Sunday, August 15, 2004 Chiongbian: The tougher course By Edgar R. Chiongbian Tee time
THE Southern Leg of the 18th Rotary Golfing Fellowship Foundation (RGFFP) tournament is finally over and when the dust settled, the Rotarians from Cebu were left to wonder what happened. The Cebu teams produced only one champion and two second-place winners.
Making it worse, three of the Cebu teams were fighting over for the championship trophy in the Presidents division (class C category). RC Mandaue was the champion, edging RC Cebu Port Centre by one point and RC Cebu by six points.
Anyway, everyone had lots of fun, meeting new friends and old acquaintances in the three days of golfing fellowship. Worth mentioning is RC Cagayan the Oro, which brought three teams, making a statement that CDO is fast becoming the golfing capital of Mindanao. They even brought along a golfing congressman and DOTC undersecretary – Gen. Bobby Lastimoso to compete for the team.
Reflections on the event makes you wonder how the teams from Manila or Quezon City can play better than us on our home courses. And believe it or not, the winner in the championship or Founders division was RC Tacloban, which left the Bacolod team with PAL champion Alex Montelibano and Pike Braga behind the dust at fifth place.
How did the Tacloban team do so well when there is not even a real golf course in Tacloban and if anything, they have to run over to Ormoc to play at Leyte GCC. San Juanico players didn’t do too bad either in the president division. So the golf training near the pasture must be a good thing. Or is it just no stress and fresh air?
For valued interest, I reviewed the demographics of the Rotary Clubs that participated in the RGFFP and did some statistics on the scores to validate the most asked question, “which course is harder – Alta Vista or Cebu Country Club”?
Of the total participants, 35 percent came from Manila, 37.5 percent from Cebu, 15 percent from east/west Visayas and five percent from Mindanao. The participants were divided into four divisions based on their total handicap.
Among Class A players, the average points scored in the modified Stableford scoring at Alta was 37.48 points or 1.5-under-par, compared to 35 points or 1-over-par at CCC. The Class B players scored an average 37.92 or 1.9-under-par at Alta and 33.67 or 2.3 over par at CC. Class C players had an average of 37 points or 1-under-par at Alta and 33.3 points or 2.7-over-par at CCC.
Class D at an average of 34.3 points or 1.7-over-par at Alta and 30.5 points or 5.5-over-par at CCC.
This survey suggests that on the average, the players will score under par at Alta unless you’re a high handicapper. This is obviously because the new players cannot or have problems crossing the ravines.
If we lump all the players together and get their average the answer is; players play .43-under par at Alta and at 3.2-over par at CCC. That is a spread of almost four strokes. Okay guys hopefully that will settle the question.
Congratulations to Jovi Neri for the winning the “guess” division. Sorry but that is how Manilians pronounce, “guest”, without the “t”. Ask Orly Israel; he will tell you the same thing.
GOLF TIP: One of our most common mistakes committed by high handicappers is the classic “hitting from the top” downswing. This happens when the upper body takes control of the downswing, and the club moves way off plane outside the hands. Your weight is unable to shift to the left side and you hit anything from a smother-hook or a pull slice.
To prevent this from happening, you must start the downswing by moving the hips and the lower body toward the target. The right shoulder stays behind the left, your right elbow hugs the right side, and the club drops into the slot.
If the lower body triggers the downswing, the hands and right shoulder will follow, so the clubface is square to the target line. The clubface squares up to the ball once the weight shifts to your front foot and your forward hip clears.
(erc@skyinet.net)
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