March 2016 - Margate Country Club

NEWS
Bookings for the Toyota Margate Challenge are going very well and to date we already have 27 four balls. The maximum we
can have is 30. This certainly has not been achieved over the last few years and this would be magnificent for the club. Hole
sponsorship is almost full with a only a few available. Prizes however are coming in slowly and a special effort is being made to
obtain more. The Challenge starts on Thursday 31st March 2016 and finishes Saturday 2nd April 2016 and I am sure it will be
a very successful event. If you or anyone you know would like to sponsor prizes or a hole please contact the office.
The 1st tee and second green were opened on Saturday morning and several photographs were taken by the Herald and our
office. The green is still a little soft and slower than our other greens but it presents new challenges and has certainly enhanced
our course. Thanks to Brian, Johan and their crew. The hard work has all been worthwhile.
The Mens Locker Room Fund Raiser took place on Saturday 27th Feb 2016. Two clubs were offered only on the 2nd hole and
no one managed one. As a result the Fund benefited by
A further R 350.00. Pledges were taken at the prize giving and another R 600.00 donated. Many thanks to all who have
sponsored so far.
Don’t forget to open your round before you play or failing that before you enter your score.
1
GOLF
MATTERS
Rules of the Month
1. Obstruction Interferes with Abnormal Stance
A right-handed player's ball is in a poor lie. A nearby immovable obstruction would not interfere with a normal righthanded swing but it would interfere with a left-handed swing. The player says he wishes to play his next stroke lefthanded and, since the obstruction would interfere with such a stroke, he is entitled to proceed under Rule 24-2b.
May the player invoke Rule 24-2b?
No. If the only reason for the player to use a left-handed stroke is to escape a poor lie, use of an abnormal (lefthanded) stroke is clearly unreasonable and the player is not entitled to invoke Rule 24-2b.
2. Obstruction Interferes with Abnormal Stance
A right-handed player's ball is in a poor lie. A nearby immovable obstruction would not interfere with a normal righthanded swing but it would interfere with a left-handed swing. The player says he wishes to play his next stroke lefthanded and, since the obstruction would interfere with such a stroke, he is entitled to proceed under Rule 24-2b.
May the player invoke Rule 24-2b?
No. If the only reason for the player to use a left-handed stroke is to escape a poor lie, use of an abnormal (lefthanded) stroke is clearly unreasonable and the player is not entitled to invoke Rule 24-2b.
3. Obstruction Interferes with Abnormal Stance
A right-handed player's ball is in a poor lie. A nearby immovable obstruction would not interfere with a normal righthanded swing but it would interfere with a left-handed swing. The player says he wishes to play his next stroke lefthanded and, since the obstruction would interfere with such a stroke, he is entitled to proceed under Rule 24-2b.
May the player invoke Rule 24-2b?
No. If the only reason for the player to use a left-handed stroke is to escape a poor lie, use of an abnormal (lefthanded) stroke is clearly unreasonable and the player is not entitled to invoke Rule 24-2b.
4. Mental Interference by Obstruction
A player's ball lies several inches to the side of a sprinkler head. The sprinkler head does not physically interfere
with the player's stance or the area of his intended swing. However, the sprinkler head bothers the player mentally.
Is the player entitled to relief under Rule 24-2b?
No. See Rule 24-2a.
Removing detached divot
A player's ball comes to rest in front of a divot which is folded over but not completely detached. The divot interferes
with his backswing. May the player replace or remove the divot before playing?
No. A divot which is not completely detached is not a loose impediment. It is something fixed and therefore its
removal or replacement would be a breach of Rule 13-2 as the lie and area of intended swing would be improved.
2
GOLF MATTERS continued….
TIP OF THE MONTH
Like Drivers, there’s more than loft to Hybrids
Your Hybrids need to be more than just easy to hit.
They should offer a consistent
distance gapping from your longest Iron up to your Fairway Woods.
Two different Hybrid models with
exactly the same loft will create very
different distances.
CoG location and shaft both change
launch. Shaft length changes club
head speed.
Fitting you for a Hybrid is about more than finding a club you can use consistently.
It’s about fitting it into your bag so that it’s the most use to you out on the course.
Ask our Pro Shop if they can arrange a fitting session for you.
MARGATE COUNTRY CLUB
NEWS
It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to Johan Smith. Johan has made an enormous contribution to our golf course,
our course equipment and the upkeep of our club and we thank him for all he has done. Under Brian Joliffe Johan has helped
tremendously in improving our course to be the best it has ever been. Recently however we have been suffering with
breakdowns to our critical course equipment which has made it impossible to cut all areas as we would normally do. The
repairing of this equipment although at times expensive is underway. Some of our machinery is old and needs replacing and
that may be sooner than later. Johan is going into business with a friend and we wish him all the luck in his new venture. Our
thanks go to Johan. Interviews have been conducted and I am pleased to announce that Denel Edward Clarke has been
employed as Workshop Manager. We wish Denel a happy and successful future with the club.
Those who attended the Valentines Dinner and Dance had a great evening, good food and special entertainment from
Winston Smile. There are not many opportunities to dance these days so everyone who could (sorry Doug) made the most of
it. It is sad that there were actually more bowlers than golfers that attended, a trend that is in keeping with Friday evenings.
Come on golfers the club needs your support. It is your club as well. The next time Winston will be performing at the club will
be at the Final Competition Presentation of the Halfway Toyota Margate Challenge on Saturday evening 2nd April 2016. We
look forward to that.
3
FROM THE LADIES LOCKER ROOM AT MARGATE COUNTRY CLUB
LADIES SECTION - GOLF
Golf is the study of a lifetime,
A test of temper,
A trial of honour and a revealer of character.
It affords a chance to play the man and to act the gentleman.
It means going into God’s outdoors,
Getting close to nature,
To fresh air and exercise.
It is a sweeping away of mental cobwebs,
A genuine re-creation of tired tissues.
It is a cure for care and an anti-dote to worry.
It includes companionship with friends,
Social intercourse and opportunities for courtesy,
Kindliness and generosity to opponents.
It promotes not only physical health but moral force.
Kind regards,
Joan Minnaar – Lady Captain
WINNERS OF THE CLUB COMPETITIONS FOR DECEMBER
4th Feb - Thursday Individual Stableford – Winner: Fanie Terblanche - 43 pts
5th Feb – Friday Business Day - 4 Ball alliance 2 scores to count: Winners: Craig Joliffe,
Johan Neethling, Jaco Van Der Wal, Heber De Beer - 103pts
6th Feb – Saturday Combined Stableford – Winners: Sageran Pillay & Keegan Reddy – 50pts
11th Feb - Thursday Individual Stableford – Winner: Luke Davies - 74 pts
13th Feb – Saturday Valentine’s Day Combined Stableford Ladies & Men – Winners: Liz Meyer
& Margaret Taylor – 74pts
18th Feb – Thursday Individual Stableford – Winner: Neil Townsend - 43 pts
20th Feb - Saturday Monthly Medal
Winner: A Division: Johan Wentzel– 72 nett c.o B Division: Graeme Massam
– 68 nett. C Division: Brian Jeffreys – 69 nett.
25th Feb – Thursday Individual Stableford – Winner: John Crewe - 41 pts
27th Jan – Saturday Men’s Locker Room Better Ball Stableford – Winners: George Bowie &
Frik van Zyl Jnr – 46pts
4
INTERVIEW WITH CLIVE van RENSBURG
From the age of 10years old until he was 18years old Clive was a featherweight boxer but his coach was not
happy with his legs because they were too thin! Clive asked ‘what can I do I already run 5 kilometers a day?’ His
coach suggested that he should take up ice skating which he did. He took to this so well that he became an Ice
Hockey player and started playing for the Wolves at Wembley Stadium south of Johannesburg. Clive left
Johannesburg to live in Durban in 1954 and played Hockey in the then just built ice rink. He was awarded his
colours for Natal and was then selected to represent South Africa in the winter Olympics. He unfortunately did
not get to play for SA as the company that he worked for transferred him to Kenya to build a Packaging factory.
He must have liked Kenya as he stayed there for 30years.
Whilst in Kenya he became the Chairman of Mombasa Rugby club and did a considerable amount of
entertaining of the naval personnel that played rugby. On one occasion when Cassius Clay was fighting Sonny
Liston he was invited into the Officers Mess aboard an aircraft carrier where he consumed ‘a few’ Navy Rums.
He was then told that instead of downing the rum he was supposed to sip it to wet his lips only. The officer then
gave him a guided tour of the ship. When they arrived at the flight deck Clive was amazed at the size and asked
why there were no railings around the deck. The officer replied normally no unauthorized personnel where
allowed in this area. Clive saw an indentation in the deck where an airplane had previously shot the deck and
plunged into the sea. Clive said to the officer ‘you could slip here’ and promptly did!!! He closed himself into ball
as closely as he could as it was a long way down. On his way he saw a lady, that was attending the Captain’s
cocktail party, looking at him. He did not hear her scream as he hit the water. Under water he was totally
disorientated and wasn’t too sure in which direction to take. He eventually decided to follow the bubbles and
surfaced, as he tried to swim he realised that he had not broken anything. By this time a rescue boat with a
doctor aboard picked him up. After checking him out they informed him that the Captain wanted to see him.
Clive thought ‘oh my God what am I in for’. The Captain however was very polite and offered him a tot of rum to
warm him up. Clive answered ‘no thank you’ and explained that was how he got into this mess. The Captain
said ‘do you realise how far you fell’? Clive answered ‘I have no idea Sir. ‘Well it was 80 feet’!!!
I asked Clive if he ever saw the Captain again and he said yes and every ship that docked after that wanted to
find out ‘who the drunken sod was that fell of the ship’. He was also presented with a trophy by the navy which
was a Tiger beer in the middle and a tot of Rum on either side. He was never allowed to forget it. And now lots
more people know Ha! Ha!
When Clive was 60 years old he retired and moved to the South Coast and bought a house in Chester Mews in
Bank Street. Later John Webster offered him the cottage in Hibiscus Retirement Village where lives now with
Hasina.
Clive joined Margate Country Club in 1992 and did not know anyone so he would sit at the bar hoping to meet
someone and eventually met Shirley Bothma and her husband and started playing golf with them and Barbara,
Sid Makin’s wife.
He was also one the initial Wobblers with Sid Makin, Arthur Tomlinson, Norman Pullen and Phil de Villiers.
He became Vice-Captain of the golf club 1996. The Pro at that time was Terry Bloom. He became Chairman of
Sages in 1998 and 1999. He stopped playing golf when he bought the Health Shop in Hibiscus Mall and now
that he has retired from the shop he’s contemplating playing again.
One of Clive’s achievements at the club, together with the club mechanic at the time, was that he built the steel
bridge we all cross over to get to the 11th green.
Clive is an amazing character and I am proud that he is a friend of mine. He always has amazing stores of which
the above is only one. Thanks Clive I look forward to many, many more.
5
NEW MEMBERS
We would like to welcome the following
new members to the club.
SPECIALS FROM THE PRO SHOP
Don’t forget if you are thinking about going to the Pro Shop in
La Lucia or the Golfers Club in Umhlanga call into our Pro Shop
first and see what we can offer. It’s a lot less hassle.
Don’t travel for a fitment, make an appointment at our Pro Shop
and we’ll make the arrangements to suit YOU.
Men’s Golf: Paul Valentine
~~~~
Student Golf: Lucas Stoltz
~~~~
Junior Golf: Marnuwico Vosloo & Miguele
Vosloo
~~~~
1. New Range of Mens & Ladies Adidas Golf Shirts and Shoes
Country Men: Phillip Leite
~~~~
2. Latest Ping ‘G’ Series Drivers, Fairway Woods and Irons now in
stock.
Overseas Men: Alan Robinson
~~~~
Bowls: Christine Chancellor, Olwen Gibbs,
Norma Louw, Edward Louw & Cindy Cano
Practise safe Sun Protection use Techni-Block Sun Screen.
~~~~
Social: Jurie de Graaff
Also available for kids.
~~~~
We wish you all many happy years at the
club especially the young golfers.
Get your free copy of the Rules of Golf in the shop.
HAPPENINGS:
HAPPENINGS IN MARCH
Thursday
Men’s Individual Stableford
th
Friday 4 :
Business Day
Saturday 5th:
Men’s Better Ball Stableford
th
Thursday 10 :
Men’s Individual Stableford
Saturday 12th:
Men’s Combined Stableford
Tuesday 15th:
Nomads Competition
th
Thursday 17 :
Men’s Individual Stableford
Saturday 19th:
Men’s & Ladies Monthly Medal
th
Sunday 20 :
Open Mixed 4 Ball Alliance
Thursday 24th:
Men’s Individual Stableford
th
Saturday 26 :
Men’s Combined Stableford
Sunday 27th:
Easter Sunday Lunch
st
Thursday 31 :
Halfway Toyota Margate Challenge Day 1
3rd:
6
BOWLS
Bowls in February was quite busy and we had very ‘Hot and Humid’ days on the greens but the Bowlers were on the greens to
enjoy all the events that were played.
On the 5th we had The Hair Shoppe Women’s Fours and that was won by Norma Louw, Olwen Gibbs, Chrissie Chancellor and
Anji Gold.
On the 8th Open Fours Sponsored by Shelly Beach SuperSpar and the winners were Annette Payne, Trevor Heywood, Clive
Edmondson and Alison Dinning. Runners up from our own Club were Graham and Anji Gold with Hans and Dina v/d Walt.
On the 13th we had our Valentine’s day - sponsored by Food Lover’s Market - and the winners were Kobie Stander, Billy Eccles and
Peter McCarthy.
On the 19th, Men’s Fours, sponsored by Engel & Volkers was won by Dave Hume, Glen Allen, Ron Camps and John Keppler.
The leader on the ladder after the 2nd round is the team of Rod Phelps.
On the 21st the Nomads enjoyed their bowls on our greens.
On the 23rd open trips, sponsored by Hopdens Manaba Spar, was won by Kobie Stander, Gae Gravelle and Clive Edmondson.
On the 27th we had the final round of our Novice’s Club Championships with a Bring and Braai and the Novice winner was Hans van
der Walt and the runner up was Ralph Burls.
Four of our ladies, Kobie Stander, Dora Vosloo, Helen proctor and Gae Gravelle as one of the team Managers and Brian
Douthwaite, playing for the KBA in the Inter District Tournament during the 1st week in April . Good luck to you and enjoy the bowls.
The Margate Challenge, sponsored by Toyota and Warwick Wealth, will be on the 1st & 2nd of April.
We are all looking forward to this Big event. Invitations had been sent to various Skips to play in this tournament.
The Mid Week League Starts on the 9th of March and good luck to all our teams.
7
BRIDGE
FROM THE BRIDGE TABLE
To play Bridge successfully you need a plan,
whether as declarer or as defender. And, to get
consistently good results, it is important to
concentrate, all the time! Every now and again a
hand comes along where it would be really nice if
you had a little birdie sitting on your shoulder,
giving you a peck when you reach a crucial part
in the play!
Take this hand that cropped up last Friday.
W
Pass
Pass
Pass
Declarer, by various means, ends up in a
contract of 4, and partner, bless her, leads the
J. Dummy plays low and you duck. The 8 is
continued, covered by the Q. You win with the
king and . . .
N
1
1NT
4
E
S
pass
1
pass
3
all pass
All your diamonds are winners. Many defenders
will reason that there can be no harm by playing
another winning diamond, forcing declarer to ruff.
It’s always a good idea, as defender, to count your defensive tricks. With 2 in the
bag and the K a probable third, you ask yourself; where is the 4th trick coming
from? It’s usually right to assume a contract can be beaten as it would be defeatist
to assume otherwise.
If partner has a black ace it doesn’t matter what you play. Assuming partner doesn’t
have an ace, there are two key cards unaccounted for: the Q and the K.
On the bidding, south is highly likely to have 6 Spade or 5 headed by the A-Q,
leaving partner with at best the singleton queen or two small spades. A glance at
dummy should warn you that the hearts, after your king is dislodged, may provide a
club discard for declarer.
At this point the little birdie nibbles your ear! With no time to lose you have to switch
to a club. Declarer can lose the club now or later – it’s his choice.
If he goes up with the ace, your
partner signals interest with the
appropriate card (the ten if standard
signals or the two if playing upside
down).
Declarer later tries the heart finesse
and your partner can take the setting
trick with the K.
But lazy defence on the day allowed all declarers who received the J to
get away with 10 tricks!
8
JOKE OF THE MONTH
I am trying to make friends outside of Facebook
while applying the same principles.
Therefore, every day I walk down the street and tell passers-by what I have eaten,
how I feel at the moment, what I have done the night before,
what I will do later and with whom.
I give them pictures of my family, my dog and of me gardening,
taking things apart in the garage, watering the lawn,
standing in front of landmarks, driving around town,
having lunch and doing what anybody and everybody does every day.
I also listen to their conversations, give them a “thumbs up”
and tell them I like them.
And it works – just like Facebook!
I already have four people following me:
Two Police officers, a Private investigator and a Psychiatrist!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
9