Corralejo Golf - TUESDAY 27TH NOVEMBER - STABLEFORD COMPETITION

It was our penultimate game of the season and also the day of our AGM. We had a great turnout with 31 players including 10 guests. I was drawn Jo McKernon along with husband and wife, Bernie and Carol O’Boyle who are currently scouting the Canaries to decide where they want to settle. We certainly had a great day, and despite mishaps on 2 holes, I managed to come off with a very good score of 38. Guest Bernie also did well scoring 33, not bad considering it’s the first time he’d played the course. Unfortunately, neither of us were leading in the clubhouse when we returned, as 2 of the first group out, consisting of Captain Dennis May, Dud Tanton and guest Pat O’Hogan, had beaten our scores, Dennis had scored 40, and Pat had scored 36. Dud was only 1 behind me on 37, but it meant I’d won our little side bet! So it was a waiting game to see how far down the pecking order we’d fall.
Generally it was a high scoring day with 21 of the 31 scoring 30 points or more, and although we’d done our best, Bernie slipped down one more place to 3rd in the guest comp and I slipped into 4th in the members comp. Colin Webb, a 10 handicapper who’d played with us earlier in the year, scored 2 more points than Pat with 38 and won the guest comp, despite feeling somewhat under the weather from the night before, in fact he even had to make a sharp exit before the presentation as he’d gone a little green round the gills! See his brave face on the picture! In the members comp, Dennis McKernon beat me by 1 point with 39 and came 3rd, Dennis May came 2nd with 40, and romping in with a gross 73, just 3 over par was 11 handicapper, Tony Fawcett with 44 points. Tony was hacked by 3 shots, Dennis by 2 and me, Dennis Dud and Aly all lost half a shot for beating our handicaps.
Nearest the pins were won by guest Pat O’Hogan for nearest the pin in 2 on the 9th, and he was only about 2 feet away, not bad when consider he had to hit a little white ball just twice to reach 324 metres and get only 2 feet away! Nearest the pin on the short 14th hole was Aly Tanton who also got pretty close. Three of us managed to get a 2, Captain Dennis May, Aly Tanton and myself! Lucky sweep winner was that old dog, Dennis McKernon.

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