A MESSAGE FROM THE CAPTAIN - SEP 2008

As we are now more than half way through the season I would like to take this opportunity to update you with the results of our competitions so far.

Dominic O’Sullivan has progressed well over the past few months. During May and June he went on a “hot-streak” initially with a placing in the HDGU President’s Prize. This was followed by winning one of our new major status competitions – The Frank-Stuart Brown Trophy. Congratulations to Dominic and kind thanks to past captain David Spenley for donating the trophy in memory of Frank.

The President’s Salver was the first competition to be played during championship week. Adverse weather conditions prior to the first round allowed us to receive dispensation to invoke “winter rules” play, quite bizarre for summer championship golf! Many of our higher handicap golfers threatened to challenge after the first round but with a second round of 67 (net) and total score of 138 (net) junior member Seb Crawford secured the prize. As many members discussed their tales of woe in the comfort of the bar, Seb and his junior colleagues celebrated his success by practising on the putting green!

Dave Brecken maintained his hold on the Seniors Championship trophy with Graeme Ogilvie recording two excellent rounds to secure the “net” trophy. The proposal for a “veteran’s championship trophy” was supported by the committee and our first winner was regular seniors competitor, Fred Farthing.

This year the Men’s club championship (gross event) was by invitation to those golfers who had prequalified. A number of qualifiers declined the invitation but this did not deter from the excellent golf from those who competed. Under extremely difficult, windy, conditions Peter Brown led the field after the first round with a superb score of 72. An intense battle took place during the second round, John MacNamara had eradicated most of Peter’s lead during the first 9 holes, but Peter hung on until the last putt on the eighteenth hole. Play- Off! The first play off hole resulted in a par to each golfer, so when John “holed out” for par on the second and Peter’s putt narrowly missed, John secured the trophy. A splendid performance played in excellent spirit, by both golfers. John is the champion but congratulations must go to both players for providing an excellent golf competition.

Rudding Park hosted the Harrogate and District Junior Championships and the team of Tom Kitching, Tom Lee and Greg Archer secured the Bedale Bowl trophy for a second consecutive year. An excellent performance was also recorded by Sam Moulson, who won his best in age category. We received a great deal of praise from the Union executive for our hospitality and our commitment in making the event a success. Special thanks to those willing members (and Rudding Park staff) who helped throughout the day.

We are now looking for members who are able to help with the administrative and organisational side of the club by undertaking a committee role. A similar request has been placed on the notice-board so if you feel you could help please come forward.

In relation to on-course matters, a constant theme which occurs amongst golfers is pace of play. Following recent concerns expressed by several members that rounds of golf are taking far too long to complete the committee have considered the matter and have drafted an action plan to improve the situation. As an addition to this publication there is a letter containing considerations which can be taken to improve speed of play. In conjunction with this, the Etiquette section within the R and A publication Rules of Golf, provides further advice. I recognise the R and A booklet, issued free to all golfers earlier in the year, can be quite an intense read, however, the section to which I refer does not relate to complex or complicated rules, it merely seeks to offer all golfers with advice on how to help improve their on-course golfing experience taking due consideration for other players. I highly recommend all our golfers read both articles.

Our next important event within the golfing calendar is the Summer Knock-Out finals day to be held on Saturday 13 September. Good luck to everyone still involved. And finally, I hope everyone enjoys the remainder of the 2008 summer golf season.

Barry Whiteley,
Captain

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