International at Gold Canyon 21 Mar 2013

         A total of 48 golfers travelled down to the Gold Canyon Course with only one managing to get lost on the way.  All 12 teams managed to get away on time with 6 off the front and 6 off the back nines. While visibility was low due to mist/smoke it did cut down on the heat for at least 9 holes. The course while starting to brown off was mostly in good shape, the greens had been cored and sanded but as they only did half of each green and placed the flags on the uncored half it did little to upset play as the scoring on the day indicates.  It appeared that we were the only ones on the course and all groups completed their rounds in just over four hours.
          There was some extremely good scoring on the day with the long driving of some individuals being described as 'Gorilla's in the Mist' and also with some very close 'nearest the pins' but unfortunately this time no 'holes in one'.  Chip in birdies it seems were shared by most teams. The winners on the day were 'Team Wired' (Wales,Ireland,England,Denmark) Keith Taylor, Keiran Savage, Mr.B.Lucassen & Len Sparrow with a Gross 68 Net 57 with the runners-up being Awesome Australia Gross 68 Net 59 and G-Bag (Great Britain) Gross 70 Net 59 and Team USA & Team Asia tied but just out of the prizes.
            The Nearest the Pins were taken out by Paul Coppens, Yung Beece & David U-S who were presented with an empty bottle of soda water each due to the fact that our treasurer, who it seems is showing early signs of ageing, forgot to bring along the prizes however he did promise to make good with copious quantities of wine and golf balls for the winners in due course.
             From all reports everyone enjoyed the day and it only remains to thank not only all those who participated on the day but especially the committee for all their work on a job well done.

Nominations for teams will be accepted from Current Members for the 2013 International Challenge Cup which will be held at Gold Canyon on thursday 21st March at a pre arranged rate for GreenFee/CaddyFee of 800baht per person (cart 600baht). The tournament is a 4 ball Scramble where all team members tee-off and the best ball is selected and marked and the three remaining team members play the second shot. Best shot is again selected and all four team members play succeeding shots until the ball is in the hole.



It will be an 0900 tee-off but all nominated teams are to be at the course, registered and green fees paid by 0830.


A Nomination Fee of 200baht is to be paid by each member participating for prizes and nominations will close on 15 March or earlier if sufficient numbers nominate to make up equal teams of four. To be elegible to enter the competition for prizes you must have played one round with the club within the 30 days preceeding the competition you wish to enter.


Teams will consist of 4 golfers from the same country of origin. If there are insufficient numbers from any individual country to make up a team then subject to committee approval a team will be made up from the nomination list e.g., if insufficient from Norway, Sweden or Denmark then they will be combined to form a Scandinavian Team.



All teams will have a handicap which will be deducted from their gross team score at the end of the game to give a net result. The handicap will be the ambrose system (total team handicap divided by 8).
Should the final result end up a draw then the team with the lowest handicap to the nearest decimal point will be declared the winner and the other the first runner-up.


Winning Country and names will be engraved on the Perpetual Trophy. There will be cash prizes which will be determined by the number of nominations received and there will also be nearest the pin prizes on all four par 3 holes.

Rules

Each team will pick a team captain, otherwise the lowest handicapper will be nominated the captain. He/she will be responsible for checking in and collecting team scorecard at the start of the competition and signing (along with one other team member) the completed card and handing it in to the committee immediately at the end of the round. They are also responsible for ensuring that the following rules are followed.

Each player must count three of his/her drives on the 14 par 4 or 5 holes and indicate name on the score card. As there are four persons who must count three drives each (12 drives not counting par 3 holes) in a team that will leave two holes/drives to be the captain's choice.


The person whose drive is counted must mark his ball with a tee and the other three players must place their ball near the tee to take their teams second shot. The person whose drive was counted cannot be used for the second shot, it has to be one of the three other players. There is no restriction on third or fourth shots, any team members shot can be counted..


The four par threes have no restrictions. Any team members shot can be counted.


Once you are on the green and the best ball is chosen, it is to be marked and all four players will putt from that position. Each player will putt in turn and once the ball is in the hole that score will be counted. In other words if you putt a ball up to the edge of the hole for one and then tap it in without giving your team mates the chance to one putt then the score stands as two putts. So even if it is on the rim, mark it and give you team mates a chance at a one putt.