The Captain’s Footprint
Dear fellow Nomads
Despite
suffering severe setbacks due to the recent flooding St Francis Bay Golf Club
looked good and it is obvious that a lot of hard work has gone in to get the
course back in shape. The greens were in good condition and the weather played
along.
It was a real pleasure to have our National Junior Vice Chairman, Ken Walker, playing in my fourball and his presence and the fair amount of bantering going on certainly added to the day. The vice captain of St Francis, Thys Jonck, was treated to a first as he had never played in one of our days before and he was very impressed with the way we do things. A cheque for R15 000-00 was handed over to the club to assist them in getting their club back to its former glory and they very appreciative of our gesture and would let us know in due course how the money was spent.
Old Mutual
sponsored the International Pairs day which was well supported and was
represented by Paul Adams who also is a Gauteng Nomad. Paul commented on the
way we conduct ourselves here in the Eastern Cape and was very impressed. Well
done to those gents going through to the next round, we wish you well. The
first round of our Gary Player competition was also played and for those of you
who have not played or arranged your game, remember, this has to be played by
the 13th of April.
Once again
a huge thank you to our ladies Jean, Bev, Cheryl, Theresa and Salomé for
ensuring that everything ran smoothly at the registration table. I realize that
St Francis is a bit further than our normal travels but we need to ensure that
we book in on time and adhere to our tee-off times, there are far too many
people arriving late on the tee and this makes the job of out starter and his assistants
extremely difficult. This brings me to a very important matter, our next game
at Walmer on April 13 coincides with the IRONMAN and the roads are going to be
seriously busy. We unfortunately could not change the date but there will be
access at 10th Avenue. PLEASE leave an hour earlier than usual to
ensure everyone is on time, your co-operation will be hugely appreciated.
To the
team travelling to Bloem, we wish you well and we have a strong enough team to
possibly bring back the Bert Hunt Trophy.
Yours in Golf
Marlon Foot
Duke’s
Divot
A very
special thank you to all of you who returned your Bell’s tickets for the draw
at Nationals. Last month I took time to explain how the stubs should be folded
when returning same. Very few Nomads returned them as requested, obviously many
did not read my request or possibly I did not explain it very well,
nevertheless, they are in and found their way up to Bloemfontein. Claude
Fischbach and Mike Fowler forgot to tick the answer blocks on all their
tickets, Peter Wilson and Ted Skalecki each left one counterfoil blank! Never
mind, I did the necessary, and hopefully we have a winner this year!
The Andrew
Mentis Endowment Fund Committee members that were at the St Francis Bay game
were introduced to you all. The complete list is as follows: Muis v d
Westhuizen, Robbie Barth, Steven Woods, Jonathan Oates, Heine Bruyns, Barry
Mason, and Martin Kunhardt. Marlon Foot and Greg Clack are automatic by virtue
of their portfolios. Those of you wishing to serve on this committee next year
should be talking to your current JVC re: possible participation.
As
mentioned in last months report our next function is the Nomads Race Day. The
booking list is open, and those of you wishing to entertain clients and friends
on this fantastic day, should please contact any of the above for a pro-forma
invoice. The tables that you book seat eight people, and the fee is R3,300.00
incl per table, this buys you an
excellent served meal and drinks, and your company name linked to one of the
eight races, a very cost effective way to entertain your clients, and you can
deduct this expense from tax! What more can I say!
At present
we are restricted eight tables, but will try to get more if possible. Nomads
wishing to join us but not booking a table,will be limited. Remember the
date: Friday July 4th, 2008!
See you
all at Walmer C.C. and remember to get there early, Ironman is on that day!!!
Yours in Nomads
Duke Nel.
Greg’s Gazette
Fellow
Nomads,
It, again,
was a great privilege to play at one of our wonderful Eastern Cape courses on
16 March 2008 – St Francis Bay Golf Club. Willie Wilson, the Club Manager, and
I had some anxious moments on the Saturday afternoon as the skies opened and
much rain fell here and in St Francis Bay. A comment by Benjamin Zhang on the
par 5 - 7th, now playing a temporary par 4, was that this, “was like playing in the Dubai Desert Classic”,
produced a hearty chuckle from the rest of our four-ball; Peter Hall, Nick
Koumpan and myself. I feel that the management and ground staff at St Francis
Bay have done exceptionally well in getting the course playable again
considering that they measured 130mm of rain on the morning of 23 November 2007
(250mm was measured at the Dunes above the Links), 16 holes were flooded for
two weeks, thousands of tonnes of sand were dumped on the 7th
fairway and dams on 6th, 8th & 16th were
silted up. Ground water levels remain high today, causing ongoing difficulties.
[1]
In my last
Gazette I reported that I had had initial discussions with the Fish River Sun
and our Border compatriots regarding the Rough Ryder Cup and Frontier Trophy
weekend in July 2008. I have been given the rates which I believe are very
reasonable and we are in the process of securing rooms in advance for those of
us who will be staying over. If you stay at the hotel then your Saturday golf
is for free! The main competition is the Frontier Cup played on the Sunday at
Royal Port Alfred, and the Rough Ryder has become a fun challenge between
Border and Eastern Cape neighbours in preparation for the following day. The
latter is a 36-hole completion with foursomes in the morning and better-ball
in the afternoon with a short prize-giving afterward and then a good party
thereafter. We shall open entries in May 2008.
By the time
you read this, Nationals in Bloemfontein will be over. This is my first
Nationals tournament and I look forward enthusiastically to the challenge and
the camaraderie of this event. Although, by now, this is fait accompli,
the thought on my mind as I write this is; could we secure the Bert Hunt
Trophy?
Last month
we launched the Eastern Cape Nomads website. I have received numerous comments
and complements – thank you all for these. Let’s make this site work for all of
us. The site address is www.easterncapenomads.co.za
if you haven’t yet checked it out. We do have minor changes still to make,
including updating the “Clothing Order” page. This will allow you to order
Nomads clothing online and Orion Meyer, our Equipment Officer, will either
arrange for you to pick it up or bring it to the next monthly game.
At the
risk of sounding philosophical I would like to conclude with a thought from Sun
Tzu’s Art of War, a text adapted from military tactics and related to
golf, amongst a host of business, life and other endeavours. It states: “Security
against defeat implies defensive tactics; ability to defeat the enemy means
taking the offensive.” [2] This seems
to be vaguely in line with Bobby Jones’ comment: ”Without confidence, a
golfer is little more than a hacker.” [3] So, enjoy
your game at Walmer in April and, I reckon, go big or go home!
Yours in
Nomads
Greg
[1] St
Francis Bay Golf Club Website available at www. stfrancisgolf.co.za/the
floods.htm 24/3/2008
[2] Wade, D.
2006. Golf and the Art of War: How The Timeless Strategies of Sun Tzu Can
Transform Your Game. Thunder’s Mouth Press
[3] Rotella, B
(Dr.) and Cullen, B. 2007. The Golfer’s Mind – Play to Play Great.
Pocket Books.