As part of the 50th Anniversary celebrations the club hosted a golf day on 14th March at Dubai Hills Golf Club.
With 58 participants it promised to be a great day of drinking and eating with a bit of golf in between.
Players started arriving from 11 am to sign in and collect their goodies which included, golf shirt, shoe bag, drinks bottle, golf balls and other assorted giveaways. The shirts almost didn’t make an appearance but with Jerome collecting them at 4:30 am from the manufacturers all was good in the end.
After people arrived there was a clear divide between the golfers and the non-golfers. Golfers hit the range for last minute swing tweaks and a bit of putting practice. The non-golfers hit the bar to sample the many different beverages available to them, all in the aid of loosening up.
Come 1:30pm, slightly delayed due to the morning fog, Nick Harvey spotted a microphone and couldn’t resist and continued to bark instructions to the whole range, 120 players, of which only 60 odd were DCC Golf Day players. The group photo was taken much to the confusion of the travelling Australian Golf Society, but then again it doesn’t take much to confuse them.
I can’t speak for everyone but our fourball had a great time, but I must admit that by the 13th the golfing quality fell away quite dramatically. Especially when we decided strawpeddos were the name of the game. Thankfully this was washed down by more drinks lovingly supplied by Nick and Stannis wives, who did a grand job of ensuring all players were fully hydrated. The golfing quality was obviously not hampered in some groups by looking at the results it clear to see that a steward’s enquiry into handicaps for next year may be required.
Golf over and now time for more hydration and quite possibly one of the greatest roast dinners you can get in Dubai. Drinks were flowing, raffle tickets being purchased, and second helpings were on the menu, then suddenly Nick Harvey spotted a microphone again! Time for the prizes, during the day there were 9 on course competitions and 3 team prizes up for grabs.
First the team event of Texas Scramble.
1st Place with a Net 53.5 – Andrew Mitchell, Clinton Arrot, Mark Stannard, & Conal Bunnett
Prize = Jabra Wireless Headphones
2nd Place with Net 57 – Paul Bourdillon, Fida Hussain, Blikkies Blignaut & Anthony Marziban
Prize = Fourball at Dubai Hills Golf Club
3rd Place with Net 57.5 – Marco Carstanjen, Graeme Sneddon, Steve Pettigrew, Craig Miller
Prize = Dozen Golf Balls and Portable Speakers
Now to the on-course prizes. Special mention must go to Ben Jones who apparently managed to place in all competitions while using a 4 iron, even on the 130-yard par 3.
There were 5 nearest the pins and 4 longest drives and the winners were:
Nearest the Pin – Hole 2: Nick Harvey
Nearest the Pin – Hole 13: Amber Waite
Nearest the Pin in 2 – Hole 7: Blikkies Blignaut
Nearest the Pin in 2 – Hole 10: Craig Miller
Nearest the Pin in 3 – Hole 15: Jerome Schokman
Longest Drive – Hole 5: Tom Kimber
Longest Drive – Hole 8: Elliot Spencer
Longest Drive – Hole 14: Marcos Kairinos
Longest Drive – Hole 18: Marcos Kairinos
Overall a great day had by all and I believe the last men standing were going strong well into the morning.
Look out for the 2020 Darjeeling Golf Day!