2016: Away Day at Las Colinas (31.8.)

Las Colinas

We were looking forward to our Away Day at the prestigious golf course Las Colinas and were not disappointed.  The immaculate condition of the course and the very pleasant warm weather made it a very enjoyable day of golf. 
There were 24 members and 4 guests and the format was Individual Stableford.  As most of us were not very familiar with the course and the considerable cut in our playing handicap in line with Las Colinas’ lower slope rating compared to Bonalba, nobody played to their handicap, so anybody who scored over 30 points were potentially in the prizes.  Congratulations to our Captain Jan who was the winner with 33 points.  There were 4 scores of 31 competing for 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th position and unfortunately Graham just missed out coming 6^th as Greta had a better back 9.

The Winners and the Birthday Boy

Las Colinas has 5 par 3’s and hole 17, the last of the par 3’s certainly gave us a challenge with a distance of 190 m from the yellow tees and 153 m from the reds and with the green being surrounded by a good number of bunkers, so on this occasion it defeated all of us.  The first par 3, hole 5, was also tricky, especially from the yellow tee, with the green protected by water on the left and bunkers on the right. Well done Brian to come nearest to the pin.  The other par 3’s were conquered by Greta, freshly back from Holland, demonstrating her exact play with not just being nearest but also getting birdies on two the holes.

Chris in full swing

While we were waiting for prize giving, we enjoyed a complimentary drink from the bar on the club house terrace and when it was time to present the prizes, the Captain invited our “laughing Dutchman” to repeat the story that he was so busy telling to his friends the previous Wednesday whilst prize giving was going, so we could all enjoy it.  Chris obliged and we were all spellbound.  Having enjoyed Chris’s story, the Captain had another surprise in store for one of our members.  Although Nino tried to keep it a secret, Jan remembered a remark he made previously and presented him with a birthday card signed by all of us and a present in the form of a Crash Course in English.  He was delighted with his present as he had been planning to take English lessons starting this September.  Happy Birthday, Nino.

Summarising the results:

The guest prize was won by Bob Klein with a very good 30 points, playing off 6 handicap.

Nearest the pin:

Hole 5      Brian Hines
Hole 7      Greta Biersteker
Hole 10    dto.
Hole 14    dto.
Hole 17    nobody

There were two twos today from Greta on holes 7 and 14. She received the customary golf balls.

The main competition results were as follows:

5^th place with 31 points off 5 hcp – Greta Biersteker
4^th place with 31 points off 24 hcp – David Payne, with a better back 9
3^rd place with 31 points off 9 hcp – Michael Davison, again with a better back 9
2^nd place with 32 points off 12 hcp – Eddie Fagg
1^st place with 33 points off 16 hcp – Jan Boultbee