2017: Indiv. Stableford (11.1.)

Venue: Bonalba Golf & Spa, 11 January 2017

We had a good turn-out today of 36 members for our Individual Stableford competition. The weather was kind to us. Whilst there is snow recorded in various Mediterranian countries, we enjoyed reasonable winter temperatures of around 16 degrees.

All in all it was a good golfing day. Over half of the players scored 30 points or more and it was good to see some different names on top of the winners’ list.  Congratulations for playing better than their handicap to Luc and Gordon and playing to their handicap or near it to Roger, Richard and Michael.  Today there was a choice of prizes. Apart from the normal bottles of wine there were also various boxes of sweet or savoury snacks on offer.

Today's competition also included the Vice-Captain’s Monthly Prize.  On this occasion, Gordon awarded the highest score on the four Par Five holes.  Les Wilkinson was the winner with a magnificent 10 points.

Summarising the rest of the results:

Nearest the pin:
Hole 4      Roger Hunger
Hole 8      Richard Davis
Hole 11    Jan Boultbee, taking pride that she managed to get even nearer the hole than Greta did
Hole 14    Bob Crow (not John G as announced at the prize giving and sorry Bob that you did not make the winners’ photo)

There was one two today. Jan had no problem in putting in on the 11^th.

 

The main competition results were as follows:
5^th place with 34 points off 11 hcp – Michael Davison
4^th place with 35 points off 10 hcp – Richard Davis
3^rd place with 36 points off 14 hcp – Roger Hunger
2^nd place with 37 points off 30 hcp – Gordon Burton
1^st place with 38 points off 21 hcp – Luc Verhaegen

2016: Indiv. Stableford (28.12.)

INDIVIDUAL STABLEFORD

It was not the best day for the sun but for many players it was an excellent day for scoring. In fact we had six members who scored 36 points and above and our resident guest Ninolito won the guest prize with 30 points off his handicap of 1. Unfortunately, we only had sixteen members playing which meant that three individual prizes were awarded instead of our customary five. The captain has to keep our treasurer happy some times.

Roger who is still complaining of his many aches and pains and Yan must have been very pleased with their 40 points each and possibly at one time they were wondering which one of them was going to take first place. However, Mike soon put a stop to that when he came in with a magnificent 45 points off his handicap of 17. Rest assured when he next visits us his handicap will have been severely cut.

There was a very exciting moment for the team playing with Eddy Fagg when a bottle of champagne looked highly likely as his ball skirted the 8th hole and came to rest 2" from the flag. Well played Eddy. Please make sure you are more accurate next time!

Summarising the Results

The guest prize was won by Ninolito

Nearest the Pins:-

Hole 4 Roger Hunger

Hole 8 Eddy Fagg

Hole 11 Brian Wakely

Hole 14 Greta Biersteker

We had 3 twos today:-

Hole 4 Nino Andres

Hole 8 Eddy Fagg

Hole 14 Mike Turner

The main competition results were as follows:-

6th place Greta Biersteker 36 points

5th place Brian Wakeley  36 points

4th place John Garnett 36 points

3rd place Roger Hunger 40 points

2nd place Yan Van Spellen 40 points 

1st place  Mike Turner 45 points

We look forward to seeing everyone back from their travels, ready, fit and able to play in our final medal competition of the season next week, on the 4th January.

2016: Indiv. Stableford (21.12.)

Venue: Bonalba Golf & Spa, 21 December 2016

Torrential rain during the last few days had caused for the course to be closed. So we were happy to find that the course was open again for our Wednesday Society competition. However, it was still too wet for buggies to be allowed on the course and one or two members had to drop out which gave us an attendance of 26 members and 2 guests.

 

The format today was Individual Stableford.  In addition to the normal prizes, we were also competing for the Vice-Captain’s Monthly Prize.  This time he stipulated the best score of the six middle holes 7 to 12.  The scores for this turned out to be very close and the the winner could only be established after countback of two more holes.  Well done Ray!

 

Looking at the main competition, Roger came in with an excellent score of two under par.  Well played, Roger.  Did we hear you say that you were suffering aches and pains? Well, we are all aware of the saying “Beware the injured golfer”.  Nino seems to be in the prizes nearly every week.  Unusually, this time he had no nearest the pin but he did come second playing to his single-figure handicap.  The results of the third, fourth and fifth place were equal and had to be decided on count back of the back 9. Congratulations to all the winners!

Roger’s win awarded him 10 points in the Consistency Chart and placed him in 10^th position and in contention for a prize. This means that he is now 1 point ahead of Stephen in 11^th place.  At the top of the Chart, Nino is well placed for the outright win.   However, the last qualifying competition for this year is on 18 January, so there is still time to catch up!

 Summarising the results:
The guest prize was won by Keith, a good friend of John and Jan.

Nearest the pin:
Hole 4      James Burnet
Hole 8      Richard Davis
Hole 11    Eddie Fagg (back to back win)
Hole 14    David Payne

There were no twos today.

The main competition results were as follows:

5^th place with 33 points off 17 hcp – James Burnet
4^th place with 33 points off 17 hcp – Jan van Spellen
3^rd place with 33 points off 30 hcp – Gordon Burton
2^nd place with 36 points off 7 hcp – Nino Andres Aloras
1^st place with 38 points off 16 hcp – Roger Hunger

2016: Indiv. Stableford (30.11.)

Venue: Bonalba Golf & Spa, 30 November 2016

With the rainy season upon us and the forecast of more rain to come, we were happy to see some blue skies when we arrived this morning for our competition.  In the absence of our Captain Jan, Gordon, her Vice-Captain was in charge of today’s Individual Stableford competiton.  We had a good turn-out of 31 members and 3 guests. Unfortunately, due to the wet condition of the course, buggies were only allowed on the pathways and therefore one or two members had to cancel as they were relying on using the buggies on the grass.

As it turned out, the luck was with the earlier starters as later more and more black clouds gathered over the mountains threatening more rain and then the downpour came, affecting the last four groups.  Greta and Roger, who were in the third last group managed to putt out on the 17^th hole as the rain was coming down heavily but decided to see it through and finish their round. Their endurance was rewarded as they came in first and second. 
The remaining players were not able to finish their round and arrived at the Club House thoroughly drenched and declared a “no return”.  Unfortunately for them, more than 60% of cards were completed and therefore the competition was declared valid.
The placings two to five could only be separated by taking into account the scores on the back 9.  Congratulations to all the winners!

Summarising the results:

The Guest Prize was won by Graham’s friend Michael Flanagan scoring 33 points off 14 hcp.

Nearest the pin:

Hole 4      Graham Sutton, just back from the UK
Hole 8      Bob Crow
Hole 11    Jim Hurley
Hole 14    Eddie Fagg

There were no twos today.

The main competition results were as follows:

5^th place with 32 points off 22 hcp – Angel Centenera
4^th place with 32 points off 20 hcp – Stan Tarabula
3^rd place with 32 points off 17 hcp – James Burnet
2^nd place with 32 points off 16 hcp – Roger Hunger
1^st place with 33 points off 8 hcp – Greta Biersteker

2016: Indiv. Stableford (16.11.)

Don't the new Shirts look attractive ....

Venue: Bonalba Golf & Spa, 16 November 2016

Another pleasantly calm and sunny late autumn day awaited us this morning as we were getting ready to play our competition.  It was an Individual Stableford which also qualified for the CL League.  We had 38 members playing Stableford which included 4 members who were also playing their Singles k/o matches.  Both the Hurleys were  involved in the matches, Kate against Chris and Jim against Angel.  Congratulations to the winners Jim and Chris, both seemed to have had the extra motivation as they also ended up in first and second place in the individual competition. Brian Hines had equal points with Chris but on the back 9 Chris had 4 pars compared to Brian’s 3 pars and that helped him with scoring a better back 9.

This was also the day of the Vice-Captain’s Monthly Prize.  As usual, the actual prize was not revealed until the prize giving.  This month it was based on the best front nine of anyone who was not in the first five. The winner was Brian Wakeley who in fact had the best front nine of everybody including the first five.

Summarising the results:

The Guest Prize was won by Young Nino with 28 points off 1 hcp.
Vice-Captain’s Monthly Prize: Brian Wakeley with 21 points.

Nearest the pin:

Hole 4      Ricky Nelson
Hole 8      Brian Wakeley
Hole 11    Jim Hurley
Hole 14    Dennis Pyman

There were no twos today.

The main competition results were as follows:

5^th place with 33 points off 12 hcp – John Garnett
4^th place with 33 points off 10 hcp – Michael Davison, beating John on the back 9
3^rd place with 36 points off 22 hcp – Brian Hines
2^nd place with 36 points off 22 hcp – Chris van Bemmelen, beating Brian on the back 9
1^st place with 39 points off 21 hcp – Jim Hurley

2016: Away Day Alicante Golf (9.11.)

Venue: Alicante Golf, 9 November 2016

This Wednesday we played away from home at Alicante Golf.  Yes, this is the course with the Roman ruins on the par 5 hole 14, an interesting hazard to have to negogiate to reach the green and at the same time avoiding the water on the left.  Thankfully, you have a free drop if your ball gets caught in the ruins.

We had an excellent turn-out of 31 members and 6 guests playing Individual Stableford, the members competing for the Bill Williams Away Day Trophy and the guests competing among themselves for the guest prize.

As this was not our home course, it was more difficult to play the course to par. The computer buffer adjustment was -1 which meant that the difficulty of the course was one shot above par.
Congratulations to all the winners and especially to Stephen who, with 35 points, came the closest to achieving a par round.  There were 5 players eligible for 5^th place, all with 31 points but Greta had the best back nine and she seemed surprised when her name was read out to collect her prize.

We took the opportunity to applaud our Captain Jan who last Friday during the Monthly Bonalba Seniors Competition had a Hole-in-one on hole 4 and some of us who also took part in that competition had stayed behind to celebrate the occasion and were treated to a drink of champagne kindly provided by her partner John.

Summarising the results:

Guest prize Individual Stableford: Michel with 30 points off 13 hcp

Nearest the pin:

Hole 3      Gordon Burton
Hole 6      Nino Andres
Hole 8      Jan Boultbee
Hole 12    David Payne
Hole 15    James Burnet
Hole 17    Doris Shearman-Earp

There were two twos today, on hole 8 and 12 both from Nino. He was so disappointed that he missed the birdie putt on hole 6 where he was nearest that he made extra sure to get those putts right. Never mind Nino, you still received two golf balls for that.

The main competition results were as follows:

5^th place with 31 points off 8 hcp – Greta Biersteker
4^th place with 32 points off 15 hcp – Roger Hunger
3^rd place with 32 points off 10 hcp – Michael Davison, beating Roger on the back 9
2^nd place with 33 points off 6 hcp – Nino Andres Aloras
1^st place with 35 points off 24 hcp – Stephen Grey

2016: Captains's Day (26.12) continued

Winner of Captain's Day
Official photos will follow shortly

Venue: Bonalba Golf & Spa, 26 October 2016

Here are the results of Captain’s Day.  The prize giving took place at the Captain’s Dinner on Saturday, 29 October at the Hotel Bonalba.  About 80 members and guests attended to cheer the winners and then settled down to an evening of good conversation, live music and dancing.  A big thanks goes to our Captain, Jan Boultbee for organising this most enjoyable evening.

Nearest the pin in 2, hole 10 – Luc Verhaegen

Nearest the pin in 3, Hole 15 – Greta Biersteker

Nearest the pin par 3’s:

Hole 4      Greta Biersteker
Hole 8      Richard Davis
Hole 11    Greta Biersteker
Hole 14    Michael Davison

The Captain’s Day Competition results were as follows:

5^th place with 33 points off 20 hcp – Brian Wakeley
4^th place with 34 points off 14 hcp – Richard Davis
3^rd place with 36 points off 8 hcp – Greta Biersteker
2^nd place with 39 off 17 hcp – Edi Rogers

Captain’s Trophy with 41 points off 11 hcp – Michael Davison

A fanatstic result ! Many congratulations, Michael !

2016: Indiv. Stableford CANCELLED (19.10.)

 

Today the weather got the better of us. It had rained throughout the night and there was still some rain when we arrived at the club.  With the course being quite wet and more rain forecast, our Captain decided to cancel the competition but some of us hang around and decided to take the risk and go out anyway.  We were lucky as there was no more rain and we managed to play 18 holes in reasonably warm and calm conditions.  In fact, even the sun came out for a second or two.

 

We keep our fingers crossed for pleasant weather next Wednesday for Captain's Day!

2016: Away Day Shield Alenda (12.10.)

Venue: Alenda Golf, 12 October 2016

Today we went to Alenda Golf for one of the Bill Williams Away Day Shield competitions.  We had a good turnout of 35 members and 5 guests and the format was Individual Stableford.  We had our umbrellas and rain gear ready as the forecast was for rain but we were in luck as the rain did not arrive at Alenda until we finished prize giving and were setting off for home.

Alenda has a slightly lower slope to Bonalba so our playing handicaps were cut by one or two shots and looking at the results this was well justified as there were some excellent scores at the top and in fact half of all players came in with 30 points and more.  Quite a few of us were disappointed though, or should be say frustrated, as we kept narrowly missing a number of putts.  Opinions differed as to the reason why. Was it the condition of the greens? Did we have problems reading the greens or was it simply that our putting stokes were on this occasion not up to standard?
Analysing the scores hole by hole shows that the two holes with the most “blobs” were holes 1 and 7 with 9 NR each.  Hole 1, a long par 5, with a stoke index of 4 is always testing as you have to be “in full flow” right from the start. Hole 7 turned out to be a tricky par 4 for us although the official rating is 16.

Before prize giving, the Captain reminded everyone again that in order to attend the Captains Dinner it is necessary to buy the tickets as she needs everyone to pay up front in order to pay the hotel.

Summarising the results:

The guest prize went to Thea van Spellen who scored a very good 35 points playing off 19 handicap.

Nearest the pin:

Hole 3      Rob Ritchie
Hole 5      Jim Hurley
Hole 13    John Rigby
Hole 16    James Burnet

There were four twos today. They came from Nino Andres, Dennis Pyman and John Rigby, all on hole 13 and from James Burnet on hole 16.

The main competition results were as follows:

5^th place with 35 points off 7 hcp – Greta Biersteker
4^th place with 36 points off 18 hcp – Elwyn Price
3^rd place with 37 points off 23 hcp – Marie-Jo Lesot
2^nd place with 38 points off 18 hcp – John Rigby
1^st place with 38 points off 20 hcp – Jim Hurley beating John on the back 9.

2016: Indiv. Stableford (28.9.)

An Individual Stableford Competition, qualifying for the Campbell Lamont League

Today's Top 5 and Nearest-the-pin Winners

After a night of heavy rain and strong wind, it was with some anxiety that the club's golfers arrived to tee-off around 8.20, hoping that conditions would relent and allow a decent morning's golf. They were not disappointed; after an hour or so the sun broke through and the temperature rose. Normal service was resumed, jackets and jumpers dispensed with, and umbrellas safely stowed away.

To judge from the overall scores, one might reasonably assume that the damp fairways and slow greens proved a bit trickier today, even for the low handicappers. Unsurprisingly, then, there were no birdie 2s to report today. 

Indeed, it was hard to separate the top 5 players all of whom scored a respectable 34 or 35 points and had to be separated just on countback. So well done to them for being the best to master, or at least cope well with, today's conditions.

Flying in the face of this, however, was another fine round from our professional 'guest'  Ninolito who, playing off 1, still walked in with 34 points. Well done to him again for snapping up the guest prize (which his father promised to deliver later - we hoped.)

Edi Rogers, pictured above holding two bottles, earned these with two fine shots into the greens on both holes 8 and 14. No one even managed to get on the green at hole 11 today, but Alan Perry hit a fine drive on the par 3 hole 4 to claim his nearest-the-pin bottle.

Just for a change, Jan decided to hand out sleeves of golfballs as today's prizes for the top 5, and one such sleeve plus a bottle of wine for the winner. Guess who won!! Now there's forward planning for you.

Two important further announcements were made: (1) not to forget to buy your tickets for the Captain's Dinner Dance on Saturday October 29th, (2) and to offer your opinion to the captain on various possible new logos, kindly and professionally designed by our resident golfing graphic artist, Stephen Grey. The 'winning' choice will feature on our soon-to-arrive new shirts - the colour of which will be pink, cerise or raspberry depending on whom you ask!

To finish, here are today's tabulated results:

Nearest the pins:

Hole 4       Alan Perry

Hole 8       Edi Rogers

Hole 11     -

Hole 14     Edi Rogers

The top 5:

5th place, handicap 7,     34 points                             Nino Andres Aloras

4th place, handicap 21,   34 points (better back 9)     Peter van der Mee

3rd place, handicap 22,   35 points                             Jim Hurley

2nd place, handicap 30,  35 points                             Neville Woodfine 

1st place, handicap 20,   35 points (best back 9)    Jan Boultbee

2016: Indiv. Stableford (14.9.)

Apologies firstly for the absence of a photograph - your regular correspondent is on holiday, and her substitute forgot to gather everyone together in time. I will try to do better next week.

On a day when both the temperature and the wind had fallen to allow golfers no excuse for poor play, many of the club's 26 members and 5 guests certainly made the most of the benign conditions. What is more, the rather moist and grassy conditions of the fairways and roughs made for very little run on the ball, so that those who scored well were obviously hitting long enough to get to the greens in good shape and then sink their putts very efficiently. Simple game really.

To emphasise just how well the top scorers did, two of our members who came in with a good par return of 36 points (John Brook and James Burnet) did not even get into the main prizes!

Tony Dewavrin, back playing with us at the moment as a guest, claimed the guest prize with a very creditable 35 points. And 2 members - John Coubrough and Santi Hung (liberated from his culinary duties for the morning) - qualified for the usual ball that is given for birdie 2s on the par 3s. Well done to all of these.

The monthly 'hidden holes prize' sponsored by the vice-captain was awarded to the player who, not among the top 5 overall winners,  achieved the best total score on the par 3s. Except that this time two players came in with the same total of 11 points, and so 2 bottles were needed! Well done to both James and Les. (Jan had 11 too, but was among the prize-winners.)

Jan reminded everyone of the forthcoming Captain's Dinner Dance to be held in the Bonalba Hotel on  Saturday 29th October. At 32.50 euros a person, it's a snip. Get your tickets soon.

The full list of today's prize-winners now appears below. Many congratulations to all:

Nearest to the Pins:
Hole 4      Chris van Bemmelen
Hole 8      John Coubrough
Hole 11    Eddie Fagg
Hole 14    Jeff Murten

Overall Winners:

5th place, 37 points off a handicap of 20, our captain Jan Boultbee
4th place, 37 points off a handicap of 12 (better back 9), John Garnett
3rd place, 38 points off a handicap of 9, Greta Biersteker
2nd place, 40 points off a handicap of 12, Michael Davison
1st place, 40 points off a handicap of 16 (better back 9), our former president Jeff Murten

2016: Away Day at Las Colinas (31.8.)

Las Colinas

We were looking forward to our Away Day at the prestigious golf course Las Colinas and were not disappointed.  The immaculate condition of the course and the very pleasant warm weather made it a very enjoyable day of golf. 
There were 24 members and 4 guests and the format was Individual Stableford.  As most of us were not very familiar with the course and the considerable cut in our playing handicap in line with Las Colinas’ lower slope rating compared to Bonalba, nobody played to their handicap, so anybody who scored over 30 points were potentially in the prizes.  Congratulations to our Captain Jan who was the winner with 33 points.  There were 4 scores of 31 competing for 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th position and unfortunately Graham just missed out coming 6^th as Greta had a better back 9.

The Winners and the Birthday Boy

Las Colinas has 5 par 3’s and hole 17, the last of the par 3’s certainly gave us a challenge with a distance of 190 m from the yellow tees and 153 m from the reds and with the green being surrounded by a good number of bunkers, so on this occasion it defeated all of us.  The first par 3, hole 5, was also tricky, especially from the yellow tee, with the green protected by water on the left and bunkers on the right. Well done Brian to come nearest to the pin.  The other par 3’s were conquered by Greta, freshly back from Holland, demonstrating her exact play with not just being nearest but also getting birdies on two the holes.

Chris in full swing

While we were waiting for prize giving, we enjoyed a complimentary drink from the bar on the club house terrace and when it was time to present the prizes, the Captain invited our “laughing Dutchman” to repeat the story that he was so busy telling to his friends the previous Wednesday whilst prize giving was going, so we could all enjoy it.  Chris obliged and we were all spellbound.  Having enjoyed Chris’s story, the Captain had another surprise in store for one of our members.  Although Nino tried to keep it a secret, Jan remembered a remark he made previously and presented him with a birthday card signed by all of us and a present in the form of a Crash Course in English.  He was delighted with his present as he had been planning to take English lessons starting this September.  Happy Birthday, Nino.

Summarising the results:

The guest prize was won by Bob Klein with a very good 30 points, playing off 6 handicap.

Nearest the pin:

Hole 5      Brian Hines
Hole 7      Greta Biersteker
Hole 10    dto.
Hole 14    dto.
Hole 17    nobody

There were two twos today from Greta on holes 7 and 14. She received the customary golf balls.

The main competition results were as follows:

5^th place with 31 points off 5 hcp – Greta Biersteker
4^th place with 31 points off 24 hcp – David Payne, with a better back 9
3^rd place with 31 points off 9 hcp – Michael Davison, again with a better back 9
2^nd place with 32 points off 12 hcp – Eddie Fagg
1^st place with 33 points off 16 hcp – Jan Boultbee

2016: Indiv. Stableford (24.8.)

  Venue: Bonalba Golf & Spa, 24 August 2016

The competition today was Individual Stableford.  29 members and one guest signed in on this beautiful sunny morning which started us off to a very pleasant round of golf.  It was a day where the course seemed to be kind to us as over half the players scored 30+ points and the first five went to par and better.  Well played to everyone and especially to the winner, our Treasurer James who is returning to some good form after his various breaks from golf recently.

We were happy to welcome our guest Ninolito, the son of Nino Andres who scored 33 points on a one stroke handicap and received the well earned guest prize.

At prize giving, the Captain reminded us that, after a break during the summer season, the customary meal after the Monthly Medal competition will now be resumed. She has organised a meal for the first Wednesday in September after Medal Play which will be at the Bonalba Golf Club.  On the menu are various tapas dishes.

Summarising the results:

Nearest the pin:
Hole 4      Pascale Leroux
Hole 8      Dennis Pyman
Hole 11    Gordon Burton
Hole 14    James Burnet

There was one two today from Nino on hole 11. He received the customary golf ball.

The main competition results were as follows:
5^th place with 36 points off 31 hcp – Les Wilkinson
4^th place with 36 points off 16 hcp – Jeff Murten, with a better back 9
3^rd place with 37 points off 23 hcp – Guy Letort
2^nd place with 38 points off 10 hcp – Richard Davis
1^st place with 39 points off 19 hcp – James Burnet

2016: Indiv. Stableford Fun Game (17.8.)

Venue: Bonalba Golf & Spa, 17 August 2016

Today’s competition was an Individual Stableford “Fun” Game.  Our Captain had asked us to stipulate 4 holes for double points before we started our round.  Because of the hot humid weather we had a diminished field of players, there were 20 members and 4 guests and the guests were competing among themselves for the best Stableford score which Joel won with 28 points . 

The prizes for the members were reduced to 3 because of low numbers but in addition and in the spirit of today’s fun theme, Doris sponsored two big juicy melons which were presented to the players in 4^th and 5^th place.
The competition was especially good fun for some players who were able to double their 3 and 4 point scores, giving them 6 or even 8 points on one hole, whilst the more unlucky ones had a potential “double blob”.  But not all players relied on double points entirely to secure a prize.  Both Pascale with 38 points and Angel with 37 points played better than par without counting the double points and their handicap will be adjusted accordingly as this round counted for reductions only.  Edi was obviously one of the players who was not so lucky on the double points but will still be cut as his normal Stableford score was 37. 
Richard and Guy were the lucky winners of the melons, Richard beating Doris on countback which was just as well.  Many congratulations to all the winners and particularly to Pascale for back-to-back wins despite her considerable handicap reduction last week.

At prize giving the Captain reminded everyone of the Away Trip to Las Colinas on 31 August and that members who are not coming to Las Colinas will not be able to have a game at Bonalba Golf as the course will be closed on that day due to an International Competition.

Summarising the results:

Nearest the pin:

Hole 4      Keith Preston
Hole 8      Nino Andres
Hole 11    Nino Andres
Hole 14    Richard Davis

There was no two today.

The main competition results were as follows:

5^th place with 44 points off 10 hcp – Richard Davis
4^th place with 46 points off 23 hcp – Guy Letort
3^rd place with 46 points off 21 hcp – Angel Centenera beating Guy on the back 9
2^nd place with 47 points off 28 hcp – David Payne
1^st place with 48 points off 25 hcp – Pascale Leroux

2016: Indiv. Stableford (27.7.)

Venue: Bonalba Golf & Spa, 27th July 2016

Our competiton today was Individual Stableford which also counted towards the Campbell Lamont League and we were delighted to see our Captain Jan back from the UK and resuming her duties. 

 

The weather forecast today was giving temperatures of about 32 degrees which lead for many of us to take buggies rather than walk the course hoping to help us with our game.  So it was even more admirable so see that the top places went to players who were walking in these high temperatures.  Angel came in with an incredible 43 points followed by John King with 39 points, a score that would normally be good enough for first place and John was not just walking, he actually pulled his trolley in this heat.  The two of them were in the same four-ball and their fellow players witnessed a great competition between them.  Places 3, 4 and 5 were evenly matched with very good scores of 36 points but Michael had the best back 9 with 20 points.  Our congratulations go to all the winners!
There was an actual singles knock-out competition going on a well between Dennis Pyman and Marie-Jo Lesot of which Dennis came out the winner. Well played, Dennis!
Our Captain split the nearest the pin prizes between the lower and higher handicap players but hole 14 seemed to have beaten all of the lower handicaps.

Before prize giving, Jan gave advance notice of our next Away Day on 31 August to Las Colinas Golf & Country Club in the Murcia area, one of the prestigious courses managed by Troon Golf.  We need a good turn-out to get a good green fee.

Summarising the results:

28 members, no guests

Nearest the pin:
Hole 4      (hcp 21+)               Guy Letort
Hole 8      (hcp 21+)               John the King
Hole 11    (hcp 20 & below)    Dennis Pyman
Hole 14    (hcp 20 & below)    nobody

There were 2 two today, from Dennis on hole 8 and Brian Hines on hole 11. They both received the customary golf ball.

The main competition results were as follows:

5^th place with 36 points off 23 hcp – Stephen Grey
4^th place with 36 points off 21 hcp – Chris van Bemmelen
3^rd place with 36 points off 11 hcp – Michael Davison, with the best back 9
2^nd place with 39 points off 22 hcp – John King
1^st place with 43 points off 23 hcp – Angel Centenera

2016: Indiv. Stableford (13.7.)

Venue: Bonalba Golf & Spa, 13th July 2016

Black clouds were threatening rain as we started our round today.  There were 31 of us playing Individual Stableford but not all of us finished the 18 holes as the rain came down halfway during the round.  Lucky for the playes who had rain gear in their bag but the optimists of us did not even think it could rain.  They bravely soldiered on and when they were at a point where they did consider going in, the rain stopped.

The scores today reflected the difficult conditions where 30 points saw you in the prizes. The outstanding score was posted by last weeks “Beast” (see photo in last week’s report) turned into “Rainman” this week. We talk about Michael who scored 36 points, and he did not even score on the 18^th hole!  His score was good enough for the handicap computer to say “yes” and cut him by 0.4.  The rest of us remained with the same handicap as the course was playing two over par which meant handicap reductions only.  Very well played, Michael !
A special mention also to Guy, who has returned from France after a long absence due to illness and who had not lost his golfing touch as he came in with the second highest score today.

Before prize giving, we had the pleasure of wishing Eddie Rogers a very happy birthday and many happy returns. It was good to see him back to good health after his life-threatening illness.  Eddie, generous as ever, treated us all to a drink from the bar which was very much appreciated.

Summarising the results:

Our French guest Eric received the guest prize.  Our second guest Simon unfortunately was delayed and was only able to play the back 9.

Nearest the pin:

Hole 4      (hcp 21+ only)        Moe Farouki
Hole 8      (all players)            Michael Davison
Hole 11    (all players)            Graham Sutton
Hole 14    (hcp 21+ only)        Guy Letort

There were 1 two today. It came from Pascale Leroux who had a magnificent long putt on hole 8. She received the customary golf ball.

The main competition results were as follows:

5^th place with 30 points off 6 hcp – Dennis Pyman
4^th place with 30 points off 9 hcp – Richard Davis, narrowly beating Dennis on the back 6
3^rd place with 32 points off 23 hcp – Stephen Grey
2^nd place with 33 points off 23 hcp – Guy Letort
1^st place with 36 points off 12 hcp – Michael Davison

2016: Indiv. Stableford (29.6.)

Venue: Bonalba Golf & Spa, 29th June 2016

Today our Vice-Captain Gordon Burton was in charge and he welcomed 30 members and 1 guest who turned up to play Individual Stableford, all of us hoping to add a few points to the Consistency Chart and try and catch Richard who is well ahead at the moment.

With temperatures rising, Golf in Spain is now in the low season and, if higher temperatures do not bother you too much, there are some good green fee bargains to be had. The hot weather is also reflecting on the availability of tee-times which means that we are able to split them and start from both tee 1 and 10 and reducing the waiting time to prize giving.
There was also one singles match between Michael Davison and Chris van Bemmelen.  It was a hard fought affair and finally Chris came out the winner.  Well played both and congratulations to Chris who was obviously playing well as he also came third in the Stableford competition. 
The main field posted some very good scores. Commiserations go to John Webber who narrowly missed out on the prizes despite scoring 36 points.  Congratulations to Eddie Fagg, our newest member, for an excellent first win with the Society.

And how are our goslings on hole 18 doing? As you can see from the photo taken by Stephen, they are going strong and have grown into young adults. Are there any second thoughts regarding Christmas by some of our players who feed them the left-overs of their sandwiches?

Summarising the results:

Our guest Alex, the son of Moe Farouky duly won the guest prize.

Nearest the pin:

Hole 4             Eddie Fagg
Hole 8             Nino Andres Aloras
Hole 11           Nino Andres Aloras
Hole 14           Dennis Pyman

There were 3 twos today, on hole 8 it was Nino and Gordon and Gordon wanted us to know that his putt was much longer than Nino's. And on hole 14 Kate Hurley had a birdie two and again, she was not nearest to the pin. They all received the customary golf ball.

The main competition results were as follows:

5^th place with 36 points off 21 hcp – Brian Hines
4^th place with 36 points off 29 hcp – Gordon Burton, beating Brian on the back 9
3^rd place with 36 points off 21 hcp – Chris van Bemmelen, beating Gordon on the back 9
2^nd place with 37 points off 24 hcp – Stephen Grey
1^st place with 39 points off 17 hcp – Eddie Fagg