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CAPTAIN'S REPORT MGS made their annual trip to Rye Hill for the Kiasu Day kindly sponsored by our Ronald Lim. Although it is a long track to get to the course, the hospitality, value and allowing us to play off the white tees on this challenging course itself makes it a worthwhile trip. I should mention the sad news of a golfing legend, Seve, who is recovering from surgery for brain tumour. On a personal note, he is definitely an inspiration to the world golfing public and was at his height of his game when I first took the game up in 1988. What enjoyment and pleasure he gave to those watching him play, never a dull moment. I have a signed photo of him clenching his fist when he sunk the birdie and subsequently winning putt on the 18 th green at St Andrews in the 1984 Open Championship hanging in my office. I am sure that all of us wish him well. 34 golfers (2 guests) turned up to enjoy the challenge. It was a relatively warm autumn day with some sunny spells. Bacon roll and coffee was served and consumed before the first group set off at 10 am. Margaret Wong graced us with her presence and everyone was happy to see her recovering so well from her medical surgery. The final of the match play was between Francis Ong and Mighty Mo in the first group. Francis got off to a fast start and was 3 up in the space of 5 holes. Mo sunk a 20 foot putt on the 6 th for a par which Francis could not match. The game turned to Mo's advantage from then and Francis had to birdie the 18 th (which he made) to force the game into extra time. But Mo won the first hole with a solid par and is the MGS Match Play champion, well done and a trophy, £50 and a dozen balls is his reward. I had the pleasure of playing with Margaret, Brian and Bruce and it was great to see Margaret regaining her strength and enjoying her golf. She even managed to win some money from me and Bruce. The results were compiled by Simon using his trusty computer and after a 3 course meal, the results were announced by Chris Chia and prizes presented by Ronald (please see Results section). There were roast ducks and other prize vouchers for all winners to enjoy at his restaurant. Thank you Ronald and long may your sponsorship continue. Well done the winners and the good scores considering we played off the white tees for the first time. I note that the first division results were very competitive with Bok managing second place only with 36 points but he managed to snatch the Order of Merit 2008 from Max JJ Lim who unfortunately could not make the game. A trophy and £100 awaits him at Woburn . The overall winner for the day was Anoop with 38 points winning on count back from Gary Shek. As usual our thanks also goes to Vincent, Chris, Simon and all the committee members who helped out to make the day as enjoyable as possible for everyone and to Max for updating the website and to Rick for his photographs. The next event is on Friday the 14 th November at Woburn (Dukes Course) and will be sponsored by Francis and Heidi Ong of Eco-pack Global Limited and promises to be a treat. For those who have not registered please do so to avoid disappointment. Also we will be holding our AGM and nominations are invited for committee and the major posts from Captain to Treasurer. If you have anybody in mind, please let Vincent know. As for me, I am standing down as Captain as I feel that 3 years is enough. Besides, I have contributed a fair sum to charity for my poor results! I have really enjoyed my tenure as it was easy because of the support and hard work from the Secretary and the committee. I just turned up and look pretty. Thank you guys for your support over the last 3 years and also the charitable contributions. .See you all at Woburn . Peter Chew MGS Captain
A lovely warm day greeted 43 of us to do battle at the course designed by the Spanish cavalier golfer, Seve Ballesteros, with 6 par 3's, 6 par 4's and 6 par 5's( if you did not notice) and with loads of water on many of the holes. Surprisingly it was the higher handicappers who negotiated the course better or was it the hollow tined greens that were the better players' excuse? We also had two matchplays, one a quarter final involving Francis Ong and Simon Lau and the other a semi final between TC Por and the Italian stallion, Mo Zotti. Simon was dormie two up but Francis came storming back to be all square and won on the first extra hole with a birdie after hitting it in the water in the round proper. THAT'S GOLF!! The other match was a ding dong battle with Mo out of sorts in the beginning either finding the water or lost in the woods and TC Por holding a lead after the first 9 but then the thoroughbred that Mo is came storming back to win by 1 hole and will play the winner of Francis and Devinder Sharma in the final. The overall winner of the day was Mike Tang with 36 points piping Simon Chang on count back!! Mike stays just round the corner and must have been secretly training here in his spare time. All the results for the day are on our website. My thanks to Chris for helping Simon with the scores at the end of the day and to Simon for his input of the scores into his laptop which must have been difficult to concentrate after his loss to Francis in his match. We enjoyed the tasty three course meal of fish soup, spicy chicken and a sorbet to finish. Nice but not enough I felt! Mike Davis of Hammerpot brewery, sponsors of the day brought in a selection of ales for all the prize winners and all participants went home with a couple of bottles each with his compliments. Our thanks to him and we look forward to his support again next year. The Order of Merit is hotting up with one game to go and the standings are as follows. Max JJ Lim (30 pts), Bok Yeoh (29pts), Dominic Gascon (27 pts),KS Yoon (25pts) and Simon Lau (24 pts).It shows keenly contested and consistent the games have been this year with no one running away with the coveted prize. May the best man win it!!! Our next game at Rye Hill on 18 October is sponsored by Ron Lim of KIASU and there will be lots of roast ducks and food vouchers as prizes. See you all there and keep practicing!! Vincent
CAPTAIN'S REPORT Chuanglee Day MGS revisits The London Golf Club (LGC) after an absence of some 5 years for our August outing kindly sponsored by Jimmy Chua of Chuanglee. Jimmy (a member of LGC) managed to secure tee times on the Heritage course. For those of you unfamiliar with LGC, it's the recent venue of The European Open won by England's Ross Fisher in July and it is a Jack Nicklaus designed course, so carry over water and the ability to hit your approach shots with precision is paramount (in other words a tough and difficult course). It is indeed a challenging course made more so by the course maintenance work of sanding and hollow tining of the greens which made putting a lottery to most of us but not the winners. Jimmy Chua is a relatively new MGS member but like most Malaysian golfers who have joined, looks forward to each outing and when asked to sponsor the day, did not hesitate. I had the pleasure of playing with him and was most impressed when he hit a 7 iron 180 yards into the wind! No doubt when he develops his short game he will be a dangerous player off his 18 handicap. MGS will be monitoring his progress with interest. 51 golfers (14 guests) turned up to enjoy the challenge. The day was overcast with dark rain clouds but fortunately the rain stayed away. In fact the sun came out towards the late afternoon and made it into a glorious day. Bacon roll and coffee was served in a private function room and the usual wagers and banter went on, some ‘bandit' players hoping to entice a sizeable bet from some poor unsuspecting victim. I set off with Anoop and Jimmy (who were playing their match play) first. It was close all the way with both players matching each other until the last hole where Jimmy won. I had the chance of winning NTP on the 17 th but Dick Lawrence managed to hit his shot closer thereby denying me a crate of Tiger beer. After our game, we sat and watched the rest of the group coming up the 18 th fairway and it was interesting to watch how each of them played the last difficult par 4. Ronald Lim had a good drive on the 18 th until Ken Gillingham (a guest from Chigwell) beat him to win the longest drive prize and a crate of Chang beer. Shot of the day belonged to another guest, Victor Tong, who had a hole in one on the 3 rd . Rather than the usual tradition of buying everyone a drink he is treating all those present to dinner at a venue to be agreed. How generous and well done! The results were compiled by Simon using his trusty computer and after a 2 course meal, the results were announced and prizes presented by Jimmy (please see Results section). As I reported in my last newsletter, Jimmy's brand of prizes is unique with winners winning bags of rice, boxes of instant noodles crates of beer and tins of Milo (Viagra according to Tiger Chan). From MGS, Jimmy thank you and we look forward to your day next year. The overall winner for the day (and quite deservedly) was our own Secretary, Vincent, on 39 points beating Bruce on count back. Apparently Bruce had 39 points standing on the 18 th tee but blobbed the hole. Vincent had to par it for his 39 points. It goes to show that every point makes a difference and you should not stop trying. Apart from Jimmy's prizes, Vincent also won a handsome trophy and £500 towards his air ticket (which makes up for all his losses for this year). As usual our thanks also goes to Vincent, Bok, Simon and all the committee members who helped out to make the day as enjoyable as possible for everyone and to Max for updating the website and to Rick for his photographs. The next event is on Saturday 27 th September at The Shires (a Seve designed course) so be prepared to rise to his challenge. The day will be sponsored by our member Mike Davis of Hammerpot Brewery, Sussex who will be dishing out his special Ales as prizes and for us to sample as well. We have already 40 confirmed players with only 48 places available so if you have not entered, I suggest you do so promptly to avoid disappointment. Until we meet at The Shires keep practising and happy golfing. Peter Chew
Margaret Wong Day It does not seem that long ago when we had our first outing at the Hertfordshire at the end of March and we are already in late July. That day was cold, windy and wet and what a contrast to the July day. Our day at Hatfield GC was sponsored by Margaret Wong who most of you know has been a supportive member for some years. Her presence has always made a difference to any occasion, adding her brand of glamour and depending on your level of noise tolerance, a vocal personality. Her golfing passion is strong and she also enjoys the social side of MGS. So it is rather sad that she could not be present for her day but MGS members that turned up ensures that we all enjoyed her kind sponsorship. Originally, the day was supposed to be held at Stockley Park GC but our Secretary discovered that the course was under severe construction making it look like a building site. As a last minute arrangement and with the help of Jimmy Chua, we managed to change the venue to Hatfield GC playing the New (members) course. Personally I am impressed with Hatfield GC for their service and also the course we played on. The full English breakfast was indeed full and the Ramen Noodles/dumplings after the game was delicious and plentiful, all this for a fee of £50. The general consensus is that we should make this a regular annual venue and I will be surprised to hear of any objection. One of the interesting feature of the course is that there are 2 greens on each hole and unless you have a stroke saver, you will struggle to gauge your yardage for your approach shots. The greens were in excellent condition, receptive to good shots, true and fast to putt on. My playing partners were Justin Tan, Devinder and Chris Chia with me playing Devinder at match play. I was never in front as Devinder played superbly on the front 9 and despite dropping 4 shots, I was 3 down. I rallied briefly but Devinder was too consistent and eventually won the match on the 15 th hole. After the game, I tried to drown myself in the Japanese bath but Mike Davis was there as Life Guard! So I just had to have a good soak before enjoying the noodles meal and a refreshing drink. The results were compiled by Simon using his trusty computer and announced by Chris. Not surprising the winning score was 41 points with Gary Shek winning on count back from the last event winner Max JJ Lim. Well done to everyone that won. It was nice to see our more ladies playing. Thank you all for signing the Best Wishes card which I am sending to Margaret in Hong Kong to thank her and wish her well in her recovery. She misses the outings and hope to be back in the UK soon. My contribution towards the Captain Charity is £46 for this event. For those of you who did not beat my score of 28 points, kindly remember to contribute your donation at the next meet. The next event is on Sunday 24 th August at London G C (near Brands Hatch in Kent ). This event is sponsored by Jimmy Chua of Chuang Lee and we can look forward to his unique prizes composition (last year we had bagful of special rice and noodles). MGS has also agreed to give £500 towards the cost of an air ticket as part of the prize And finally a few words from our Champion, Gary Shek “The course, conditions and company were perfect for a game of golf. Accompanying me in my group were Austen Turner, Tom Foo and Frank Skinner who were excellent company throughout the day. If it wasn't for my playing partners I would have ever have done so well. Tom and Austen on numerous occasions helped find my ball when I was in heavy rough. I was also putting poorly in the first nine and only scored 17pts but then Frank said that I needed to guide the ball better when putting. That is the main reason why I came home with 24pts. As a new member and nervous ex-24 Handicapper (now down 21 with a severe cut) my playing partners were perfect examples of the positive attitude shown by the members of MGS. Special thanks to Margaret Wong for the sponsorship and best wishes for her recovery. A great job my Jimmy Chua for providing such a fantastic day for everyone on such short notice. Finally to my dearest brother Bruce, there is no such thing as sibling rivalry, better luck next time” Until we meet at London Golf Club keep practising and happy golfing. Peter Chew DAILY FISH CHALLENGE 28TH JUNE 2008 The day was kindly sponsored by our member, Steve Vella of Daily Fish Supplies Ltd (major suppliers of fish and seafood in London ) at Austin Lodge GC in Eynsford Kent . Before I comment on the day, may I take this opportunity to mention a few things about the recent US Open which was won by Tiger despite his knee injury. Apart from the fact that Tiger was able to win by his sheer mental strength and hindered performance I was more impressed with his opponent, Rocco Mediate. His demeanour during the play off and throughout the Championship was one we could all adopt. It shows that we should approach the game with a great competitive spirit but at the same time enjoy the day no matter what the final outcome will be. I do not know much about Austin Lodge GC and did not know what to expect. So after a bacon bap and coffee, 34 of us teed off at noon. The first hole, par 4, has a drop of some 200 feet from the tee to the middle of the fairway. One Par 3 is 226 yards long but has a huge drop in elevation so much so that only an iron was needed to reach the green. Basically you need to be a mountain goat to plot your way round. Some of the views were quite stunning and generally the course was interesting as you made your way through the hills and valleys. From the yellow tees, it measured over 6500 yards and being a windy day, scores were not expected be high. It took about 5 hours to complete the round due to its terrain and the general feedback was good. After a quite tasty lamb shanks (how appropriate for a golfer) meal, the results were announced (please see Results page for details) and the generous prizes presented by Steve Vella. Well done to Max Lim for winning the day with 37 points. Apparently Simon who came second with 36 points had an unfortunate incident with one of his putt, the ball bounced out of the cup when it hit the metal ring inside. Simon, being Simon, was trying to find out whether his putt was good but I am afraid the overall answer is tough s**t! As usual our thanks also goes to Vincent, Chris, Simon and all the committee members who helped out to make the day as enjoyable as possible for everyone. Vincent lost his match play so I am playing Devinder in the next round. I was fortunate to win 2 NTP and received 2 sleeves of Pro Vs. My contribution towards the Captain Charity is £30 for this event and I have already sent £300 to UNICEF ( Burma and China relief funds) on behalf of your kind and generous donations collected this year. The next event is on 26 th July at Stockley Park G C (near Heathrow). This event is sponsored by Margaret Wong and although she would not be present she is still sponsoring the day. If you view the Special event on our website, you will note that we have secured a generous sponsor for the game in July 2009 at Princes GC in Kent . The sponsor First Commercial Insurance Brokers Ltd (click on their logo to go to their website) deals with all general insurance and it will be great if you are renewing your next insurance policy to consider asking them for a no obligation quote. If you need me to make the initial introduction please let me know as they are a very good client of mine. And a few words from our Champ from Austin Lodge, Max JJ Lim “Once upon a time … on a sunny Saturday afternoon (albeit a bit windy, wind direction keeps changing on every other hole) I had this “pleasure and honour” of teeing off with our sponsor of the day Steve Vella (of Daily Fish Supplies). My tee shot of the first tee was not good to say the least and I subsequently had a double bogey. Anyhow the course is pretty good “nick” and some views along the way were quite stunning. Me and Steve were sort of “neck and neck” going out but unfortunately Steve's short game let him down coming in (except on the 18 th when we chipped in for a bogey from 20+ feet) and that saved him handing a fiver over to Captain Chew. Steve rallied me to get a good score coming in and I rallied him not to lose to Captain Chew when his short game has gone awol. I had on a few other occasions gone out strong and only managed to fowl things up coming in but not this time. And of course many thanks to Steve Vella for his usual generous sponsorship and commiseration to our other playing partner Alex Wishart who did not have “good day at the office ”. Peter Chew
VANTAGE CUP The day was kindly sponsored by our member, Edwin Chiu of Vantage at Collingtree Park GC in Northampton . Collingtree Park golf course was designed by the famous American Johnny Miller and was the venue of many European Tour events until the course suffered from an agricultural disease that affected the greens. Although no major European Tour events are now held there, I understand that it is still used for the minor Euro Pro tour. Being designed by Johnny Miller, you could expect water coming into play and the course would have provided a stern test without the added windy condition. A warm welcoming bacon baguette was laid on by the Club on arrival washed down with coffee. The weather forecast for the day was sunny and dry but windy (this being May Bank holiday is relatively good especially when the forecast was rain for the next two days). The first group teed off shortly after 12.30 pm amidst windy and cloudy but dry weather. A few match play games were played notably my game against Heidi who I had to give too many shots (by my own reckoning). Our playing partners were Dominic and Alex. I fancied my chances on the first hole being stroke index 18 and a short par 4 and Heidi not having much advantage from the tee. Well guess what? I lost the hole with a double bogey. It goes to show that there is no guarantee in golf. At the second hole, Heidi sunk a good 15foot putt to halve and that set the pattern for the game. Each time I look like winning a hole, Heidi would chip and putt like a demon. Understandably, I was 3 down all the way until the 14 th where I was lucky enough to sink a long putt to win. After that Heidi struggled a bit and I was fortunate enough to win the next four holes and the match on the 18 th . I am now ready for anybody in the competition as I felt that I recovered well from beating a very formidable and proficient golfer. So be warned. On a normal day, the course would have been challenging enough with tight fairways and water coming into play. The 18 th hole is the signature hole with its island green and a par would be a good score. The scores for the day reflected the difficult conditions. I scored what I thought was a poor 11 points on the front but only to be told that a very good player (who should remain nameless) scored only 4 points. Golf is probably the only game where you can be perversely encouraged by somebody else misfortune! (or is it just me?). Ronald Lim was apparently dormy 3 down but managed to halve his match with Avtar. After a quite tasty fish and chips meal, the results were announced (please see Results page for details) and the prizes presented by Vincent on behalf of Edwin. Well done to Dominic for winning the day (I was so engrossed with my match that I did not even realise he was scoring well)) with a very good score of 34 points, winning on count back from three others on the same score. Dominic thanked the committee for organising the day. Chris Chia took the NTP prize on the 8 th with a very good shot to within 3 foot and sunk the putt for a birdie. Brian Hicks won the Longest Drive prize As usual our thanks also goes to Vincent, Chris, Simon and all the committee members who helped out to make the day as enjoyable as possible for everyone. My contribution towards the Captain Charity is £38 for this event and I am sending £300 to UNICEF ( Burma and China relief funds) on behalf of your kind and generous donations collected this year. For those not present, I made the announcement about our member Margaret Wong who was diagnosed with lung cancer about 2 months ago. Margaret underwent keyhole surgery in Hong Kong and had the cancer and part of her lung successfully removed and is now recovering very well. She is aware of our thoughts and prayers and she hopes to be able to attend the golf day in July at Stockley Park . The next event is on 28 th June at Austin Lodge G C in Kent (near Brands Hatch). This event is sponsored by Steve Vella of Daily Fish Supplies and he promised to provide shark fin soup and lobsters as prizes! If you have not entered, I suggest you do so promptly to avoid disappointment. On newsletters, whilst Vincent and I are happy to report after each game, we would welcome any comments or stories you may wish to post on our website for the benefit of all MGS members. At the very least, I think all event winners should contribute something. Until we meet at Austin Lodge, keep practising and happy golfing. Peter Chew
Pyrford GC Saturday 19th April 2008 Our thanks to Eddie and Joyce for attending this game and their valuable support and sponsorship of this golf day and over the past years!! A dark and gloomy day with rain showers was the forecast of the day but 36 players turned up to brave the conditions and although there was a lot of water to negotiate around the course to thwart the golfers there were some very good scoring on the day. Our Champion Golfer for the day was TC Por who has a habit of winning an MGS event every year and he came in with 39 points. I am trying to find his secret of how he manages to outwit the handicapper by getting his handicap up in the year after being cut for winning!!! He was closely followed by Francis Ong who said he played poorly from tee to green but one putted nearly every green to come in with 38 points playing off handicap 9!! Is he saying he is not a good player but was lucky on the day? Anyway we still have to take a shot off him for being the Overall runner up. I had a disastrous day losing a hatful of bets with my abysmal golf but still managed to beat 2 guys whose names I will not mention. Our Captain fared slightly better than me but still paid out more than he collected for his Captain's charity. There was the MGS matchplay being played and our Captain beat his wife Julie( I forgot to ask where or how he did it) and there were close fought matches where it went to the last hole and winners were Johnathan over Bok and TC Por over TK Wong. After the game we had a two course meal of poached chicken in herb and mushroom sauce followed by profiteroles for dessert. Joyce Lim handed out the prizes to all the winners on the Day (and some lovely prizes too) and the Mango Tree Challenge Cup to TC Por. You must give yourself a pat on the back for the speed of play for the day or was it the Marshall that kept pushing you? Anyway that is the speed of play to avoid slow play and do keep this up for the future. Our next game on May 24 is at Collingtree Park in Northampton which is a renowed venue on the Euro Pro tour. Edwin Chiu of Vantage has kindly agreed to sponsor us again for this game and many thanks to him for his continued support. Finally a big thanks to all of you who turned up even though we had forecast for a dull and rainy day. MGS needs members and guests like you all.
For MGS first event of 2008, we visit The Hertfordshire GC situated, near Broxbourne The day was kindly sponsored by our member, Max K C Lim of ML Homes who I understand owns a chain of residential/nursing homes. A warm welcoming bacon baguette was laid on by the Club on arrival washed down with coffee. The weather forecast for the day was not good with wind and rain expected but that did not deter the 41 players that turned up hoping for dry weather but expecting the worst and in fact did get worse! The first group teed off shortly after 12.30 pm amidst windy and cloudy but dry weather. Several match play games were played notably my game against my wife, Julia, who I had to give a shot a hole as otherwise I would have to cook my own dinner for a month. Our playing partners were Bok and Max JJ Lim who were also playing their match play. Bok, despite an injured foot( which he found out days later it could be GOUT), played because he did not want to miss any MGS games and the chance to meet up with friends. Julia sunk a 15 foot putt on the first hole to win and thereafter I had to scramble my best match play golf to halve the holes. We ended the front nine all square. Conditions were difficult and it was one of those days where you wished that you did not play but was glad after you finished that you did because of the nonsense and the trials and tribulations you get about the day from fellow golfers in the club house. On a normal dry and warmer day, the course would have been challenging enough and the back nine has a more interesting and better setting than the front nine. The Par 3 15th is probably the feature hole with a peninsular green and Mo did well to win the NTP prize. My gripe and also those of some members for the day was not the weather but SLOW PLAY (again) and I believe that our round took a good 45 minutes longer than normal to finish. I apologise for bringing this up but there really is no reason for slow play if each of us gets ready to play when it is safe to hit your shots. Any club selection should have been assessed when getting to your ball and your glove should be worn in time to play. For those with a deliberate pre shot routine, you can review this aspect and perhaps reduce the number of practice swings to speed up. Remember every 30 seconds extra on each shot amounts to an average of 45 minutes delay per round.
The MGS annual family lunch was held this year at Kam Tong's Restaurant Queensway on 16 th February (courtesy of our member Ronald Lim), the 9 th day of the Chinese New Year. Our Secretary, Vincent, had already planned the menu with Ronald Lim before our gathering and what a feast it turned out to be. Ronald kindly sectioned off the main restaurant to accommodate the 7 tables. 77 MGS members, their family and their guests attended the lunch and I am pleased to see that the younger family generations of members were present to celebrate and enjoy the occasion. And what a difference a year makes for most of them have grown up to be teenagers. I brought along my daughter who is starting to play a bit more golf and I expect her to join in the MGS games in 2009. Mike Davis brought along his entire family (including his latest addition) and Bok Yeoh was seen carrying and comforting the baby. What a good wife he makes or is he feeling broody now??!! For the first course, we had Yu Sheng, scallops and special mixed dim sum. Yu Sheng is a dish of unmixed raw salmon, vegetables and sauces and is believed to bring good fortune in business when consumed. The diners were expected to use their chopsticks and start mixing the contents and tossing it from as high as possible and as thoroughly as possible as the act of mixing/tossing was to generate greater fortune. The second course of crispy duck went down very well followed by a very tasty and generous portion of lobster noodles, all consumed with great enthusiasm. By the time, the six dishes of the main course (consisting of Turbot, prawns, steak, Mange Tout leaf, Pak Choy and Lotus Leaf rice) were served, most of the diners were fulfilled but nevertheless managed to finish the food. The last dish was Ice Kachang, a very typical Malaysian dessert specially prepared from Ronald's other restaurant, Kiasu, which is directly across from Kam Tong. After the meal, we adjourned to the upstairs room at Kiasu for some karaoke singing and drinks. As usual, K S Yoon (the Far East Tom Jones, Tom Yam) started proceedings with his rendition of Delilah to get the singing going followed closely by Margaret Wong who sang Only You like a professional. I attempted to sing a number from a bygone era which even Vincent had a problem recognising. The youngsters were there and sang a few numbers, obviously, the more modern songs. Avtar did his best to hijack the occasion with his repertoire of old Beatle songs which he still cannot remember the words to and generally disrupt or distract the singing. He is the only guy I know that can do a karaoke song completely in one key and mostly in one breath. The general consensus is that everyone enjoyed the food and the entertainment and on behalf of MGS members and guests, may I thank Ronald and his staff for looking after us and ensuring that we were decently fed with delicious food, the entertainment and drinks thereafter. Here is to 2009. GOLF TRIP JEREZ ON FEB 23-FEB 26 This trip was planned and organised by Salim (on behalf of The Holistic School of Golf) some months ago and 9 golfers (myself, Vincent, Bruce, Sylvio, Salim , Mo , Austin, Raj and Nand) subscribed to the trip to Jerez in Spain . We all met at Stansted Airport on the Saturday afternoon for our flight and everyone was in fine spirits and looking forward to the few days of golf. After a short delay, we arrived in Jerez and the hotel at Costa Ballena by 10.15pm When Salim tried to check us all in, he was politely told that the hotel had no reservation for our group for that evening. Eventually, Salim managed to determine the cause of the mix up and managed to book us into the sister hotel for the night. In the meantime, the hotel restaurant where we were supposed to have dinner closed at 10.30pm but somehow Salim managed to get the hotel to rustle up some food/drink to satisfy our hunger. On checking in at the sister hotel and the room, we found out that a double bed rather than twin beds were allocated to the rooms. Some managed to change rooms to twin before settling in for the night. I will not let on who shared the double room otherwise the G in MGS may have a whole different meaning! FYI it was not Vincent and Bruce although they shared a room together. In all that time, I am impressed with the group's attitude and took whatever obstacles or delays in their stride. We all took the hiccup with patience and understanding and even managed to laugh about it. Well done guys. The first day's golf was played at Montecastillo just outside Jerez . This course used to host the European end of year's Volvo Masters before they moved to Valderama, so you could expect it to be a very testing course. We managed to arrive at the course some minutes before the tee time after several detours in finding the right directions! Moral of this, get a Sat Nav if you are not sure, especially in a foreign country. Before the game, we agreed upon the format of the 3 days competition but we also introduced the ‘one Euro a blob' if you do not score any points on a hole as a contribution towards the drinks bill. We were not disappointed with the layout and what a tough course it is with its mountainous terrain and big greens. Only Sylvio managed to break 30 points with Vincent coming second on 26 points. You can imagine what the other scores were like and 46 euros were collected for the blob fund of which a certain gentleman contributed 10 euros. Despite the low scoring, I would highly recommend a revisit if/when we return to the area. The second day, we visited El Puerto GC where we played 2 years ago albeit this time in sunnier and warmer climate. This time we managed to get to the club in good time and even had time to warm up on the practice range. We played off the yellow tees which still measured some 6600 yards. The course is not as difficult or as in good condition as Montecastillo (which is reflected by the better scoring) but nevertheless challenging enough. I came back with the winning score of 36 points with Bruce second on 34 points. This time the blob fund only raised 32 euros (although a certain same gentleman contributed his 10 euros). As a result, the leader board changed, with Sylvio and I leading but the rest only a few points behind. The rest of the day was spent in the hotel's excellent spa facilities. That evening after dinner, a group of us decided to visit the town of Jerez and hopefully catch a Flamingo show. Not realising that it was a Monday evening and off season, the town was virtually closed so we could not report on any of the night life. The final day's golf was played at the hotel's course, a venue for the European PGA and it was evident that there were a few schools in progress mainly from Denmark and Finland . There were many young golfers, boys and girls, coached and taught the finer art of the game and you can understand from watching them and the hours they spent on the game why golfers these days are so fundamentally good when they get on the Tour. Again it was a warm sunny day with a bit of wind making conditions a bit more difficult. There was quite a fair bit of water and long par 3s. The back nine ran along the beach front and by far the most picturesque and challenging. Being in the final group, I was able to monitor the progress of my challengers and after the front nine, Sylvio was in the lead by a point. However, he fell away on the back nine and did not play to his normal high standard. The day was won by Salim beating Bruce on count back on 32 points. The overall position winners were 3 rd -Sylvio, 2 nd Bruce with me finishing 1 st by 1 point. The blob funds were enhanced as a blob was increased to 2 euro on the last day. Salim kindly presented the prizes and the prize funds amongst the winners including a prize for the blobber of the trip. Thank you Salim for organising an enjoyable trip made more so by the sunny and warm climate. We will look forward to next year's trip in Portugal . After a long lunch, we headed back to the airport and arrived home on Tuesday evening and on a final note, I did feel the earthquake tremor in Essex that morning (I thought Julia had bought a vibrating electric blanket!). Our first game is on 29 th March at The Hertfordshire kindly sponsored by Max KC Lim. It is a challenging course and if you have not registered please do so promptly to avoid any disappointment. In the meantime, sharpen your short game to score better. I am looking forward to see you all again and hopefully play some good golf and raising some Charity money. I might want to introduce a Blob charity too if we all agree!!!! Peter Chew |
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