1.        Puttenham offered an excellent day's golf in lovely surroundings with the pleasant weather a bonus, particularly after the wet conditions at Kingswood and the cold of West Hill. There was a good turnout of 48 players for a course which, being shorter than the average, favoured the 20+ handicappers who could reach the greens in regulation.

2.        They duly took full advantage of their shot allowances and packed nine of their number in the day's top 10 BAGS finishers. It's always pleasing to report a new guy on the winner's podium and the name's Bond, Steve Bond who finished just ahead of Roger on Countback with 38 points. Steve is only in his second season as a member (though he was a guest over many years) and has now qualified for the Captain's Bowl at Effingham in February 2008 and has also had a shot deducted from his handicap of 28. Well done 0027!

3.        Roger's trip to the American West has obviously paid dividends as he notched his second runner up place in successive meetings. Though it's too early to issue placings for the Treasurer's, he will be lying nicely if he keeps this up and his Chairman's scores aren't bad either. Maybe it's the shorts and long handled putter! Congratulations also to Keith Gatford, one of our founder members who finished in the first three for the first time since his third place at Bramley way back in September 1995.

4.        It was also good to see Harry completing his first round for 21 months and hopefully his foot troubles are now behind him. Puttenham was a tough walking course with quite a few long treks from green to tee so without the use of a buggy this was a massive step forward. (several in fact!). Well done to Brian who won the 100 round trophy with an excellent 36 points and also featured well in the afternoon Texas.

5.        The Charity plans are well advanced and members and guests again proved very generous. Despite losing one team, we have substituted one of our reserves so are back to our full complement of 28 x fourballs. The requests for money and team names/players have gone out and your early responses are appreciated as the pressure is on to produce a really good programme which will list all the details. Mid June may seem a long way off but this important  event is actually only just over 7 weeks away!          

6.        If you've entered the KOs, you should by now have contacted your opponent(s) and ideally have agreed the dates of play. The weather's good, the days are long and the courses are in good condition. What more do you want - a phone call from the Chairman?!

7.        We unexpectedly have two places on the Irish tour so if you are interested, please contact me for details as to how you can take part in what promises to be an exciting event. Since our last newsletter, we've decided on the New Forest area for our September 2008 tour and the agreed dates are September 10-13. We'll be staying in Lyndhurst, a lovely town surrounded by beautiful scenery which is well under 2 hours drive from our area, so it promises to be a relaxed affair in a hotel we'll be using exclusively.

8.        The Golfathon is scheduled for Thursday June 21^st at the Drift. That's the Longest Day of the year and it certainly will be for our intrepid trio of  Ian Barrett, Steve Rout and Jon Stevenson. As usual they will be needing help, the main support being caddies. The 6am slots are already (mercifully) filled but we need many more so offers please direct to Chris Romain. It's a great day on which to make a contribution so do help if you can. As usual you have a chance to estimate the total number of points the lads will get in their four rounds. Entries are £5 per time and the winning punter will be £100 richer. See Ian at HH for the list of available numbers.

9.        Our next event involves our first visit to Haywards Heath and we currently have over 50 players out for the first 9:18 format of our season. It was inadvertently omitted from the OOP details that all members will be playing for the superb Alan Winteridge trophy, currently held by our Captain. Another feature at HH will be the auction of rounds at Worthing and Cuddington to help the worthy Marsden cause. As Chris is away in Florida for the May event, there will be a mystery auctioneer who I'm sure will be a worthy replacement.

10.     You'll have by now seen the fixture list for next season including our 15^th anniversary event at St George's Hill. It's the Thursday after Easter weekend so do take care not to miss this date when planning any holidays around that time. It would be fantastic to have all 60 members out for such a special day. Hedley is already practising his shots over heather to make sure his drive in goes well in front of such a potentially big audience. No pressure then for our VC!

    

 

 

B.A.G.S. STABLEFORD COMPETITION RESULT 18 HOLES

 

PUTTENHAM - 19TH APRIL 2007

 

 

* Those with an asterisk competed for the 100 round trophy

 

B.A.G.S. HANDICAP SUMMARY

 

POST      PUTTENHAM - 19^TH APRIL 2007 - COMPETITION SCRATCH SCORE = 36

 

 

Captain's Bowl qualifiers in BOLD

 

 

BAGS PAR 3 RESULTS PUTTENHAM

19^TH APRIL 2007

 

 

 

 

 

There has been a change to how this is determined. The first part stays the same in that you score points at each Par 3 hole based on the stableford points you obtain divided by the Stroke Index multiplied by 100. So, if you score 3 stableford points on a hole where the Stroke Index was 9 for this competition you score 33.33 points at that hole. The more stableford points you score and the more difficult the hole, the better your total day score becomes.

 

Now - we found under the old rules that there was an advantage if you played the bare minimum number of rounds to qualify especially if you play at courses where there are low index holes such as at Hankley where there is one at 4. So, we are now calculating the positions each day, as above, and awarding points within a basic scale between 1 and 50, with loadings in terms of bonus points to "compensate" if you play, say, all 9 day events compared with a fellow member who only plays the minimum number of 4. There are also other adjustments such as an allowance depending in the size of the field. It is using the same basis as the Treasurer's competition where points are awarded in the same fashion depending on where you are placed in the day's stableford competition.

 

This should make the Par 3 fairer but still reward the most consistent Par 3 performer - although if you did not understand the competition before, you sure will not now!

 

I shall issue this result sheet after each day event and once we get beyond the Charity Day when a good number will have completed the required number of qualifying rounds, I shall provide a summary of where you are in the annual competition and provide a further explanation.

 

Steve Little