Alan Soutar (almost) scoops the pool at Trentham

Roy Capener turned on a great day for the Harlequin golfers at the Trentham Golf Club on 1^st March. The hot weather had abated and apart from a small amount of drizzle it turned out to be a perfect day for golf. Given the drought and hot weather the course was in surprisingly good condition. The fairways were brown but very playable and the greens were in excellent shape.

Twelve of us hit off at around 9.20am and the day belonged to Alan Soutar. He hit every par three green and took out the nearest the pin award on the 5^th and 13^th. He also took out the major award with a stableford score of 39 points, one ahead of Graeme Hindhaugh who was runner up. If Andy Corp hadn't hit the longest drive on the par five 10^th Alan could have scooped the pool.

The 13^th and 15^th par three holes are Trentham's signature holes and well worth making a trip just to play those two holes.

Roy and Carol Capener invited everyone to their place after the golf and they put on a fabulous lunch. Thanks to Carol and Roy for putting on such a great day for everyone who was able to make the trip to Trentham.

Changes to the schedule

• The April Golf Day will now take place on the 19^th April and not the 12^th as previously advised. This change is due to the fact that 12^th April is Easter Sunday and a number of people will be away from Melbourne.
• I will be in Europe from 5^th May to 4^th June and Andy Corp will take over responsibility for organising the golf day on 17th May at the RACV Torquay Golf Club. I will provide you with further details in the near future.

The revised schedule is shown below.

NOTE: If you click on one of the dates below you will be taken to the details of the particular golf day that you select and if you click on the venue you will see the website of the golf venue.
 

Queenscliff Golf Day (19^th April, 2009)

The April Golf Day at Queenscliff is now confirmed and the details can be viewed on the website.  The competition will be individual stableford and as usual the winner will be awarded the perpetual trophy and their will be prizes for the runner up, nearest the pin (on the front and back nines) and longest drive.

To register and pay for the April Golf Day click here.

Changes to the competition and handicap process

• The perpetual trophy will only be awarded to members of the club. Guests will not be included in the main competition and will not have their name inscribed on the trophy in the event that they have the greatest number of stableford points.
• There will be a separate competition for guests and they will compete in an individual stableford competition for the “Guest's Prize”.

• Maximum handicap for men will be 36 and women 45
• Starting point for handicaps will be as follows:
  • Players with an official handicap will start with their official handicap as at 1^st March, 2009
  • Players without an official handicap will start with a handicap nominated by the Harlequin Handicapper (at the moment this is me – would someone like to take on this onerous role?)
• Handicaps will be changed as follows:
  • 34 points or less the handicap increases by 1
  • 35 to 36 points no change to the handicap
  • More than 36 points the handicap decreases by 1 for each stableford point over 36
• The Australian Course Rating will be used for the calculation and the CCR will not play a part in handicap calculations

If people want to score a card based on their official handicap then I have no issue with that. However they will have to score two cards, one based on their official handicap and one based on the Harlequin Handicap.

I am sure there will be lots of discussion about this but the standard process is far too complex and not responsive enough for our needs and since we only get six or seven games a year we need a system that is a little more reactive.

NOTE:  I would be interested in receiving comments on the above which you can post at the end of this page.