The April game was played at Umdoni – winter is on its way – what with some chilly starts in the mornings – with beautiful golfing weather once the sun is above tree height. Winning score of 33 points attests to Umdoni being no pushover, especially when there’s a bit of a breeze about!

And the greens were a bit “Cotswold Downish”!

Prizes on the day went to :

Overall Winner - Darrin Samuels (33 pts)

Runner-up - Gerald Edries (oco 33 pts)

Third Place - Martin James (oco 32 pts)

Longest Drive 1^{st -} Phillip Frank

Longest Drive 18^{th -} Graeme Forbes

Closest to Pin 3^{rd -} Phillip Frank

Closest to Pin 12^{th -} Cecil Prinsloo

Two Club - None – carry over

Most Golf - Errol Houston (18 Points)

Congratulations to all winners. 

Are Golf Courses still viable?

Recent reports regarding the financial woes of DCC begs the question if we’ll still be able to play good courses in the future.

Beachwood is being put up as collateral for a R45 million bail out loan. Should this deal fall through, the course will be converted into a housing estate.

Maybe we should start playing there more often, before it disappears from the golfing landscape.

Rules Corner

PLAYING OUT OF TURN

10-2. Stroke Play

• b. During Play of Hole

After start of play of the hole, the ball farthest from the hole is played first.

• c. Playing Out of Turn

If a competitor plays out of turn, there is no penalty and the ball is played as it lies. (In Matchplay, you could be asked to replay your ball).

If, however, the Committee determines that competitors have agreed to play out of turn to give one of them an advantage, they are disqualified. (An example of this would be if a player furthest from the hole requested someone nearer to play first, in order to see the effect of the wind on the ball – or to see the line of a putt – this would constitute an unfair advantage)

The significance of this rule is that it is OK to occasionally play out of turn to speed up play.

Another way that we can speed up play is to first play our ball, before going to help look for someone else’s ball. When the ball is found, there is no further delay thereafter.