Well how time flies! I am already through the first 3 months of my year as Captain yet it only seems a few weeks ago that we were standing on the 18^th green watching Ray make his final putt as 2015 Captain and then wandering to the first to watch my first drive as the new Captain. I would like to report that I hit a glorious shot straight down the middle of the fairway but in reality was a hook into the lake on the left! Not to worry it was a great event with over 80 players participating and an excellent score by Arthur Greenwood and Hannelore McMahon won the day. There was also a “book” on the length of my drive organised by the Marja and Pippa the proceeds of which gave a good start to my Captain’s Charity.

Captain’s Charity

What a great day our Irish Members gave us today.  The Jamiesons, Baileys, and Cider all flowing. 

All the Members made an effort to dress in Green and how fabulous did the Bells look in their Irish Outfits, well deserved the best dressed prizes after all that work !   The ladies, Sue and Rosemar,y looking after us in the halfway house despite the downpours, fabulous and what can I say about the Cabaret !!  Well we know who to book for the entertainment in future, Des and Shep with his Gun !! If you missed it tough it was a hoot.  Thank you Bernard, Kieran, Judy, Chris, Sue and Rosemary for putting on a great day's entertainment.  Now to the nitty gritty of the prizes.

Nearest Pins went to Marian McGill and Arthur Greenwood. 

1st Des and Barbara Briggs, Marja and Peter Chapman  57.7

2nd Arthur Greenwood, Geoff Cox, Gary and Gill Edwards 59.4

3rd Steve Edwards, Andrew Mattinson, Mark Peall (Guest), David Underwood 59.4

The SdM team kicked off the 2016 Interleague season with a fantastic win away at Vilamoura. It was a hard fought contest with 3 of the 5 matches being decided on the 18^th green and the fixture also included a hole-in-one for one of the opposition and a great eagle for Gary Edwards when he holed his second shot on the par four 15^th. There were wins on the day for Geoff Cox/Steve Edwards, Gary Edwards/Arthur Greenwood and Chris Price/Des Briggs. Lynn Cook along with partner Mick Girling also achieved a creditable half on the last green after coming back from 3 down. In fact the only losing pair on the day was Peter Chapman and Per Lars Tonstad.

Well done to the team for an excellent bonus point victory. 

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Thanks to Malcolm Ealand, the brother in law of Stu McGill and regular player with SdM when in Portugal, who has not only arranged for the production of Serra de Monchique Golf Club car stickers but has also generously donated them to benefit the Captain’s Charity.

They look great and are available to members for a minimum donation to the Captain's Charity of €2 per sticker. Contact the Captain if you want some. 

The fourth round of the 2015/16 Fermon Trophy was played at Silves on 18^th January. Following the expansion of this competition from 4 to 5 clubs this event for the first time was jointly hosted by SdM and Silves International GC. The weather was excellent and the course in fantastic condition and this was reflected in some great scoring by some of the participants.

Except for one team the scores were incredibly close with 2 points separating four of the teams. The lowest scorers on the day were Carvoeiro and Silves International with 190, closely followed by SdM and Vila Sol on 192. Alto however put on a great team display and scored a magnificent 205. There last three pairings came in with 43, 46 and 47 points!!

It was a cloudy but dry day at Silves for our annual Captain's Drive In. This sees the outgoing Captain (Ray Groves) putt out on the 18th green,and the new Captain for 2016 (Peter Chapman) drive off from the first.

It was then followed by a 2 ball Seattle Shambles competition, the results can be found at the end of the article. An amazing 80 players participating!

There was a side wager on the 18th between the Captains, should Ray not manage to putt out in 2 a donation would be made to the present Captain's Charity. Sadly he didn't meet the challenge, eventually 4 putting! There were mitigating circumstances however - the ball used did have a large slice missing.