The President is currently on undercover assignment back in Australia so has delegated the newsletter writing responsibility to, arguably, the best speller on the Tee Set committee.

Last Sunday was the dry run of our new monthly medal format which will be held in future on the last Sunday of each month at our home course of Matoa. No sponsors yet, so no prizes to give away this month, although bragging rights to be the first winner is probably worth more than a prize.

The Stableford scoring format allows a bad hole to be scratched of course, while making up the difference if a net birdie or better can be achieved on subsequent holes is always possible. Gives us all a little hope that the game is not lost even if that dreaded blow out hole occurs when concentration starts to waver mid round.

Our presiding Pawang Hujan showed up in person to take control of the weather conditions and, after a bad start, did an excellent job keeping the rain gods on side for at least 90% of the day.

These “before” and “after” photos of the course, the first looking out from the restaurant area at the very time we were due to go out, and the second taken just after our last group came off, serve to perfectly illustrate the worth of a good Pawang Hujan. We understand that Jokowi is after his services so we hope that Graham won’t be too busy to help Tee Set out on Sundays in future.

Also on the positive side, a bit of rain allows winter rules to kick in and we all love the “lift, clean and cheat” rule. No excuse for hitting fat when you’ve already searched out the highest tuff of grass to ‘place’ the ball on after lift and clean.

Worthy of Mention

Welcome to new players Pesen Johannes, Guy Young, Rob Williams and Matt Deery. Don’t forget to hand in cards from any game you play in Jakarta since they can be used to generate your official USPGA sanctioned Tee Set handicap. (minimum 5 cards required)

James Ross escaped his flooded Pluit residence for the day and shot to his handicap.

Koen Verhayen, fearing more rain perhaps, cut from the 9th hole straight to the 19^th to try out the Matoa sauna and, erm, other facilities.

Big hitting Evaldo Roos lived up to his potential by taking longest drive for the second week in a row – while also managing to get past the ladies tee boxes on every hole for the first time in three weeks. Kevin Dobson, Odd Knardal, Abe Borden and Tom Alcedo were not to be so lucky, however.

Of the year high 44 players that participated there were 20 welcome backs with being particularly worthy of  mention, Alastair Livingstone’s first game with Tee Set – after a sabbatical of more than 5 years. Welcome back Alastair!

Missing from our group were regulars Ivan Byriel and Marshall Jones due to medical reasons, and we wish them both a speedy recovery.

Results

Craig Binks celebrated successfully finding his way to Matoa by scorching the front 9 with 22 points but was pipped by Ric Wymer who finished with 3 points on the last hole to take 3^rd place on the count back. Graham Barber creamed the back 9 with 23 points but failed to score a point on the hole that mattered most….the last one, so handing Mr “Nett 59” Mel Meeds the inaugural Monthly Medal. Well done, Mel.

Registering everyone and keeping the scores in a new format on a very busy day, Tuti got it all sorted without even a hint of panic, so well done Tuti!

Other results of the day as follows:

DETAILED RESULTS

NEXT WEEK

On February 3^rd we are at the fabulous Rancamaya course in Bogor with an 11AM first tee time. Cost is Rp550K all up for green fee and cart and we have 10 flights booked. Ranacamaya has a well organized administration team who have requested player names to by confirmed by Friday so please confirm if you are coming here – or drop Ric Wymer an email (ricw@fugro.co.id) or sms (0818154821).

A Big Bird bus will depart Hero Kemang at 08:45 for those needing transport. Cost is around Rp160K – and bring an ice box for the trip back. (confirmation required to me if you need a seat!!!)

MEMEY TRUST

Finally, a number of Tee Setters joined the rest of the Jakarta Expat Community in trying to save the life of a little Indonesian girl in desperate straits last February. Unfortunately, it was too late to save her life and the remaining funds were put into a trust bearing her name, a trust dedicated to helping other disadvantaged kids in the city.

If you would like to support the Memey Trust in its second year, and have a cracking Paddies Day round of golf into the bargain, then look no further than here.

Cheers,

RW

PS The above and more photos of the day can be found full size here.