Golfers take a trip down memory lane
I decided to go back 10 years to have a look at the golfing scene in 2011, thanks to the member who brought in a load of golfing magazines.
I read the other day about golf balls taking 100 to 1000 years to disintegrate, so please stop losing balls and protect the environment if you can. I tried on Wednesday to retrieve my ball that had, oh so slowly, rolled into the dam on the 13th at Scottburgh Golf Club and slipped. My backside ended up being covered in black mud; sorry earth, but it’s staying there.
It doesn’t matter who Denis Brown plays with, he’s been on a roll of late. On Wednesday he didn’t even know who his partner was and he still finished up winning in a drawn partner Combined Stableford. The lucky player was Geoff Thommasen who gladly stepped up to the table for a winning score of 67.
Captain Bob Hall sincerely thanked Wayne Simpson for playing such great golf as they came in with 66 for second place. The only lady in the field, Alex Morris, found the hidden holes with John Mills, Colin Moodie, Mike Hogan and, of course, Denis Brown, who all rolled in 2-clubs.
To say it was a bit of a washout on Saturday is an understatement of note.
To fill in the column, I decided to go back 10 years to have a look at the golfing scene in 2011, thanks to the member who brought in a load of golfing magazines.
In September of that year, Charl Schwartzel was number 10 in the world golf rankings and another five Saffers in the top 50 with Rory Sabbatini at number 20.
Local boy Steven van Heerden was 27th in the amateur rankings and at number 36 was Erik van Rooyen, Erik just lately winning the Barracuda Championship on the US PGA and shooting 67 in the final round of the BMW Championship to make it through to Tour Championship.
Today Louis Oosthuizen is the top ranked Saffer at 8th and van Rooyen at 55th.
Ernie Els is now playing on the Champions tour for the over 50’s, making everyone feeling old.
Today, local boys Jason Gilliver is ranked at number 4 in KZN, Mitch Hampson at 17th(pity he’s now in Canada) and Jack Cubitt sits at number 18 with brother Luke sitting at Stellenbosch University.
As for equipment, the cost of golf has gone up exponentially.
The cost of a starter box set of clubs in 2011 would put a newbie back around R3000 and today around R7000.
The following items at 2011 and today’s prices in brackets are typical. Set of irons R7 000 (now R15- to R25 000), driver R3 000 (R6- to R12 000), fairway woods R4 000 (R6- to R10 000), putter R2 000 (R3- to R5 000), golf ball from R20 to R40 (R25- to R70) … and there’s not much difference between the exchange rate of the US dollar and our Rand.
Flyer’s footnote: Golf instruction books can be immensely invaluable to a novice. When he/she can balance such a book on their head and take a vicious swing at the ball without the book falling off, they’re ready to play.
LOW FLYER
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