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Ian Halliwell
Handicap: 25
Lancashire
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 82
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Many Thanks to all the 40 Competitors who participated in The Inaugural Event. I hope you all had a Great Day, I certainly did............ for the record and of course this might change..... thats an In joke for all those who attended, sorry TOM for the false presentation and Ian...
Winner............. Andrew Siggs 33 points
Runner up...... Tom Hurcombe 32 points
3rd Place........ Helen Harding 29 points
4th Place....... Ian Mullins 28 points
5th Place....... Ian Halliwell 27 points
nearest to Pin............ Ray Edby longest Drive Helen Harding Mystery Holes Pia E Sun
as you can see not many bandits, Indeed the course really showed its teeth but then thats surely what we want of what I hope will become our National Yearly Championship.
On a personal note, the event raised over £ 500 for THE STROKE ASSOCIATION.... Sincere thanks to all...
Im sure Pete and I would welcome any constructive comments as to how we can improve and make the event bigger and better.
Finally there are a mulititude of pics from the day on THE FACEBOOK, site for THE SOCIAL GOLFER and
on www.thesocialgolfer.blogspot.com.
THANKS AGAIN
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Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 1,955
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I attended this event & generally had a very enjoyable day. The food was very nice & the club & course were all excellent. I do feel however a few things could have been improved on.
Firstly it would have been nice to have had a welcome speech from any of the organisers.
It would have been good to be reminded of the exact format eg Stableford, must putt out etc, & the reasons why the ladies were initially told to play off Yellows & then played off the reds?
For an event of this size, it should really have had the results put into a laptop programme to ensure the embarrassment of presenting the trophy to the wrong person could not happen.
I did not really understand how the mystery holes were calculated, it was explained something like "there were only 3 holes, where this lady in my group scored two 3 pointers and a 4 points, so she wins a Florida holiday"?
Finally, & believe me this is not sour grapes, I think as a TSG championships, where it is stipulated that, the competitors must have an official congu handicap, or a TSG handicap it would have been nice if the first 2 places had played at least 1 game with TSG prior to the day! I believe no one was asked to produce a handicap certificate at any time.
Well done to the eventual winner, who I believe is a member at Hever castle!
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TheSocialGolfer
Handicap: 36
Essex
Pro Member
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 782
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It was a great day, so many thanks again to those who made the effort to attend, you all contributed to making the day the success it undoubtedly was.
Special thanks to Ian and Karen who organised the day (and drove down from Wigan to do it), Hever Castle Golf Club who were good to us and the weather, which once the cloud cleared, rose from a chilly 10c to a positively balmy 15c, plus our sponsors who donated some superb prizes:
- Ian Halliwell who donated 2 weeks in a luxury villa in Orlando Florida
- www.PackYourClubs.com who donated 2 * £100 discount vouchers for any of their listed Golf Holiday Villas
- Hever Castle who donated a complimentary four-ball
- www.berrygolf.com who donated packs of their superb own brand golf balls
Plus of course, congratulations again to the winners who shot very respectable scores around a beautiful but tough course (but then they should with handicaps for the winners ranging from 7 to 14).
With regard to the comments made, thanks for these they will be acted upon to make future events even better (and yes, we intend that this was the first of what will become an annual event).
The Stroke Association Mystery Five Hole 'Mini-Comp' was based on the scores achieved at a random selection of 5 from the 18 holes (made before the start and known to none of the players). Sorry if that wasn't made clear when players were asked if they wished to enter it.
Finally, about the handicaps, the only players who could not prove a Club or TSG Handicap were individually advied that they were included in the Nearest the Pin, Longest Drive and, if they wished, the Stroke Association Mystery Five Hole Mini-Comp, but their scores would not be included in consideration for the main 'TSG Competition, Prizes and Cup' (and they were not).
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Ian Halliwell
Handicap: 25
Lancashire
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 82
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Mystery holes,
Originally there were 5 holes............. I think Karen chose 1 , 10, 13, 17 and 18........ guess who won.........
yours truly........... so we looked at second there were 7 on next no of points..........
i asked her to pick 3 holes, checking 40 cards and 5 nos was no possible......... lordy we missed andrew out of main draw............. this she did and pia with 3, 3 and 4 won easily...................
hope that clarifies this for everyone............
rest of points valid, and we would put right next time,but in my and petes defence.......... the problems we faced, with late no shows, matching pairs up rather than an open draw...... getting a good deal from hever when we had consistently changed numbers was always going to be fraught with difficulties.
but as I said we invite comment so we can make the next one much bigger and better..... and it served the three principal criteria, pete and I wanted at beginning..
1. It established the Concept of an Annual Tourney
2. It broke even and actually raised funds for the Strok Association.
3. The Golf was good, fun and competitive.
Ian
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Kevin Slumbers
Handicap: 36
Surrey
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 29
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"quote"
Finally, & believe me this is not sour grapes, I think as a TSG championships, where it is stipulated that, the competitors must have an official congu handicap, or a TSG handicap it would have been nice if the first 2 places had played at least 1 game with TSG prior to the day! I believe no one was asked to produce a handicap certificate at any time.
The fact the winner was a member at hever castle the question i would be asking myself is did he pay the same entry fee as everyone else
STEWARDS ENQUIRY
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Roger Hurcombe
Handicap: 36
sussex
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 25
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I would just like to say what a good day me and my son tom had it was great. As for some saying about an offcial congu handicap me and my son Tom whom came 2nd did bring and show our handicap certificates. And as tom plays off 6.8 i think he did well so to me it does sound a bit like sour grapes.And as for playing a round with TSG, my son is still a student and so it is very difficult to find time to play these games without him messing up exams.
Roger Hurcombe
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Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 1,955
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The day was great fun. I didn't hear anyone saying anything other than that.
I know that Andrew (the winner and member of Hever Castle) paid the same as everyone else but I think he should have been cut 10 shots for having personal knowledge of the course. Plus, while I'm at it, I think anyone with a handicap less than me should have to give me 5 shots. Yes, I think that should do it...
Roll on the next one, my golf swing has moved from awful to adequate so with the same rate of improvement I should be playing off scratch by mid-summer :)
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Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 1,955
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I'd like to thank all those involved in organising the event - which was my first competition at Hever (where I took up the months trial membership on 26 March, my CONGU handicap is held at Boarshead) & first individual "Open" event in the 3 years I have been playing.
I am looking forward to playing TSG events and hope that the Open becomes an annual tournament.
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David Roth
Handicap: 36
lincolnshire
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i would like to say that i enjoyed the day at hever castle. not attempting to slag off the day but it could have been organised better but that comes with experience. also it doesn't help with people putting their names down and then removing them.also people who never turned up on the day should be excluded from the next event.
it not all about winning but i think the first prize should have been better than the villa in florida unless it also included help towards the cost of flights etc.
it was good to see old faces and new ones.
not sure if i've missed the scores but it would be good to see all the scores posted so that we can see where we finished overall. it just allows the opportunity to have some banter with people you know who played.
david roth
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Steve 'The Powe...
Handicap: 21
Essex
Pro Member
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 288
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Just to say well done to the organisers, it is never a simple matter to arrange and advertise and the format/personnel constantly changing made it interesting. Anyway, good food, good company, good golf (well Andrew played well in my four ball). Interesting track and quite a long walk for someone as out of shape as me... but I did manage to score some points and had a good swing at a few of the other holes.
In fact the one ball I contrived to lose (just through the OOB on the 2nd hole, actually ran through the little gate) was visible but not worth the effort of climbing over and retrieving. I had some good sand shots and made some long putts... we won't mention the penalty shots though...
Good day, and nice to see a lack of bandits in play.
Spoilt only by the M25 being closed for me on the way home to Essex... otherwise a great day out...
Sure - the visible organisation could have been better, we could have had handicap certs scrutinised, and there could have been a welcoming announcement - explaining all the rules... and there could have been lots... but what there was was good enough for me.
Rgds Stephen
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Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 1,955
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Thanks for a great golf day, just a shame Myself and Gary had to scoot before the prizes giving but I had to get back to Hastings due to going away for a holiday later that evening.
Congratulations to all winners but specially to Tom on coming second, had the pleasure of playing with him and scoring his card.
One suggestion for next years event, would it be possible to have a longest drive prize for both men and women. myself and Mark Quant hit drives measured at 285yards (skycaddy and laser range finder) and we were still 30 yards short of the winning post.......... 
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Helen Harding
Handicap: 36
Hertfordshire
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Thank you for a great day, meeting new and old friends and a great days golf what could be better oh yes winning a prize!
Speaking for the Ladies I do think a longest drive and Nearest the Pin for both Men and Ladies would be better, and if we have more ladies next year maybe prizes for Ladies and Men , for first, second and third. Another format I have found successful is to divide the field into either, age groups or handicaps it really dose give everyone something to play for. I am in favour of producing a handicap cert.
If I can be of any help next year just call. 
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Ian Halliwell
Handicap: 25
Lancashire
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 82
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the original format was one i use in the south sfrican, floridian and australian events...
seperate comps for women, men, different classes within these groups... unfortunately we simply did not get enough women participants to cover the costs for the extra prizes this would entail, remember we had constant drop outs, pete also tells me £60 was considered expensive. on organisation, it could have run smoothly but again because of lack of numbers it was uneconomical to bring in my tournament director.. hopefully next year all the comments above can be encapsulated in ensuring the uk social open becomes a model of a stableford comp, open to all abilities, gender and age, at a reasonable cost at a great venue an as i think the above does show that a great social days golf was generally had by all. again many thanks to all participants, i had a great day.....thanks for taking time to comment above, pete and I certainly will take on board each and every point.
Anyway got to fly, off to Florida to play in the GRANDE PINES CLASSIC on the Edwin Watts Tour were i am sure there will be hiccups similar to the above.
good golfing friends.
ian
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Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 1,955
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"Tournament Director"? I'll organise it for you, for a fiver!! 
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Ian Halliwell
Handicap: 25
Lancashire
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 82
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trust me, the drop outs, re negotiations with course caused by that...... late changes, id take you up on that my friend next time, wife charged me a bottle of chablis...
good golfing young fella
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TSG
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