News from Barbados Golf Club

May Monthly Medal Winners

Monthly Medal Golf Tournaments – May

Competitors of another Monthly Medal Golf Tournament once again met at the Barbados Golf Club for this month of May. Although considered a fun and casual competition, players nonetheless fought for the coveted first and second place prizes.

Read the story with tournament results below.

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Junior Golfers on Top

Among the ladies, youth trumped experience this month, with two junior players taking home the top prizes. Brianna Prescod and Mariella Young outplayed the ladies with a winning 74 nett, and second-place 76 nett respectively.

The junior players all together shined this month as another junior player, Gordon Chow shot a winning 69 nett in the Men’s Championship flight. He also had an impressive gross 75 score to win ahead of yet another young player, Dario Sergeant who shot a gross 77 score for the day.

It seems that practice for the BGA trials which was held this past weekend brought out the best in our juniors who all competed in the significant trial tournament of their golfing endeavors.

Otherwise, veteran golfer Richard Proverbs placed first in the Senior category with a nett 71. Doug Robbins, as well as Trevor Tasker, for another month placed on the leader board but this time in second place. Robbins with a 73 nett behind Proverbs among the Seniors while Tasker shot a 74 nett behind Chow in the Championship flight. Paul Ashby once again also collected another prize, winning the Men’s first flight category with a nett 70 ahead of Wayne Boucher who shot a 71 for the day.

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All 1st and 2nd place winners took home an assortment of goodies in their gift bags compliments of the Barbados Golf Club.

Next month will yet again bring another chance for players to walk away with bragging rights and a generous prize each compliments of the Barbados Golf Club.

The 2021 Monthly Medal Championship

Monthly Medal Championship Playoff

The monthly medal playoffs were also held this past April. Every year, the winners from each of the monthly medals accumulate points. Thereafter, players with the most points are then invited for friendly competition in the Championship playoffs. Some of the top scorers from across the five categories then came out to compete for the coveted “Golfer of the Year” title in the “2021 Monthly Medal Championships”.

The winners:

In the end, four prizes were awarded to the overall winners, but it was the Champion Golfer of the Year that impressively stole the two top prizes after shooting an unbeatable score that day.

Mark Blakeley, playing off scratch, won the 1st place prize with a nett 70 which also won him the gross prize. In second place was Mike Jackman with a nett 72 while Livingston Hunte took away the 3rd place prize with a nett 74.

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Hunte, Blakeley & Jackman receiving their championship prizes from Scheper

Congratulations:

Prizes were compliments of the Barbados Golf Club and were presented to the winners by Jina Scheper, General Manager (designate) of the Club. Well done to all the talented golfers within the competition and congratulations to the winners.

 


Follow along the tournament schedule – CLICK HERE

April Monthly Medal Winners

Monthly Medal Golf Tournaments – April

The Monthly Medal Golf Tournaments held at the Barbados Golf Club feature friendly competition, love for the game and the thrill of victory. Both casual golfers and golf enthusiasts play not just for fun, but to hopefully arise winners of their respective categories.

A typical full field of competitors once again converged at the Club for the April Medal but only a few could be awarded the top prizes. Read the story with tournament results below.

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“Robinson & Cumberbatch receiving their prizes”

This month, a fresh set of faces came out on top of the field, but the scores were just as competitive as previous months.

The senior category saw Grantley Cumberbatch winning in 1st place but on a matter of countback against Murray Robinson; they both shot a nett 70 in the tournament.

The winners of the Men’s first flight and championship flight completed their rounds with impressive scores. James Marshall shot a nett 68 winning against his first flight group with Wayne Boucher in second with a 70. Respectively, Andre Walcott shot a nett 69 to win his category ahead of Paige Bayley and Dane Howell both with a nett 71.

Among the ladies’ category, Leiza Blakeley ended the day with a nett 75 to win first place and for yet another month, Simon Proverbs continued his perfect low gross winning streak as the talented golfer who outplays the entire field with a gross 70.

All 1st and 2nd place winners took home an assortment of goodies in their gift bags compliments of the Barbados Golf Club.

 

The Blog Corner – Golf Tips on Breaking 90

Golf Tips

How to Break 90 – tips from J. Colgan via GOLF.com

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With a 30-day challenge in mind as part of a seven-part series, a number of tried and tested tricks to breaking 90 were provided. However, here, we chose a few pertinent options to share.

–Top tip: “Forget Par” —

Attempts to “save par” often turn into hero shots with little chance of success and wind up compounding our score. Think about it, let’s break t down to simple math. On a par-70 course, you can break 90 simply by playing bogey golf.

Focus instead on continuously giving yourself chances to make bogey.

  • Hit layups if you have to.
  • Play irons off the tee.
  • Aim for the large part of the green on par-3s.
  • If you can keep the ball in front of you, an ultra-conservative approach to course management will give you a strong chance to break 90. Embrace it, even if it means gunning for fewer flags than you’re used to.

–Next tip: “Swing thought(s)” —

Everybody should have one swing thought (and no more than two!) before every shot.

Whether you’re focusing on breathing, posture, hand position, shoulder position or head position. having that focus adds some intentionality to your swing.

–Tip 3: “Practice your wedges” —

Rather than staying over enthusiastic about those long drives, take time on the range to practice your wedges, and short game in general.

Practice making solid contact with your wedges. If you’re struggling with feel, the best way to quickly win back confidence is with those 10-50 yard chip shots and making sure you get them on the green every time.

–Tip 4: “Practice recovery shots” —

Another course management trick is to minimize your mistakes. Every golfer hits bad shots, but not every golfer practices the strategies that can lead them back to safety.

Practice hitting a few punches and bump-and-runs with your irons, and pay close attention to the trajectory, direction and distance each shot travels. No need to spend hours working on this, but a few shots can make a major difference between a blow-up hole and a scrambling par or bogey.

 

Golf for the Cure – Charity Tournament

“Golf for the Cure” Charity Tournament

Cure

 

Save the Date: Golf for the Cure.

When? Saturday 25 June 2022
Where? The Barbados Golf Club.

All proceeds raised will be donated to the Breast Screening Programme of the Barbados Cancer Society.

Exciting prizes to be won including a Hole in One prize of a 2020 Hyundai Kona EV sponsored by Courtesy Garage Limited

For more information and to book please email Shakida Grant at shakida.Grant@cibcfcib.com or Krystle Maynard at krystle.maynard@cibcfcib.com

Golf for a cause, Golf for Survivors, Golf for the Cure

February Monthly Medal Winners

Congratulations! – February Monthly Medal Winners

The winners of February’s “Barbados Golf Club Monthly Medal” received their prizes at the Barbados Golf Club recently.

prizes

Read the story with tournament results below.

The February Monthly Medal golf tournament once again got underway at the Barbados Golf Club this past weekend. It was a full field of competitors. Players sought to win the coveted first place prizes among the five categories respectively entered.

 

For a third consecutive month, Yvette Thornton continued her 1st place winning streak in the Ladies category with a nett 73 score. This was a narrow win on countback against Zerina Belgrave also with a nett 73. medal winners

 

John Williams was the first-place winner of the Senior category, completing the round with a nett 71 but also winning on countback by pulling ahead of John Rocheford, also with a nett 71 score. It was a highly competitive field this month with many of top finishers shooting similar scores. The Men’s Championship flight also had 1st and 2nd place finishers with the same score of nett 71 but it was Mark Blakeley who just barely got ahead with the win on countback against Trevor Tasker. It was clearly a Par 71 day for these players; Shawn Adams (seen holding his prize) also shot a nett 71 on the day, winning in the Men’s first flight category. Simon Proverbs, once again for a third consecutive month also won the Gross category with a remarkable 68.

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Winners took home a bottle of rum, a trophy glass and an electronic as their prize. Each month, players are given the chance to enter and win in this friendly competition at Barbados Golf Club.

The next medal is set to play March 13th, and all are welcomed to sign up. CLICK HERE to view further events.

The Blog Corner – Roddy’s Reflections on Joe Carr

“Reflections on my Father Joe Carr at 100”

Blog post written by Dir. Roddy Carr

There is nobody happier than ‘Pop’, as we called him, not to be around to celebrate his 100th birthday. He didn’t like growing old just as he didn’t like playing golf anymore after his heart attack at 52 took away the magical power in his huge hands that won him 40 Championships.

Like many of the great men I have met over the years, some grow old gracefully like the great Henry Cotton and some like ‘Uncle George’ Blumberg (Gary Players mentor), grew angrier at ‘father time’ as they got older. Pop however was always optimistic and positive, as his mind was younger than his weathered and worn body by the time he turned 75.

We (the family) worked on making sure he had projects to keep him focused and active in the last chapters of his life. The three most significant were, being the first Irishman to be the Captain of the R&A in 1991, Designing the Old Head with Ron Kirby and owner John O’Connor and writing a book ‘Breaking 80’ about his incredible life with his friend Dermot Gilleece.

Reflection

The book in particular was transformational for him personally as for nearly 80 years he had guarded a hidden truth about who he really was, Joe Waters from Inchicore and not Joe Carr from Sutton.
It was refreshing today to read the opening paragraph on Joe Carr in Wikipedia.

“Joseph Benedict Carr (18 February 1922 – 3 June 2004) was an Irish amateur golfer.”

Carr was born in a suburb of Dublin Ireland, to George and Margaret Waters; he was the fifth of seven children. At 10 days old, he was adopted by Kathleen and James Carr, who were childless and had recently returned home from India. The Carr’s had just been appointed steward and stewardess of the Portmarnock Golf Club, allowing young Joe to play golf from a very early age.

We never knew this, it was never discussed at home. He carried it deep within himself all his life. We have Dermot to thank for his stubborn refusal not to keep that truth buried.

Reflection

I was probably the most fortunate of my siblings to get to know the man Joe Carr when he was still winning Championships. We travelled together playing golf for Sutton, Leinster & Ireland when he was still competitive right up to 1969.

I watched in awe how this humble man was revered as a superstar of his day both at home and abroad. When I caddied for him, I watched his opponents thanking him with broad smiles for the 7/6 (dog license) thrashing he had just inflicted on them. He would lose more graciously than when he won. I watched him receive accolades and awards such as the Bobby Jones Award for his Sportsmanship with grace and humility. I watched how much fun he had with his friends shooting, fishing, sailing, playing snooker, backgammon, poker and golf. Finally, I watched how the great players of the world were attracted to his fun personality and love of life and betting. Jones, Cotton, Nicklaus, Palmer, Snead, Player to mention but a few.

Reflections

The Carr Family

Behind this man was his rock and wife Dor Carr our mother. When I reflect on who and what Joe Carr had become in his day, an awful lot of the man and the brand Joe Carr, was a result of what my mother contributed to their partnership.

As I learned later in my career working for Mark McCormack, who managed many great players, my mother managed his career. She took care of everything behind the scenes to allow my father to flourish and become the legend he became. This included running a household with 6 kids and all their friends, letting him work his 9-5 job, writing all his speeches, managing all his travel and sending Christmas cards of a picture of our family to over 500 people annually all over the world.

To this day I treasure the Christmas card I get every year from Barbara and Jack Nicklaus with a similar family photo. I think the origin of this came from my mother as Jack used to mention our Christmas cards when I first met him in 1967. The bond between the Nicklaus’s & Carr’s is demonstrated by Jack’s induction of JB into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2001 and when he came to open the new Sutton Clubhouse on that candle lit night in 1990.

Reflections

Joe & Dor were a formidable pair.

I remember my mother quietly walking the fairways at match play Championships with her small umbrella seat-stick. They had this understanding between them that when he got 3 up she would head in to make the sandwiches in the car before the afternoon match. ‘no man alive can win four holes off me’ he commented later when I questioned him on it.

In the South of Ireland, the last Championship he won in 1969, I was caddying for him after not qualifying for the match play stages. “I will show you how easy it is to win one of these” he explained on the first tee of his first match.

Later in the week having crushed every opponent along the way we was three down after five holes to his great pal, Noel Fogarty in the final. As we walked to the Dell (6th) hole tee box I remember stopping him with fright in my eyes and asked him about being three down and how it worked that he was on the receiving end of his own ‘understanding’. “If I don’t lose another hole, I will win by two and one” he said with quiet calmness. He didn’t quite keep his word and won on the 18th! His strategy of not panicking and chasing at such a time in a match was classic of the great ‘mano de mano’ champions like JB and Seve, whom I was later to manage.

He taught me everything he knew about golf.

He was a truly one of the great shot makers with immense raw power. Many times when playing with him or caddying I would walk to his ball in the deep thick rough or gorse, look at it and think to myself ‘wedge to get it back on the fairway’ is the best I could do.

Reflections

He would stroll up casually take one look and reach for the then small pin headed persimmon 4 wood. The shot would resemble a mini earthquake, a mauling of the earth with such force that of the ball had no option but to spring into flight. It was a sight to behold and a sight that many times broke the heart and mind of his shell shocked opponents.

Not so Happy Revelations

It was the revelations later in life that probably had the most effect on him. As a boy growing up on Portmarnock links, he addressed his father Commander Carr ,the club steward as ‘Sir’. They only ever shook hands, no hugging. He was nearly 80 when we finally broke him down with a series of ‘practice sessions’ lead by John and SibĂ©al my sister, on how to hug his children, and then grandchildren. We finally cracked him and he got it.

The final revelation for him came in a Limerick hospital when, as he used to say, he was ‘in the departure lounge’ and literally visited death’s door with SibĂ©al holding his hand in the middle of the night telling him it was OK to go if he wanted to. We all had spent several days surrounding him with the power of ‘family love’.

The next morning I was first in to see him. He was sitting in the chair beside the bed with his eyes bulging with life and energy behind his oxygen mask. He motioned to me with his hand urgently to come close to him to listen. “I didn’t know the love – I can’t leave now” he wheezed. The force of the concentrated circle of love of his family had finally cracked through the impenetrable barriers forged from his time. I have known many men over the years, some JB’s friends, who passed without ever experiencing that true love of their family. Sad.

Love…

My father was a lucky man which he acknowledged all his life but never more so than in his later years when he married Mary Carr. Mary and he shared fun and love together daily and she looked after him with all the way to the end.

Reflections

He had a great and full life and is remembered by all those who knew him well with a smile and a twinkle in their eyes, just as he would have wished.

Happy Birthday Pop.
Roddy

February 18th 2022

The January Monthly Medal Winners

Congratulations goes out to the winners of January’s “BGC Monthly Medal” tournament.

The January Medal Winners were recently presented with their prizes at the Barbados Golf Club.

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First place winners – Hackett, Thornton & Thompson

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Barbados Golf Club Monthly Medal Golf Tournament

This new year saw the kick-off of golf tournaments at Barbados Golf Club having a quiet and successful start. The first Monthly Medal of 2022 was held recently at the club on Durants with a full field of mostly Club members competing in the individual stroke play event. Players sought to win the coveted first place prizes among the five categories respectively entered.
Following on from her triumph in last month’s medal, Yvette Thornton won 1st place in the Ladies category with a nett 69 score. Bruce Hackett was the first-place winner of the Senior category, completing the round with a nett 68 but narrowly pulling ahead of Peter Hennessy, also with a nett 68 score, winning on countback. Within the Men’s First Flight category, Peter Thompson also got ahead of the field with a nett 68 score while Mark Linehan finished in second place with a nett 70.
Mark Blakeley and Simon Proverbs were also top scoring players among the field, finishing first and second respectively in the Men’s Championship flight. However, with both gentlemen playing a competitive round, scores were tight when challenged in the low gross category where Proverbs attained a gross 68 narrowly pulling ahead of Blakeley with a gross 69.
The first-place winners of this close competition took home kitchen appliances as their prizes, along with receiving a bucket of beers compliments of the Club’s bar. Second and third place winners of each category also went away with prizes. The monthly tournament at Barbados Golf Club is set to play again on Saturday, 12th February and keen golfers are all welcomed to enter and play.

New “Buddy Fore” Group Membership

Group Membership at a Reduced Annual Fee

The Barbados Golf Club is happy to announce the introduction of a new membership offer.

The “Buddy Fore” Group Membership is available to all.

Come in your groups of four (4) including one (1) existing BGC member & take advantage of the low annual cost of BDS $4,000 per person.

See further details below:

group membership

Call us at 246-538-4653 to ask for further information or help finding persons for a group.

OR email jscheper@barbadosgolfclub.com / ltrotman@barbadosgolfclub.com

 

Other Membership Options

CLICK HERE to check out other membership options at the Barbados Golf Club.

The December Monthly Medal Winners

Congratulations goes out to the winners of December’s “Trident Insurance / ANSA Motors / ANSA Merchant Bank Monthly Medal” tournament.

The December Monthly Medal Winners were once again presented their prizes compliments of our generous monthly medal Sponsors.

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1st Place Winners – Yvette Thornton & Conor McElinney receiving their prizes

 

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2nd Place Winners – Mike Jackman, Alwin Browne & Doug Robbins receiving their prizes

The final “Trident Insurance / ANSA Motors / ANSA Merchant Bank Monthly Medal” Golf Tournament of 2021 was held recently at the Barbados Golf Club. Players once again converged at the Club to compete in various categories. A few first-time winners emerged from the field. Yvette Thornton won 1st place in the Ladies category with a 75 nett score, followed closely behind by junior player Brianna Precod with 76. The senior category saw Cally Boyea winning 1st place with a competitive 66 nett as well as achieving the second lowest gross score of the day with a 74. This however could not beat regular gross winner Simon Proverbs who had a gross 71. Second to Boyea was Doug Robbins & John Williams with a nett 71 winning on countback to Charlie Thornton. First-time winner Conor McEllinney played a good game and won his category with a nett 63 ahead of Alwin Browne’s 67. Orlando Crichlow once again won the men’s championship flight, which comprises players with handicaps below twelve, he finished with a 63 while second place winner Mike Jackman shot a nett 71.

At the end of each tournament, players with the best nett scores in their respective categories receive winning prizes provided by the title sponsors. Prizes included kitchen appliances which the first-place winners took home while second place winners received the usual alcoholic beverages. Winners throughout the year who accumulated the most points will then compete for the ultimate Medal Championship title in January.

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