MEN'S CAPTAIN WEEKLY NEWS
The breezy conditions at SRC continue, but the scoring in most competitions remains of a very high standard. It was good to see such strong support for the Mixed Competition on Thursday as well as a pretty good turn out for the first Monthly Medal of the new season, sponsored by Vinomarket. A big thank you to Richard Bell-Young!
Results
Monday 17 & 24 April: Men’s Inter Club v La Reserva
A successful debut for Duncan as Captain. Well done to the Team! A great away win 4-2, which we followed up in style with a strong home performance in the return game today with a 6-0 win.
Tuesday 18 April: Midweek Competition – Stableford
First: David Steele (37 points)
Second: Norman Savitz (35 points)
Third: Neville Kutner (34 points)
Fourth: Mark Squire (34 points)
Nearest the Pin: Tony Flanagan
Best Gross: David Steele
Midweek we eventually presented Centro Contigo with the final cheques from Paul and Tina’s year. Thank you all for your amazing support! Photograph (far right).
A great round of golf on Tuesday by junior, Eduardo Ybarra Gallagher, with 43 points, which I witnessed at first hand as I was marking his card. Well played Eduardo!
Thursday 20 April: Mixed Competition – Stableford
First: Andy Stanford 44 points
Second: Andrew Macauley 41 points
Third: Martin Schneider 39 points
Fourth: Tracey Rogers 38 points
Fifth: Josh Hunter 36 points
Sixth: David Steele 36 points (on handicap)
Twos: David MacGregor, Andrew Macauley, Josh Hunter
Nearest the Pin on 7 (Men): Patrick O’Sullivan
Nearest the Pin on 12 (Ladies): Svetlana Friedl
Best Gross: Josh Hunter (75)
Tissue: Jeremy Sibbons 23 points
Doilies: Derek Rogers; Tony Flanagan
The particularly wet condition of the front bunker on Hole 16 on Thursday has been noted. We hope that re-positioning of the greenside sprinklers will help in due course! There were some Pace of Play issues on Thursday which have been duly noted by the Captains! The winner and his group were round in 4 hours 30 minutes precisely and Andy Stanford is commended not just for a great round of golf, but also for a first class sprint from the 18th Green to the Caddy Masters (just under 10 seconds I believe). I am sorry that I did not manage to capture this on video.
One group behind them was 26 minutes off the required pace of 4 hours 30 minutes. This is clearly not acceptable. There is slight mitigation in that three of this particular group were playing in a competition on the Old Course for the first time. Nevertheless, the Captains will be keeping a watching brief.
Whilst I am on the issue of Pace of Play, please note that the scorecards for Members’ Competitions carry a row with the heading ‘Tiempo’ covering recommended timings.
These timings, given hole by hole, as per the example below (see yellow highlighted line), are target times for when you should have completed each hole. These times are calculated automatically based upon your Start Time which is clearly given at the top of every scorecard. The total time adds up to 4 hours 20 minutes, giving 10 minutes leeway,
plus the allowance of being within 14 minutes of the group in front. This guide is not meant to be heavy handed; it is designed to be helpful and it simply mirrors the timing warnings which are given on Club Buggies. Please endeavour to keep up with the group in front, but also please keep in mind that we are all supposed to be having fun!! When the course is very busy, Pace of Play is always going to be an issue and will require patience.
Sunday 23 April: Monthly Medal
We had a good field of 32 Men and one Junior playing in conditions which were well nigh perfect. A glorious day for playing golf! Scoring amongst the top 16 was pretty good.
First: Duncan Quigley Net 68
Second: Yury Pogiba Net 69
Third: Terry Young Net 69 (on handicap)
Fourth: Derek Whelan Net 71
Juniors: Thomas Ybarra Gallagher Net 69
Best Gross Scores: Thomas Ybarra Gallagher 76; Josh Hunter 77; Phil Fisher 79
Nearest the Pin on Hole 12: David MacGregor
Twos: Tony Flanagan, Derek Whelan
Tissue: Mark Squire Net 87 (on handicap)
Doilies: Andy Stanford, Hugh Richards, Joachim Friedl and Bill Fletcher
Course Information from Ben:
The New Course will be closed for maintenance this week; we will be doing work on the Greens, Tees and Ante Greens to try and improve the health of these areas. Given this is a big increase on the normal man hours to achieve these specific works there will be a slight reduction in mowing and other work on the Old Course to allow us to achieve this.
Weeds are getting bad in the mulch and we will attempt to get the worst ones sprayed this week. Our focus has been on turf applications during the last 2 weeks. Areas around the bunkers will be fly-mowed on Wednesday and the rough will receive a tidy up this week. All Bent Grass on the Old Course will be sprayed on Thursday.
Turfing and plugging around the edges of greens will continue this week, most of the bigger areas are already done, we still have some tees to work through once the greens have been completed.
Thought for the week:
Please consider repairing a few pitch marks at the front of the green and on the ante-greens as these get missed a lot of the time. Thank you for your support on this.
Looking Ahead to the next 3 Weeks...
Monday 24 April: Men’s Inter Club v La Reserva (Home) – Duncan will be captaining
Tuesday 25 April: Midweek Competition – Stableford
Thursday 27 April: Midweek Competition – Stableford
Saturday 29 April: Three Club Challenge
Tuesday 2 May: Midweek Competition – Stableford (63 Tees) MEN FIRST IN MAY
Thursday 4 May: Midweek Competition – Stableford (63 Tees)
Friday 5 May: Men’s ACL v Sotogrande (Away)
Saturday 6 & Sunday 7 May: Ladies Club Championships
Tuesday 9 May: Midweek Competition – Stableford
Wednesday 10 May: Men’s Inter Club v West Hill GC (Home; 32 players per Team!)
Thursday 11 May: Midweek Competition – Stableford
Saturday 13 May: Ranking
A busy three weeks of golf coming up ahead of the Men’s Tour to Ireland. Please note that the New Course is closed this week and the Old Course will be closed for essential maintenance from Monday 15 May to Monday 22 May inclusive.
Golfing Anecdotes:
With the Men’s Tour to Ireland coming up next month …
“A golf course is nothing but a pool room moved outdoors.”
Barry Fitzgerald in “Going My Way”
Fund Raising:
Your San Roque Captains are also trying to raise funds for the Special Olympics Gibraltar Golf Team (this year’s team of 4 players, photograph below right). They are playing and practising here before representing Gibraltar in Berlin in June this year. Four years ago, 2 of them (pictured below left) won silver medals in Abu Dhabi. Let’s hope they can go one better this time! Thank you in anticipation of your help for the 2023 Team which is being coached by Mark Emery. If you see them on the range, please say hello and wish them all the best for June in Germany. A great start yesterday when we raised 1,700 euros. A massive thank you to everyone who contributed!!
Happy Golfing and Swing it well !
