Thursday, March 28, 2024 Club Website | www.pgakappy.co.za | Tel: (011) 728 7337


Hough's it

I was reminded the other day about something fairly regular that used to crop up in my previous life, that of a Touring Professional. I often used to get asked, when playing in the pre-tournament pro-ams, and of course, only by the local members, ‘How did you find the golf course?”

And, in trying to be all pleasant and polite, and especially when the course wasn’t in great shape, like some of the courses we encountered on the platteland on the winter section of the Sunshine Tour, the standard answer was...”Well I came down the main road, turned right at the shopping centre, turned in through the gates of the club, and...there it was!”

And don’t think that that didn’t deter the locals, who’d then come back with...”No, no, no, how did you really find the course?” Saying you enjoyed the layout and would really love to play the course in summer was then the only way to escape getting lynched.

Now, back in present times, we’ve had tons of compliments about our course of late, and even I was moved enough to get out twice last week – the results of said forays into swinging the club and stroking the putts I’d rather not discuss in depth in this forum - and I really enjoyed the stroll on our pristine links.

We’re enjoying a wonderful mixture of sunshine and rain, the very ingredients that make the growth of the grass such a thing of beauty, and the faster recovery of our putting surfaces after their early January prep is another sign of the improved structure of the bent grass on the greens after a change in direction as to the water management procedures that were put into place last winter.

  The Ladies Houghton Trophy


Sue Vyvyan-Day won the first Ladies major of the year when her level-handicap 36 pointer counted out Sue Cogswell for 1st place.



Sue pictured here with the Lady Captain


  League News


The Ladies Thursday League Team started their year with a great win over Randpark by 4-2, but the Men’s BetterBall League had a start to their season that they’d probably like to forget in a hurry, going down 6.5 to 1.5 to Kyalami.

  What's Ahead?


• 1st Ladies Open of the year is on Thurs 7th Feb.
• Maccabi’s Family Day and Barney Gordon Trophy: Sun 10th Feb
. It’s 18 holes from 11h32, but the A Div will be playing 36 holes, and from early, and it’s open to ALL divisions, incl Juniors. Let me know if you want to tee it up in this event.



• The IGT Tour – a local professional & amateur Tour – Tues 12 to Thurs 14 Feb (morning only).
• Club Champs: Ladies and Men’s C Div – Sat 23 & Sun 24 Feb.
• Club Champs: Men’s A & B Divs – Sat 2 & Sun 3 March.
• Young Guns Poker event & shotgun start: Sat 9th March.

• The Players: Mar 14-17 Sawgrass: Individual Stableford and the 1st leg of The Race to Simola.
• Sunshine Tour Qualifying School: Sun 17 to Fri 22 March (Thurs 21st is a public holiday).
• Our own Family Trophy (the old Father & Son) takes place on Sunday 31st March. ANY family combo qualifies to play! Morning field.

  Tour Stuff


BDC won again, in Dubai, for his maiden victory on the European Tour, and another feather in his cap with a runaway performance which cemented his spot in the top echelons of today’s current best players, and he stays at 5th in the World Rankings.

But even though he’s (almost) on top of the world at the moment, his win attracted some amount of heat on social media, due mainly to his (over) analysis and (painful) pre-shot routine.

You can check out the video that went viral here:


I saw quite a few golfers and celebs on Twitter having a go at him for taking the time he does, and at the Tour for not doing anything about it.

Even World #2 Brooks Koepka had this to say:


You can’t argue about BDC’s stellar form using this kind of PSR, but this is all in a time and age when the new Rules are trying to speed things up, not slow them down.

World #1 Justin Rose did what he was supposed to in winning the Farmers Insurance event at Torrey Pines, and where a strong field had Adam Scott showing some form in ending up 2nd, and Hideki Matsuyama, Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy and Jason Day all featured on the leaderboard.

The Euro Tour stays in the Middle East for the inaugural Saudi International this week – Koepka will be there - and the PGA Tour finds itself once again at the loudest party in golf at The Waste Management Phoenix Open in Scottsdale, the event that has the largest galleries in golf by far, and the loudest hole in golf, even if the majority of them aren’t there for the golf!

  Rules


Overnight leader in Dubai last week, Haotong Li, got penalised for assistance when lining up his putt. You can read all about it, and the reactions to it, here.

Then I heard through the grapevine, from someone who’d played with who he thought was a Houghton member, at another course, that we had instituted the Local Rule for Out of Bounds!!!!!????? News to me!

And, apart from this being blatantly wrong – WE HAVE NOT ADOPTED THE OB LOCAL RULE AT HOUGHTON – he also told this guy that it’s only a 1-shot penalty when they drop like that, when in fact it’s the 2-shot General Penalty that would be applied if such a Local Rule was ever put into place.

It’s definitely not a Rule of Golf!

  Shop News


Callaway’s brand new Epic Flash line of drivers, fairways and hybrids, plus their new line of Apex and Apex Pro irons are about to hit the shelves, and we’ll be keeping quite a bit of stock, and doing fittings, so that you get the right combination of shaft and head that will better suit your swing.


And also new from the Callaway family is their new line of Odyssey Stroke Lab putters, and we’ll also have stock of some of these.


The Stroke Lab putters come out in the regular Odyssey shapes, with the new Tuttle – below - added to the range.


The Tuttle


Contact us >


That’s about all for this week.

Hope you have a good one.

Kappy.

Revealing the lie

 
Too many are living with the lie
 
Are you one of the 65% of golfers making the game more difficult than it should be?
If you are, then you’re sitting on a lot of opportunity. Hitting more good golf shots in a round,
makes the on-course experience so much better.
 
 
Iron toe down
Strike the ball with the toe slightly down and
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Strike the ball with the heel down and your
ball will travel left of target (right-handers).
 
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Lie angles can be altered.
Small effort; small change in your equipment; and
you could be striking the ball so much more sweetly. 
Hitting good shots is a beautiful feeling.
 
 
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The best for you

 
You can do this
 

The ball doesn’t move, which is convenient. No-one’s about to tackle you. So it’s safe.
We just need to improve one, some, or all of the following parts, and your playing experience changes more than your game. It changes everything for the better.

 
 
 
 
 
Yes, this is a nice swing. It could be you.
Getting these steps right, or at least better, makes a thrilling difference to
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What would cause you to smile more often on the golf course? What would give you cause for celebration?
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