Potteries Independent Golf Society © All Rights Reserved.
Hello and welcome to a new season of PIGS golf.
Who’d have thought that 12 months down the line I’d still be captain of this great golf society. Obviously no-one else has volunteered yet.
In fact, who’d have thought that I’d still be playing golf after some shocking performances from mid summer onwards last year. You’ll be pleased to hear (wont you?) that there has been some small improvement over the winter months (I really shouldn’t have said that).
Talking of winter, congratulations to Kevin, one of the most consistent players over the last two or three years, for winning this years winter league. In danger of being hunted down by the pack, Kevin finished with a controlled 41 points on the final day to extend his lead. Also congratulations to Seve and Rollup for coming 2nd and 3rd respectively.
Thanks again to Phil for working over the winter to put our itinerary together, starting with the excellent Newcastle course on April 8th. Our tour sees us return to Llandudno, where this year Phil has managed to find a landlady with a personality (hopefully). Sadly, the society’s founder captain, Barry, will not be touring this year. The end of an era!
And so to everyone’s favourite subject – HANDICAPS
It has been suggested by one or two people that club members should play off their club handicaps at society events. I do not agree with this suggestion for the following reason:
Who’d have thought that 12 months down the line I’d still be captain of this great golf society. Obviously no-one else has volunteered yet.
In fact, who’d have thought that I’d still be playing golf after some shocking performances from mid summer onwards last year. You’ll be pleased to hear (wont you?) that there has been some small improvement over the winter months (I really shouldn’t have said that).
Talking of winter, congratulations to Kevin, one of the most consistent players over the last two or three years, for winning this years winter league. In danger of being hunted down by the pack, Kevin finished with a controlled 41 points on the final day to extend his lead. Also congratulations to Seve and Rollup for coming 2nd and 3rd respectively.
Thanks again to Phil for working over the winter to put our itinerary together, starting with the excellent Newcastle course on April 8th. Our tour sees us return to Llandudno, where this year Phil has managed to find a landlady with a personality (hopefully). Sadly, the society’s founder captain, Barry, will not be touring this year. The end of an era!
And so to everyone’s favourite subject – HANDICAPS
It has been suggested by one or two people that club members should play off their club handicaps at society events. I do not agree with this suggestion for the following reason:
Club members get their handicap on their own course, which they are familiar with, and therefore should get better scores, hence lower handicaps.
Non-club members get their handicaps from society days, on unfamiliar courses, where scores will be worse, hence higher handicaps.
Therefore, making club members play off their club handicap will be unfair to them.
Using the society spreadsheet will ensure a level playing field for society events, and ensures that we work from one system only.
In order for people to be able to compete on society days they must be a society member and thus included on the society spreadsheet. Their playing handicap will be calculated by the spreadsheet. They must also attend a reasonable number of events. There will be exceptions to this which will be discussed on an individual basis. For more details, please see the new handicap system information on the website.
Hopefully one or two of you have been practicing filling in your scorecard correctly (you know who you are). As per the last few games last year, I’ll be asking everyone to input your scores on the laptop AFTER checking them with your playing partner. The procedure is very easy and you can check your scoring as you input. Remember, the spreadsheet never lies, so I’ll expect you to own up if you’ve got your scorecard wrong (Daz). It’s all fully automated and even I won’t know the result until it’s announced.
Using the society spreadsheet will ensure a level playing field for society events, and ensures that we work from one system only.
In order for people to be able to compete on society days they must be a society member and thus included on the society spreadsheet. Their playing handicap will be calculated by the spreadsheet. They must also attend a reasonable number of events. There will be exceptions to this which will be discussed on an individual basis. For more details, please see the new handicap system information on the website.
Hopefully one or two of you have been practicing filling in your scorecard correctly (you know who you are). As per the last few games last year, I’ll be asking everyone to input your scores on the laptop AFTER checking them with your playing partner. The procedure is very easy and you can check your scoring as you input. Remember, the spreadsheet never lies, so I’ll expect you to own up if you’ve got your scorecard wrong (Daz). It’s all fully automated and even I won’t know the result until it’s announced.
Finally I would like to introduce you to Jerry, our brave pet rabbit that I’ve nominated to be Society Mascot during my time as captain. The Friday pigs will already be aware of Jerry’s plight, and I would like to tell his/her storey to you all, to hopefully act as an inspiration when all seams lost.
Jerry often likes to run amok in our back garden, and on the odd occasion stupidly decides to stay out late with the local wildlife rather than the security of his hutch. On one such evening last October, Mr Fox decided to visit. Suspicions that something was wrong were aroused by the erratic behaviour of the cats, Dylan & Georgie. While the goldfish (name unknown) remained oblivious to the drama unfolding outside, I darted through the backdoor, sluggishly followed by the dog (Sky), to find Mr Fox standing over a distraught and paralysed Jerry. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog (where have I heard that before?), before disappearing over next doors fence.
Jerry was at deaths door, and I mercilessly carried him inside the house to spend his last few moments in comfort on the dirty old doormat and the cat litter tray. Miraculously the next morning Jerry was still clinging to life, his only functioning limp being his left ear. This carried on for 3 days with no improvement, until the Friday morning when the difficult decision was made to load the air rifle and send Jerry to that big stew in the sky. As the rifle snapped shut in the garage a shriek of “Andrew, Andrew” was heard from the extension. I ran in to find Sharon standing over Jerry, who was comically trying (and failing) to get to his now semi-paralysed feet in a desperate bid to stave off execution. It worked (after much debate). The following weeks saw slow but important improvements, until, just as the stench in the extension was becoming unbearable, Jerry had recovered enough to be moved into his brand new, handmade from recycled material, single level hutch/bungalow, complete with fox deterrent. Since those days last year Jerry has made a full recovery and the ungrateful little creature now defecates all over my new decking and runs a mile every time I go near it, despite me having saved its pitiful life. However, as its recent history closely resembles my golf form (apart from the defecating on the decking), I feel that it is only fitting that its brave fight is rewarded with becoming our founder Society Mascot, and who knows, we may even dine out with/on him at the end of the season.
Below is a picture of Jerry during his recuperation. Notice the doormat and cat litter tray that helped to save his life, along with in the background the ingeniously method that I engineered to hold his water bottle, using a few left over pieces of wood from the decking and a mop strainer. More pictures of Jerry and ingenious devices will appear on the website soon.
Yours from the trough,
Andrew
Jerry often likes to run amok in our back garden, and on the odd occasion stupidly decides to stay out late with the local wildlife rather than the security of his hutch. On one such evening last October, Mr Fox decided to visit. Suspicions that something was wrong were aroused by the erratic behaviour of the cats, Dylan & Georgie. While the goldfish (name unknown) remained oblivious to the drama unfolding outside, I darted through the backdoor, sluggishly followed by the dog (Sky), to find Mr Fox standing over a distraught and paralysed Jerry. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog (where have I heard that before?), before disappearing over next doors fence.
Jerry was at deaths door, and I mercilessly carried him inside the house to spend his last few moments in comfort on the dirty old doormat and the cat litter tray. Miraculously the next morning Jerry was still clinging to life, his only functioning limp being his left ear. This carried on for 3 days with no improvement, until the Friday morning when the difficult decision was made to load the air rifle and send Jerry to that big stew in the sky. As the rifle snapped shut in the garage a shriek of “Andrew, Andrew” was heard from the extension. I ran in to find Sharon standing over Jerry, who was comically trying (and failing) to get to his now semi-paralysed feet in a desperate bid to stave off execution. It worked (after much debate). The following weeks saw slow but important improvements, until, just as the stench in the extension was becoming unbearable, Jerry had recovered enough to be moved into his brand new, handmade from recycled material, single level hutch/bungalow, complete with fox deterrent. Since those days last year Jerry has made a full recovery and the ungrateful little creature now defecates all over my new decking and runs a mile every time I go near it, despite me having saved its pitiful life. However, as its recent history closely resembles my golf form (apart from the defecating on the decking), I feel that it is only fitting that its brave fight is rewarded with becoming our founder Society Mascot, and who knows, we may even dine out with/on him at the end of the season.
Below is a picture of Jerry during his recuperation. Notice the doormat and cat litter tray that helped to save his life, along with in the background the ingeniously method that I engineered to hold his water bottle, using a few left over pieces of wood from the decking and a mop strainer. More pictures of Jerry and ingenious devices will appear on the website soon.
Yours from the trough,
Andrew
