Growing the GAME (through the KIDS)

Jeff ClauseSanta Says

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US KIDS at SFL

St Francis Links is now regarded as one of the best destinations for tournament golf – at all levels of play – great course, great facilities, great offerings – with a great team behind it all. The recognition we receive reaches far and wide – nationally and internationally – with fantastic media reach!

US KIDS returns to St Francis Links after the main holiday period in January. We hope to attract the top young golfers from SA and other parts of the world. Sean and Micah will certainly lead the way!

From Nicholas Geerts (US Kids Golf – SA)

This tournament holds a high status in terms of importance, as it is the second international tournament hosted in South Africa by US Kids Golf. This means that by playing this tournament, you qualify for US Kids Golf Priority Status which is usually acquired after playing 4 of 8 events on our local tours. The higher your priority status, the higher your chances of being invited to the world champs and all our other tournaments around the world including the Big 5. Local tours in this part of the country are few and far between, and they are geographically quite sparse. This will save them loads of money and they can qualify in one shot, over 2 days of golf.

Of course, this is not the primary objective of this tournament. That would be to give the kids one of the best courses in the world and make it a really fun event.

Being an International event, the St Francis Invitational will give equal opportunity to International players all over the world that need to improve or obtain a Priority Status. We will have kids coming from all over Africa and further afar. It is currently locked for kids who do not hold a category with us, but we will be opening the tournament up very soon, in order to allow all kids to be able to enter. The reason US Kids does this is that they would like for the level of golf at internationals to be as high as possible. Our big 5 tournament now has a full field which took us 2 years, and the level of golf is very high, but at the beginning, we opened it up to all in order to grow the tournament and have important numbers in the successive years.

 

Our ladies celebrate a great year!

Captain Sally rallied the ladies to all to join in for a year-end party and prizegiving. They not only turned out in great numbers, but they also dressed to the 10s. Prizes were awarded in a number of categories

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Can you say, Alfa Romero

The Alfa Romero Club rolled in this past weekend for a drive and breakfast. What a treat to have these men and ladies who have been together for 40 years!

From Head Professional, Norman Riley

Local amateur talent is shining at St Francis Links.

This past Sunday we hosted the Links Trophy, an EP union order of merit tournament:

A – division walked 36 holes, stroke play.
B – division was permitted to make use of golf carts and played individual Stableford.

We were blessed with some stunning golf throughout the day.

Dillon Germshuys & Tiaan Tibshraeny both ended up on 2 under par for their respective 36 holes,
Tiaan was crowned the winner after an exciting playoff. // see the images attached

Looking back at the event – I would like to encourage our members to walk our great golf course, some of our beautiful plant and wildlife goes unappreciated when whizzing past it in a golf cart. All the players walking gave great feedback and complimented us on how scenic our golf course is.

Walking also places less stress on our fairways and cart path surroundings – keeping our already beautiful course in even better condition.

The Medal competition format was also something to appreciate – we all get spoiled when we play better ball Stableford or 4 ball alliance, putting your ball in your pocket when you can no longer score.
Medal makes you think – it places a priority on course maintenance and forces you to avoid hitting reckless shots, we forget that golf was always supposed to be played until the ball finds the bottom of the cup.

The Rules – use them to your benefit.

I’d like to give a little more information surrounding rules that regularly get discussed in the bar after golf – rules can work in your favour.

The wind is your friend:

Here at St Francis Links, we are not shy of admitting that wind plays a massive role in how the course plays or how it is set up.
We take great care to ensure that the pins and tee boxes are set up in a way to allow a challenging yet fair golfing experience.

A rule that causes a lot of confusion is how the wind can influence a ball at rest and what rules apply to this scenario – I want to discuss this, you never know, it might save you a shot the next time you tee it up.

The Ball moved by a Natural Force (Rule 9.3)

If a natural force such as wind or water causes a player’s ball at rest to move:
There is no penalty, and the ball must be played from its new spot.

A few things to take note of with regard to this rule –

If a plastic bag is being blown by the wind – and it touches the ball and moves it while it was at rest – this is seen as the plastic bag that caused the ball to move and not the wind. So, you would need to replace the ball in its original position. (Rule 9.6/1)

Let the ball see the bottom of the cup, please.

Scenario:
You just hit a bomb of a tee shot on 3, you pull out that 3 wood and knock it 30 feet away.
You hit a great lag put up to 3 feet, and your partner says to take it away that’s good – you pencil down that birdie – a little relieved that you didn’t need to brush that short one in.

Unfortunately, you’re playing partner, even if he is not in your Betterball Stableford team, does not have the power to give a putt in any scenario except for matchplay when you are playing directly against them.

If you are playing in a competition field, you are playing against the entire field – there is no such thing as a given putt – the ball always needs to be holed out.

I know we have on our scorecard – Gentlemen don’t need rules.
But sometimes – you need a lot of rules to enjoy the freedom golf gives.

Kind regards,

 Golf Results

23 November – Wednesday School – Brett Wilson-Jones and Dave Webber

24 November – Ladies’ Year-end Party

26 November – Saturday School – Betterball – Scott Keevy and Deandre Dreyer

 

Upcoming Events

3 Dec – Ladies’ Member-Member 

10 Dec – Annual Par-3 Championships

16-17 December –  The Pam Golding Annual

 

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Thank you all for caring about your course – #leading the way! Adopt a hole (AAH) works.

 

 

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