Dear Golfers
I hope you all had a good golfing week.
2016 SOUTH AFRICAN HANDICAP STATISTICS
3 648 162 is the number of rounds entered on the handicap system last year. That's almost 10
000 rounds per day! It's also a 2.45% increase on 2015 and
means that, on a rough calculation, our golfers walked around 21 million kilometres last
year.
We currently have 140 871 registered golfers on the system. Sadly, that's down 3,7% on the
previous year's numbers.
Of all registered golfers, 29,7% fall into the 35-49 age bracket – the largest age category.
Unfortunately only 3,9% of our golfers are juniors from the 0-18 age group category.
465 is the number of golf clubs we have in South Africa. 86 of these are found in KwaZuluNatal, which is by far the most of any provincial union.
347 is the record for the most rounds played by an individual in 2016. There is, however, no
word on the gentleman from Gauteng North's marital status.
Despite the best efforts of certain players from Gauteng North, Central Gauteng remained
the busiest union, racking up an impressive 599 930 rounds.
Western Province was second on 482 728, with KwaZulu-Natal not far behind on 468 149.
Central Gauteng also has the most registered players, with 24 680, while Northern Cape has
the fewest, at only 2 225 registered golfers.
Predictably, December was the busiest month for golfers, with 339 758 rounds recorded,
followed by January, March and then April. September was the
quietest month, with 267 764 rounds –
perhaps due to all the Spring treatments going on.
16,81 is the average male handicap in the country, up 1,8% from last year.
25,34 is the average female handicap in SA, up 1% on last year.
1 173 842 is the number of page impressions on the www.handicaps.co.za website in January
of 2017.
In total, 140 348 scores were entered on the HNA mobile app in the month of December,
comfortably the highest on any platform in 2016. The number of mobile app
scores entered crossed one million for the year.
No cobwebs on those clubs: 42,2% of all registered golfers entered more than 20 scores in
2016.
7 clubs registered more than 40 000 rounds of golf last year. Of those, five were 36-hole
facilities, with the top two 18-hole facilities from the Western Cape.
MEMBERS GOLF COMPETITIONS:
Saturday 4 March 2017 : Course 1 : FOURBALL ALLIANCE
Winners:
1ST : Jerry Rocky, Pregi Moodley, John Patlansky, Yacoob Omar – 97 Points
2nd : Melville Vogel, Micky Hough, Grant Poppesquo, Brian Harris – 93 Points
3rd :
Ant Morgan, Mike Celine, Romano Valenti, Allen Duncan – 93 Points
SENIOR MEMBERS COMPETITION:
Monday 27 February 2017:
Competition:
Fourballl Alliance
Winners:
J Kuzmanich, J Mendes, D Rickards, N Kent – 93 points
Two Clubs: D Rickards, J Nel, R McMorran, R Duckworth
Wednesday 1 March 2017:
Competition:
Fourball Alliance
Winners:
H Voorma, J Mendes, W Rose, C Botha – 92 points
Friday 3 March 2017:
Competition:
Fourball Alliance
Winners:
J Dickens, K Maraldo, P James – 97 points
Well Done to all the winners this past week.
GOLF RULE FOR THE WEEK:
When to Re-Drop a Ball
In properly taking relief under the Rules for a ball lying through the green, a player stands
erect, holds the ball at shoulder
height and arm's length and correctly drops it to the ground, without spin, about threequarters of a club-length from the
nearest point of relief, not nearer the hole.
Question
1:
After hitting the ground the ball rolls and comes to rest less than one club-length nearer to the
hole than where it originally lay.
Must it be re-dropped?
Answer 1:
Yes. Rule 20-2c(vii) - see below.
Question 2:
After hitting the ground the ball rolls into and comes to rest in a hazard, not nearer the hole.
May it be played from the bunker?
Answer 2:
No. The ball must be re-dropped. Rule 20-2c(i) - see below.
Question 3:
After hitting the ground the ball rolls more than one club-length, not nearer the hole. Must it
be re-dropped?
No. The ball may roll for up to two club-lengths from where it first strikes a part of the course.
Rule 20-2c(vii) - see below.
Question 4:
After hitting the ground the ball rolls nearly two club-lengths, not nearer the hole. It now lies
over two and a half club-lengths from the nearest point of relief. Must it be re-dropped?
No. The ball may be dropped up to one club-length from the nearest point of relief and may
then roll up to a further two club-lengths from where it first strikes a part of the course. Rule
20-2c(vii) - see below.
Question 5:
After hitting the ground the ball rolls into and is stopped by a tee peg which the player has
used to mark the extent of the one club-length dropping area. Must it be re-dropped?
No. A player's tee peg is a small object and is not part of his equipment. Definition of
Equipment and Rule 20-2a.
Rule 20-2c - When to Re-Drop:
A dropped ball must be re-dropped, without penalty, if it:
(i) rolls into and comes to rest in a hazard;
(ii) rolls out of and comes to rest outside a hazard;
(iii) rolls onto and comes to rest on a putting green;
(iv) rolls and comes to rest out of bounds;
(v) rolls to and comes to rest in a position where there is interference by the condition
from which relief was taken under Rule 24-2b (immovable obstruction), Rule 25-1 (abnormal
ground conditions), Rule 25-3 (wrong putting green) or a Local Rule (Rule 33-8a), or rolls
back into the pitch-mark from which it was lifted under Rule 25-2 (embedded ball);
(vi) rolls and comes to rest more than two club-lengths from where it first struck a part of
the course; or
(vii) rolls and comes to rest nearer the hole than:
(a) its original position or estimated position (see Rule 20-2b) unless otherwise
permitted by the Rules; or
(b) the nearest point of relief or maximum available relief (Rule 24-2, 25-1 or 25-3); or
(c) the point where the original ball last crossed the margin of the water hazard or
lateral water hazard (Rule 26-1).
If the ball when re-dropped rolls into any position listed above, it must be placed as near as
possible to the spot where it first struck a part of the course when re-dropped.
Note 1: If a ball when dropped or re-dropped comes to rest and subsequently moves, the
ball must be played as it lies, unless the provisions of any other Rule apply.
Note 2: If a ball to be re-dropped or placed under this Rule is not immediately recoverable,
another ball may be substituted.
WEEKLY MEMBERS / VISITORS CLUB COMPETITIONS:
WEDNESDAY: 8 MARCH 2017
RESIDENTS GOLF – Played every Wednesday Afternoon
This is open to all Residents and Members at MECC.
If you would like to play please be at the Putting Green on Course 1 by 11.15am.
Place a Golf Ball into a Bag ready for the draw at 11.25am.
THURSDAY: 9 MARCH 2017
Course: Course Two (2)
Club Competition Format: Fourball Alliance
Shotgun Start - Midday
SATURDAY: 11 MARCH 2017
Course: Course Two (2)
Club Competition Format: Betterball Medal
LEAGUE 2017:
Nothing to report
Feedback:
If you have any ideas or suggestions please send them to [email protected]
Please remember to play more rounds of golf, so let’s see you out there playing on both our
beautiful courses. No Excuses!!
Thanks and see you on the Course!!
Peter Taylor
Men’s Golf Captain
Cell: 0832300566