Tim Leonard selected for another NZ Team.
Tim Leonard has been selected as one of four players to contest the Handa Junior Masters international tournament in Perth next month.

They will be led by Lydia Ko (North Harbour) in her first overseas tournament representing New Zealand, following her successful debut in the Tasman Cup and Queen Sirikit Cup. Ko turns 13 this week.

The remainder of the under-18 team is national under-15 champion Ryan Chisnall (Nelson), South Island under-19 champion Tim Leonard (Timaru) and Tasman Cup representative Chantelle Cassidy (Tokoroa).

They will take part in the Handa Junior Masters at The Vines Resort and Country Club in Perth on 11-14 May.

To read the full article go to: http://www.golf.co.nz/NewsMedia/article.aspx?id=172

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Golf Development Manager Appointed.
Graham Keen from Waimate is our new Golf Development Manager.  He has been appointed by A/SC and NZ Golf.  Graham commences work on the 1st April and he will be in touch with all the clubs.   He will be attending coaching in Auckland for this position at the end of March .

Graham is looking forward to working with the clubs to achieve our goal of increasing Junior Golfers in the region.

He can be contacted by email at gdm@aorangigolf.org.nz

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Annual Player of the Series Pennant Awards
The annual Association awards to the best golfers in the Holmes Cup and South Canterbury Finance pennant divisions were presented recently.

Joint Winners of the 2009 Holmes Cup Division were: Bo Houston and Robbie Bell from Ashburton while the Finance Division trophy went to Noel Lewis (Geraldine) and Rod Patterson (Waimate).

The 2008 awards which were not presented last year were also announced. They went to:- Holmes Cup:  Matthew Morrison (Geraldine), Finance: Roger Patterson (Waimate).

Bo Houston and Robbie Bell with the 2009 Holmes Cup award trophies.

Noel Lewis and Rodger Patterson with the 2009 South Canterbury Finance trophies.

Matt Morrison with the 2008 Holmes Cup trophy.

Rod Paterson with the 2008 South Canterbury Finance trophy.

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Central Otago School Tournament
The annual Central Otago School tournament is being held in the first week of the school holidays.  The format is 36 holes Wed Sept 30 with match play on Thurs and Fri.  Saturday is 36 holes against Otago for the Simpson and Piper Cups.

If you have any juniors who would be interested in attending could you please let me know by Friday September 18^th.  Also we require parents to travel with these players all expenses are covered by the association.

Also the R C  Murray, Age group, and SC Stroke play set down for October 4 will have to be rescheduled.   I will advise the new date shortly.

Please reply to mensmatch@aorangigolf.org.nz

Peter Rae,Match Committee.

Local women perform well in Canterbury Championships
Catherine Knight won it by beating Anita Harkress on the 18th.
Jenny Kellahan and Bev Green both won consolation plates.  Jenny in the top 16 and Bev in the 2nd.

Intercollegiate golf.
Ashburton college finished in 3rd place with 470, 5 shots behind the winning North Harbour team with McLean College 2nd with 468. In the individual event Mark O'Malley finished 2nd equal with 153 and Micheal Barry equal 3rd with 154. Both boys are from Ashburton College. 

Some great results from the Press Tournament held at Harewood 24 & 25 January.
Catherine Bell, Catherine Knight, Bev Green, Lynda Brown and Kay Gill all attended from this area.

Catherine Knight finished runner up over the 54 holes 5 shots behind NZ Representative Dana Kim with rounds of 77, 74, 73 and Catherine Bell blitzed the field in the best nett over 54 hole with nett scores of 65,68,73 - 7 shots ahead of her nearest rivals.

Notice to Golfers regarding 1 October 2008 ESC changes           Printable Notice

New Zealand Golf has elected to change the Equitable Stroke Control (ESC) aspect of the handicap system as of 1 October 2008.

What is ESC?
‘Equitable Stroke Control’ (ESC) is the downward adjustment of individual hole scores for handicap purposes in order to make handicaps more representative of a player's potential scoring ability. Many players refer to these score changes on a hole as a ‘ringer’ or their ‘adjusted gross’ for a hole.

What are the changes and how will they affect hole scores for handicapping?
For many years, the NZ Golf ESC system has required players who score above the maximum allowable score on an individual hole to adjust downwards their score to what is effectively a net bogey (1 over par) or, the score that would provide them with 1 Stableford point.  

Under the new ESC system players who score above the maximum allowable score on an individual hole will be required, for handicap purposes, to adjust downward their score to what is effectively a net double bogey (2 strokes over par) or, the lowest score that would give no Stableford points. For example:

On a par 4 hole (double bogey score of 6) with a stroke index of 12

Does the new system have an effect on scores for holes not played?
The ESC system is not currently applied to holes not played and this will not change on 1 October.

When a player does not commence play of a hole they must record for that hole a score of par plus any handicap strokes that they would receive on that particular hole as their score. For example:

John and Grant are playing a non-competitive round and a sudden change in the weather causes them to finish their game after 14 holes. When submitting their card for handicapping purposes they will enter the following scores for holes 15 to 18:

Handicap Manual Section regarding Equitable Stroke Control