The Management Committee has been researching matters related to the golf course for the past three years given that our irrigation system has become increasingly inefficient and needs to be replaced, and also given that some of our greens have been gradually subsiding resulting in less and less of the putting surface area suitable for setting pins.
In January 2002 we brought John Foy of the USGA Turf Advisory Committee to have a look at our greens and to offer his advice. With regard to our irrigation system we have been exploring the various options available to us given theadvances in modern technology. More recently we have invited visits by three golf course architects, US based Lorrie Viola, St. Lucia based John Ponko and the head of UK based PGA Design Consulting, Bob Hunt.
All three architects gave their professional opinions with regard to the various options which the club should consider in any project to rebuild our greens and replace our irrigation system. As a result of the information gathered, Mr. Hunt was commissioned to conduct an audit exercise of our entire facility. The purpose of this was to enable
(Continued on page 2)
Mercedes, Club Championships, Caribbean Classic and More...
Christine Wilson accepting her trophy from Sancia Jodhan at the Mercedes Benz Tournament
2004 Coca Cola Club Champions
Kelsey Lou Hing, Victoria Seenath, Diana Torry, Kyle Knaggs,
Richard Gordon and
Derek Faria
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(continued from page 1)
bring viable options to the membership on the basis of being fully informed of both the problems and opportunities which exist. This audit was done over a two day period in March. Mr. Hunt then submitted a 97 page document and made a presentation of his findings to the Management Committee in May. The audit covered the following:
· An assessment of the issues on a hole by hole basis
· An examination of the general issues related to - Safety, Drainage, The River, Water quality, Water source, Irrigation, Soils, Grass types, Trees
· An assessment of the design issues related to - Tees, Fairways, Bunkers, Greens, Greenside bunkers, Other hazards
· Signage, Cart paths, Bridges
· Greenkeeping, Health & Safety, Maintenance regimes, Machinery, Maintenance of new greens
· Possible Development Scenarios
· Budget costs The key areas Mr. Hunt stressed in his presentation to the Committee in May can be summarized as follows:
Greens: He stressed the poor depth and health of the root zone of all the greens. When rebuilding greens the club will need to consider the issue of varying speeds and responsiveness of new greens versus old ones if only some of the greens are redone. In rebuilding he recommended that the severity of the slopes needs to be reduced.
Estimated cost of rebuilding greens ranges between $3.5M and $6.9M New Irrigation system:Estimated cost - $5.1M
Issue of water: He stressed that the security of water supply is critical and that the club could not justify rebuilding greens if we are not sure of the water supply. Cart Paths:Estimated cost - $6.8M Maintenance facilities: He emphasized that the facility is too small and that we are in breach of many regulations and safety standards Estimated cost - $350,000 Drainage: He raised issues related to the river and stressed the consequences of major flooding. He said that the course will be more prone to flooding as more development takes place in the immediate area and that steps need to be taken to address this problem. He suggested that canalizing would be ideal but is almost prohibitive in cost. In this respect he suggested dialogue with the relevant state agencies. Property Development: This was raised as a means of financing the refurbishment of the course. Email
In an effort to make the details of the audit findings available to the members we are going to embark on e-mailing a few pages at a time of the major sections. If you are not already receiving email from the club please send your email address to golftrinidad@hotmail.com so that we can add you to our mailing list.
The National Junior Golf Team selected to represent Trinidad & Tobago at the 17th Caribbean Junior Golf Championships in St. Croix, July 4-9, 2004
12 & Under Boys
Timothy Martin
Joshua Galt
Reserve
Sirron Melville
12 & Under Girls
Anneke Ward
Natalya Rahamatula
Reserve
Amy Mohammed
15 & Under Boys
Ben Martin
Robert Llanos
Jonathan Low
Reserve
Kyle Knaggs
15 & Under Girls
Victoria Seenath
Martine de Gannes
Reserve
Dehanna Ramnath
18 & Under Boys
Shane Costelloe
Simon Merry
Alderray Downes
Reserve
Christian Stauble
18 & Under Girls
Diana Torry
Tracey Clarke
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Laughlin & de Gannes
Lucas Bowl Tournament
Saturday May 8, 2004
Nicola Laughlin presents Neil ‘Turbo’ Sheppard with his prize
Our Sponsors Mark and Tommy Laughlin at Prizegiving
Results
1st Place
Jamsheed Ali & Janet Ali
-7
2nd Place
Robert Grell & Hamish Herrera
-6
3rd Place
DeAnna Gregory & Sigrunn Lillelokken
-6
4th Place
Kiran Mahabir & Herman Boodoo
-4
5th Place
Kitty Murphy & Hamish Knox
-4
6th Place
Chris Skinner & Glen de Verteuil
-3
7th Place
Farouk Bhopa & Rasheed Ali
-3
Closest to the Pin 5th - Mitchum Jasper
Closest to the Pin 15th - Ian Stauble
Subscription Fees
Members who pay their fees biannually are reminded that their second payment is due on July 1.
Golfspeak
Address:
The positioning of your body in relation to the ball just before starting your swing. And your last conscoius thought before the chaos begins.
Etiquette: What you need to know (Part 1) (reprinted from ‘golf for dummies’)
Golf, unlike almost any of the other sports you can watch on TV nowadays, is a game where sportsmanship is paramount. Golf is an easy game to cheat at, so every player is on his honour. But there’s more to it than that. Golf has its own code of etiquette, semi-official “rules” of courtesy that every player is expected to follow. Here are some of the main things you need to know:
Don’t talk while someone is playing a stroke. Give your partners time and silence while they are analyzing the situation, making their practice swings, and actually making their swing for real. Don’t stand near them or move about either, especially when you’re on the greens. Stay out of their peripheral vision while they are putting. Don’t stand near the hole or walk between your partner’s ball and the hole. Even be mindful of your shadow. The line of a putt – the path it must follow to the hole – is holy ground.
The key is being aware of your companions’ - and their golf balls – whereabouts and temperament. Easygoing types may not mind that you gab away while they are choosing a club, but that isn’t true for everyone. If in doubt, stand still and shut up. If you’re a problem more than once, you’ll be told about it.
Be ready to play when it is your turn; for example, when your ball lies farthest from the hole. Make your decision while you are walking to your ball or while waiting for someone else to play. Be ready to play. And when it is your turn to hit, do so without any undue delay. You don’t have to rush, just get on with it.
The honour (That is, the first shot) on a given tee goes to the player with the lowest score on the previous hole. If that hole was tied, the player with the lowest score on the hole before that is said to be up and retains the honour. In other words, you have the honour until you lose it.
Make sure everyone in your foursome is behind you when you hit. You’re not going to hit every shot where you’re aimed. If in doubt, wait for your playing partners to get out of your line of play. The same is true for the group in front; wait until they are well out of range before you hit. Even if it would take a career shot for you to reach them, wait. Lawyers love golfers who ignore that rule of thumb.
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Caribbean Classic - Casa De Campo - April 27-29, 2004
A group of 57 (consisting mostly of St. Andrew’s Golf Club Members) attended the Caribbean Golf Association Classic Tournament at Casa de Campo in La Romana, Santo Domingo. This group were treated to the first ever BWIA flight directly into La Romana on April 24 – with a return flight on May 1. Adrian Isaac, Sonny Maharaj, Anthony Proudfoot, Asraph Ali, Roger Hamel-Smith, Annan Rajpaulsingh, Alicia Francois, Sharon Arneaud, Maria Nunes and Pauline Raynor were among the members in the winners circle. The value of this tournament package with 3 golf courses in top condition make it a great deal for everyone.
Hayden Imam in the airport in Santa Domingo
Elena & Denis de Gannes at the CGA Classic in Casa de Campo, Dominician Republic
Sigrunn Lillelokken and DeAnna Gregory in Casa De Campo
Eddie Kidman receives a thank you gift from Isha Ali at Casa
Paul’s Corner
Raking Bunkers
Taken from The Golf Course Superintendents Association of America
Resource Center
Sand bunkers are enough of a hazard without the bad lies caused by an un-raked surface, so here are some quick tips for making sure that the next golfer who faces your predicament isn’t additionally cursed by an un-groomed bunker.
Try to enter and exit the bunker from the point that’s closest to your ball, but most level to the adjacent playing surface. Don’t try to climb out by going up a steep bunker face (you can damage the lip of the bunker and displace too much sand).
Always rake the bunker immediately after your sand shot.
Be careful not to pull excess sand to (or over) the top of the bunker. The best practice is to alternate between pulling sand toward you and pushing it back with the tines of the rake, thus making a relatively even surface without displacing too much sand.
According the USGA, the guideline for placement of bunker rakes is “out and down.” The rake should be placed outside the bunker, lying flat on the ground, and pointed in the direction of play (parallel to the likely flight of the ball.) By the way, the USGA also reminds us that the proper term is “bunker,” and never “trap.”
Good Luck!
Paul Sheppard is our Golf Course Superintendent and is a member of the GCSA
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Mercedes Benz Trophy
May 15, 2004
A Class
1st Cliff Hinds 43
2nd Kitty Murphy 43
3rd Steve Durgadeen 40
Gross Winner: Randy Mohammed 74
B Class
1st Jonathan Decle 41
2nd Richard Lara 40
3rd Richard Gordon 40
C Class
1st Roberto Thomas 38
2nd Brian Weekes 40
3rd Christine Wilson 38
Kitty Murphy collecting her prize from Sean Jodhan, Managing Director of Sterling Motors
Julie Chatoor and Christine Yhap on the 17th tee
Troy Alcantara teeing up on the 11th Tee
Upcoming Tournaments
The Moet & Chandon Champagne Tournament will be held on Saturday July 10. The entrance fee is $100. There will be a Shotgun start and a Champagne reception after.
Members who are 18 & over are invited to enter on the notice board.
June Medal Results
Saturday June 19
Overall Medal Winner:
G. Gibbes 67
Frontenac:
Simon Merry 75
Update on the Greens
Lester Peters operates the aerifier on the 6th Green while Paul Sheppard looks on
The Greens at the golf club have just all been aerated with the Vertidrain machine using ¾ inch diameter by 10 inch long, hollow, coring tines. The plugs that were brought up to the surface of the greens were removed and two applications of Guyana silica sand were applied by the Top Dresser. Aerification improves drainage, promotes rooting and relieves compaction. The process of applying clean silica sand to the green improves the soil profile by replacing the old sand with the new.This process has been followed up with an application of slow release fertilizer to boost the growth of the grass and quicken the healing the putting surface.The greens should be 80 or 90% back to normal within 2 to 3 weeks.
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Stephen Ames - #1 All-Round Player on the PGA Tour
Our very own Stephen Ames, the first professional from Trinidad & Tobago to qualify for the U.S. PGA Tour, is having his best year since joining the PGA in 1997. The Official World Golf Ranking, released on June 13th 2004, revealed that Ames is currently ranked #34 in the World, his highest ever in his professional career.
Just recently, Ames had his best finish on the PGA Tour, for 2004 at the Bank of America Colonial in May. He placed 3rd with a final score of 9-under par and collected $360,400.00 in winnings for his superb performance. Ames, who has the best ‘Final Round Scoring Average’ on the PGA Tour, had the best fourth round of the tournament - an impressive 64. This was one of his best PGA Tour rounds for the year. He also finished with a 64 in both Round 3 at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic and Round 2 at the FBR Open this year.
At the beginning of 2004, Ames finished tied for 8th place at the Sony Open in Hawaii. He tied for 6th place at the Bay Hill Invitational presented by MasterCard, for his second top 10 finish of the year. He had the best round of the tournament with a 65 in the second round of play. Ames had four top 10 finishes in a row this year a tie for 7th place at the MCI Heritage, a tie for 4th at the Shell Houston Open, a 7th place tie at the HP Classic of New Orleans and a 6th place tie at the Memorial Tournament. Before this year, Ames had never had two back-to-back top ten finishes. Now, he is ranked 3rd in ‘Top Ten Finishes’ on the PGA Tour, and is ranked 12th on the PGA Tour Money List for 2004, with total earnings of US $1,885,677.72.
Ames is ranked 5th in ‘Scoring Average’ with 69.70, 12th in ‘Putting Average’ and 4th in ‘Birdie Average’ for the year. He hits 70.3% of ‘Greens in Regulation’ ranking him 5th in this division. Ames is ranked 9th on the Tour in ‘Total Driving’, a category which combines driving distance and driving accuracy. These statistics rank Ames as the top All-Round player on the PGA Tour for 2004, placing him ahead of well known players like John Daly (tied for 3rd), Ernie Els (7th) and Tiger Woods (25th).
He is also holds the top rankings in the ‘Par 3 Birdie Leaders’ and ‘Par 3 Performance’ categories. He is ranked 5th in ‘Par 4 Performance’ and 4th in ‘Par 5 Performance’. Ames is also ranked 3rd in ‘Total Birdies’ and ‘Ball Striking’.
Just before going to press Stephen had his best ever finish in the US Open which was played under extremely challenging conditions at Shinnecock Hills. He ended tied for 9th thereby adding yet another top ten finish to his 2004 season. Top 10 in a major to boot! Way to go!!
Congratulations, Stephen Ames, from St. Andrew’s Golf Club on your outstanding performance so far this year!
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Coca Cola Club Championships - June 5 -6, 2004
Thank You to our Sponsor Coca Cola
2004 A CLass Club Champion Kyle Knaggs receiving a prize from Ladies Captain, Sharon Arneaud at the Coca Cola Club Championships
Angela Hodgkson & Victoria Seenath adding up their scores
Results for the Coca-Cola Club Championships
Champions
Men’s A Class - Kyle Knaggs
Men’s B Class - Richard Gordon
Men’s C Class – Derek Faria Ladies A Class - Diana Torry
Ladies B Class - Victoria Seenath
Ladies C Class - Kelsey Lou Hing
Results For 2004 Men’s Match Play Championships
A Class
Ben Martin - Victory on the 1st
Sudden Death Playoff Hole Over
Simon Merry
B Class
Rasheed Ali – Victory on the 1st Sudden Death Playoff Hole Over Richard Trestra
C Class
Thomas Pantin – Victory by 5/4 Over Willie Rodriguez
D Class
Lawrence Richardson – Victory by 3/2 Over Joe Chatoor
National Golf Team selected to represent
Trinidad & Tobago in the 48th Caribbean Amateur Golf Championships in Freeport, Bahamas,
August 1-8, 2004
Hoerman Cup
Carlos Baynes
Simon Merry
Ben Martin
Dion Gonsalves
Reserve
Mitchum Jasper
Ramon Baez Figueroa
Robert Costelloe
Nazeem Hannif
Reserve
Allan Clayton
Francis Steele Perkins
Ray Roberts
Barry Ferdinand
Reserve
Arjoon Samlal
Higgs and Higgs
Asraph Ali
Pat Suraj
Reserve
Narine Sooknanan
George Teale
Michelle Torry
Diana Torry
Tracey Clarke
Reserve
Martine de Gannes
Junior Golfer Ben Martin.
At 13 he was the youngest-ever selected for Trinidad &Tobago Horeman Cup Team. (He will turn 14 before the Championships). Ben has played National Junior Golf for the last 5 years and he will be representing Trinidad & Tobago at both Junior and Senior Level in 2004. Ben was a medallist in 3 Florida Tournaments in 2003.
Veteran Golfer Carlos Baynes, teeing off at the Hoerman Cup trials,
with Kyle Knaggs and Ben Martin
looking on.
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Notes From The Captain
TOURNAMENT UPDATE———THE NEW FORMAT
All Our future Monthly Medals (The Famous Grouse Medal) will be played in FLIGHTS instead of Classes, and so will many of our future club Tournaments and what this means to you is this; all will be the same except we will do away with the ABCD classes as we have known them; this will result in a fairer handicap breakdown, instead of the classes (We also think it is time we stopped Classing people) as Hcp 0-9 being A Class, and 10-17 B Class etc, we will accept entries and then divide the Number of entries into Three Equal groups. Three FLIGHTS, of equal numbers.
For example, the entries in the June medal may be 60 players, we will divide this into three groups of 20 players each, the first 20 MAY run from 0-7 handicap, the second 8-19 and the third 20- 36(the Max for men), so that each group is competing with the same Number of players. The July medal may have 68 players, we will divide this into 22 first flight, 22 second flight and 24 third flight etc. Here, depending on the handicap of the players the handicap breakdown may be 0-5, 6-15 and 16 to 36. You get the idea? It will change depending on the number of entries.
There will be a gross prize and a nett in each flight as well as a low Gross and a Nett overall Medal winner, just like the present medal. The only restrictions are that to win the Medal a player must play off a 24 Hcp or lower, and to win the low gross (Fontenac) you must play off the Blue tees.
In fact this is the trend we will institute for all our games from now on, so of course you will appreciate that we will require that players enter Tournaments in advance so that we can do the draw and indices before we post the final draw, because if players join in after it will affect the numbers in the group!! We will however reserve the right to post the Group breaks in advance for certain tournaments.
REMINDERS
As we continue to upgrade our Course and the standards, we ask again that players check with the starter at least 15 minutes before Tee time and present themselves on the Tee box Five minutes before, please keep your place on the course by keeping up with the group in front and finish your round in under 4.20 hours. Remember to fill out an individual scorecard, check it, sign it and turn it in to the official ASAP after finish. Remember to play by the RULES and if you are uncertain at the time play two balls until you get a ruling from an official.
Remember too that you all have a Handicap INDEX that transcribes to your handicap on every golf Course that you play, it is not enough to play off the Blue tee off 18 Hcp then off the whites with the same hcp, you most apply your Index to the course rating and it will give you the hcp to play off. Same if you go to Plantations or Mt Irvine in Tobago, or Doral in Miami!! So we suggest that you learn your INDEX, and monitor it every month as it can change on the fist of each month as we compute the updated handicaps. It is the player’s responsibility to know your correct handicap and have it on your scorecard!! If you are uncertain how to do this, most Club officials can help or ask the Captain.
Remember, GOLF is supposed to be FUN, Enjoy it !!
St. Andrew’s
Golf Club P.O. Box 3403
Moka, Maraval
Trinidad, WI
Office: 868-629-0066/
6187-8 Fax:
868-629-0411 Starter/ After Hours 868-629-2314
Our very own Stephen Ames, the first professional from Trinidad & Tobago to qualify for the U.S. PGA Tour, is having his best year since joining the PGA in 1997. The Official World Golf Ranking, released on June 13th 2004, revealed that Ames is currently ranked #34 in the World, his highest ever in his professional career. 
