Well it was great to get out again as a K.L.O.G.S group after so many trying months. We met at Templer Park Golf and Country Club for the March 2021 fixture. A full field with limited flights meant some were disappointed to be left out, but as things open up more in KL, this shouldn’t be the case going forward.

El Pres is doing a wonderful job juggling his very busy schedule with the ever changing SOP’s concerning how we play golf in the current climate. I am sure we all remember driving through monsoonal type rain on the way to the golf course and were all happy to see the end of the rain. On that, El Pres called ‘bunkers in play’ in the pre-game briefing. Well, more on that later.

In single buggies and 2 caddies per flight, 24 players ventured out at our appointed tee times from two tee boxes. It was very soon apparent that the course had endured a lot more rain than the brief ‘shower’ we had on the way to the course. Most of the bunkers resembled lakes and the ground underfoot squelched at every step. Despite the recent rain however, Templer Park showed why it has such a solid reputation as the most scenic (in KL) and a very challenging golf course. It recovered fairly quickly and as always was spectacular in the morning light. Weather conditions were delightful until the wet ground started to warm up and the sun beat down. Wow, it got hot!

About the bunkers! We all know the rule when your ball ends up in a ‘puddle’ in a bunker. You remove the ball and place it in the bunker no closer to the whole without penalty. Unfortunately, El Pres’ crystal ball did not predict how you would do so when the entire bunker is full of water, or the only place left in the bunker to place your ball, is closer to the hole! We all managed in the end, I think!

Prior to the game, El Pres revised the handicapping of players to more accurately reflect the actual handicap of that player. Using the World Handicapping System (WHS) most players saw their handicaps come in substantially and this played out positively in the scores returned. Given the conditions on the golf course with wet lies and limited run on the fairways one would expect your scores to be a bit higher. None of us played to our actual handicaps but scores reflected the challenges of the day as well.

All groups finished our rounds in around 4.5 hours and most managed to make it to the nearby Tang Dynasty Chinese restaurant for the lunch and informal AGM (not). Unfortunately, Jon Arkinstall injured his back and was unable to complete his round or make it to lunch. Get your back fixed Jon and come back to K.L.O.G.S.

It was evident that our arrival at the restaurant had the kitchen on edge as it was already past their lunch window. However, we managed to hold off the meal service until scores were tallied and then it was like animals to the trough. Amber ale flowed and a couple of corks popped throughout. Albert Koh generously provided a bottle of local ‘Scotch’ whisky that enabled a toast to lost comrades.

A great atmosphere with all the guys back together, and then the presentation.

As written, no one played to handicap and most scores were 7 to 12 above.

Winner and place-getters:

The winner on the day with a score of 91 playing off 14, with 31 Stableford points was Bernd Kaiser.

Second place was Fritz Kratzengruber with 95 off 17 with 30 Stableford points.

Third place was Iain Wise with 100 off 22 with also 30 Stableford points. OCB – Fritz had the better inward 9 score.

Lowest Gross:, Geoff McLaws 83.

NTP’s:

Hole 2 – Vind Sidhu

Hole 8 – Ricardo Castro

Hole 11 – Allan Wright

Hole 16 – Tony Morris, but was a no show so not awarded.

COTD Nominations:

El Pres for announcing that bunkers were in play when they were virtually unplayable for reasons unassociated with COVID SOP’s.

El Pres for not being clear enough on what to do with the measuring tapes and sheets for the NTP (i.e each group has its own tape and sheet to measure all tee shots on the green on nominated Par 3’s – to be retained by the group throughout the round)

Roland for leaving said tape measure and sheet on the first Par 3 they played, for the next group to use! And, further, then complained that there was no tape left for his group on subsequent Par 3’s.

Clive nominated El Pres for something else so not worthy of recording so that was the end of nominations.

Given that Roland nominated El Pres for not being clear on what to do with the tapes etc, and that he was the one who left his tape on the first Par 3, he was overwhelmingly voted COTD. Karma Roland.

Fines:

We collected a quite a few fines this week with four contributions for not reaching the ladies teebox (50RM), two for lateness (20RM), one for repeated phone abuse during the presentation (20RM) and one for wearing the incorrect shirt (20RM) With the coffers rather bare from a lean 2020 it was a handy input.

2020 Overall Winners:

As part of the post match AGM (not) the winners of the overall season prizes were awarded their trophies. The trophies were awarded as follows in the following categories:

(Average S/ford points best 6 out of total 8 games)

Winner: Ricardo CASTRO (36.5)

Second: Stan CONSTANTINIDES (35.5)

Equal Third: Tony MORRIS and Paul GEDDES (34.8)

COTY: Geoff McLAWS

Sponsors:

We cannot forget our ever generous sponsors:

Robert Frager for the Golf Balls

Ricardo Castro for the wine

Photos:

	Tee Box	Flt	Name	H/Cap	Gross	Net	points	Position
	4	10	John Arkinstall	22	DNF	0
	6	10	Bernd Kaiser	14	91	77	31
	3	1	Fritz Katzengruber	17	95	78	30
	4	10	Iain Wise	22	100	78	30
	2	1	Geoff McLaws	4	83	79	29
	3	1	Helmut Dicknoether	24	103	79	29
	3	1	Vind Sidhu	15	95	80	28
	5	10	Clive Gordon	11	91	80	28
	6	10	David Cheung	12	93	81	27
	1	1	Albert Koh	7	89	82	26
	5	10	Thomas Stadler	17	99	82	26
	6	10	Ricardo Castro	11	93	82	26
	6	10	Mahmud  Mohamed	24	106	82	26
	1	1	Paul Geddes	11	94	83	25
	1	1	Roland Steiner	15	99	84	24
	2	1	Sigi Maierbrugger	19	103	84	24
	4	10	Tony Morris	19	103	84	24
	5	10	Pietro Martucci	18	102	84	24
	2	1	John Lee	14	99	85	23
	2	1	Allan Wright	27	112	85	23
	5	10	Stan Constantinides	18	105	87	21
	1	1	Diederik Brinkman (G1)	18	106	88	20
	3	1	Josef Winter	17	106	89	19
	4	10	David Evans	25	116	91	17