Club Life June 2014

Editor: Jacqui Barry barrydxb@eim.ae

NE 2014 ISSUE 42 JU

2

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Emirates Golf Club Senior Management

Editorial

t seems that every year, once Christmas has come and gone and we get into the second half of the season, it just flies by and, before we know it, we are all talking of summer vacations as another season nears completion. The ladies’ competition mornings have finished but for those people staying around for the next few months, the summer tournament calendar kicks in this month for men’s and mixed competitions.

Christopher May

Chief Executive Officer cmay@dubaigolf.com

Andrew Whitelaw

General Manager awhitelaw@dubaigolf.com

The Majlis course is going through its usual transition process and, even though Director of Golf Course Maintenance, Craig Haldane wrote an article in last month’s magazine outlining these phases, members are still surprised at the change in the course and seem baffled as to why this has happened. For those of you who missed the article last month, here’s a brief explanation from Craig…

You will already start to notice how the Ryegrass is stressing out in places and this is simply nature doing its job. I am encouraged by the amount of Bermuda I am seeing at this early stage in particular on fairways.

Approaches will take longer as the rate of seed and variety this year was different. I am however seeing encouraging signs here as well. Roughs as always will be slower to transition fully due to the higher mowing heights. As it warms up even more the rough will be the first to go and as always will leave us with some bare areas to attend to. This is nothing Close up of how the Bermuda out of the ordinary and I comes back through the Rye as expect transition to be in seen on the left side v the right line with how things have gone over the last couple of years no doubt.

Craig Haldane

Andy Meech

Director - Golf Course Maintenance chaldane@dubaigolf.com

Head of Sport and Leisure ameech@dubaigolf.com

Barney Coleman

Adele Cowgill

Ganesh Mangathil

Keith Wilkes

Head of Sales and Marketing Director of Golf acowgill@dubaigolf.com bcoleman@dubaigolf.com

Chef Max Grenard

Culinary Director mgrenard@dubaigolf.com

Martin Drugan

Food and Beverage Manager mdrugan@dubaigolf.com

It’s not easy playing from bare patches but many of us adopt a ‘preferred lie’ rule when playing our social rounds during this transition period, which makes it more acceptable.

Congratulations to all matchplay winners and commiserations to the runners-up in each category.

Congratulations also to the Men’s Ladies’ and Junior Club champions; full results and photos will be in next month’s issue.

I have just finished reading this month’s article written

by Captain Dick Purchase about the ins and outs of the Pro Shop which I thought was very interesting. We are all very quick to criticise the choice of clothing and accessories in the Pro Shop but having read this, I understand how very difficult it is, especially when ordering ladies’ clothing.

It has become so hot so quickly in the last couple of weeks and humidity levels are high so take care - don’t forget to keep hydrated and don’t forget the sunscreen.

Jacqui Barry

In House Publishing Manager Retail Manager gmangathil@dubaigolf.com kwilkes@dubaigolf.com

Andrew Matthews PGA, Membership Services Manager

Stephen Deane

Head Academy Professional sdeane@dubaigolf.com

EGC Key Telephone Numbers Main Switchboard 04 Members Golf Reservations 04 Membership 04 Recreation 04 Accounts 04 SensAsia Urban Spa 04

417 417 417 417 417 417

9999 9800 9801 9850 9875 9820

Saeed Ahamed

Financial Controller mahamed@dubaigolf.com

Haridas Palliyalil

Resident Engineer hpalliyalil@dubaigolf.com

Follow Emirates Golf Club on Facebook for the latest news, views and special offers.

We already have over 19,060 likes. Follow us on Twitter @emiratesgc and Instagram @emiratesgc

an average retail outlet at Dubai Mall which is quite a statistic for our golf club. Menswear accounts for 40% of sales revenue – not a surprise, as most visitors want to buy at least one logoed shirt – and ladies’ wear 12%. Despite this ratio, display space is not allocated in the Those of you who have been same proportion, and ladies enjoy kind enough to read my column a broader display offering. In fact in Club Life will know that I have Keith believes that his most difficult endeavoured to bring out some of task is selecting a satisfactory range the background work that goes into that enables ladies to enjoy a choice making ours, THE CLUB at without all having to wear the which to be a member. same outfit! He therefore limits to This month I spent some around 10 or 12 only, the number time with Keith Wilkes, of polo shirts that he buys in who, as Retail Manager, a particular ladies’ design. His is responsible for problem is compounded by the everything we see in the fact that certain brands insist he Pro Shop. Keith, who has pre-orders at least six months extensive experience in in advance of delivery; thus he the retail sector, heads a is already placing orders which es team of eight shop-based Keith Wilk will be on sale at next year’s staff at EGC, and a further Dubai Desert Classic. If any one nine at the Creek and he is aided particular item proves exceptionally by two administrative assistants. popular, it is unfortunately not The shop at EGC is open from 6.00 possible to replenish the stock as (05.30 in summer) until 22.00 daily, manufacturers will not and transactions average between resupply.

70 and 80 each day. During the So it would Desert Classic this number rises appear you to some 120. Extensive training is need to carried out by Dubai Golf (general), get in early Keith himself (retail specific) and by if you wish individual brand suppliers covering to ensure a the finer points of their particular particular line merchandise. This training helps the is available in staff fine-tune the selection of tailor your size! fitted clubs so that special orders can also be handled.

Golf clubs account for around one-fifth of all sales, half coming There really is a plethora of choice. from putters/wedges/drivers off the If all clothing sizes are included, shelf, and the balance are complete the total number of different items sets. Keith commented that at first stocked exceeds 20,000. Of course, glance many might believe it to different sizes of the same apparel be substantially cheaper ordering contribute strongly to this figure, clubs over the Internet; however, he but if these are excluded, there are made the point that the members’ still over 6,000 line items carried in discount of 10% for all merchandise stock. Interestingly, it is reckoned items is doubled to 20% in the case that EGC’s Pro Shop is the third of golf clubs, and further increased behind St Andrews and Wentworth to 25% on all clubs purchased in terms of sales per unit area, with as a result of attending a demo the figure being comparable to night. These discounts apply to the

recommended retail price established by the brand importer. The differential to Internet sourcing can be as little as 5%, and of course it includes custom fitting which cannot readily be achieved when buying online.

3 in’s Club Capta Message

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aving been away on business, I arrived back in Dubai just in time to play golf on Sunday 25th May which was a public holiday. My goodness, it was hot and humid.

Summer is with us!!

This column may sound like a bit of a sales push on behalf of the Pro Shop; the fact is however, that ensuring the shelves are stocked with merchandise people wish to buy is no easy task given the lead times, and vagaries of choice, involved. Keith is very keen to help keep the Membership satisfied, so if you would like some help, or indeed just a chat about new ideas you would like to see considered, get in touch with him. As I was leaving he mentioned that he was considering putting a suggestion box into the shop where people could easily drop a note about service, availability or any such topic, so if you see one appear, please don’t be shy to use it.

We are coming to the end of the season and, by the time you read this, the Tournament of Champions prizes, and the Hickory Putter for the men’s best eclectic score will have been presented. Hopefully the weather will be kind.

Happy golfing, and a splendid summer to all those who will be travelling for a vacation in the next few weeks.

Dick Purchase Club Captain 2013 – 2014

COMPETITION RESULTS

Black Tee Challenge

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t was a great weekend of golf at EGC as participants took on the tough test of the 2014 Black Tee Challenge supported by Audi. Congratulations to Professional David Gray from DG Golf who managed to back up a superb first day’s play of 72 on the Faldo with a solid 79 on the Majlis to claim the 2014 Black Tee Challenge title. It was a narrow victory over runner-up and Emirates Golf Club member Tim Evans who had solid scores of 79 and 73.

Dubai Golf’s very own James Jackson, with scores of 78 and 77, captured third place. Best net was awarded to Emirates Golf Club member David Thompson with net scores of 69 and 73. All prizewinners also received magnificent Audi driving experience vouchers from the main sponsor. It was a great event and well done to all the prizewinners and participants.

Friday 9th & Saturday 10 May

GROSS CHAMPION

David Gray (DG Golf)

72 + 79 = 151

RUNNER-UP

Tim Evans (EGC)

79 + 73 = 152

THIRD

James Jackson (EGF)

78 + 77 = 155

FOURTH

Ed Hesson (EGC)

84 + 72 = 156

OVERALL NET PRIZES OVER 36 HOLES FIRST NET

David Thompson (EGC)

69 + 73 = 142

SECOND NET

Nikhil Damani (EGC)

71 + 72 = 143

THIRD NET

Tom Farrell (EGC)

71 + 73 = 144

BEST GROSS D-1

Colin Fraser (PBGC)

78 (bb9)

BEST GROSS D-2

Steve Bennett (ARGC)

78

BEST NET D-1:

Edward Hesson (EGC)

73

BEST NET D-2:

Rob Underwood (EGC)

73

GROSS DAILY

NET DAILY Black Tee Champion, David Gray

Competition Results

4 MEDAL

Friday 16th May

A DIVISION (HCP. 0-10) Winner

Humayun Shahryar

Net.70

Runner Up

Vipen Sethi

Net. 70

Third

Jignesh Sangani

Net. 72

Best Gross

Kouroche Achtari

Gross.74

B DIVISION (HCP. 11-20) Winner

Joseph Smith

Net. 66

Runner Up

Alejandro Martin

Net. 68

Third

Bradley Mogire

Net. 70

C DIVISION (HCP.21-28) Winner

Gaurav Verma

Net. 67

Tournament of

Champions Friday 30th May

CHAMPION

Tej Chhabra

NET 68

RUNNER UP

Craig Dunn

NET 69

THIRD

Nishith Patel

NET 70

BEST GROSS

Vipen Sethi

GROSS 75

Champion Tej Chabra with Club Captain, Dick Purchase

M E M B E R S’ U P D A T E J U N E 2 0 1 4 Dear Member,

W

e have recently introduced a service charge throughout our restaurants at Dubai Golf.

The 10% service charge brings Dubai Golf into line with other hotels and golf clubs within the region and will be used to directly benefit all our colleagues and will result in an increase in the monthly salary of our junior colleagues within the food and beverage department.

The introduction of the service charge means that we are able to offer more

competitive packages to colleagues, ensure stronger levels of staff retention and overall improved levels of service to our members and guests. Continuously improving our service levels is a major focus for Dubai Golf and we are in the process of introducing a new Dubai Golf Service Culture programme this summer.

This is something that the team feel very passionately about and we are confident that this initiative will enhance your experience at our Clubs. You will see the results and impact of the service culture over the coming months.

The service charge is now included in all menu prices and despite its inclusion, prices have only been increased by 3 - 4% across most items. The member discount of 25% remains in place in all Dubai Golf restaurants.

On behalf of my colleagues, I thank you for your valued support at the club.

With best regards, Christopher May Chief Executive Officer

to mix it up a bit! My son Duncan grew up here attending Dubai College and now lives in Putney, London where he continues to row and is currently in training for Henley again this summer.

He is an Associate Economist with Markit.

I started playing golf at Emirates Golf Club in 2005 although we had been members since 2002. I had always said that golf was something I would do when I “retired” but my husband said “this is the perfect place to learn” and he was right. I started group lessons with Nicky, started with the Tuesday morning Beginners’ group and the rest is history! It seems to be that as Lady Captain your handicap suffers (too busy thinking about if we need a birthday cake etc) and unfortunately mine is

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diplomat, to name but a few and it has enabled me to get to know many ladies very well indeed.

Our ladies’ section is the envy of many in smaller clubs and I wish you all well next season under the leadership of incoming Lady Captain Mitsuko and incoming Vice Helen and I thank you all for your support. Thanks to Mitsuko for her assistance this season and good luck to her in her new role.

in’s Lady Capta Message

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ummer is finally with us but we have still been incredibly busy out there on the golf courses.

Our final month has seen the ladies’ section with a Medal, the Curtisy Cup and the Tournament of Champions. Many ladies have continued their outstanding play throughout the year; Mimi Hoskings was the winner in the Tournament of Champions with a spectacular 73 gross on the Majlis!

Congratulations Mimi. Our gross Golfer of the Year is Cathrine Clark who has also featured regularly on the prize podium this season and net Golfer of the Year is Fiona Berry. Jenny Ayres is the Singles Matchplay Champion and the duo of Rosemary Turlik and Cathrine Clark claimed top honours in the Pairs Matchplay. Congratulations to all!

Finally my thanks must go to all the EGC people who have helped me this year – the Reception staff and Locker

Curtisy Cup Teams 2014

The Curtisy Cup is also an event that everyone looks forward to and this year was no exception. Team Europe with Captain Viv Caley, emerged triumphant on the day over the Rest of the World team led by Captain Jayshree Gupta.

Congratulations to everyone who qualified for this event and especially to Team Europe.

Many of you already know that not only am I hanging up my green jacket as Lady Captain, but I am also returning to live in West Sussex in the UK. It will certainly be a big change for us as I have been away from the UK for 26 years in total - 12 of those in Dubai and four in Saudi Arabia. Someone said to me recently that they didn’t know much about me so here goes – better late than never!

I was born in St Andrews, the home of golf and grew up in Fife in Scotland.

I also went to St Andrews University, the oldest University in Scotland where I studied Medieval History and Geography. This was followed by a Post Graduate Degree in Education and a Teaching Diploma at Dundee University.

What brought me to Dubai? Dubai was the last place on a list that started in 1980 with the Bahamas where I went to work as a government teacher. I spent seven years there and it was while there that I met my husband Phil who is from West Sussex. We returned to the UK, got married in Scotland and spent a further seven years in Horsham, West Sussex, Antigua in the Caribbean was our next stop followed by Saudi Arabia then here. What field of work was I in?

I was a Geography and History teacher of many years but am also a qualified Personal Trainer and Genealogist. I like

currently 21 but I have had some great games recently so hoping for a bit of an improvement!

The Majlis will always be a special golf course for me as it was the first course I played on but I love to play all different kinds of courses.

When we are at our other home in Sarasota, Florida, we are able to choose from an amazing range of courses from Scottish Links type (but with better weather!) to wetland preserve golf courses (watch out for those gators!).

My home area of Fife has many amazing courses, ranging from local municipal ones to Kingsbarns and the Old Course so those are on my list. Our retirement will hopefully feature even more travel and of course I will definitely be back in Dubai in the near future. For now though, West Sussex beckons.

It has been a challenge and a privilege to be Lady Captain this season; the role of Lady Captain is a mixed bag – organiser, fund raiser, confidante, peacemaker and

Room girls who always know where my phone or bags are, the Golf Reservations staff who always greet me on the stairs every morning with a cheery “Good Morning, Lady Captain”, the Food and Beverage team of Andre, Martin, Jeffrey and all the team who have delivered endless skinny lattes and scrambled eggs over the years.

One of the best things about being Lady Captain this year has been the chance to get to know some of the staff even better and it was wonderful to be a judge with Dick at their recent party.

My thanks also go to Chris May, Andrew Whitelaw, Barney, Andy Matthews, Mohammed, Sampath and Golf Pro Mark for all their support with the ladies’ section. The list is endless from Nishanthi to Ummer, from Lanie to Francis and Mary Ann and from Andy Meech to Zumba Tracy. The staff are a credit to this Club and they have made my time here so memorable.

Barbara Head Lady Captain 2013 - 2014

Competition Results

6 LADIES’ COMPETITION RESULTS

LADIES Friday 2nd May 2014

Amateur Open CHAMPION 2014 Kavita Sehmi (EGC)

A message from Champion Kavita Sehmi The turnout for this event was great and the course was in good condition as always. Thank you to Emirates Golf Club for hosting this annual event and thank you to the sponsors for providing us with such lovely prizes. I would like to thank my family and friends for supporting me and, in particular, my golf coach, Stephen Deane ,for all his hard work and dedication towards me, I could not have done it without him. Finally thanks to my playing partners Jayshree and Cathrine for generating such fun out on the course - I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Thank you to everyone who participated and well done to all the winners, I hope everyone will return next year for an event that improves every year.

Gross 70

RUNNER UP Cheng Kim Chiang (ARGC) Gross 72 THIRD Cecil Krefting (EGC)

Gross 77

NET

LADIES

Friday 5th May 2014

BEST NET Jenny Ayres (EGC)

Net 71

SECOND NET Jayshree Gupta (EGC)

Net 71

SECOND NET Fiona Berry (EGC)

Net 72

STABLEFORD

Overall Winner Cathrine Clark SILVER DIVISION (HCP. 0 – 23) Winner Selma Kehoe Runner up Hiromi Ohashi BRONZE DIVISION (HCP. 24 –42) Winner Kiyono Taniuchi

Monthly Monday 12th May 2014

Pts 40 Pts 39 Pts 36 Pts 39

Medal

Sponsored by SILVER “A” DIVISION (HCP. 0 – 14) Winner Mimi Hosking Runner Up Viv Caley Overall Best Gross Cecilie Krefting SILVER “B” DIVISION (HCP. 15 –23) Winner Helen Srivastava Runner Up Thea Hendrickx BRONZE DIVISION (HCP. 24 –42) Winner Fiona Munro

NET 68 NET 72

Tournament of Champions

GROSS 81 NET 76 NET 76

Monday 22nd May 2014

CHAMPION Mimi Hosking RUNNER UP Sabine Choudry THIRD Maura Duggan BEST GROSS Cecilie Krefting LADIES STABLEFORD COMPETITION HCP. 0-23 WINNER SILVER DIV. Lorraine Logan HCP. 24 –42 WINNER BRONZE DIV. Kiyono Taniuchi

NET 80

End of season

Greensomes Monday 26th May 2014 WINNER

RUNNER UP

THIRD

Barbara Head Marian Pavy Martha Wong Lynne Dickinson Mieke Slotboom Janine Dols

36 36 35

NET 65 NET 65 NET 67 GROSS 77 35 37

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DUBAI GOLF TROPHY 2014

Club News

Pros v Amateurs

Saturday 17th May Emirates Golf Club Sunday 18th May Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club

T

he 15th edition of the Dubai Golf Trophy returned last month with one round at Emirates Golf Club and one at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club. The 16 leading UAE based PGA Professionals went head-to-head with the leading 16 Emirates Golf Federation (EGF) Amateur golfers in a Ryder Cup style showdown.

Congratulations to the professionals who claimed victory, beating the amateurs 19 ½ to 12 ½. Despite amateur victories for Miki Mirza, Bilal Belaid and Eoin Cunniffe, the professionals proved victorious once again and it was Anthony Buchanan who sank his par putt on the par 4, 15th to seal a 4 & 3 victory over Hassan Yazdi and get that all important 16th point on the board for the professionals which ensured their victory. The final round scores were close and finished 7.5 - 8.5 in favour of the professionals, which meant the overall match finished 19.5 - 12.5. This adds to the UAE PGA professional team’s winning streak, meaning they have now taken home the past seven trophies, bringing the total victories for the professionals to thirteen wins against the amateurs two!

PATRONS’ DAY T

Tuesday 6th May 2014 Report from Golf Operations

hank you to all players who took part in the Patrons’ Day competition which was a Texas scramble on the Majlis course, and congratulations on all the winners of the day! A big thank you to Jamie Edwards who gave a great presentation to the Patrons before they commenced play, when he discussed the golf mindset and the art of thinking differently to help in one’s golf game! The winners of the day were David Beattie, Nick Geraldes, Sean Clancy and David Evans with a score of 57.3 whilst Chris Turlik, Robbie Williams, Viren Verma and Richard Mulholland were runners-up with 58.5. Henning Birk Larson won the ‘Hit the Boat’ prize on the 2nd hole and Robbie Greenfield won the Longest Drive prize on the 12th hole. Nearest the Pin prizes went to Steve Rutter (4th hole), Malcolm MacPherson (7th hole), Andy Matthews (11th hole) and Gareth Gie (15th hole).

Junior Link

s

8

Junior Series

Congratulations to Fardeen Meeran who secured the runner-up spot to clinch the Black Level Order Of Merit in the final event of the Dubai Golf Par 3 Junior Series at Emirates Golf Club.

D

ubai Golf hosted the final event of this season’s Dubai Golf Par 3 Series. Played over the Emirates 9 hole Academy Course there were 50 budding future stars battling it out for the top prize.

This season has proved to be a huge success, originally being an initiative by the Dubai Golf Academy Professionals to encourage junior golfers to move from the driving range to the golf course. The events have truly shown our core belief that every child, no matter what level they are, can compete and have fun.

Juniors from four levels of the Dubai Golf Junior programme (Black, Purple, Blue, Yellow) competed against one another with winners receiving vouchers for Wild Wadi Waterpark, trophies and other prizes.

Overall prizes were also awarded for our Order Of Merit which has been gaining momentum over the season.

The Order Of Merit events have shown character and the competitive values which we like to encourage in our juniors, and they have provided a friendly atmosphere where children can make the leap from practice to course. A closer inspection of the Order Of Merit will see some star performances from young players like Sean Cooper who, at the age of seven, has played all events in the Black Level and has bagged a very respectable eighth spot.

“It was an excellent day and it has been a thoroughly enjoyable season; we are privileged to have some of the finest talent in the UAE. I was so proud watching all our juniors have so much fun out there, it is truly inspirational. We hope everyone who participated enjoyed the events and that you will join us in October 2014 for another push for continued success of the Par 3 Series.”

– Golf Professional Jonathan Craddock

Elite Junior Programme

My Future Plans

Head Golf Professional Stephen Deane continues to put the Elite Junior squad through their paces each week and these talented youngsters are certainly making rapid progress.

A

Our top junior girl at EGC, Kavita Sehmi, who was recently crowned Emirates Ladies’ Amateur Open Champion, is leaving Dubai and will be heading to the University of Maryland on a golf scholarship after the summer. Wishing you all the best Kavita!

By Kavita Sehmi s some of you may know, I have accepted a golfing scholarship from the University of Maryland in the US. They have a Division 1 golf team in addition to full support from many of the leading brands such as Under Armor, Titleist and Taylormade. Many of the girls on the team are highly ranked players who have the intention of turning professional like myself. In order to be fully prepared for this experience, I am playing around 72 holes per week in addition to five hours of gym and more than ten range practice hours per week. For the summer I am staying in Dubai until the beginning of August then I head off to UK. As for tournaments, I will play the Summer Opens here in Dubai and if I get the chance, I will play the British Women’s Amateur Open in UK. That pretty much concludes the golf I will be playing outside the US. Before leaving, I would like to wish everyone the best of luck and I would like to say a huge thank you to Emirates Golf Club for supporting my golf throughout the years and to the person who has been the greatest help to me, Stephen Deane thank you so much!

PRO’S TIP OF THE MONTH The winners on the day

1st 2nd

Tanishq Lalvani 29 (count back) Fardeen Meeran 29

by STEPHEN DEANE

Fast Fix:

Purple 1st 2nd

If you frequently slice the ball and you have seen yourself on video, you have probably noticed how awkward your swing looks shortly after impact .

Natalie Gupta 32 Mikhil Yadav 37

Blue 1st 2nd

This look is known as the “chicken wing,” and it is created when your left arm bends instead of staying straight through impact. Bending the left arm causes the club to slow down and cut across the ball, resulting in a slice. In most cases, this fault sequence is the result of gripping the club too tightly and trying to hit at the ball rather than allowing it to get in the way of a free-flowing swing.

Finn Williams 33 Aarnav Nath 36

Yellow

1st 2nd

Slice!

Pro’s Tip

Black

9

Kalle Williams 22 (count back) Tobias Lundgren 22

Order Of Merit Results

Black 1st 2nd

Fardeen Meeran Joshua Hill

Purple 1st 2nd

Hoshi Yadav Mikhil Yadav

Blue

1st 2nd

Aarnav Nath David Polo

Yellow

1st 2nd

Tobias Lundgren Sadie Brannock

White 1st 2nd

Mirwais Arghandwial Daniel Bankes

To cure your slice, grip your 7-iron with both little fingers extended, as if you were sipping from a teacup. You should immediately feel a lack of tension in your grip and a better sense of the weight of the club head. Now make three-quarter-length practice swings, and allow the club to release freely through impact, encouraging the arms to achieve full extension and rotation as the wrists fully re-hinge.

You can hit balls off a tee with this grip drill as part of your warm-up or practice routine, and you can incorporate it into your practice swings on the course. Your ultimate goal is to keep the same tension-free feel when you go back to your normal grip.

Al Mazrui Triumphs in DDF UAE Nationals’ Cup

F

aris Al Mazrui triumphed in the 20th edition of the Dubai Duty Free UAE Nationals’ Cup with 34 stableford points. Forty competitors took to the Faldo Course to compete for the prestigious trophy in the event’s 20th anniversary. It was Al Mazrui who came out on top by a one-point margin from his closest challenger Ahmed Skaik. Al Mazrui, a six handicapper, produced 16 points on the front nine including six straight pars from the 1st hole. The key to his narrow victory was a fabulous birdie three on the 429-yard par four 18th hole. His gross birdie gifted him four points for that hole and the title. Ahmed Skaik signed for 33 points and won the prize for best junior. Omar Thabit carded 32 points to take 1st runner-up prize with Sohail Al Marzouqi one point further back to claim the prize for 2nd runner-up. Khalid Yousuf continued his high level of performance in this championship with a gross 77 to take home the best gross award.

Commenting on the UAE Nationals’ Cup, Salah Tahlak, Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications of Dubai Duty Free said: “The year marks the 20th edition of Dubai Duty Free UAE Nationals’ Cup and the tournament has grown popular among UAE National golfers since 1995.

Our thanks to all our participants and to my team at Dubai Duty Free and to Emirates Golf Club for their efforts in ensuring a great day was had by all.”

At the prize presentation, the winners were joined by Dubai Duty Free’s Executive Vice Chairman, Colm McLoughlin, Salah Tahlak, Senior Vice President- Corporate Communications, Sinead El Sibai, Vice President- Marketing and Emirates Golf Federation Board member, Rashid Al Jarwan.

Member Pr

ofile

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Mike and Josie Tracey Where are you from?

Mike: I am from Montreal, Canada

Josie: I was born and raised in Makati City, Philippines. I studied at the Lyceum of the Philippines (BS Foreign Service) and I also studied Hotel and Restaurant Management in Jimmy Valeros Academy.

Were you involved in other sports before playing golf?

Mike: I played baseball, football and ice hockey. I enjoyed a successful junior hockey career and had opportunities to advance to a higher level. However, I decided I would never be as good as the much larger and faster guys I was playing with and against so I decided against this career path!

Josie: I mainly love bowling.

2009. So far we have six nieces and our one and only nephew Gian Carlo who were all born and raised here in Dubai UAE. One big happy family - I guess we can say we are so lucky to have them all.

When did you take up golf?

Mike: I started playing golf in 1955.

I had my first hole-in-one almost 50 years ago on July 31st 1964 Josie: I learned together with our children JulieAnn and Ryan in a group lesson at the Hamptons Golf and Country Club in Canada in 2000 What has been your lowest handicap and what it is now?

Mike: My lowest was 6 but I am now playing off 13 and Josie’s handicap is 17.

What brought you to Dubai and when?

Mike: The company I worked for at that time, Bell Canada International, brought me here in April 1989 as they had the contract to publish Yellow Pages for the Middle East.

Josie: I arrived in Dubai from Istanbul, Turkey in February 1992 and worked for the Dubai World Trade Centre LLC from October 1992. I started in the Seminar and Conferences as Administration Secretary which I did for 3 ½ years and I then requested a transfer to our Exhibitions Division handling all the administration and working as a coordinator for our Operations Department until June 1999.

What sort of work do you do now?

Mike: I retired from Bell Canada in 2001 and since then I have taken on responsibilities in various companies as a consultant.

Where and when did the two of you meet?

We met in Kuwait end of December 1989 where Josie was working as a receptionist for Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza. She worked there through the invasion!

Do you have any other family?

Mike: We have two grown-up children, JulieAnn and Ryan. We also have one grandson and one granddaughter. Jaden Michael is now four years old and Colleen Isabelle just turned two years old.

Mike, Josie, JuliAnn & Ryan

Josie: We are five siblings in my family and I am the second eldest. All of them are living and working here in Dubai except my eldest brother Greg who has been in Canada since

When did you join EGC and what have been your most memorable moments?

Mike: I joined in 1989. My favourite fourball was with, Ed Bain, Butch Kamps and Mike Gerbich and we played every Thursday afternoon for 11 years! Another highlight for me was my Captaincy 2009-2010. I had such a great time the whole season as the members were so supportive, so friendly and what a fantastic Club of which to be Captain. I am very proud of that!

the Grand Final at Sentosa Golf Course. Those are priceless memories.

What’s your favourite course to play?

Mike: Spyglass in Monterey California, which is one of the courses I played last year when on a golfing trip with Captain Dick Purchase. I love being able to go to the Majors also.

Josie: I have so many favourite golf courses on my list. I started learning my golf at the Hamptons Golf and Country Club in Canada, so that remains a favourite, as well as Bearspaw Golf Club in Calgary, AB Canada and for sure the Majlis course is high on the list.

Your thoughts on the Club?

Mike: Well, I still have a regular fourball (of retirees now – how times have changed!) when I play with Tom Barry, Micky Brigg and whoever else is available. I have such fond memories of our Club as it used to be. We had so much fun on and off the course; there was much more camaraderie than there is today and people supported everything at the Club. Christmas and Easter Scrambles usually had morning and afternoon shotgun starts

The good old days (with Rai Legnar)

because of the Josie: I came back to sheer numbers ey Trac Mike & Ed Butch, Mike Gerbich Dubai from Canada of people in October 2003 wanting to be involved and immediately signed up to play with AND…everyone stayed for presentations anybody who was available! I have many and even a singsong afterwards! Those memorable moments at EGC; when I had were the days! my first hole-in-one on March 21st, 2010 on My next project is to try to get our dear the 12th of the Faldo; when I won the friend Mike Sim back to Dubai so I am on Tournament of a mission to get the fourth retiree for my Champions in present fourball.

May 2007; when I won the BMW Josie: I really do enjoy the great golf tournament atmosphere of our Club. I am always on the Majlis rushing to be there on a Monday morning course winning a trip to to play golf in our regular ladies’ morning Singapore competitions and having all our great staff to represent is a delight for me too - topnotch. For the UAE in sure we have one of the best facilities in the ladies’ the UAE and I am very, very proud to be a category in member of such a prestigious club.

13 W

ell the summer has well and truly kicked in and the humidity has come to say hello for sure! I thought I would share a bit of information with you all this month with regards to how we manage the irrigation on the property.

We have a pump station that can circulate water through a network of pipes, at 6,500 US gallons a minute. The main lines are the biggest in size and this reduces as you go further into the course until water reaches the individual sprinkler heads.

Each head has a single wire that is routed back to a satellite control box, which in turn is routed back to the Golf Course Maintenance Facility where the main irrigation control is based.

We utilise the Toro Lynx Irrigation Software system which allows us to programme the various areas of the courses. Typical programmes would be greens, tees, fairways, approaches, roughs, driving ranges, practice green and landscaping. If we take the greens as an example, you will have each individual green within that programme, and each individual sprinkler within the green itself.

The software allows us to set an irrigation start time and run time to each programme. Not only can we control percentage adjusts for each programme, but we can in fact adjust an individual head

on a green to receive more or less water as required. How do we calculate just how much water needs to go out every night? We take the following factors into consideration: 1. What was the ET reading for the day?

This is calculated from our on-site weather station. It reads minimum, maximum and average daytime temperature, humidity and wind and will let us know how much moisture we in fact lost to the atmosphere (Evapotranspiration).

r’s Greenkeepe Cuttings

Greenkeeper’s Cuttings

run to replace the ET for that day. We may feel through our scouting and sampling, that in fact ET is too much, or not enough. We can then percentage adjust areas of the course to suit the needs.

We have a full time irrigation crew that work around the clock. They do preventative maintenance of the system throughout the year, monitor the pump station (the heart of our operation) and ensure the network of pipes and individual heads are running at a premium day in and day out. Without it working 100% correctly, we are at risk. Water is essential to our success for obvious reasons, but too much of a good thing will put us in trouble more so, than not enough. For this reason, we have invested so much time and energy into ensuring we are putting out just what the plant needs and to make things more interesting, different grass species require different amounts of water based on the crop. At Emirates we are managing six different crops a year which certainly makes the job challenging year round.

Luke Partridge

2. What are our Volumetric Water Percentages?

This is a device that we take out daily to each green in the morning and again in the afternoon. It calculates the percentage moisture in the root zone and we can use this as a benchmarking tool against the ET reading to gauge our comfort level with how wet or dry the root zone is and how much we are losing throughout the day 3. What stresses are present on the surfaces?

At times, we may find that all the technical areas are in place, i.e. our moisture levels are good, the ET is being replaced but yet we are still finding issues in terms of hydrophobic areas on the surfaces. We can have all the tools available to us but at the end of the day our judgment has to always be made by being hands on and ensuring surfaces are in top shape.

As you can tell, the above is a fair bit of information at hand and it determines what we need to do on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. The ET tells us the amount of moisture that needs to be replaced in a millimeters reading. The software knows how many litres per minute each individual head is giving and will then work out exactly how many minutes each head must

Luke has been with us at Emirates Golf Club for just short of three years. In this time he has grown within the company, got to know a lot of the members and has been a regular face in and around the club. I am extremely proud to say that Luke has developed in his role at Emirates and with that development he has seized an opportunity in China as Golf Course Superintendent at Foshan Golf Club. I know that Luke will make a success of this opportunity, which includes the club hosting a Challenge Tour event the week ahead of Almouj Golf Club and two weeks ahead of the final event in the calendar at Al Badia. We wish Luke all the best in his new role and look forward to welcoming him back for a visit if and when his time permits! Best of luck Luke; the team will miss you for sure.

Good golfing Craig Haldane Director - Golf Course Maintenance

Check out our new FlyBy videos for each hole on the Majlis and Faldo courses!

Visit our Interactive Course Walkthrough on our website to explore each hole! http://www.dubaigolf.com/emirates-golf-club.aspx

Clash of the Titans C

ongratulations to Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club who won the Clash of the Titans against Emirates Golf Club on Thursday 1st May! Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club now lead the match series 4-3. Well done to Anish Bhatia who won Nearest the Pin on hole 5 and Jehangir Makhdum who won Nearest the Pin on hole 14.

The Quaich 2014 T

he annual tournament against the Montgomerie Dubai took place on Thursday 15th May. Well done to all the Emirates Golf Club team who took part and congratulations to the Montgomerie team who won and retained the trophy!

captains’ dinner 2014

14 Fit Lab

HOLISTIC COACHING

TENNIS By Philippa Stumbles

T

he social tennis ladies took part in another enjoyable tournament on Monday 12th May, the final one before the summer break. It was the first tournament overseen by Monica and it produced some good quality tennis with some very close matches. Congratulations to the winners, Susie Stokoe and Christine Gestys who narrowly defeated Amanda Cohen and Carolyn Thompson in the final. Thanks to Mehul from House of Windsor Jewellers in the Gold & Diamond Park, who once again very generously donated the prizes. After the tennis the players enjoyed a refreshing swim and lunch at the pool.

It is with sadness that we say farewell to Club member Hilary Thornhill who is returning to UK. Hilary has been a very active member of the ladies’ tennis morning both on and off the courts organising many social events over the past four years. She will be sorely missed but we wish her well back home.

Despite the heat on the courts, the ladies’ social tennis mornings continue every Monday and Thursday 8am to 10am until the end of June and then resume again in September. Please do come down and join in if you fancy a game.

Bespoke Wellness

Meet Our Team VICTORIA ROPER Bespoke Wellness would like to introduce Victoria Roper, our newest member of the Bespoke team.

Victoria is a qualified Sports Physical Therapist, which was inspired by her love of sports and all things active. She graduated from Chichester University in United Kingdom in 2005 and returned to practice in Dubai, where she has been raised from the age of five. Victoria enjoys treating not only sports injuries and athletes, but she also has experience with more general injuries, post-operative rehabilitation, clinical Pilates and the treatment of migraines (without manipulation). Any given treatment may include deep tissue massage and mobilisation, joint mobilisation and manipulation, electrotherapy, hydrotherapy, clinical Pilates, active release techniques (ART), specific migraine techniques and traditional exercise rehabilitation. Most often a treatment session will include a combination of treatment modalities to ensure the patient gets the most from the session.

To book an appointment with Victoria, please call Bespoke Wellness on +971 55 372 4670

REISS ADAMS Reiss Adams is a highly skilled sports therapist with a growing reputation in Dubai. Sports Therapy is a preventative measure taken by athletes and non-athletes to steer clear of muscle injuries and damage. Sports Therapy can help keep strength and efficiency at a muscular level. This lessens the muscles susceptibility to injury, giving better coping mechanisms for the demands being imposed on the muscles. Sports Therapy creates an environment whereby the muscles are more prepared and have a greater efficiency to cope with stress. It also helps the body’s recovery rate from muscle injury and soreness after exercise.

To book an appointment with Reiss please call Bespoke Wellness on +971 55 372 4670

By Emma Thomson

H

olistic coaching is a specialised field that views every aspect of a person’s life in relation to the whole. (Mind, body and spirit) Interestingly, most people go about life in an unconscious or semi-conscious way, on autopilot.

They are reacting to events rather than creating a conscious direction and without an awareness of the many ways that everything is connected to the whole; their lives can easily spin out of control.

Holistic Coaches understand that if you do not take control of your life, it will control you, based on random programmes in the unconscious mind. A coach helps clients to take conscious control, step out of the herd, empower themselves, and learn to design their lives in more joyful and purposeful ways. Coaches help clients to discover possibilities that would otherwise remain beyond their wildest dreams, for the mind, body and spirit.

Traditional approaches to coaching largely overlook the importance of overcoming interference and addressing the inner obstacles that hold us all in limitation/fear to greater or lesser degrees.

An example of what a Holistic Coach could help you with is the reprogramming of any unhealthy beliefs, habits, patterns or behaviours that may be sabotaging certain areas of your life by you allowing them to control you and not you controlling them.

Why Subconscious Reprogramming is Critical to Your Success Does it ever seem like the whole world is against you? Nothing seems to be working, but you don’t know why.

Sometimes, the obstacles that block our path to success in business and in life aren’t caused by the outside world. Surprisingly, some obstacles are caused by our own selves – our own minds to be precise. There are two parts of the mind: the conscious and the subconscious. The conscious mind is responsible for the things you choose to do whether it’s deciding to take the bus, brush your teeth or watch a movie. The subconscious on the other hand, is the part you are not aware of, and which controls much of your behaviour.

Let me give you an example.

When you first learn how to drive a car, your conscious mind is helping you drive the car. You’re thinking about pressing the clutch when changing gear, steering the wheel properly so you won’t crash and hitting on the brakes when you’re going too fast. After a while, driving takes less and less of your attention, until finally, it’s like you’re on autopilot when you drive as you don’t need to think. Why is this so? The thinking process has been replaced by a more instinctive set of actions. Your subconscious takes over because it has been taught by the conscious part of your mind.

Do you engage in negative selftalk?

This is where subconscious programming becomes critical. If you are constantly telling yourself “I can’t do this” or “I’ll never be good enough,” what are you producing? The repetition of these kinds of thoughts creates negative programming in your subconscious mind. In simpler terms, it dwells on negative thoughts without you even being aware. Doing so makes it an obstacle to your success because it dwells on the negative aspects of life. Such condition hinders your performance and attitude thus also hindering your progress to success.

Subconscious Reprogramming can rid the negative information and allow you to focus on the positive information.

This is an essential key to success because by focusing on the positive, you are attracting positive results. Several ways to re-programme your subconscious is to engage in positive self-talk and to want and visualise your new positive life. Through positive self-talk, you are building up your self-esteem allowing you to work better and with greater confidence.

By visualising your new positive life, you are setting a goal or vision you can work toward and accomplish.

Subconscious Reprogramming is critical to your success because you’re reprogramming your mind to the conditions that will enable you to stay positive and attract success in your life and in your business.

Emma uses a wide variety of skills and modalities under the Holistic Coaching umbrella and looks at each individual as a unique human being and helps them achieve and sustain health, balance, fulfillment and peace.

Emma is Happy to help you Thrive!!!

NYLA Method

Want to get a sneak peek into what some of our signature moves are? Try these at home, then come by class and meet us at the Barre!

Curtsey Lunge • Feet under hips, heels together, toes apart in small V, knees bent and aligned over third toe, tailbone dropped, hips in neutral alignment, core active, and shoulders over hips. Step right leg back into lunge, heel lifted, on the ball of the foot, knee turned out.

• Pulses: Drop tailbone 6” (15 cm) lower / lift maintaining small range of motion. 20x.

• Full extension: straightening legs, bending knees. 20x.

• Repeat all on left side.

Tabletop Small V Position

• Hands into floor under shoulders, knees under hips, tops of feet flat, core active; • Using a chair as stability, forearms distance away and keeping extend right leg back. hand lightly on it, stack shoulders above hips, core active and • Full Range Taps: Toes to floor; lift leg hip tailbone dropped. Bring heels of feet together, toes apart in a small height. 20x.

“V” position.

• Circles: Extended leg at hip height, draw • Keeping heels down or lifted for a challenge (and keeping the heels circles with toes. 20x each direction together) soften out the knees to lower tailbone towards the • Hamstring Curls: Keeping leg at hip level, SCULP THAT BIKINI BODY at SENSASIA SPAlong (as if you’re sliding down a wall). ground 6 URBAN inches; keep spine flex foot, bend leg at knee, return to THE VILLAGE +971 4 349 8850 • PALM JUMEIRAH +971 4 422 7115 • • Challenge yourself by lowering and lifting hips an inch, move on to straight. 20x EMIRATES GOLF CLUB +971 4 417 9820 • DOWNTOWN +971 4 456low 0866 full range, staying and pressing knees back, or staying low and • Repeat all on left side. circling the hips. Each movement 20x Bikini season has arrived. If that statement makes you want to cower under the covers… donʼt panic!

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• Begin to lower and lift seat with small pulses, up an inch and down an inch. 20x arefully alsoextending plenty oflegs quick-fix detoxing de-bloating treatments (like theand Skinni-Mini), boost your • Progress to full range ofThere motion; and then bendingand them to knee height.

This will tone strengthentoupper body confidence ahead of impromptu beach plans and on that dreaded ‘fat dayʼ… thighs and gluteal; Pelvic tilts and press backs with the knees are both great options for contouring the seat. Each movement 20x.

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SensAsia

Club News

16

PRO SHOP NEWS Make sure you check out our new instant engraving machine for metal accessories such as Bag Tags. This will be ready to use by end of May or early June and is a great way to personalise a gift for that summer trip home for the golf enthusiast you may know!

Footjoy continue their strong presence and resurgence with the replacement of the FJ Sport this month. The DNA shoe launched last month in navy and white or all white.

Bushnell have just launched their new Rangefinder with Jolt technology. This new piece of kit gives greater range, magnification and clarity than ever before.

For enquiries contact the Pro Shop at Emirates Golf Club T +971 4 417 9999 or email egc@dubaigolf.com

WHAT’S ON IN JUNE? Golf Events

Majlis, 13.30 on Scramble as Se of d En Friday 6th , 13.30 Scramble Faldo r be em M f/ af St

Thursday 12th , 13.30 Championship Faldo al ed M eq hr as M Friday 27th and sociation with BMW as In

ai Harvey Nichols Dub

aldo, 17.00 ries F Se er mm Su

th 28 Saturday

Please respect your fellow members by taking a shower after golf, before sitting in the Spike Bar

osure dates: Summer course cl June Majlis ards e Open from 1pm onw • Sunday 1st June Cours day all sed Clo e Jun h ay 26t • Sunday 15th to Thursd July - August Faldo do opens from rsday 7th August - Fal • Sunday 13th July to Thu to Thursday) nday 15:35 on weekdays (Su Majlis all day ay 14th August Closed • Sunday 10th - Thursd September Faldo rse closed all day ay 11th September cou • Sunday 7th - Thursd Majlis en from 1pm onwards • Sunday 21st Course Op

rench F e s e n a Jap ight Fusion N

as nth and w e last mo tch out for c la p k o This to cess. Wa nitely ding suc a resoun e next one - defi f th details o e missed! ob t t one no

D Duba It compe the cham and Dub fixture w the F (5pm

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF

Chef

Bala

EGC HONORARY MEMBERS’ NEWS

Responsibilities as a Demi Chef de Partie Currently I work in our Garde Manger (cold kitchen) department and my speciality is Arabic and Lebanese cuisine. I prepare the cold appetisers, salads, and platters for banquet functions, brunch and other events that the Club hosts. When not working in banquets I also support our restaurant outlets.

Where are you from?

I was born in Kerala, India, which is a beautiful city with lots of lights, rivers, mountains and temples. There are many great spice markets there. I have a wife and two daughters, both of whom have finished university with MBA degrees.

What was your first job?

My first job was in Bombay working in small restaurants. When an opportunity came to work in Kerala, I moved there continuing to work in larger restaurants serving traditional Indian cuisine.

The Spaniard shot a 73 to get into a playoff then took home the trophy with a par on the first hole while his competitors made bogey. He was understandably thrilled afterwards.

What do you enjoy about your job?

I enjoy making our members and guests happy with the food I prepare. The members of the Club are always friendly and I enjoy speaking with them. It is like a family and many of the members are my friends as well.

Register now for the 2014 Dubai Golf Summer Series on the ai Creek, Majlis and Faldo courses! t is guaranteed to be an exciting etition over four exciting fixtures on mpionship courses at Emirates Golf Club bai Creek Golf & Yacht Club. The first will take place Saturday 28th June on Faldo course at Emirates Golf Club m shotgun). To register please email golfoffice@dubaigolf.com or call 04 380 1752

When he was asked for the secret to why he’s been good for so long, Jimenez gave a predictable answer.

“There is no secret.

Good food, good wine, good cigars and some exercise!”

Congratulations also go to Miguel Angel Jimenez who tied the knot with girlfriend Susanna Styblo last month.

C

ongratulations to Colin Montgomerie on winning the Senior PGA Championship at Harbor Shores. after shooting a 6-under 65 for a four-stroke victory over 64-year-old Tom Watson. The victory was his first as a senior, his first in seven years and his first in an official event in the United States. He also claimed a senior major in his fifth attempt, something he did not accomplish in 71 majors in his regular tour days. “I feel fantastic, really, superb,” he said. “There’s a motto: `If you fail and fail, you come back and try again.’ I’ve had a couple of failures here in America and close calls, especially in major championships, and it’s great to finally win, never mind a Champions Tour event, but a Senior PGA Championship event.”

My first job in the UAE was as a kitchen helper in 1999 at the Al Ain Rotana Hotel and that is where I first learned how to prepare Arabic cuisine.

When did you come to Dubai?

I came to Dubai in 2006 to Nad al Sheba Golf Club where I was a Demi Chef de Partie in the banquet department.

After Nad al Sheba closed I was transferred to Emirates Golf Club.

“There are no words to describe what it means to me, you need to be into my skin but I’m not going to let you!” Jimenez said.

Honorary Members

M

iguel Angel Jimenez won the Spanish Open last month and in doing so reset his own record of the oldest winner in European Tour history. He turned 50 in January.

17

N

orthern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy won the PGA Championship at Wentworth by one shot after a closing round of 66 at the end of May. Five birdies on the back nine edged out fellow Irishman Shane Lowry, with overnight leader Thomas Bjorn slumping to a tie for third, alongside Luke Donald. The victory is McIlroy’s first European Tour success since 2012 and his first ever pro win on European soil, coming just days after he announced his split from fiancée Caroline Wozniacki.

R

obert Jan Derksen has announced that 2014 will be his last season on the European Tour. “To stop at your peak is difficult to predict, but 2014 will be a special year and what could be more beautiful than to finish my professional career with the last putt on the 18th hole during the final tournament of this season, the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai,” said Derksen.

As of 2002 Derksen

has played continuously on the European Tour and has won twice, the Dubai Desert Classic in 2003 and the 2005 Madeira Island Open. Derksen has been a playing professional for 17 years and has played in more than 400 tournaments on a tour that has become more global and therefore more demanding for the body as well as the mind.” Although I have maintained my playing privileges every year, and have sometimes been close to winning tournaments the last few

Gourmet Tuesday in Le Classique at Emirates Golf Club!

Join us every Tuesday from 7pm - 10.30pm for a delicious starter and dessert buffet and an a la carte menu featuring Le Classique’s all time top ten dishes for your main course selection in addition to 12 varieties of red and white wine to compliment your meal!

years, it has been more difficult to keep myself motivated to perform at this level,” said Derksen.

“There’s more to life than just golf, and I look forward to the future, for instance, my own Golf Academy in Nunspeet which I set up together with my putting coach a few years ago, junior top golf, golf course architecture and the business side of golf are just a few things that are very appealing to me,” said Derksen.

Club News

18

TAL K E R TEAM NORTH AMERICA

By Ed Hesson Jnr

T

he Talker Cup is steeped in tradition, camaraderie, fun, and competition. Though we played as teams against each other, the true spirit is sportsmanship and enjoying the day as one, and all as members of Emirates Golf Club. This year, Team North America stepped up and delivered a spectacular performance, and I have to thank my guys for making it happen. As I have now passed the torch onto Bill Ayres, I wish both him and Paul Byrne (European Captain) the best of luck next year and I hope that their experience will be every bit as good and collaborative as Scott’s and mine.

Talker Cup Results May 1988 N. America December 1988 Europe 1989 N. America 1990 N. America 1991 Europe 1992 Europe 1993 N. America 1994 Europe 1995 N. America 1996 N. America 1997 Europe 1998 N. America 1999 N. America 2000 N. America 2001 N. America 2002 N. America 2003 N. America 2004 Europe 2005 N. America 2006 N. America 2007 Europe 2008 Europe 2009 Europe 2010 Europe 2011 Europe 2012 N. America 2013 Europe 2014 N. America

19 Club News

CUP TEAM EUROPE

By Scott MacPherson

I

have been a member of the Club since 2006 and was delighted to be asked to captain the European Team in this year’s annual Talker Cup Event. The date was 3rd of May, a little bit later than usual and it was an extremely warm day. The morning foursomes was played on the Faldo course with the North Americans having a slight one point advantage by the end of the morning’s play (6.5-5.5).

We were set for an exciting afternoon’s golf on the Majlis course, but sadly for us Europeans, we wilted in the heat and were soundly beaten by some great golf played by the North American Team. It was a great day of golf and the 28th time the trophy has been contested between these two great rivals. Many thanks to all the Emirates Staff who looked after us on the day and to all the sponsors of the European Team - Dick Purchase, Pentti, Chris Dooley, Julian Nicholas, Frank Duggan. Just one final thanks to Ross Bain for organising our kit and to Micky Brigg for being a great MC at the evening dinner.

20 Club News

P U C Y S I T CUR

Team Rest of the World

By Jayshree Gupta

T

he Curtisy Cup is one of those most talked about annual events that the EGC ladies look forward to every year. It’s a fantastic, competitive event of 36 holes in a day during which a number of us break scoring boundaries with our golf and make a lot of new friends. This year was especially great for me as captain of the Rest of the World team.

It was a tall task to match the capability and enthusiasm of the previous year’s Captain, Hiromi who sadly has relocated back to Japan and couldn’t be part of the team this year.

At first it’s the challenge of putting the team together from the hierarchy of points achieved during Medal play throughout the season. Then comes the team strategy meetings and deciding on the menu for the day and the after party, doing the draw with Captains and Vice-Captains, organising co-ordinated team clothing (a necessity)...all a lot of fun and you wouldn’t believe the thought that goes into every detail.

It was super to work with Mimi Hosking as my Vice-Captain, who accepted the role once I told her that there wasn’t much work to be done but she has since realised never to be talked into something by a lawyer! I’m sure she will do a great job next year and inspire us with the form she is in! It was also good to work with Viv, Captain of Europe, who is a fantastic golfer and a good friend and it made the process easier and seamless.

Sometimes I think that we don’t fully appreciate how lucky we are to have so many diverse friends at EGC. In the ROW team, we had ladies from far and wide including Argentina, Brazil, Peru (a national champion, no less), Mexico, Lebanon, Syria, Japan, Korea, South Africa, America and India. You had to watch the team in action, like a mini United Nations.

Whilst Europe pipped us in the race to the finish, the great camaraderie and fabulous golfing was enjoyed by all and I have wonderful memories and about 1300 photos to tell the tale!

www.dubaigolf.com

Jayshree Gupta Mimi Hoskins Marivi Arias Elise Hanson Sanchia Oberholster Sandy Broedelet Elaine Belcher Selma Kehoe Maggie Neil Mitsuko Emmerson Han Soon Shin Naima Maya Annette Stewart Josie Tracey Veronica Elias Sulafa Hamdan Najla Bartette

21 Club News

Team Europe

By Viv Caley

I

t was with great delight that I, along with Team Europe, played a hard, but well fought match to win this year’s Curtisy Cup. As always it was a great victory followed by an evening with the presentation of the Curtisy Cup Trophy, speeches and a Mongolian barbecue, which was enjoyed in M’s. Thanks must go to F & B Manager, Martin Drugan and to Chef Jeffrey for the help towards making this a great day. Thank you to Keith Wilkes who sponsored the team shirts and to the Lime Tree Café for the delightful goodie bags.

Viv Caley.

Cathrine Clarke Fiona Munro Mags Breen Lynne Dickinson Fiona Berry Ingrid Sjodoff Thea Hendrickx Nina Larm Maureen Platt Lorraine Logan Carolyn Thompson Maura Duggan Rosemary Turlik Gillian Black Maria Petre Rekha Bandopadhyay June Macdonald

WEDNESDAY MORNING ROLL-UP ON THE PAR 3

We have had a great response to the Wednesday morning roll-ups on the par 3 and we will be carrying on during the summer months for those of us who can manage during the heat! Many thanks to Khareen in the par 3 kiosk who has been a great help, it is amazing how she remembers all the ladies’ names and welcomes them when they check in!

If it’s too hot for you now, then please come along later in the year when it is cooler, you will be very welcome.

H

Club News

22

aving recently spent a small break in France and gone through the rental car process it made me consider the Club Car fleet at Emirates Golf Club.

I’m sure all our members and visitors alike have gone through a similar process at some point. Following the standard insurance questions you move on to the car check and sign off any existing scrapes or bumps before finally starting your holiday. The whole experience is a little tedious and slightly annoying but you have to make sure the car is checked thoroughly before departure.

You may wonder what on earth this has to do with the Club Cars at Emirates Golf Club. First of all a big thank you to all members and visitors alike who treat the golf carts with the respect our Club policies require. Unfortunately there is an increasing amount of damage to our carts causing a strain to the department that has ignited talks on how to resolve the issues.

From an operations perspective we have 170 club cars to cater for the number of rounds on the two courses per year. As you can imagine with over 520 rounds on a Friday or Saturday (260 carts) my team at the cart well is extremely busy led admirably by Jega our Cart Supervisor.

As I was checking the exterior of my rental car last week it crossed my mind could we adopt this practice at Emirates Golf Club to prevent reckless driving from the minority?

Operationally it would be very difficult to enforce the checking of 260 carts before and after the round and I also believe it would detract from the staff/member

UNUSUAL GOLF COURSES

Skukuza

Golf Course Kruger National Park, South Africa

W

hen you even step up to the first tee in the middle of this National Park, you’ll find signs warning you not to run from the lions, elephants, leopards, rhinos, and buffalo that may cross your path. If you run, the wisdom goes, the animal will believe that it has gained the “moral advantage” and it will be

relationship which is the last thing we want to do. With the above in mind, for the majority of you following the below, thank you and please continue! For those who are straying from the below it would be much appreciated if you can take on board the following points for the longevity of the cart fleet and for the enjoyment of your fellow golfers. By all means if you see a fellow member or visitor breaching these points, feel free to politely mention it to staff:

• If you do have a bump anywhere on or off the course please notify a member of the Golf Operations team as soon as practical. All carts are allocated to the draw sheet and any damage caused by the operator needs to be paid for. Unfortunately golfers are occasionally leaving damaged carts or denying they caused the damage • Prior to commencing your round have a quick check of your cart for any existing damage which will also be pointed out to you by the member of staff • Please don’t drive carts in the main car park; we recently put up barriers to prevent golfers driving carts to their cars and leaving them in the car park… yes this was happening!

• Please do not drive on the sand areas. This results in tyre tracks that could interfere with the game of your fellow golfers; it also causes sand to blow up into the cart, carts can become stuck in deep areas of sand, and aesthetically it looks ugly.

• Particularly on the Faldo course do not go up or down the steep curbs • Keep carts away from greens and tee boxes • Approximately 12 months ago we erected signage to encourage golfers to return carts to the bag collection/bag storage area as opposed to leaving them by the Majlis putting green. This is for operational and safety reasons.

Thank you for your cooperation! We don’t want to bring in the ‘hire car’ policy to Emirates Golf Club!

more likely to give chase. Best bet: “Keep your eyes on the animal and back off slowly,” say the course owners.

Then there are the crocodiles. “Stay out of the water!” is a helpful hint from the course tip sheet. “Do not try to retrieve your ball.

There are large crocodiles.They don’t drink at our bar so please don’t fish in their lake.”

You might want to stock up on some range balls for this course.

The layout concludes with the ninth hole, a pretty par-3 over Lake Panic. The hippos number anywhere from four to more than 30, depending on the season, and you must hit over them to reach the green. Talk about water hazards! www.sanparks. org/parks/kruger/ tourism/activities/ golf_course.php

EGC TOTS at Skukuza.

Definitely a unique experience!

e l o H h t 9 1

SNIPPETS

FAMOUS FACES

Ant and Dec played the Majlis course last month. Seen here with Fiona Ward and Adele Cowgill from Dubai Golf.

Gus Poyet, Uruguayan former footballer who is the current manager of Premier League side Sunderland, joined Emirates Golf Club’s Mark Bruce for a round of golf on the Majlis course!

Keith Wilkes, Retail Manager at Dubai Golf passed by the Dubai 92 studios to meet his lookalike John Bishop (English comedian and actor).

Welcome back to Martine and Mohsin Al Tajir who were here on holiday recently. Mohsin is easily spotted on the golf course as he is the only member who ever has carts and caddies in every fourball..I spotted him from the gym!!!

Proud parents, Justine and Ross Bain and grandparents, Ed and Margaret, are delighted to announce the safe arrival of baby Isla Rae born at 19.28 on 25th May 2014, a little sister for Maya and Calum

Jeffrey kindly presented a cake for the Ladies end of season event in Le Classique.

FAREWELL TO HENRY PAES Henry has worked at EGC for 17 years and is now retiring to be with his family in the Philippines. A collection, coordinated by Josie Tracey, was made for Henry as a token of everyone’s gratitude for his dedication and Barbara Head presented this to him after one of the ladies’ competitions.

Night Golf Players don’t forget to collect your special FIFA World Cup themed golf ball in celebration of Football Central opening at Emirates Golf Club!

All the best Henry!

The Banyan Tree Hua Hin was amazing; the prize included flights, transport, two nights and two rounds of golf although we did add on an extra three nights.

We said farewell to Raja last month, another starter/marshal who had been at the Club for 17 years and has now retired back to Sri Lanka.

Thank you to everyone involved, EGC management, sponsors and organisers - you were amazing.

All the best Raja!

Yana Jamieson Hole no 4 Majlis 23rd May 2014 Maggie Neil witnessed Yana’s Hole-in-One on May 23rd and she was really excited. She said “ I was so thrilled when I saw the ball go in the hole. The last one I saw was in August 1990 when I was playing with Jacqui Barry and she had her Hole-in-One on the 11th of the Majlis!

Having won a fabulous prize at the EGC Members’ party of a trip to Hua Hin, Thailand, Dicky and Lynne Dickinson, took the only window Dicky had in his busy workload in April to go!

Nahid Peyravi Saturday, 3rd May Hole No 12 Faldo

Hole-in-One 29th April.

Asgar Patel Hole No. 8 - Faldo course

Ian Ellis Hole No. 15 – Majlis Saturday, 22nd March

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12th Ju

2014

Catch every game live in Emirates Golf Club’s dedicated FIFA World Cup venue, open from 5pm daily. Simply present your valid Dubai Golf Membership card on any day and receive a 25% discount on all food and beverages purchased at Football Central.

For more information, call +971 4 417 9999 or email worldcup@dubaigolf.com www.dubaigolf.com