Captains’ Log

And just like that we are past three quarters of the year and there is only 64 days (as of 22 October) until a jolly fat man in red turns up on your doorstep…no, not me. The weather is promising to warm up, kind of behaving itself with rain, and generally allowing us to get some fun golf in…so much golf in fact that there are only two Honour Board events still active. The Lamington Cup, which was postponed and of course, the marathon that is Mocatta.

The golfing season has thrown up some amazing performances; notably by our Division One Pennant Men’s Pennant team by delivering another flag to the club (congratulations to all players and thank you to the club, caddies, parents, and general cling ons, who helped achieve this feat). We have seen a belated, but fantastic Club Championships…admittedly the weather did not help out during the qualifying, with some great matches and results. Congratulations to all winners, and also the vanquished for getting there, but kudos to our new Club Champion Campbell Kerr, who this time last year was eating hospital food…a fantastic achievement!

We still have a few weeks to go until Closing Day on Saturday, 10 December, but there are still a few things competition related happening. The NPV Shootout Final will be played on Sunday, 4 December with our 19 finalists yet to be decided. For those who have entered, there are still a number of qualifying rounds to go. Also you will find a current leaderboard in the Pro-Shop and on the BGC Website, so it may pay…quite literally, to have a look and see what you need to get to the final.

It wouldn’t be a Captains’ Log without mentioning pace of play. As a reminder, the process is as follows: 4:15 is the time we are aiming for each round. If you are under this time for your round, well done! If you are over the 4:15 fear not, because if you have finished within 13 minutes after the group ahead you are fine. If you happen to take longer than 4:15 for your round and are 13 minutes or more after the group ahead, expect to have a Match Committee member have a quiet word. Repeated infringements warrant a warning letter and if you receive 3 letters you are to the back of the field for a spell. There may be circumstances which led to that delay, and we appreciate that can happen. But please be mindful of your position in the field.

The MiScore App and the new Club carts do have clocks on them, but that is not what you base your position in the field on as it is a guide only. If you cannot see the group in front of you on the same hole, you have fallen behind. If your group finds itself in this position, it is up to everyone in that group to find ways to catch that time up. Gone are the days of the lowest marker leading the way to catch up, it is every member’s responsibility.

We thought it may be worthwhile sharing some data on round times to give you an idea on where we are at. The below are the average times taken for each competition on a Wednesday and Saturday (over the past 3 months). Please note we are only just starting to collate Tuesday and Sunday timings:

Stroke rounds included Club Championships, with one round of 4:45 making the average jump a bit. However, during this time there were 4 whole fields that averaged under 4:15mins for the round, and another 3 that were dead on 4:15. That is a fantastic effort and shows that 4:15 is a realistic time for a round of golf.

Those of you with eagle eyes, and/or those that use scorecards still, will notice that there is a slight change to some of the Local Rules. They are also found on the MiScore App. There are a couple of changes that are noteworthy; GUR is now defined by a continuous white line, there is a new drop zone behind the Hole 7 Green for when you enter the penalty area (hedge) at the back, and Penalty Area Stakes (not Out of Bounds stakes) are now considered movable obstructions. There is also a new Local Rule posted on the board outside the Pro-Shop regarding the rocks next to the cart path on Hole 8.

To help with navigating these Local Rules we have blatantly stolen the Dave Mason video idea. This video is designed to take some ambiguity out of most situations you may find yourself in terms of Local Rules…it may even inform some members that there is actually a Local Rule called 2 and 2. We hope it helps and any feedback is welcome.

That’s about it for now from us, but if there are things you wish to know about, please do not hesitate to reach out to Geoff Kuehner or any of the Committee Members.

See you on course

Ash Sturmer, Men’s Captain and Janet Nathanson, Women’s Captain