Monthly Medal. Those who played in round 1 will automatically entered for round 2.

Men's Interclub

Our 4 men's interclub teams all played on Saturday 1 March.

Division 2 :

A great result for Div2 at home against Martinborough, Karori winning 10.5 to 4.5. Some great wins, and nobody had a loss of more than 1down, which shows how tight the matches were. Player of the day was Grant Pollard who took on a 3 handicapper and won 8/6. Fantastic to see the partnerships of Isaac with Joe and Will with Jon, coming away with a clean sweep of 3 points. Best comeback was Isaac coming from 4 down, playing his last 8 holes 1 under the card, to win 2up. Funniest part of my day was watching Trevor Brown as usual hitting a cracking shot into the 6th, landing just past the hole, taking two bounces and spinning back and into - the wrong hole. (Deane)

Division 5 :

Div 5 had a 8.5 to 6.5 home win over a tough Carterton team on Saturday, in good but windy conditions. Singles wins to Keith Atkinson, Graham Black, Russell Turner, Mike Wood (who won the last 2 holes to win 1 up) and Richard Potter (best win of the day 5/4). The four balls were halved - a result that leaves us 0.5 points behind Boulcott who had a big win at home. We go again next week at Judgeford, which is the halfway point of the season. It's great to be contending at the top of the table. Thanks as always to the green's and clubhouse staff for making us an enjoyable place to visit for our guests. The feedback is always positive. (Russell)

Division 9 :

Won 8 to 7 against Trentham at home. Player of the day was Tony Nguyen with a 6/4win. Also mentioned are Wayne Cook and Eric McAuley with 5/4 wins. (Mike)

Division 12 :

Division 12 played at Judgeford and came away with a very respectable 9.5 - 5.5 loss. Most matches were pretty close, but there was one 'outstanding' 9/8 win from Gary Wellbelove (watch out Div 2!!). The two Geoffs (Parr and Lee) teamed up really well with decisive wins in their matches and four ball. Everyone had to work hard at Judgeford this week, with very dry fairways and super-fast greens to manage. We are all looking forward to a home game next week! (Gail)

Pace of Play

Being stuck behind a group of slow players and having to wait to play your next shot is one of the most frustrating things in golf.  After suffering another painfully slow round of interclub on Saturday I thought it would be a good time for us all to be thinking about what we can do to help speed up the pace of play.

A four ball should be able to get around the Karori course in 4 hours 15 minutes without rushing.

For example:

• Each player in a four-ball takes an average of 5 seconds less to play each shot
• Each player plays 80 shots
• 80 shots x 5 seconds x 4 players = 26 minutes and 40 seconds

That means that, ignoring all other variables, the four-ball would play in 26 minutes and 40 seconds less time simply by shaving off an average of 5 seconds per shot.

It is important that you keep up with the group in front.  At times you may fall behind due time looking for balls etc, but it is the groups responsibility to catch up again

Marshalling will continue and get tougher on those falling behind

Below is a section from The Rules of Golf

Rule 5.6b

Prompt Pace of Play

A round of golf is meant to be played at a prompt pace.Each player should recognize that their pace of play is likely to affect how long it will take other players to play their rounds, including both those in the player’s own group and those in following groups.Players are encouraged to allow faster groups to play through.

(1) Pace of Play Recommendations. The player should play at a prompt pace throughout the round, including the time taken to:

• Prepare for and make each stroke,
• Move from one place to another between strokes, and
• Move to the next teeing area after completing a hole.

A player should prepare in advance for the next stroke and be ready to play when it is their turn.When it is the player’s turn to play:

• It is recommended that the player make the stroke in no more than 40 seconds after they are (or should be) able to play without interference or distraction, and
• The player should usually be able to play more quickly than that and is encouraged to do so.

(2) Playing Out of Turn to Help Pace of Play. Depending on the form of play, there are times when players may play out of turn to help the pace of play:

• In match play, the players may agree that one of them will play out of turn to save time (see Rule 6.4a Exception).
• In stroke play, players may play “ready golf” in a safe and responsible way (see Rule 6.4b(2)).

Graham Black

Club Captain