Society Day 2nd October - Salinas Golf Club

Though not one of our biggest turnouts, there were some surprise guests joining us for our fortnightly Stableford comp. There were some faces from the past joining us as guests. One of them used to be a member of the society and have a bar here, John Gibson of Ela’s Bar in Corralejo turned up the out of the blue. John had the claim to fame that he was the eldest member of the society, though I think he’s been superseded now by a few other “mature” members! He did play a few games with us whilst he was here and played pretty steadily too.

Due to necessary maintenance the back 9 holes were still closed at Salinas, so we had to play the front 9 twice. They are hoping to have the back 9 fully open by the 20th of October, ready for their club competition as well as our next dates at that course. Playing the same 9 twice does have its advantages, it means that you can get an idea of the pin positions, but the wind was stays the same for long so by the time we’d got back round for the second half, it was almost like playing a different course! To keep things flowing along we were able to go out in groups of 3, we were also offered free buggies or trolleys as compensation for the back 9 being closed. Normally I like to walk, which is why I took up golf in the first place, but as my guest, Pete Butterworth was feeling the strain after playing a round a few days earlier, we chose to opt for the buggy method. I put it down to his age! Then again, he has spent almost every night with his wife Becky in the bar I work in ‘til chucking out time, so maybe I’d worn him out that way. Pete and I were joined by Aly Tanton, just back from her travels, and were 2nd out in the running order. Both Aly and Pete got off to flying starts where as I took a few holes to get going. We all had reasonable front 9’s, with Aly a few points ahead of us with 21 after getting two 4 pointers. The 2nd time round started ok but then my wheels fell off big style and I had 4 no score holes in a row, and Pete who was sharing the buggy had the same problem. There were 4 wheels on our buggy, but only 3 wheels on our wagon! Thankfully my closing few holes were more successful, Pete’s were ok, and Alys were superb! She scored another 21 points on the 2nd half, it could have been a lot more if it weren’t for being attacked by sprinklers! We were both unlucky to our balls land in places where we would be caught in mid-stream of the sprinklers, and for both of us, as soon as we’d hit the ball, the sprinklers stopped! Well, I think 42 points is enough anyway for one day, well it was on this occasion, Aly took victory costing her 3 shots off her handicap, (I think she can handle the drop anyway!) and in 2nd place was Mr Captain, Dennis May with 40 and Terry Blood took 3rd with 38. Alys luck didn’t stop there though, she also pulled out her own name in the sweep to win her days golf for free! Our guest winner was none other than ex-member John Gibson! He was delighted with his trophy and I think it was the first time he won with the society as a member or a guest! Getting nearest the pin on the 5th was Dennis McKernon and John Burgess got nearest the pin on the 8th! Though Dennis didn’t sink his putt for a 2, John Burgess did and my day wasn’t wasted either as I also sank a putt on the 8th the 2nd time round to get a share in the 2’s!

There are lots of things coming up over the next few months for the society, the finals our knockout match play games, the Presidents Cup plus the exciting grand finale to the eclectic and player of the year comps which come to a close in early December. Many other tournaments are being held on Salinas, Fuerteventura and Playitas golf courses throughout the next few months, interested parties can contact the courses directly via their websites or through myself on our own website http://www.corralejogolf.com/ Our next events are on 23rd, 28th and 30th of October at the Salinas course, tees are from 10am, as usual just drop me an email to corralejogolf@yahoo.com or give me a call or drop me a text on (0034) 620 161360 if you want to join us for these events or if you want further information about the society.
All the bestDave Brown

Society day 18th September - Fuerteventura Golf Club

Boy what a tough day we had on Tuesday 18th September. Held at Fuerteventura Golf Club once again, the men in black were expecting some stick from the pink pussies, but thankfully they had too many other things on their minds, like trying to get the ball in the hole. I don’t know what made it so tough, it was only an average to strong wind, the sun was shining but they had let the rough grow just a little bit more than normal, just long enough to hide the ball by about 2 inches. This did make it very hard to find your ball if you went into the rough and meant quite a lot of time was spent looking for balls amongst the troops. This ultimately and inevitably lead to a long and frustrating round for most.
I was in the lead group in a 3 ball with Vice President Rob Hughes and Alan Wrigley. Rob is renowned for his rapid pace, but even as a 3 ball we still took nearly 4 ½ hours, the following group just over 5!

The difficulty was reflected in the scores with only 5 players scoring 30 points or over. Phil Richards got 30 and Peter Flynn and I scored 32. It was a tie for first place with Terry Blood and Eva Krivacska tied with 34 points. This meant it was a card play-off on the back 9 which Eva just sneaked by one point. Getting nearest the pin on the 4th was Paul Benham. We also set a nearest the pin in 2 on the 18th like we’d done for the last 3 events, yet again no one managed to get on the green in 2! All our 3 went to the right and even just off the 9th green! There was only one 2 in our 2’s club this week, achieved by our winner, Eva Krivacska! Alan Wrigley, though already on his way back to the UK won the sweep, so he’s got a free round when he returns later in the year! Our next events are on 2nd of October at the Salinas course, tees are from 10am, and the 9th, 14th & 16th at Fuerteventura Golf Club also tees from 10am. As usual just drop me an email to corralejogolf@yahoo.com or give me a call or drop me a text on my mobile on (0034) 620 161360 if you want to join us for these events or if you want further information about the society.
All the bestDave Brown

Trider Cup September 11th 2007 - Fuerteventura Golf Club

This was our 3rd annual 1 day Ryder Cup style event, where we play all three formats of the Ryder Cup in one day by splitting the 18 holes into 3 sets of 6, fourballs, foursomes and individuals. The first year the Presidents team lead by Derek Mac narrowly lost to acting vice president Jo McKernon 14 ½ to 13 ½, as close as it could be. Last year was a different story as I captained the opposing team, we had a landslide victory of 21 to 7 over Derek’s team. So Derek’s reputation was once again on the line, all was hanging on this year’s competition.

The teams are selected schoolboy fashion where we flick a coin to see who gets first pick of the players, then take it in turns to select the two teams. This year Derek took the brave step to select as many of his last years team as possible. Captaining the opposing team this year was Rob Hughes. Both captains had choice of the colour of shirts their team were to wear and Rob opted for the simple option of black, where as Derek again took the brave measure of picking pink as his colour! Very quickly teams were dubbed as the pink pussies and the men in black, although the black team at the time had all the women on their side! Originally there were 12 in each team but a few of our members became available so we threw together an extra four ball consisting of 2 members and 2 guests. Unfortunately, selection of who’s side they were on was down only to who could fit in each shirt and as the pink shirts were a bigger size it meant that the bigger of the 2 were in pink!
On the day of the comp, one member couldn’t make it so Mike Turner, the 1st reserve jumped in to help. There was plenty of banter going on, mainly jeers at the pink shirts, but everyone was in good humour. The Captains of each chose to go out first so that they could chase around afterwards to check on scores from the others. My playing partner was the Grapevines Simon Atherfold and we were pitched against Tony Fawcett and Vince Price

. You can check out our website www.corralejogolf.com to see who’s doing what and where in our eclectic and player of the year comps.

- Corralejo Golf Society TUESDAY 4TH SEPTEMBER - Las Salinas Golf

Holding out especially for the society, Salinas golf club kept the back 9 open for our Stableford comp on Tuesday 4th September. It was more than playable, though they had scurried the latter holes of the back 9 in hope of regaining the fairways. Playing preferred lies, unusual for over here, we set out for another days’ golf on a fine “September Morn”, not a cue for a song from our resident Neil Diamond impersonator, Phil Richards, don’t want to get him started on that! But a beautiful day it was. 6 guests joined us for the day including one of my best mates from back home Gareth Kyte. We were joined in our 3 ball by the Elvis showman, Lynden Bartlam who “just can’t help believing” his “Blue Suede Golf Shoes” were going to be his “Good Luck Charm”. I’d better stop this or we’ll be here all day!

Lynden got off to a flying start whilst myself and Gareth were a little slower off the mark. We did catch up by the 9th a little and there was only a few points separating all three of us. Gareth fell by the wayside on the back 9 whilst I pulled back the drop shots I’d made on the front 9. After scoring 20 points on the back I finished level par for my handicap, 36 points, but hats off to my playing partner Lynden, who after scoring just 13 points on the front 9, pulled his round back to play for the first time ever to his handicap scoring a massive 23 points on the back 9 with 2 no score holes too! He also got a fantastic 2 on the par three 16th after narrowly missing another one on the 14th. I would say he’s very close to breaking his duck on his handicap, about time too!

So me and Lynden were sat as leaders in the clubhouse with 36 points, very quickly joined by Captain Dennis May and Vince Price who also scored 36 points, then later joined also by Dennis McKernon. So 5 of us scored 36 points, then in came the 3rd to last group with Terry Blood scoring 37, and the days winner Dud Tanton with 38. All in all it was a pretty close game with 17 players scoring 32 and over. The highest scorer of the day was a guest, Tony “the bandit” Boardman with 40 points! To his credit he did take the score card back with him to hand in to his club for handicap assessment, so we’ll be expecting him off 14 next time he’s here!

Getting nearest the pin on the 8th was Jo McKernon, but not quite a hole in one like last time, nor did she make a 2! We also set a nearest the pin in 2 on the 18th like we’d done 2 weeks previously on the Fuerte Golf Club, this time it was won and by Aly Tanton! Dennis McKernon and guest Tony Faye joined Lynden in the 2’s club on a rollover too!In the next report I will be telling you of our 1 day Ryder Cup style event, the Trider Cup, other wise known as the “try harder cup” amongst the natives!

Our next events are on 25th and 30th of September and the 2nd of October at the Salinas course, tees are from 10am, as usual just drop me an email to corralejogolf@yahoo.com or give me a call or drop me a text on (0034) 620 161360 if you want to join us for these events or if you want further information about the society. So until the next time, take it easy!

- Corralejo Golf Society TUESDAY 21TH AUGUST Fuerteventura Golf

Just before we tell you what’s happened within the society, I have great news. Just before the town of Gran Tarajal, about 25 minutes south of the airport a new golf course in Playitas is being developed. They already have 6 holes opened, five par 3’s and a par 4. The development is set to expand to a full blown course with hope of opening another 6 holes around March of next year. I went down last month to meet the friendly Scottish pro, Murdo McCorquodale, and to play the course in one of his fortnightly comps. As there are only 6 holes open you play the 6 holes twice, but being mostly par 3’s you can’t take anything for granted when you play. The course itself is very well done and has a great ambience. The greens are good and are well contoured it takes a bit of thinking about where you have to pitch the ball to get near the hole. All in all well worth a look at if you’re in the area. On the other courses there have been many changes too. Due to irrigation problems, Francisco de Bethencort, the new director at the Salinas course has been forced to close the back 9 in order to get it back on track ready for the busy winter season ahead. They are hoping to re-open the back 9 by early October but I will keep you informed. Changes happening too on the Fuerteventura Golf course, just today I have been told that Angel Duran, Director of golf will be going to pastures new in a week’s time, so we await yet another new golf director!

Anyway, onto society business. Nearly ¾ of the way through the season and in our yearly comps things are getting pretty tight for the leaders. You can check out our website http://www.corralejogolf.com/ to see who’s doing what and where in our eclectic and player of the year comps.

In our game on the 21st August we had a great turnout as usual backed up by 10 guests, some of whom are regulars with the society. Young whiz kid Dan Reeve and Stuart “Peter Kaye” Higginson were amongst the regulars with Peter Flynn and Captian Dennis May having their sons over on holiday too. We were on the Fuerteventura Golf Course and it was an absolute scorcher. I was still hoping for the magic game which would take me into single figures, but it wasn’t going to happen on this occasion! I spent a very frustrating 4 hours battling to scrape 30 points. However, the winning scores were also not that high with only one player beating their handicap. Tied in 2nd place were Dennis McKernon, Steed Ansell and Paul Benham all with 35 points, but the only one to better his handicap was Mike Thurman with 37. Guest winner of the day was someone I’d played with on the Playitas course the week before, Derek Yarwood who scored an amazing 41 points, making John Burgess a happy man by winning the sweepstake! Nearest the pins were won by Coops on the 4th, and for a change we’d made it nearest the pin in 2 on the 18th which amazingly no one managed to get on in 2! Once again no one managed a 2, so the 2’s comp was rolled over to our next main comp on the 4th September which was held at the Salinas Golf Club.........

- TUESDAY 7TH AUGUST STABLEFORD COMPETITION

It started out a bit cloudy and even looked like it could rain a little, but boy did the sun shine through for what turned out to be a record breaking day in more ways than one! A great turnout we had too with 22 members and 6 guests. I was accompanying new member Colin Hardwick along with another guest Alan Johnson and ex-captain Coops. I recently have been going through a bit of a purple patch and had high hopes of finally achieving my goal of reaching single figures, but due to a disastrous front 9 it will have to wait for another day.There was plenty more action happening elsewhere. It seems everyman and his dog were getting birdies here, there and everywhere. It was a rollover on the 2’s comp and once again a record number of players got a 2. There were six in total, one of them being an eagle 2 on the par four 11th hole by Billy Seaforth. Amongst the other 2’s were Ken Tull, Tony Fawcett, Graham Thomson, Dennis McKernon and Dud Tanton.

Narrowly missing out on a 2 was Jo McKernon, however she did get nearest the pin on the par 3 12th hole. Well, you couldn’t get much nearer to the pin than actually touching it! Yes, our first ever hole in one on an official day was achieved by Jo McKernon with a pitching wedge from 75 metres. I was on an adjacent fairway when I heard the uproar and saw the reaction of Jo as it very clearly went in the hole! She said later that she’d bent down to pick her tee up once the ball hit the green, and fellow player Mike Thurman told her it was rolling towards the hole where it proceeded to drop in! Of course Paul Benham got a hole in one on the 12th hole at Fuerteventura GC but that was on a Federation comp.

Jo will receive a special prize at the end of the year Presidents Cup/Christmas bash in December, which will be amongst other things all, or a share of our hole in one fund that we started this year in case anyone got one! Getting nearest the pin on the 5th was vice president Rob Hughes, but not quite a hole in one, nor a 2! Although Jo had a great round with a hole in one and a total of 38 points, it wasn’t enough to take the podium as Dud Tanton and Billy Seaforth had other ideas. Dud scored a whopping 42 points giving him 2nd place and finally bringing him down to a man’s handicap of 18! Sneaky git though for the 2nd week running swooped the sweepstake by picking the winner of the day, Billy Seaforth who scored 43 and was cut 3 shots to 15. A little unfortunate for Billy as he was drawn in the quarter finals of the matchplay against me again! Our guest winner, now member and lower handicapped was Colin Hardwick with 40 points off a 23 handicap. A special mention as well for Gerry Cantwell who played with the society a lot on his holidays over here, his warm up rounds were superb but didn’t quite put it all together for the day in question, maybe next time Gerry and I hope the front page on Fuertenews had the desired effect!

So to sum up the days golf. We had countless pars, numerous birdies, an eagle and a hole in one! Certainly a day to remember for the history books of the society! What will happen next time?

Don’t forget our next events are Tuesday 28th August & 2nd September, both fun days followed by our main comp on Tuesday 4th September. These games will be held at the Salinas golf course, tees from 10am. The following two games are at the Fuerteventura Golf Club, 12th and 14th September tees also from 10am. If you would like to join us for this or any other events, or if you would like any further information about the society, please call Dave Brown on (0034) 620 161360 or drop me an email to info@corralejogolf.com

- TUESDAY 24TH JULY STABLEFORD COMPETITION, Corralejo Golf Society

Yes we’ve been experiencing a heat wave here in Fuerte with temperatures reaching over 42ºC. Although it didn’t do my computer any good, it didn’t deter our members and guests on our Stableford comp on the 24th July. We had 30 of us braving the heat, 2 of which were playing their 1st round matchplay game, Billy Seaforth and Steed Ansell. It transpired that Billy, who just scraped through the qualifiers after losing 3 + 2 to me, beat Steed 5 + 4 and made it through to the quarter finals, only to be drawn once again against me after I’d just scraped through round 1 by beating Paul Benham on an extra hole! It’s all very close on this year’s matchplay and is really anyone’s game. I’ll keep you informed of matchplay results as they come in, but back to the game in hand.

The rest of the players on the 24th battled it out through the heat. I had my worst game for over a year scoring just 20 points! However, the winning scores were also not that high with only one player playing to their handicap. Tied in 3rd place were Tony Fawcett and Mike Thurman with 33. Runner up and at long last making it into single figures was Gordon Gilhooley with 34. But our winner of the day, who had the biggest smile on her face I’ve ever seen, was Little Eva, Eva Krivacska with 37 points. Guest winner of the day was my playing partner, Wayne Waugh a 7 handicapper, scored 29 points, a popular score on the day. Nearest the pins were won by Dud Tanton on the 7th, he also scooped the sweepstake, and guest Pete Grimes got nearest on the tricky 15th hole. No one managed a 2, so the 2’s comp was rolled over to our next main comp on the 7th August which was held at the Salinas Golf Club, and what a day that turned out to be!.........

Binter Canarias rewards the winners of the Airline´s Golf Circuit

The last Tournament of the 1st Binter Canarias Golf Circuit was held in the Maspalomas Golf Course, Gran Canaria, on 5th August. 179 players took part in the individual stableford test. Participation was numerous in a tournament which promptes high expectations among the crowd.

Played in Maspalomas, the tournament was divided into two categories: ladies and gentlemen. In turn both of these categories were sub-classified into another two groups: first and second.

In regard to the gentlemen, the first category was won by John Thomas Hetherston, Pedro García Lorenzo and Álvaro Miguel Gimeno Díaz, in first, second and third place respectively. The airline awarded them a return ticket for two people to Madeira, including accommodation and car rental.

The second category was won by Anthony James Easter, Gabriel Hidalgo Santana, and Javier Rodriguez Ramírez. In this case, the three winners were awarded an inter-island package.

María Castillo Dolagaray, Ana Martín Toribio and Paola González Naranjo led the first ladies´category. In the second the test was won by Barbara Svehlahova, Sonsoles La Calle Bardaji, and Alicia Kant Aranda.

Binter Canarias also awarded a special prize of 3,000 Binter Points to the most highly ranked BinterMas card holder; the winner was Miguel García Spinola de Brito.

Prizes also went to the longest drive, awarded to Alejandro Banchio and Ana Martín; with the ball closed to the flag, Francisco Suárez; and First Scratch, Daniel Suárez.

With the prize-giving ceremony in the Maspalomas golf course, Binter Canarias concludes the 1st Golf Circuit organised by the company, which began in Amarilla Golf Course, Tenerife durin july.