---

Issue no.03                                              Volume.   01                                    Date:    01 May 2008

 Welcome.

Welcome to May edition of the Wernddu newsletter.  This edition provides a current progress and results of club competitions and list further competitions for May, June and July.  It also details information about the clubs charity day which is raising money for a good cause and what you can do to support it.    Again we celebrate two Holes in One congratulations and well done to you both.  

This just leaves me to say enjoy the newsletter and  the invite is still open for you to take part by sharing your golfing stories, ideas and feedback on items that you would like to read about.  Thank you   Well that’s enough from me; happy Golfing Graham.(Club President)

Wernddu Welcomes.

During March and April Wernddu has welcomed new members:

Glyndwr Worthington            Melvyn Edwards                Michael Mitford                    Shaun ConnorRobert Mathias                    James Beacham               Rhys Stonuary                     Derrick Price                 Ben Marlog                          Darren Crocker                 Jeff Dyke                             Ian Taylor

Roger Bafico                        James Holloway                Steven Harrise                     Lee Jenkins

Craig Clease                        Nicholas Pritchard             Normanno Pinocci                Glen Bates

Mark Kelly          Stanley Paine                   Richard Boden

 It’s a Girl

Congratulations to Becky and Justin on the birth of their baby daughter Mia Elizabeth Ann, who was born on Monday 7^th April and weighed 5lbs.

Meet the member.

Name   Simon Davies 

Age – Good looking 42

Position – Handicap Secretary

Handicap – Today 8 (tomorrow who knows)

Best round they can remember – 68 gross – 61 net.  (Course record from June 2006 up to June 2007)

Worst round they can remember – Every round after June 2007.

Advice to beginners – Stay out of the rough and never give up.

Humorous Golfing Stories – Standing on the 1^stTee for a Gwent League match verse Parc (

Newport) at home. Hitting a lovely tee shot just skirting over the bushes in front of the tee and hitting the bin camouflaged as a bush. Playing my second shot from over by the caravans, whilst my fellow teammates and opponents were doubled up with laughter applauding my commitment to the game.

News from the Junior Section

Junior Section news

The juniors would like to thank Mr Andrew Vickery and Mr Gareth Hine of Kee Environmental, Abergavenny and Mr David Wall for their substantial donations into the junior funds.

We would like to congratulate Luke Ralph who was selected to play for the Gwent under 18’s at Raglan Parc on Sunday 6th April, where he won his foursomes and his singles 3+ 1.

Unfortunately on Saturday 5th April the team lost at Wemddu, playing Dewstow 111s

The only player to win his match was Luke Ralph.

The team players against Dewstow 111s were :

Luke Ralph (Captain)

Michael Randall

Ben Williams

Huw Ralph

Ieuan Roberts

Keiran Rees (Reserve)

We looked forward to our next match which was on Saturday 12th April against Green Meadow at home where we won 4 -1

Geoff Foulkes (Junior Organiser) would like to thank everyone.

Luke Ralph (Captain)

Ben Williams

Michael Randall

Ben Howland

Huw Ralph

Wernddu Competition Results

Winter League 2007/2008

The Winter League Competition ended on 30th April. The competition has been run over a 24 week period being played every other week, with the best 7 score cards counting to the final total. The competition has been well supported and had 69 entries with the top 4 players as follows:-

Winter League 2007/2008
Rank	Player	Points
1	K. Flanagan	258
2	N. Howells	254
3	S. Miles	252
4	G. Newman	252

Well done to Keith Flanagan for topping the league this year.

The Wernddu Classic, 13^th April 2008

The Wernddu Classic is always the first to be played when summer season begins.  The competition was delayed by 1 week due to snow.  It was well supported with 66 entries entering the Stableford competition which was played on full handicap. The Competition Scratch Score (CSS) for the day was 70, as the course was playing a little difficult than usual. The winner was Luke Ralph age 15.  Luke has the lowest handicap in the juniors which is a handicap of 6.  Luke won the competition by parring the course and with a score of 42 points.  Sorry Luke your handicap has just been dropped.The top 5 players are as follows:-

The Wernddu Classic, 13th April 2008
Rank	Player	Points
1	L. Ralph	42
2	J. Price	39
3	Gav Phillips	38
4	C. Teague	36
5	R. Paxton	36

The Keith Price Cup, 20^th April 2008

The Keith Price Cup is Stableford competition played with full handicap entitlement. Once again this competition was well supported with 60 entries which had every available tee off time booked.  The Sunday started out damp but brightened up as the day progressed.  The competition was tight and the overall winner managed win by just 1 point.  Well done to A Powell for winning, just need to check your handicap before teeing of in future competitions.

The Keith Price Cup, 20th April 2008
Rank	Player	Points
1	A Powell	39
2	C Teague	38 (on count back)
3	K Buck	38

Crown Inn Shield, 27^th April 2008

The last competition in April is the Crown Inn Shield which is a Stableford competition with full handicap allowance.  Fifty entries, with only a few tee off times left and the course was playing harder than usual the Competition Scratch Score (CSS) which was increased to 71.  Again the competition was close to the wire with the winner sneaking home by 1 point, well done Kevin Powell.

Crown Inn Shield, 27th April 2008
Rank	Player	Points
1	K Powell	39
2	A Powell	36
3	J Price	35

Horse & Jockey Riders Cup, 04^th May 2008

May began with the Horse & Jockey Riders Cup playing in a Stableford format with full handicaps permitting. The competition has been well seated in the May for many years.  The competition day started damp but the club golf stars were not deterred as a hint of sunshine broke through.  The key star of the competition was again Luke Ralph as he parred the course playing off a 5 handicap.  He romped home to win a head, neck and full body of a horse with 41 points.  Luke may not be playing off five for much longer he may become the newest Category 1 golfer.  Should this competition be re-named to Luke Ralph does it again!!!

Horse & Jockey Riders Cup, 04th May 2008
Rank	Player	Points
1	L Ralph	41
2	ML Randall	38
3	G Phillips	36

Competitions for May, June and July

The new golf season is now upon us and below are listed the forth coming competitions for May, June and July.  Entry details and fees for each competition will be available on the Men’s notice board in the clubhouse in due course.

May
Date	Handicap Qualify	Competition	Format	Handicap
17th	Yes	2 Day Championship	Strokeplay	Full
18th	Yes	2 Day Championship	Strokeplay	Full
25th	No	Davis Cup	4 Ball Better Ball (medal)	¾
June
Date	Handicap Qualify	Competition	Format	Handicap
1st	No	The A.B.C cup	3 Ball Texas Scramble (min 5 drives)	1/8 (Combo)
11th	No	Charity Day	Teams of 4 (3 scores count)	Full
8th	No	Ralph’s Trophy	T.B.A
15th	Yes	Green Keeper Trophy	Strokeplay	Full
22nd	No	Committee Cup	4 Ball Texas Scramble	1/8 (Combo)
29th	Yes	Captains Day	Shot Gun Stableford	Full
July
Date	Handicap Qualify	Competition	Format	Handicap
6th	Yes	William Steadman	Stableford	7/8
13th	Yes	Members & Guests	Combined Stableford	¾
20th	Yes	Stewart Wenham Trophy	Stableford	Full
27th	No	International Pairs Qualifier	4 Ball Better Ball (Stableford)	¾

 

Hole in One

John O’ Brian (298) achieved a Hole in One on the 7^th Hole on Sunday 20^th April in the competition “Keith Price Cup”. 

Len Webb got a hole in one, however he had to travel to the La Belle Dune Golf Course in

Francein order to do it.yt

Congratulations to you both.

Clubhouse News

Charity Day

A charity day is to be held on Saturday 7^th June.  To enter you need a team of four people one of which must be a member.  The entry fee for the competition is £80 per team which includes food and birdies.  The money raised on the day will go to

Velindre

Hospital.  You can also sponsor “a Tee” for a £50.  The event is well received, last year we were able to raise £3000 for Ty Hafan.If you would like to enter a team, the entry forms are available at reception.

 The Welsh Open

A reminder that the Celtic Manor Welsh Open 2008 is taking part between Thursday 29^th May and Monday 1^st June.  The competition this year is being held on the new Ryder Cup course ‘The Twenty Ten’. 

There is an offer to all Golf Club Members where they can purchase 2 tickets for the price of 1.  This can be done by either telephoning (01633) 410318 or book online at WalesOpen.com.  In order to take advantage of this offer please quote GC241 when booking.

A Joke.

A nun walks into Mother Superior’s office and plunks down into a chair. She lets out a sigh heavy with frustration.

“What troubles you, Sister?” asks the Mother Superior. “I thought this was the day you spent with your family.”“It was,” sighed the Sister. “And I went to play golf with my brother.  We try to play golf as often as we can.  You know I was quite a talented golfer before I devoted my life to Christ.” I seem to recall that,” the Mother Superior agreed. “So, I take it your day of recreation was not relaxing?”

“Far from it,” snorted the Sister.  “In fact, I even took the Lord’s name in vain today!”

“Goodness, Sister!” gasped the Mother superior, astonished. “You must tell me all about it!”“Well, we were on the fifth tee…and this hole is a monster, Mother - 540 yard Par 5, with a nasty dogleg left and a hidden green …and I hit the drive of my life.  I creamed it.  The sweetest swing I ever made. And it was flying straight and true right along the line I wanted …and it hits a bird in mid-flight not 100 yards off the tee!”“Oh, my!” commiserated the Mother. “How unfortunate! But surely that didn’t make you blaspheme, Sister!”“No, that wasn’t it,” admitted Sister. “While I was still trying‘ to fathom what had happened, this squirrel runs out of the woods, grabs –my ball and runs off down the fairway!”“But I didn‘t, Mother Superior!” sobbed the Sister. “And I was so proud of myself! And while I was pondering whether this was a sign from God, this hawk swoops out of the sky and grabs the squirrel and flies off, with my ball still clutched in his paws!”“So that’s when you cursed,” said the Mother with a knowing smile.“Nope, that wasn’t it either,” cried the Sister anguished, “because as the hawk started to fly out of sight, the squirrel started struggling, and the hawk dropped him right there on the green, and the ball popped out of his paws and rolled to about 18 inches from the cup!”Mother Superior sat back in her chair, folded her arms across her chest fixed the Sister with a baleful stare and said….”You missed the @!*&?~# putt, didn’t you?” 

Post Bag

Reserved First Tee

Thank you to T J Hodgins and R Williams for you letter belowI started playing golf in 1958 at Pontypool Golf Club.  I can’t remember the exact month which is a pity as I will never know when the 50th Anniversary arrives or whether it has already passed me by.  It doesn‘t really matter because the main thing is that I‘ve mainly enjoyed the experience.On looking back, I was most tempted to pack it in, during that first 3 months when my most consistent shot was the‘ ‘Air‘ shot and I was too embarrassed to have anyone witness my pathetic attempts to get the ball more than 3 feet off the ground. After one particularly bad morning when I had been spraying my small and precious stock of golf balls to all corners of the globe, I realised that I couldn’t keep playing golf without either becoming a pauper or shelling out a week‘s pocket money for a proper golf lesson. I did just that and immediately learned I‘d been playing an entirely different game to the one they called ‘Golf’. I’m not saying it was a miraculous conversion but breaking a hundred (on the first nine) was definitely a big step forward from where I‘d been previously.In those 50 years I have been a member of 6 different golf clubs, (one at a time), and the last one I joined was Wernddu, in 2003. Wh