Thursday, March 20, 2008 Chiongbian: Good weather and good play at Discon By Edgar R. Chiongbian Teetime
THE Rotary District 3860 Conference (Discon) in Cebu was very successful and so was the golf tournament. Golfing Rotarians were treated to good weather and good plays at Cebu Country Club (CCC), making the two-day 18-hole tournament at CCC great for fellowship.
The format of individual and team play also went very well except for a very determined local Rotary Club that was eyeing on winning everything, and almost did. Rotary Clubs with minimum of four players up to seven made up the team competition and a club can have more than one team.
No one made a hole-in-one so the cash prize of P100, 000, sponsored by PNB General Insurance, was kept safe in the bank. The result of the golf tournament was lopsided and simply because of the Rotary Club of Port Center, which has Monday evening meetings at CCC, has made CCC their home course. Plus, their club has more CCC members than any Rotary Club so it’s no wonder.
The highest-ranking member of RC Port Center is PDG Anton Florendo, the youngest club member is Toby Florendo and the centennial president of the club is George Hong. These three guys went for it with each scoring the lowest gross of 79 strokes. The countback was a bit complicated as all three had the same amount of combined birdies and pars, but since George Hong birdied the 18th hole, he won the lowest gross honors over the Florendos.
RC Port Center put up two teams, and they were divided so evenly that the two teams performed with balanced results and won the team champion and runnerup. No buayas here, just Rotarians trying to pass the four-way test that propelled RCPC home-course-hackers to the top.
Toby Florendo took the lowest net champion with a 70, daddy Anton was first runnerup followed by Johnny Siao of RC Cebu West, Benedict Uy of RCPC and Ver dela Cruz of RC North Davao.
Congratulations to district governor Yumi Espina and wife Sandra, district secretary Danny Vicencio, Discon chairman Wilton Uykingtian, co-chairs Phillip Tan and Titong Rafols, Meanne Solomon, Ricky Ballesteros and the rest of the district team. The Discon next year will be in Davao and in Gen. Santos City the following year before coming back to Cebu in 2011 with district governor nominee Ted Locson.
During the Discon, we were talking golf with Ronnie Medalle, the better-looking brother of Edwin. He has given up golf for tennis yet he is still very much interested in golf and follows up on our golf tips. Without a doubt he is still golfer at heart but needs to catch up with the trend. I believe that once Ronnie learns golf anew, he’ll be swinging that golf club again.
As an advocate of golf, I can be very convincing and I told him that golf and tennis are now very compatible sports and he can play both without sacrificing anything, and without losing his tennis playmates. I told Ronnie that golf would even help his tennis and vice versa. And so to Ronnie Medalle, we dedicate today’s golf tip and hope he finds something curious in it to send him to the driving range.
GOLF TIP. Good contact with the ball is the basic ingredient for good distance. But the most effective way to get big distances is through clubhead speed and it has to be right at impact, not before and not after.
Many golfers still believe that by swinging hard or very fast, one can get extra distance. This can be true but is very hard to accomplish because your body, shoulders, arms, hands, weight-shift and clubhead are going very fast, making synchronization almost impossible.
The pros have been doing the “late speed” to increase clubhead speed. This is by lagging the clubhead on the downswing, after it had been loaded (wrist fully cocked) at the top of the backswing. The more the clubhead lags, the more energy is stored for release at the ball.
In your set up with a driver, play the ball in-line with your left heel or just off the left shoulder. Playing the ball forward encourages clubhead lag on the downswing. The more lag, the more speed can be unleashed at the ball on the last second. Your upper body must remain behind the ball to hit it hard.
