Corralejo Golf Society - Fuerteventura, Canary Islands.TUESDAY 8TH JANUARY

Although we had a fun day warm up comp on Friday 4th, Tuesday the 8th was our first official comp of the year. A few changes were voted in at our AGM, so we are now running on an official computer program that calculates handicaps with each game we play. Other changes are we’ve dropped the Sunday fun days this year to make way for the occasional special comps so watch out for those. We also welcome in our Captain for 2008, last year Dennis May did a splendid job and has set the precedence for our new captain, John Burgess. Elected vice and next years captain was Vince Price, who also fills in for any duties whilst John is away.
We had a good turnout for our fun day last Friday, but our first main comp of the year was sold out! We actually had to squeeze in an extra person at the last minute but still managed to get everyone out 10 minutes ahead of schedule! So 37 of us including 11 guests set out to tackle the course. The weather was pretty much perfect, there was a slight breeze which grew as the day went on, but blue skies mostly and a blazing sun was what we had to cope with on that fine January morning.
With the extra person we had to send out three groups of three on the first tees of which I was in the 2nd with Rob from the Kings Arms, our unofficial clubhouse and Alan Wrigley a café owner and entrepreneur from Blackpool! Rob had a bit of luck on the first after bouncing out of the houses on his tee shot and me and Alan played the hole more conventionally. The tee on the infamous 2nd hole, the hardest hole on the course was from the whites for the men, making it more or less a par 5, and a hard one at that! Despite actually getting off the tee without being out of bounds (for the first time in 3 weeks!), I still didn’t manage to score on the hole but Alan did. In fact Alan was clocking up a tidy little score on the front 9. The most eventful hole for us though was the dog leg par 4, sixth hole. Myself and Alan were in the middle of the fairway with our tee shots, but Rob hit a corker cutting the corner and ending up about 60 yards from the green. Rob came up short on his 2nd and left himself a 20 foot putt for birdie, which he sank! Alan duffed his 2nd shot into trees at the side of the green and after eventually finding it he hacked it out to the side of the green and then chipped in for par! I on the other hand, was at the side of the green for 2 and 3 putted for bogey! The back 9 was eventful too, with some great golf shots as well as some awful ones! I managed to pull it back a little and played to my 10 handicap scoring 36 points, Rob had lost the will to live, and Alan chipped in again on the 18th giving him 37 points and joint 3rd with Gordon Gilhooley, Vince Price and up and coming rookie Lynden Bartlam. In 2nd place was our very own thespian, Paul Benham with 38 points and the days’ winner, Steed Ansell, just back from getting hitched to his fiancé Jenny, romped in with a staggering 42 points off an 18 handicap. It seems that the taste of wedding cake has given him some extra zing in his Ping! Well done Steed!
In the guest comp, Lynden Bartlams’ brother-in-law Paul Wilson beat off competition from the other 10 guests and won it with a very respectable score of 33 points off a 26 handicap with his 15 year old son Richard in 2nd place with 30! Nearest the pins were won by Steed Ansell on the 7th and new member, David Galavan got nearest on the tricky 15th hole. Only one person managed to get a 2, so the 2’s comp and also lucky sweep winner, was Terry Blood, it was a good day for him!
Check out our website www.CorralejoGolf.com to see this year’s fixtures and please note that due to both courses being very busy in winter months, we have limited spaces for players so please contact myself or Derek in good time (at least 4 days before the comp) to guarantee a place in any of our comps.
Don’t forget our next event is on Tuesday 22nd January to be held at the Salinas golf course, tees from 11am. The following two games are at the Fuerteventura Golf Club, 29th January and 5th February tees are from 10am. If you would like to join us for these or any other events, or if you would like any further information about the society, please call Derek Mac on (0034) 646 672888 or drop me an email to corralejogolf@yahoo.com

Corralejo Golf - TUESDAY 11TH DECEMBER 2007

To mark the end of the season and to round up the yearly comps, we celebrate the final comp, the Presidents Trophy in honour of our President Derek Mac. Things were as tight as tight could be in the yearly comps. The eclectic comp could be changed by just one single shot if one of 3 people make birdie on certain holes. I was at the top of the leader board for the player of the year comp but I could be equalled after Tony Fawcetts superb win on the last comp. Tony of course was cut 3 shots bringing him down to an 8 handicap after his round of 73 last week. He had to win the Presidents Trophy and me not come in the top 3 to draw with me and make him joint player of the year, no mean feat with the standard of golfers we had in the days line up. Most people would have put money on Gordon Gilhooley to win after beating me in the match play final 2 days previous and shooting an average round of 75 on par 70 courses off a 9 handicap all week, but there was such a strong field it was anyone’s day.
My game was pretty much doomed from the start, for the first 6 holes I made par then no score, then par, then no score, then birdie, then no score, so with 13 points on the front 9 it was safe to say I was out of contention. I was playing with the man of the day, Derek Mac along with Phil Richards and single figure handicapper Steve Bennett. Phil got a great score of 19 on the front 9 but unfortunately fell apart a bit on the back 9. However, he did scrape 13 points on the back to leave him in a card play off for 2nd place. Phil, Aly Tanton and Mike Turner all scored 32 points playing off ¾ of their handicaps, so with 13 on the back Phil finished 4th, Aly came in 3rd place with 17 on the back, but pulling it back from the brink of death with only 11 on the front, Mike Turner scored 21 points on the back 9 securing him 2nd place in the comp. So the winner, well what can you say, against all odds he pulled it off, Tony Fawcett scored that all important one more point than the others to not only win the Presidents Trophy, he also made an all important birdie to tie him the yearly eclectic with Jo McKernon and tie the player of the year with me. Was I gutted? No, to be honest, hats off to Tony, he found form when it was needed and deservedly ranked the top golfer of the year. Incidentally I finished 6th overall in the days comp, not bad after the start I had!
There were many sponsored holes for nearest the pin prizes. The 4th was sponsored by Tony’s bar Chaplins in Caleta, which was won by Jo McKernon, the 7th sponsored by Dud & Aly from the Grapevine Magazine was won by John Cockroft and the 9th in 2, also sponsored by the Grapevine was won by Rob Hughes. The 12th sponsored by Phil at Castaways bar was won by none other than me, Dave Brown! (Nearly a hole in one!) The 15th sponsored by our Captain, Dennis May, was won by Vince Price, and our President Derek Mac from Rogues Gallery Bar sponsored the nearest pin in 3 on the 17th won once again by Jo McKernon! The final hole, the 18th was sponsored by me and I got nowhere near, but my playing partner Steve Bennett did after nearly driving the green in 1! In the 2’s comp, there were only 2 people that got a 2 on the day, Jo McKernon and John Cockroft. The guest winner was someone who only plays about 3 or 4 times a year, normally with us but was a guest on the day, Andy Knapman scored 25 beating off competition from 5 other guests. All year we’ve had a fund running for anyone who gets a hole in one. Paul Benham late last year on a federation comp got a hole in one on Fuerteventura GC, but our only hole in one this year was achieved by Jo McKernon on the 12th at Salinas so she scooped the whole pot, as if she needs the money!
As is tradition, Derek chose El Rancho restaurant in Villaverde for the evening presentation meal where golfers, wives/girlfriends, friends and family all joined us to celebrate the end of another great year for the society. After a superb 3 course Christmas dinner we presented the prizes for the day and the year after which we danced, drank, sang on karaoke and had a party ‘til the early hours. You’ll have to ask others present how it all ended up as I have a few blank spaces in my memory banks!
Incidentally, our next event is on Tuesday 8th January 2008 to be held at the Fuerteventura golf course, tees from 10am. The following 2 games are at the Salinas Golf Club, 15th and 22nd January tees are from 11am. 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 corralejogolf@yahoo.com

So for the moment I would like to wish all our members, friends, readers and supporters of the society a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous, healthy, happy 2008!

All the best, cheers

Dave 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.