The Five Nations Golf Tournament
Portmarnock Hotel & Golf Links
Ireland
18th & 19th May 2007
On behalf of all golfers and partners who took part
in this fabulous event may I offer thanks and the highest praise to
Colin White. To give Colin his full title he is the
National Transplant & Dialysis Games Manager as well as Secretary of the
Irish Transplant Golf Society and as he rightly says, "Try fitting all
of that on your business card".
The hotel was luxurious and mine and Mrs Boggy's room
was definitely one of the best I have ever had the pleasure of pinching
the toiletries and towels from (just kidding about the towels).
The Portmarnock championship links were the most difficult I have ever
four putted on but were magnificent nonetheless. Check the
link above.
We had a practice round at
St
Margaret's Golf Club nearby and this too was fabulous.
The Irish thought of everything, they even provided 60 mph winds for us
to play in.
Seriously, the organisation of the event was first
class and Colin should be very proud of the job he did. I
know that he would like me to thank Jonathan Bryans from
Green Golf Ball,
the Irish golf specialists with whom he worked very closely.
If anyone is considering a golfing trip to the Emerald Isle I can
recommend Green Golf Ball to organise it on your behalf.
Results
Summary
You will have gathered by my gushing praise above
what I thought about the event and I meant every word of it.
However there are some things that should be said and as it is my
website I intend saying them.
I know it is only the second year we have staged the
Five Nations and it is in it's infancy but.....
Excepting Tony Miskelly, Andy Weir and David Robinson
from Northern Ireland; Frank, Hamish and Stuart from Scotland and
apologies received from Reg Chisholm who simply could not attend, it is
a poor show from the rest of the Scottish and NI golfers that only three
attended from each country. That Scotland could only
muster three golfers is particularly hard to take especially when we all
support their excellent event, the Golden Glove.
We are all expected north of the border in July for the British
Transplant Games aren't we?
With the glorious exception of Ian Hillier from
Wales, where were you? I don't know how many Welsh golfers
there are but it must be more than one. If ever the Welsh
host an event in the Principality I assume they will expect we
foreigners to travel there. I will.
The word reciprocity springs to mind here.
The fourball I played in which was the third group
out, teed off at noon and we did not finish until 5.30pm, which is
ridiculous especially when we finished two holes ahead of the group
following. What was happening up front?
The first group had two buggies. Did they have a flat tyre,
a flat battery or were they just too slow? The use of
a course marshall next time we play would be a good idea and he can tell
the slowcoaches to get out of the way and drop back. I
believe the term I am looking for here is, 'etiquette'.
Finally the scoring system is fatally flawed.
To take an average of a team's score when there are only four members in
the team as opposed to 9 and 8 in the Irish and English teams
respectively is patently unfair. Correction, there
were only three Scots and one Welshman so how come we were penalised
mathematically for their lack of numbers?
To compare scores on an equal basis only the first
four scores should have been used in both The Irish and English teams
and I suspect the result would have been different. The
organisers have my sympathy due to the lack of numbers fielded by these two
teams but the scoring system needs to be addressed before next year's
event.
For the sake of an argument let's say teams must
consist of a minimum of 2 golfers. If any country cannot
come up with 2 golfers then they will still be allowed to play but only
the 1 score would be counted. All other teams would play a
four ball better ball system.
Each country's best two fourball scores added
together should determine which country wins the Trophy.
If the winning score comes from the Irish then they win the trophy for
their country. If Wales and or Scotland cannot provide 4 golfers
then they could be classified with South Africa (Helen and Howard) as a
Rest of the World team. Or, let a non transplant
golfer make up the fourball. Only 1 out of 4 would ever be
allowed. All individual stableford scores to be recorded to
find the individual winner.
I also think that handicaps should be 3/4, which is
normal practice in fourball better ball golf.
I am in favour of non transplants being invited to
the event to boost the numbers and their presence will only improve the
whole show as well as generate more income and get us better deals at
the venues. Golf is definitely a sport where transplanted
and non transplants can compete on an equal basis.
Let's invite our mates and guests to play and we can still have a
transplant competition within the format.
If it weren't for the fact that we allowed some
outsiders into the Disco on Saturday evening it would have been a sorry
state. Our guests also made a financial contribution to the Irish
Kidney Association. What's the difference?
Prizes for the best scores overall should present no
problems.
The 2008 event will be hosted by we English and
already we have the brains trust trying to put together the best
venue / deal for the benefit of all. It is no secret that
the three options being looked at are The Belfry, Forest of Arden and
East Sussex international.
