Our President Richard Emrich hosted his first “President’s Weekend” recently. The weather was glorious, if a little too hot, however with the course in excellent condition, plenty of run on the fairways and the greens running true there were some sensational scores.
The field of 68 players were treated to a roving drinks buggy and a much appreciated half way house. Sandwiches, pork pies, crisps and cold drinks were very welcome. The ladies did a great job.
On Sunday the members and guests congregated at The Holiday Inn Hotel in Armacao de Pera for a presentation evening. Richard presented the prizes and then we were treated to some superb food, a great band, “The Buzz”, which made for a fabulous evening.
Results:
Sometimes Pinta is a very difficult golf course, today it greeted us with a smile. Despite a late evening with lots of wine and dancing at the President's dinner, and then maybe watching the US Open until 2 at night, our team performed almost above our ability. Normally it is hard to walk up the path from the 18th green to the club house, today it was like dancing a waltz!
All matches were very close, most of them finished on the 18th green.
Afterwards we tried to enjoy a typical Pestana lunch, the wine was excellent.
Results:
Today the Interleague team travelled to Morgado – a lovely course in a splendid setting at the foothills of the Monchique mountains (hint if you are lucky enough to play there allow at least four minutes for the drive from the gatehouse to the golf reception).
It was a lovely day and a chance for many old friends to catch up, unfortunately we had to play golf as well and that didn’t go quite so well.
Collectors of the works of Per-Lars and yours truly may recall that we defeated these guys 4-1 in the home encounter last month (or in Interleague terms 8 points to 2 in our favour)
Well this time we lost 3 ½ to 1 ½ (or in Interleague terms 7 to 3 in their favour) proving once again that winning away from home is tough.
This result puts us 3rd in the table behind Levante and Quinta do Lago and please remember to register for the last game before the summer recess against Carveiro at Pinta on the 19th of June
Full results;
Our recent away trip to Cabanas was a complete success. Four nights, five days, including roundsa at the wonderful Quinta da Cima and Quinta do Rio which sandwiched a round at the lovely Benemore course. The golf was superbly organised by John and Julia Hall, all we had to do was turn up at the first tee!
The hotel was very comfortable, the food excellent and the staff attentive. We were entertained on the final Gala evening by the Tavira Toe Tappers after the prizes were awarded. A full list of the winners is below the photo gallery.
The Pete Lawrence Trophy was awarded to Jill Edwards for the best overall net score, narrowly won on countback over Des Briggs. Well played to both players on a very windy day.
After a comfortable 5-0 win last week, we were a comfortable group with confidence visiting beautiful Quinta do Lago today. We almost felt we could fly along the coast to this fantastic course. But the landing was hard and brutal. Their team won 4 1/2-1/2. But anyway, it was a great experience, we just need to learn how to bring our skills at home to away courses. We will have a new chance at Morgado in two weeks.
Results:
Dave Darling/Merja Ronkko lost 4-2
John Hall/Ria Raap lost 2-1
Steve Newton/Des Briggs lost 5-3
Mel Huxtable/Steve Edwards lost 2-1
Denise Henin/Per Lars Tonstad All square
If anyone is interested:
A house by Quinta do Lago South Course is for sale. Estimated price:
€23,5 million. It looked nice.
SdM, the future is artificial intelligence, oh, and the result of the Interleague match today.
Today the brave ladies and gentlemen of SdM took on the current league leaders of division three, Quinta do Lago in the latest thrilling instalment of our interleague season.
But wait, I digress, there has been much talk in the media recently about the future of journalists, solicitors, teachers and other associated professionals given the latest developments in the field of Artificial Intelligence.
Now there are those in the club who believe that the term “artificial intelligence” (or “AI” to those trendies in the know) means someone from the Northeast bribing the judges and winning an episode of Mastermind.
However, dear readers its much more than that – it’s a freely available web engine that lets you key in a request and receiving a response that in most cases exceeds the capability of the average human.
So this is a ground breaking experiment restricted only to those lucky members of SDM. Below you will find the answer to the question typed into the ChatGPT website “Please write a sportsmanlike report for the members of SDM golf club following today’s 5-0 victory in the Algarve interleague against the current league leaders Quinta do Lago played in very hot weather”.
Today we welcomed Morgado to an Inter League match at Silves. Their total hcp was 108.7, ours 170.9. That indicates that they are much better golfers. But golf is not maths, thankfully! A lot of tight matches, but we were patient and came back. This is a good start for our IL season, and I hope more people want to participate. Lots of fun, very good food, exciting golf, meeting new people, playing fantastic courses- hope to see your name on the list next time!
Results:
Karen Huxtable/Mel Huxtable - lost 5-4
Dave Darling/Merja Ronkko - won 4-3
Steve Edwards/Paramjeet Bedi - won 2-1
Eddie Kassner/Per Lars Tonstad - won 2-1
Des Briggs/Wendy Burns - won 6-5
Well done everybody.