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A Guide to the 2010 Season

I just thought I would put this guide together to give an outline of what was going on in the 2010 season. I hope it all makes sense, if not just give me a call or visit the website for clarification. Please take 5 minutes to read & if you have any questions just give me a call.

Order of Merit:

As usual, the Player of the Year will be decided by winning points at our Qualifying Events. There are seven events through the year starting this year in February & ending on the 4th October at Potters Bar. Points are awarded as follows; 1st – 15pts, 2nd 14pts & so on.

High Handicap order of Merit:

Players that start the season on a handicap of 21 or above can also win points at our qualifying events. This was introduced to try to encourage more people to play competitive golf within the section. The points awarded are the same as for the main OOM. The higher Handicappers also score points for the main OOM so they are in fact involved in both competitions. If a player playing off 21+ has a handicap reduction during the year he will still qualify for the High Handicap award due to him/her starting the year in that category.

Challenge Series:

You may or may not be aware that as from this year all of our events will be played over 18 holes & all but one will be scored using the Stableford Scoring System. This has left us with 3 events with no trophy to play for. Therefore I have thought of introducing a Challenge Series. This will comprise of the three challenges (Winter, Summer & Autumn) that appear on the fixture list. The winner of this series will be the player with the highest accumulated Stableford Score over the three events.
This Series may lead the way to qualification in the future for the Four Nations, England v Scotland & Luxfor trophy depending on what happens at the District AGM when Paul Nielson will be stepping down as District Secretary.
Please let me know your views on the Series, I have come up with this now rather than wait to the end of the year for the AGM to propose it & get it approved.

Captain v Secretary:

Every three years we get courtesy of the course at Sandy Lodge. For a bit of fun we hold a Captain v Secretary Team Match (Gregg Harris V Carl Blackett). We will have two teams of eight. The teams will be drawn out of the hat on the day. This event is by invite only & to clarify the invite process it was agreed at our AGM in Oct 09 that the top 14 players in the OOM plus the Captain & Secretary after Q4 (May 10th Bushey) would receive the initial invite. If those players can’t make it then we would work our way down the OOM

Sheriff’s Cup:

This is the Premier National Team Event in the Golfing Calendar. It is open to players with a Handicap of 16 or below. Players earn points through the season at our qualifying events. The qualification for the 2010 team is nearly complete with two events left to play. Qualification for the 2011 team starts at WGC Golf Club in February. There are nine events that earn points (7 in 2010 & the first 2 in 2011) and it is your best 6 scores from the nine events that count. The points are awarded as follows: 1st – 10 points, 2nd – 9 points & so on. The more you play the better your chances!!!

Intoto Cup:

This is a District 4 man team event. There are six Brigades that take Part. There is no Handicap Limit so the event is open to all players. Qualification for this is the same format as the Sheriff’s Cup but it is your OOM points that are used. Players can’t play in both the Sheriff’s & the Intoto

National Pairs, Singles & Stableford:

These events have no qualifying although there are restrictions on Handicap Limits. We are also restricted to the number of players we can enter for these events. Some of the dates are already on our website so if you would like to play could you please express your interest early.

Four Nations, England v Scotland & Luxfor Competitions:

Usually qualification for these are done at the two District Events held during the year. Qualification for the 2010 teams was done during 2009. Due to Paul Nielson stepping down as District Secretary I am not sure what is going to happen at District level until we have our AGM. Until then I am assuming that qualification for 2011 will remain the same. I will know more after the meeting & let you all know.