At long last, a perfect day on which to play the Steve Keggan Memorial at Castletown Golf Club. Thrice postponed, the event took place on sunny Saturday in a gentle north easterly which brought a hint of Autumn chill. All the tees were in operation, causing consternation in calculating who had actually won. The ‘Golf Genius’ App, like most software programs, ignored slope and course ratings, so gross scores had to be manually manipulated. One can imagine the late Steve’s wry smile; he was the oracle, often consulted when a ruling was required.
There was absolutely no doubt that Mark Grace (22) -shown on the left above with Alex Townell- won the top nett prize. He had a day we all dream of, when everything goes to plan. Lessons with assistant pro Rasheed Mohamed and plenty of practice resulted in an amazing round on 81, nett 59. It placed Grace a respectable 23rd overall, but an outrageous five shots clear after handicap adjustment.
Three players initially tied for second in the nett competition. Calculations concluded that general manager Andi Howland (13), playing off the big boy’s tees, secured second with his 77/64. Andy Dent (8) utilising the white tees went round in luscious level par and this placed him third on both a gross and nett basis. As this was primarily a gross competition, that was the prize he was awarded. This left the door ajar for Jamie Garrett (13) with his 77, nett 64.
For the main prize, ‘Golf Genius’ placed Dent above Tom Doyle – shown below- based on their back-six gross scores. Both had parred the course, taking 36 shots on each half. However, Scratch League player Doyle’s five birdies and five bogeys were bagged off the black tees whereas Dent had used the whites, and this counted against him, twice.
Clearly, Doyle’s black tees 72 was superior so he will collect the cup. Not so obvious, but after application of slope and course ratings, Daryl Callister’s black-tees 73 also out-trumped Dent’s 72. For those of you interested in the WHS calculations they are shown below, and it must be borne in mind that a lower ‘score differential’ indicates a better performance relative to the course’s difficulty:
The WHS formula is: (113 / Slope Rating) x (Gross Score – Course Rating)
Callister (73): (113/142) x (73-74.8) = a minus 1.4 score differential.
Dent (72): (113/137) x (72-73.1) = a minus 0.9 score differential.
It was much easier to work out that Chris Howland hit the longest drive on the 11th and sleeves of balls also went to Richard ‘Tic’ Connolly, Mike Travers and John Newson for their nearest-the-pin efforts on the 8th, 13th and 16th respectively.
Mike Horthuis added another win to his tally by taking the mixed midweek Stableford with 36 points. Paul Keeley came second with 28, and Keith Bernard bagged third on 27. Only four players took part so Andy Lagden, who came in after nine holes, collected fourth place on sweet 16.
There is still time for members and their partners to book tickets for the Captains’ Dinner and Prize Presentation taking place in the Barrovian Hall at King William’s College on Friday 13th November. It can officially be announced that former Ryder Cup and European Tour player Paul Way will be the after-dinner speaker. Tickets at £45 each are available from the captains or by leaving them a message via the pro-shop on 822211.
There were yet again issues in trying to reserve tee times during the Saturday 6pm scramble but this coming Saturday sees the start of the Winter League. Finally, the committee is pleased to announce that five-time recipient of the W. A. Kirkpatrick Singles Knockout Trophy Simon Murray has accepted the nomination to become the club’s 2027 vice-captain. This will be voted upon at the club’s Annual General Meeting on Saturday 28th November.
MALCOLM LAMBERT