- 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!.........