Well- 4 months into our 9 month stay on the Algarve and I am wondering how the time has passed by so quickly! I’m sure its to do with the old saying “Time fly’s when your having fun”.
So, what’s happened in these 4 months-
If we start with the Easter Festival which was really well attended and was once again superbly well organised by Rui and the team. A big hats off to Rui and we look forward to the GSA highlight on the calendar the Autumn Festival –
Please see below a summary of the Easter Results
Good Friday Texas Scramble Team
1st 56.1
SIMON GALVIN
EDWARD GALVIN
RICHARD PEAKE
JULIO MARCELA
2nd 56.7
BRIAN MATTHEWS
BRENDAN MURPHY
BOB HART
SHANE COSTELLO
3rd 58.2
ANN DE JONG
RUSS WILSON
DUNCAN LEOPOLD
MICHAEL ABBOTT
4th 59.4
JOOST BOLLEN
PAUL GIBSON
NEIL COLE
GEORGE RALPH
Easter Saturday- The Stock Pot
1st 47pts C/B
BOB HART, SHANE COSTELO
2nd 47pts
MICHAEL ABBOTT, HALLDOR HALLDORSSON
3rd 45pts C/B
DUANE WESSELS, RIE CHERUBINI
4th 45pts
ANN DE JONGH, RUSS WILSON
Easter Sunday- Dubai Stableford
1st Place 112pts C/B
FRANCISCO BORGES
SHANE COSTELLO
PAUL LESTER
PATRICK NOONE
2nd place 112pts
TREVOR MORRIS
LINDA MORRIS
TERRY MURPHY
ROY GARDINER
3rd place 111pts
ALAN POOLEY
GLORIA POOLEY
MICHAEL HUSSEY
PAULA HUSSEY
4thplace 110pts C/B
JOHN BRODIE
ANDREW PRESSWELL
MIGUEL SANTOS
MARIAN TROTT
Easter Monday- AM AM
1st 92pts
SHEILA FLEMING
STEPHEN FLEMING
PAUL BROWN
STEPH BROWN
2nd 90pts
THOMAS KARLSTROM
JILL KARLSTROM
LENNART ANDERSSON
EVA LENA ANDERSSON
3rd 84pts
FRANK SHARP
BEN DAVIES
GILES FOX
DUNCAN LEOPOLD
4th 83pts
DAVID WALLING
MARGARET WALLING
TREVOR MORRIS
LINDA MORRIS
A huge well done to all the prize-winners and everyone for taking part in a great event
On the 26th April we had the Taca Liberdade (Liberty Day in Portugal). It appears that the winners don’t want to let go of the trophy as once again for the third time in 4 years Foxy ,Bobby, Rie and Duane were the Victors- Hopefully next year they will give the rest of us a chance !!!!!
Moving on we have had the Captain v Vice Captain and the Past Captains Trophy in the month of May and I’m sad to report that Brian’s team gave my team a good old fashioned hiding !!!!
This was followed up the next week by the Past Captains Trophy. Another really well attended event with plenty of wine flowing in the Evening ! Our congratulations go to our 2011 Captain, Graham Harries and his team. Having played for Bob Harts team for the past 5 years I look forward to putting in my own team in for next years event !
On to June and we had the Club Championships on the weekend of 15th/16th. For those who played you will understand how windy the conditions were and congratulations to all those who battled it out for an extremely tough 36 holes. As for the Results we have 2 brand new Champions to go up on the Champions Board- Barry Pussell and Rie Cherubini and my warmest congratulations to both of you and you will no doubt be back next year to defend your hard earned titles.
Also in June we had Members day- Again really well attended with Music and Dancing into the Evening. With regard to the winners I am delighted to report that Chico, Foxy, Bobby and I were the victors pipping the Vice Captains team into 2nd place (Revenge is sweet after the Captain v Vice drubbing I received !).
With regard to other matters of the Club- I am delighted to report that the Junior Initiative that was started earlier this year is moving from strength to strength with full attendance each week and Rui’s Tigers are all showing signs of Improvement under his watchful eye. A great tribute to Rui’s dedication and a big pat on the pack to all our members as essentially you are all funding this through our weekly competitions. Also a big thankyou to Paul Mott for a very generous donation which has been used to purchase very smart Golf shirts for the regular Juniors.
A special thankyou to Bob Woodworth for his expertise in sourcing and installing our new “Warning Light” on the 6th Hole. I’m sure you will agree that this is an invaluable safety addition to our course. Please remember to press the button on departure from the tee and don’t forget to hit the “I’M SAFE BUTTON” just short of the Green !
Please look out for the August edition of Tomorrow Magazine as we have a piece in there outlining our ‘Water Bottle Initiative’ and the reduction of single use plastics. A huge thankyou to Foxy for getting this super idea off the ground and I think that you will all agree that the filling station after 9 holes is a great bonus !
For those of you who are lucky enough to still be in the Annual Knockout Comps, please try to organise your matches at your earliest convenience. Sadly, I have to look forward to next years knockouts having been beaten in the Singles by the “Flying Dutchman” Eduard Daman and then Bobby and I got another good hiding from John (I can’t loose my ball) Elliot, and Ivor (Elvis) Newland in the doubles !
I will be putting the Starting Sheets up this week for Captains Day on Friday 13th September and I look forward to seeing as many of you that can make it. I am pleased to confirm that Ray Van Quentin will be entertaining us in the Evening and I’m sure it will be a cracking day.
Lastly- we have had queries with regards to Handicaps, mainly cutting within the General play rule 3.16. As you will be aware we play fewer qualifiers than other clubs in the Algarve and pride ourselves on having a good club atmosphere. Playing a lot of team events helps create this. However, we need to be vigilant within our team games to ensure we create a fair playing field within our club and others. Looking at the team results over a period of time guides us to observe a player/players who could be ELIGIBLE for a handicap reduction or increase. The handicap committee recently attended a lengthy meeting with the Portuguese Golf Federation who fully support our use of rule 3.16 and agree that we have, and will continue to do so, implement the rule correctly. We intend to play more qualifiers in future.
Enjoy the rest of the Summer and look forward to seeing you all shortly,
Warmest Regards
Macca
