Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2023 i Compleat Golfer

BRANDON STONE This month: Cricket World Cup at The Oval While I was living in London, the UK hosted the Cricket World Cup, and as you well know by now,I'm a massive fan of the sport. So with the prospect of attending fjte. opening game at The Oval, I made a few calls. Luckily I have some awesome friends who happen to wear our iconic green and gold, so I managed to get a couple of tickets. Ort arrival, I was absolutely shocked by the atmosphere created by the people attending the game. Thera were broad smiles painted across the faces of every single spectator even before a ball had been bowled. There was an air of expectation among the English fans, who sensed it could he their year. An…

DAVID WICKS English professional David Wicks takes great pains to try to understand his place in the universe, and where golf Should rightly fit into all of this. And recently, the universe rewarded him with a decision that has changed his life. After turning professional in 2019 and playing a tew mini-Tours in Canada and the United States, the Covid-19 pandemic hit and with it derailed Wicks’ career aspirations. While at a low point and unable to see a way forward, Wicks says he ‘stumbled’ upon the Sunshine Tour and decided to give it one more go on a circuit he'd heard a lot about So he and his American girlfriend, Megan, took the gamble. He qualified for his card through the Sunshine Tour's Qualifying School, finishing sixth there. And…

COURSE OF THE MONTH F or decades the business of golf courses offering just a round at golf has been evolving and morphing. Lang before Covid times, management realised that they were not only offering a round of golf but an experience prior to, and long after the round of golf was complete. Courses upgraded their facilities and those with additional space and budget noted the gap in the market and improved their offering to conference, dining and, in recent times, erven padel tennis. Yes, if you have not heard, it is the sport taking the world, and South Africa, by storm, specifically targeting golf courses due to the space available and the added health option of a quick hour of chasing a somewhat larger ball around a small court. One…

GOLF RSA Susan Andrew from Ekurhuleni and Gauteng North Golf's Madeleine de Wet were elected as the new office bearers for Womens Golf South Africa at the organisation's annual general meeting at Paarl Golf Club in May. Succeeding the outgoing president, Sarah Braude, with whom she served as vice-president for the past three years, Andrew was appointed president, while Gauteng North Golf Union vicepresident and treasurer De Wet was elected vice-president. Andrew said: ‘It is a special honour for me to continue to serve amateur golf as the president of Womens Golf South Africa. This is a remarkable time for our organisation, and I truly believe that we have the right people in place with the passion and desire to elevate womens golf and golf in general in the coming…

ASHLEIGH BUHAI COLUMN My goal for 2023 was to win in the US, and I have won in the UK, South Africa and Australia in tha past year. It definitely feels like a big achievement. I felt like I was really stamping my ground. It's difficult when you're not in the final group, it's a bit of an anti-climax if you win at that moment. People ask how it feels but it only hits you a couple of days later because you're so in the moment, you play in the heat and then you go and do media and you don't really get to think about it. Then you wake up a couple of days later and you think, “Oh my gosh, I actually did it.’ I was feeling pretty…

RYAN CAIRNS COLUM Not too long ago we were conditioned to the Sunday afternoon Major meltdowns and misfortunes of Greg Norman despits being the best player in the world at the time. Today he is closing in on being 70 years old and granted, he's looking fitter than most men half his age. But seriously, is the earth spinning faster, or am I just feeling a little nostalgic about the Price. Norman Els and Faldo days right now? Nick Price recently visited Zimbabwe and watching him step into the same pre-shot routine and trigger-move from his glory days as world No 1, as he teed off at a Wednesday School at Barrowdale Brooke, really hit home. We are all getting a little older but hopefully a little wiser too and…

REINARD KILIAN RULES I'd like to discuss two more rules that most golfers are not used to but which are enforced on Tour. With the proliferation of ‘greens books’ on the Tours of the world and all sorts of high-tech scanners being used to map greens and produce these books, it was felt by the goveming bodies that some, if not most, of the skill in reading greens was being diminished. Traditionally, reading of greens together with ball striking has always been seen as one of the core challenges of golf, arid these books were taking away from that skill as players often referred to the detail provided in the book rather than using their eyes and feel to read greens. To negate this, the R&A introduced a Model Local…

SIGNATURE HOLE 12th hole, par four. 387m The 12th is a lanky uphill par tour with a relatively new island green. At 387m it is a long par four leaving the average golfer a long-iron into the small target From the tee. the green is not in view as the hole moves from right to left, with the fairway widening the further up you land. The primary objective from the tee is to find the fairway far enough up to have a direct line to the green. It not the only option is to lay up short in the hope oi making an up and down tor par. The semi-island green is a real knee-knocker of a target with water right and a large bunker left. The green itself, although…

MEN OPEN 1 (7) Allin van dor Mam (Bellville GC) 2 (3) Kyle de Beer [Port Elizabeth GC] 3 (2) Daniel Bennett (Silver Lakes CC) 4 (6) Pascal Gunther (Royal Cape GC) 5 [8] Jordan. Bumand (Ebotse GC) 6 (17) Jordan Wessels (Mooinooi GC) 7 (19) Dylan Kayne (Pearl Valley GE) 8 (11) Simon du Plooy (Krugersdorp GC) 9 (9) Oliver Gold hill (Magaliespark GC) 10 (13) Rabrizio de Abreu (Woodhill CC) 11 (14) Ivan Verster (Pinnacle Point GE) 12 (4) Aldrich Potgieter (Pinnacle Point GE) 13 (20) Keagan Crosbie (Centurion CC) 14 (-) Damian Osner (Pinnacle Point GE & Mossel Bay GC) 15 (-) Pieter Rossouw (Pearl Valley GE) 16 (-) Travis Procter (Durbanville GC) 17 (-) Janko van der Merwe (Magaliespark CC) 18 (18) Jean Pierre van der…

ANDY CAPOSTAGNO A CORNER DEDICATED TD GOLF'S TRIERS Put a yellow ball on the tee and watch it find the pale patch of grass the local wildlife like to mark. Put a pink ball down and it lands in an azalea bush. A few years ago, one of the manufacturers came up with one that looked like a soccer ball, dark patches dotting the otherwise white Surface. I found one of these at the humble golf course I call home. How could anyone lose something so striking, I pondered. It took me two holes to lose it again. As I write this, the autumn leaves are falling down. My wife thinks they look pretty I think they will fall on top of my golf hall. And it's not just scattered…

I founds myself having to completely rewrite my column this month just before my deadline. The reason for this, a tweet from the PGA Tbur announcing a new partnership with the LIV Tour. There was no doubt it was the most shocking moment that we've experienced in golf over the past few years. The entire golfing world had no clue about this new business venture between two supposedly mortal enemies. Which, in the age of social media, is incredible. I've always been of the opinion that there has to be two sides to tine whole LIV versus other Tours. Those two sides are: Tours themselves and the players’ side. The PGA Tour and DP World Tour took an extremely strong stance against the LIV Tour when it formed. They threatened…

GARY LEMKE COLUMN We've seen the emergence of the 20-something Major champion in golf, the teenage swimming gold medallists, gymnastics champions and young tennis stars emerging. And when it comes to golf. on the South African amateur scene, only three of the top 20-ranked men were born before the year 2000 I recall being at the 1988 Amateur Championship at Royal Porthcawl and reporting on South Africa's men at that event. It was one in which Ben Fouchee lost in the 36-hole final. while Emie Els was knocked out earlier in the match-play. Also representing the country were Ian Hutchings and Neville Clarke. Fouchee was 20 at the time and he turned pro later that year although never quite reached the heights many had predicted of him The same could…

ELS FOR AUTISM The two golf days were held only three days apart at the end of May and beginning of Juns as the Els for Autism team ticked off their fifth and sixth events for the year. Despite the logistical challenges arid facing somewhat of a race against time, the two Ernie Els Charities South Africa golf days were once again major success stories that continue to positively influence the incredible work the E4A foundation and its associated partners are doing to develop golf in the country. Randpark has long been one of the key venues on the annual E4A calendar and has always provided incredible golfing experiences for the players at one of South Africa's most pristine and famous layouts, while Prince's Grant's popularity shot through the roof…

WOMEN'S GOLF Here's a little trivia to get you started: What do Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, Jon Rahm, Lydia Ko and Lilia Vu have in common? Okay, so you might be wondering, ‘Lilia Who? For those who are, she's the 2023 Chevron Championship winner, one of five annual Majors on the LPGA TOur. There are another two in July - the US Women's Open and the Evian Championship. Obviously, if you answered ‘they have all won Major championships,’ then you'd be right, but only take a half point. The full point goes to those who said that the above five are the only golfers, male and female, to have been ranked No 1 in the world as an amateur and to have also won a Major as a professional Four…

MALCOLM MITCHELL Stepping stones. Not the name of his nursery school, but it is the way Malcolm Mitchell learned how to tackle his progress through his golfing life from his father. Unlike many young professionals, Mitchell doesn't have a specific memory of when his journey in the game started. But it is a broadly similar memory to many others like him. ‘It started in Mooi River whan my dad played golf and I went for the ride on the golf cart,’ he says. ‘I don't remember at what age it started but I was very young. ‘I then picked up sticks and started swinging them when I got home. My dad said he would get rne a set uf “Little Tiger” clubs and so the golf bug bit.’ For the…

Greenfees While some courses are just about impossible to get onto unless you are tight with a member (think Augusta National), others are open to the general public provided you shell out a hefty fee. And the model works, as the principles of supply and demand determine that the Old Course at St Andrews, for example, can charge visitors around £270 during the high season, which equates to around R6 500 for 18 holes at the iconic links course. Even at that price it's tricky to get yourself a tee time. Across trie Atlantic, however, things get a bit more interesting. Pebble Beach Links, for example, is open to the public. but will set you back over $600 for a round Right now that's in the region of Rll 500,…