Men's Night Winners - Wednesday June 9 2010

Well, the 4 man texas scamble went off awesome. We ended up with 12 teams (48 people) on a cold windy night.

1st Place at -9
Danny Soucy
Glen McIsaac
Roger Hulan
Richard Rotchford

2nd Place at -6
Paul Hulan
Bob Ford
Tony White
Justin House


Tie for 3rd at -5
Roy Bungay
Terry Soucy
George Pike
John Barter
Loyola O’Connor
Rick Cook
Gerry Boland
Harry Hiscock

Everyone had a great time, and the Harmon Seaside Links hopes that more people get into this fun and sociable game!

Justin

Golf Etiquette

Hi all,

I’m not going to nag you with too many things, just a few etiquette requests to help things run smoother at our Golf course, and at the same time, make it an even nicer place to play:

1) TEED OFF
After you tee off, if you break your tee, please don’t throw it about. It helps our maintenance guys a lot if we place them either in a bucket, or at least next to a tee block (in one spot). When they arrive on a tee box to cut it, if there are broken tees everywhere, they have to pick them up before they cut because the tees are very hard on the mower blades.

2) CUT ACROSS SHORTY
The old cutting across to #10 trick is popular at our course. Don’t get me wrong, I do this many times, however, without a starter, we have to make sure we check with the pro-shop to make sure it’s ok. Also, the rule of thumb is not to do it if there are golfers anywhere on #9 (that the pro shop tells you are playing 18 holes). Our current route across to #9 is behind #18 green and across #9 fairway. We should actually be going behind both greens, especially if pulling a cart or in power cart. Also, there is nothing more frustrating than coming up #9 while somebody is walking across to #10, then, being held up by that group the rest of the way around. We all have the luxury of being able to start on #1 or #10 most times, but we need to realize that the groups on the front 9 have priority. Also, it is not the pro shop’s responsibility to book you a time for #1 if you started on #10, you need to time it accordingly and make sure you have a time.

3) HURRY UP AND SLOW DOWN
Our course has very little issue with speed of play. Actually, it’s probably the best course I’ve ever played for getting around 18 holes. I’ve played courses in PEI where it takes over 5 hours to play a round! However, I just wanted to mention a couple of points about when to let somebody “play through”. First thing, DON’T RUSH! There is no point to rush because somebody is behind you, you’ll never get better at this game if you are worried about playing too slow. If there is a group behind you that seem to be always waiting for a shot, let them play through on the next tee. Obviously, there is no point to do this if you are not the group causing the slowness (ie. you are waiting every shot because of the group ahead of you). So, a good benchmark to use is, if there is a full hole ahead of you with nobody on it, and a group is pushing behind, let them through. This lets you relax, and also lets the faster players play at a comfortable speed for them.

4) ON THE BEACH
If you happen to go into bunker, please rake your pitch mark, swing mark, feet marks and your path in/out of the bunker. Would you like to be in somebody’s footprint if you had to hit out of the bunker? Rake the bunker to leave it in a fashion that you would not be mad about hitting out of it. Try not to leave any ridges with your rake either. I am asking this because with almost about 40 traps on our course, 30 of which are on the front 9 which sees the most traffic, our maintenance guys do not get a chance to groom the bunkers every day, so we need to do our part to show etiquette to your fellow players.

5) DIGGIN’ A HOLE
Replace your divots! Most golfers take a “sod” when they swing at the ball. It may not seem like a big deal, but if you grab the sod while it’s still damp (before the roots die) and put it back in it’s place giving it a little stomp (to make sure the root surface is back where it was), it will grow back. There are too many dead sods lying about the fairways which obviously mean there are also divots left where they came from. Again, you wouldn’t want to land in a divot, right? This game is hard enough as it is, haha.

6) PITCHED OFF
Fix your ball pitch marks on the green! Our greens are on their way to being the best we’ve seen, however, we need to keep them that way. Believe it or not, there is a wrong way to do this, and you can do more harm as leaving it alone if not done correctly. The jist of it is, DO NOT push your repair tool in and push down as to lift the depression back up. That just detaches the roots. You have to go around the diameter of the ball mark and push in towards the centre, bringing the grass into the depression. Pat it down with your foot or putter after. Here’s a good video to show you:
http://www.ehow.com/video_2357647_etiquette-fixing-ball-mark-golf.html


Not trying to pitch you off, but these are easy things we can all do to make our course even better!

Thanks to everyone!

Justin House
HSL Golf Captain

Men's Night - Wednesday June 9 2010

Format: Texas Scramble
Each Player must use at least 3 drives
See rules below

Cost : $15.00 .... Food and Beverage included.

Choose your own team... However total handicap for the team must be at least 38. Sign up at he bar before teeing off... we need to know numbers.

Book your own tee time... any time after 2ish

If you don't have a team, phone down ( 643-4322) and sign up as a single and we will make up some teams based on Handicap....

Last mens night we had 34 participants,,, let's keep it going


Texas Scramble Rules (altered to three tee shots each vs. four)

1. Each team will consist of four players.
2. All players can tee off at each hole.
3. The nominated team captain then selects the best drive and marks the position (within 6 inches) with a tee (not nearer the hole). A minimum of three ( for our format) tee shots per player to be used.
4. The other players then retrieve their balls.
5. The remaining players then play within 1 club length of the tee (not nearer the hole). Note! Golf balls shall be placed on closely mown areas and dropped if the chosen ball in play is in the rough or a hazard.
6. The above method of play is followed until the green is reached.
7. On the green the same method applies. The ball chosen is marked by a putter head length and players putt from the same spot in turn.
8. Each player must mark the ball after putting. Play continues from each chosen position until the ball is holed.
9. The score is the total number of shots from the chosen spots (including the tee shot). Note! If a player putts and misses but then inadvertently knocks the ball into the hole, then that score counts.



On behalf of John Hogan and myself, hope to see you all there!!

Justin House
HSL Golf Captain

June 4 "Rule of the week - Moving Ball"

Ask The Captain - June 4 - Handicap

Harmon Invitational Up-Date

Hello all,

Our Tournament Committee is very excited about the upcoming Harmon Invitational, and we are striving to make this a very successful Harmon Invitational. We’ve all been working hard to drum up major sponsorships, organize the format and tournament particulars, as well as market it efficiently. I would like to ask all of you for a favor…..if each of you forward to golfers you know across the country, they could be from here in the Bay St. George Area, from across Newfoundland, or they could be friends from away. You never know who might want to come home for this! Regardless, we want people to see the array of prizes and entertainment this Harmon will offer. If they don’t come this year, they might next!

Also, the new format creates a less “pressured” style of setup with more competitive fun. Basically, you pick a partner who should be around your handicap (but doesn’t have to be). You and your partner play as a team the entire weekend. The team’s handicap will be based on the lower of the two RCGA handicaps, and that will place you into a Division (A, B or C). Within the Division there will be 1, 2 and 3rd prizes for Gross and Net. THIS IS NOT A SCRAMBLE. In other words, you play your own ball throughout, but the lowest score out of you and your partner on each hole will be the “team score” for the hole. As I said, since you will play with your partner the entire tournament, it will work in two great ways:
1) You will have the relaxed atmosphere of playing with your friend
2) You will still get to meet and play with new people in a foursome

The prizes for this tournament are amazing. Again, you don’t have to be the best golfer to get the best prizes. The major prizes are actually draw prizes on Saturday night, as well as the $250 closest to the Hole on three of the four par 3’s each day (which we know anyone can get!), and a hole in one prize each day as well. You will have to be present for the major draw prizes, but you’ll want to be there anyway for the steak dinner (after you play), and also the many fun events inside and out, and a party/dance Saturday night with a live band!

There are two early bird prizes, one for “in town” and one for “out of town”. The early bird eligibility is based on paying by July 16th, and it is non-fundable (for obvious reasons of being eligible). These prizes include “refreshments”, gift certificates, hotel for out of town, and other golf paraphernalia, prize packages total over $250 each.

We do not have a cap on the number of teams that we will be accepting, but if registrations get to a point where we think getting all players around before supper occur, we’ll then cut it off. So, please don’t wait to long to get your registrations in, it helps us in knowing what we are working with for numbers, and we can determine what we need for a tee times as well.

So, please forward this e-mail with the attachments (poster and registration form) to whomever you can!

Thanks to all, and hope to see you on the course!

Justin House
HSL Golf Captain

Harmon Invitational Information