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 Golf Report is supplied by Dave Brown from The Corralejo Golf Society. When he is not trying to improve his handicap you can find him every night except Tuesday, entertaining the troops at The Talk of The Town. If you are interested in joining The Corralejo Golf Society either as a guest or member give Dave a ring on (0034) 620 161 360 or write to him info@corralejogolf.com
Once again we’re playing catch up on recent events for the Corralejo Golf Society. I’ve been away a lot travelling the World of Golf over the past month, so it’s time to see what’s been happening nearer to home and believe me things are hotting up here... Yes I’ve been on my travels once again. After winning a Spanish Federation comp sponsored by the inter island airline Binter, I was lucky enough to be able to spend a few days sampling the delights of the Island of Madeira. Quite an odd place really, very beautiful, full of banana plantations & vineyards, weird road systems and tunnels 5 KM long! But also 2 wonderful golf courses. Despite a cold I managed to get a game on both courses and was glad I did. Both are worth playing if you happen to be there. As if that wasn’t enough, I also managed to win the Ranking at Fuerteventura Golf Club for the 2nd year running! This time the prize was a trip to the Costa del Sol to play in a Pro-Am. An absolutely fabulous experience and I spent 3 days in the lap of luxury, staying a wonderful 5 star Hotel, eating at the finest restaurants and playing some great courses. I was also lucky enough to meet the director and be shown round the infamous Valderama course, venue of the Volvo Masters just a few weeks ago. All these things mean that I’ve fallen a little behind on what’s been happening here. So as there’s a lot to get through catching up on our last 3 comps, I’ll keep it as brief as possible. TUESDAY 16TH OCTOBERSTABLEFORD COMPETITION
As it was a main comp that counts towards our yearly eclectic and player of the year, my group had to be fairly early out so that I was able to input scores into the computer. I was lucky enough to be drawn with father and son duo Alan & James Legg, both very good golfers and making up the four was Captain Dennis May. The weather was great, just a few passing clouds and a moderate wind. Our front nine was nothing to write home about, out of our group Alan Played the best scoring a steady 18 whilst the rest of us were around 13 & 14. Things did pick up for us on the back 9, I had a blinder and got 20 on the back. James, who is a10 handicapper and hits a great ball, played some fabulous approach shots and ridiculously long drives, but didn’t play as well as he’d played in the federation comp at the weekend. Despite his efforts, James didn’t quite get the guest prize. It seems experience counts for more as his dad, Alan Legg, a 16 handicapper, scored 2 more points than him with 32 and won the guest comp.
In the members comp, our vice president Rob Hughes was having a day to remember. He stormed it with an amazing 39 points off a 14 handicap with 2 no score holes!
In 2nd place was Scotsman, big Jimmy Shade with 37 points.
Nearest the pins were won by Dennis May on the 7th and guest James Legg, Alan’s son 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 30th October which was held at the Salinas Golf Club. Lucky sweep winner was the ever flamboyant Paul Benham.
TUESDAY 30TH OCTOBERSTABLEFORD COMPETITION
Quite often at this time of year, we normally experience a humdinger of a storm which breaks the weather but we’ve been very fortunate to continue with beautiful sunny days and temperatures of around 28ºC, just perfect for relaxed round of golf at the Salinas Golf Club at Caleta de Fuste. They’ve had there share of problems with the course since it opened late last year and have had to virtually plough the 13th, 17th and 18th fairways to get them back to the standard of the rest of the course. But it was more than playable for our comp on the 30th October. Incidentally, I played it just the other day and in just 2 weeks since our last comp there, it has pretty much made a full recovery. It was a pretty high scoring day all round, 18 of the field of 29 scored above 30 points. In the members comp, Vince Price and Aly Tanton got joint 3rd with 37 points. Veteran Dennis McKernon scored an impressive 38 points giving him 2nd place...
but he was just pipped at the post by Dave Wright with 39 points!
Dave has fought back after a shoulder operation to get his handicap back to 13. And I think 14 would be the lowest Dennis McKernon has been since joining the society. Getting nearest the pin on the 8th was Dave Wright and regular guest, Gareth Davies not only took nearest pin on the short 12th hole, but also beat off competition to become guest winner of the day!
The 2’s comp was a rollover from Fuerteventura GC 2 weeks before and on this occasion Dud Tanton, Dennis McKernon, Gareth Davies and myself all managed to get 2’s.
And for the first time ever, I not only got a share of the 2’s but was the lucky one to win the sweepstake!
TUESDAY 13TH NOVEMBERSTABLEFORD COMPETITION
With only 3 main comps left of the season, things were really hotting up in the Player of the Year and Eclectic comps we have. Throughout the year, we record all scores of all players and put them forward into these two comps that reward the players that have achieved the most throughout the year. At the moment there are about 5 players who are in contention for player of the year, each player has to finish within the top 5 to improve their chances of winning, which is no mean feat with the strong field we have each week. In the eclectic, 1 single birdie or par could change the fortunes of a few players at the top of the charts. Check out the leaderboard section of our website www.CorralejoGolf.com to see how close it all is. Well, for the last few comps I’ve been playing with father/son duos, well this time I was playing with father & son-in-law! Bob Flannery and his son-in-law Chris were staying at my villa along with Bob’s daughters and his grandson, and they fancied a few games of golf whilst they were here. So Bob, Chris and another guest who’d come into the bar I work in, Alan Richardson, were out in the 4th group playing at the Fuerteventura GC. Bob got off to a flying start with 14 points after just 5 holes! But only managed 2 points out of the next 4! His son-in-law Chris played pretty steadily scoring a total of 30. Alan played pretty well too, but unfortunately only on every other hole! In the end Bob triumphed over his 6 competitors in the guest comp scoring a very respectable 34 points.
Myself, I had a steady front 9 scoring 18 points, and started really well on the back 9 getting 2 under par for my handicap by the 13th, but from then on I have to par 3 of the 4 remaining holes just to maintain my score. Normally the par five17th hole is one you’d hope to par or even birdie but after duffing my drive I ended up with a double bogie bringing me back down to level par. I’d heard that Dermott Haughian, who was over for the week and who has been on fire since he got here, had scored 20 points on the front 9, so I was rather disappointed with myself for messing up the 17th, but it appeared Dermott had his share of disappointments on the back 9 too and he ended up scoring 34 compared to my 36. Unbelievably, 36 was enough to win the day...
...with Dermott 2nd and Aly Tanton 3rd.
This didn’t do any harm to my campaign for player of the year, but Aly Tanton and Tony Fawcett are still snapping at my heels, so the pressures on for the last 2 games of the season. Nearest pins this week were won by Mike Thurman on the 7th and John Burgess on the 15th, and there was only one “2” achieved by Rob Hughes. Tony Fawcett was sort of pleased that I won, although I’ve pulled away a bit on the player of the year, I did earn him 50 Euro as he’d picked my name out of the hat for the sweepstake!
Don’t forget our next event is on Tuesday 27th November to be held at the Salinas golf course, tees from 10am. The following three games are at the Fuerteventura Golf Club, 4th, 9th and 11th December 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 corralejogolf@yahoo.com
All the best for now!
Dave Brown.
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