February 2005 |
ARNEAUD ANNOUNCES HIS RETIREMENT FROM THE PRESIDENCY
After four years as President of St. Andrew's Golf Club, Mike Arneaud will not be seeking re-election at the upcoming AGM. He made this announcement at the prize giving of the Coca Cola Club Championships on Sunday February 20. He said that he had enjoyed his tenure as President and took the opportunity to thank those who had worked with him on the Management Committee, as well as the many members who had given their support through their feedback, suggestions and sharing of ideas. He said that he felt a sense of satisfaction that the club had progressed over the past few years, noting that while there was still a long way to go he was confident the club was on the right track. Please note that the 2005 Annual General Meeting takes place on Thursday March 31, at 5 pm in the clubhouse. The 2004 Annual Report has been mailed and you should receive your copy soon. Nominations to fill the offices of the Management Committee must be received by the General Manager/Secretary no later than 4 pm on Thursday March 24. Nomination forms are available in the office and have also been included in the envelope mailed to you with the Annual Report. All nominations received shall be posted on the club notice board by the GM/Secretary as per the Rules of the Club.
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 Bob Ramchand, General Manager of Coca Cola presents Club Championship trophy to Simon Merry. At R: Michael Arneaud |
4 PLAYOFFS AT THE COCA COLA CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS
111 golfers competed in the Coca Cola Club Championships which were held at Golf Club on February 19 & 20, At the end of this 36 hole strokeplay tournament an unprecedented number of ties in 4 of the 7 divisions and playoffs were the order of the day, making a most exciting day of golf for all. In the Men's 1st Flight seasoned junior golfers Simon Merry (146) and Ben Martin tied after 36 holes and had to playoff on the 18th hole. The crowd held their breath as Simon Merry sank a 15 foot birdie putt to capture the title of 2005 Men's Club Champion. Patrick Bo0cock (149) was third. In the Ladies I st Flight there was a 1 stroke difference between winner Amoy (157) and teenager Martine de Gannes (158) who was one stroke in front of Victoria Seenath & Pauline Raynor (159). Veteran Kitty Murphy (176) and 14 year old junior Golfer Kelsey Lou Hing (176) tied after 36 holes, had to go to playoff on the 1st hole where Murphy triumphed to take the title in the Ladies 2nd Flight. Synthia Nelson (177) was third. The winner Ladies 3rd Flight was Natalya Rahamatula (183), in 2nd place was Patricia lnglefield (184). In the Men's 2nd Flight, brothers Ahamad Ali and National Senior Player and TTGA President Asraph Ali were tied after 36 holes with younger brother Ahamad rising to the challenge and winning on the 3rd playoff hole. Captain of the Club, Jean de Meillac (162) was 3rd. Stephen Mackay (172) made a charge on the 2nd day of play to tie with junior golfer Michael Montano who held the lead after the first day. Mackay won the playoff with a par on the 1st hole to emerge as the 3rd Flight Champion. Hamish Knox (174) was third. Dominating the Men's 4th Flight was Sonny Maharaj (166) a 10 stroke lead over 2nd place Carl Chatoor (l76), Treasurer of the Club, who finished 6 strokes ahead of 3rd place Peter Pasea (182). |
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 Winners Row at the Coca cola Championships L to R: Bob Ramchand, Simon Merry, Amoy Chang Fong, Natalya Rahamatula, Kitty Murphy, Stephen Mackay, Ahamad Ali & Sonny Maharaj |
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Page 2
HISTORY OF ST. ANDREW'S GOLF CLUB
History is a subject often taken for granted; many think it is boring, but the truth is that is is important to keep proper records of the past especially when, with the passage of time, it is so easy for valuable information to be lost. We enjoy our club today because back in 1892 it was formed by a group of interested golfers and that in the intervening one hundred and fourteen years committee after committee has kept it going on behalf of the members.
Two of our members, John Sellier and his nephew Gregory Wight have been quietly working to record as much of our club's history as possible. We are grateful for their efforts and with this month's issue we begin the reproduction of this research which we will print in installments until this project is complete.
While browsing through some old St Andrews Minute Books (1923- 1957) which came into my possession when I salvaged them from a rubbish bin when the Club was moving from Lower Maraval to its present location, it struck me forcibly that many members may not know that St. Andrews Golf Club is now officially 114 years old which makes it one of the oldest Golf Clubs in the Americas and almost certainly the oldest in the Caribbean. Of course, the fact that our Club has been in existence for over 100 years should be a source of great pride.
Members may also not be aware that over this period of time its members played golf at four different locations. Starting on the Savannah in 1891 the members used the Queen's Park Hotel as a Club House till about 1896 after which the Club made arrangements to use the Trinidad Turf Club Members' Stand which was much more convenient as the first tee of the Nine-Hole Course was on the inside of the race track close to the winning pole.
It could be of interest to present day members, many of whom drive around the Savannah on a daily basis, to trace the direction of the course on the Savannah . The first hole was played towards the Cemetery and the second was a dogleg around the cemetery and there was an "out of bounds penalty" for hitting a ball over the cemetery. The third was played west towards Queen's Royal College and the next - north towards the Hollow. There was a green in the Hollow - that hole was called "IN" followed by another called "OUT". The course then ran east past President's House and then south with the ninth green quite close to the first tee opposite to the Turf Club Members Stand.
St Andrews ' Members used the Savannah for 28 years up to 1919. So far as I know there are no records available for that period i.e. prior to the move to St. James, and I am relying on information given to me by my father who incidentally was the only member to play on all four courses. He joined the Club in 1917 and died 1983.
The Club then moved to what they thought would be a less public and safer environment at St James on a short renewable lease from Government. There the members built a small two-storey Club House located almost exactly where the St Mary's College Pavilion at present stands. The members parked their cars near the river and walked across a narrow rickety wooden bridge to the Club House.
A nine-hole course was laid out on this flat piece of land which extended into Federation Park, which once again they shared with grazing cattle. As a consequence the greens had to be fenced with barbed wire (the same applied on the Savannah ). At St James, golfers also shared two fairways with the Mounted Branch of the Constabulary who had a priority over golfers whenever they wanted to practice their maneuvers or train horses and riders. The Club Minutes of the time recorded several instances of frustration and inconvenience when golf was held up or cancelled.
By 1926 there was evidence of a desire to move to a better location. Some negotiations took place with Mrs. Rapsey to lease the Aranguez Savannah and a green was built at Aranguez as a trial. However, for one reason or another, the project was abandoned.
Unknown to the Members of the Club at that time and in particular, the President and Committee, the problems they faced with the terms of their lease of government land would only get worse and, like so many Clubs that flourished at that time, and failed to acquire their own private property all went into extinction sooner or later. A good example being the all powerful Trinidad Turf Club whose members did not secure their own freehold property. The clock was ticking and their ultimate demise is now written in the sands of time.The frustration of playing golf at St James became so acute that at a meeting on January 13, 1930 Item (11) of the Minutes of that Meeting reads as follows:
"In view of the fact that the Acting Governor has on several occasions himself warned us that "the links may be required shortly for public purpose", it was decided not to repair or paint the Club House."
At that same meeting Robert Sellier was asked to make an appointment with Colonel De Boissiere for the Club President, Packer Hutchinson, the Secretary and himself to inspect the Champs Elysees Estate with a view to seeing if it is possible to have a Golf Course there.
It is impossible to overstate the importance of this decision by the Acting Governor to warn the Club of their uncertain future which had a major impact on the future of Golf in the north west of Trinidad . The Committee's decision to seek an alternative site and thereby acquire their own freehold land was seminal and lovers of the game who have joined the Club during the past seventy- five years are heavily indebted to them for their courage and foresight.
Make sure to look for Part II in our next Monthly Newsletter.
FAMOUS
GROUSE
FEBRUARY
MEDAL
SAT. 12th FEBRUARY 2005
MEDAL WINNER: R. HOSEIN 68
FRONTENAC: A. WIGHT 74 (cb)
GROSS: A. WIGHT 74
Page 3
 SUPERINTENDENT'S CORNER |
 Vedath Singh |
The greens are looking good at the moment and I wish I could take all the blame for that but, it's not entirely my fault. We have managed to escape a terrible wet season when the greens were faced with the most hostile conditions for growing tifway Bermuda grass. The greens were waterlogged, there was limited sunlight and diseases were loving it. But now the sun is out in all its glory; Bermuda grass loves about 8 hours of full sunlight, which includes no cloudy days or shaded greens. Conditions are no longer suitable for many diseases as most diseased areas are showing full recovery.
What is important now is water management! Not too much, as this can create conditions for moss/algae and other diseases, it can lead to leaching of nutrients from the topsoil and it can also give us lazy roots which do not have to search very deep to get moisture. We already have a very shallow root system that makes our greens susceptible to stress and slow to recover. What I will be trying to do is give the greens just enough to force the roots to go a little deeper which will keep our greens healthier during stressful periods. Sometimes this may result in a harder green surface and thus faster greens speed, (within reason). It may also result in a slightly discoloured appearance, that is, lighter patches on the green but in the long run it will be to our benefit.
Equally important is figuring out the nutritional balance of our greens. This practice has been done in the past, however, it is a good idea to do a soil analysis once per year to pick up any changing conditions. With a lot of help from Morris Johnson (Superintendent at River Oaks Country Club) who visited our course during the Bp tournament, I will be sending some soil and water samples to Brookside Labs in Ohio for analysis. This should indicate any nutritional deficiencies in the soil or contaminants in our irrigation sources. Using this information I can tailor our fertilizer treatments especially for problem greens like the 15th. Morris also gave me some great advice on disease management including the importance of knowing the exact square footage of all the greens and having properly calibrated spray equipment. It's like dispensing medication, too little will have negligible results while too much is overkill.
Our maintenance crew also are playing their part to provide you with the best conditions, so if you like what you see tell them about it, they enjoy the praise. If you don't like something I am sure we will hear about it.
THE CLUB'S CARNIVAL FETE:
This year, the St. Andrew's Golf Club Carnival Fete was an overwhelming success. For the first time, the committee chaired by Eddie Ayin decided to brand the Carnival Fete as "Moka Explosion" differentiating same from all the other Moka fetes.
The patrons were treated to a host of drinks, from a bubbly bar where drinks were served in flute glasses to a "Wines of the World" bar serving wines from twelve different countries hosted by the Bryden crew. We also had four cocktail bars serving a variety of cocktails from "Sex on the Beach" to a "Trini Twister". Also available for the first time was a Martini bar by Smirnoff serving five different martinis and another new feature was the "Sober Zone" where patrons had a choice of bottled water, Dewland juices, Lucozade energy drinks, Café Brasil and Lipton Tea.
Our ultra premium bars were truly a cut above all fetes serving strictly 12 year old whiskies as well as Grey Goose vodka, Tanguery 10 yr gin, Angostura 1919 rum and Henessey cognac.
A second time around, the cigar lounge was featured whereby corona size cigars were given away and within the lounge a variety of single malt whiskies by Chivas as well as Angostura 1824 were available, extremely popular.
Of course, the food once again could not be outdone, we had from mutton on a spit to tacos, geera pork to gyros, Thai to East Indian meals as well as a variety of Japanese hors d'oeuvres to choose from as patrons entered the fete.
To put the icing on the cake, the entertainment complemented the entire evening with Dil-E-Nadan was a tremendous hit with the crowd, particularly as Adesh Samaroo and Pragoo performed on stage.And last but not least Roy Cape filled the stage with music joined by Denise Belfour and Destra, fireworks erupted over the hills of the driving range while they performed, the crowd became ecstatic.
On the whole, this fete should be the greatest financial success ever in the nineteen year old history of this event with all the proceeds going towards helping the Club meet operating costs.
Once again, thank you members for bearing with the slight inconveniences leading up to the fete. And last but not least thanks to the committee members: Gerry Ayin, Dean Johnson, Jonathan Patty, Roy Young, Dallas Kidman, Ramesh Rampersad, Louis Ottley, Maria Nunes and Sean Paul Jaggassar.
"MOKA EXPLOSION"
Page 4
19& 20 FEBRUARY 2005
Men's 1st Flight Men's 2nd Flight Men's 3rd Flight Men's 4th Flight 1st Gross Simon Merry 146
2nd Gross Ben Martin 146
3rd Gross Patrick Boocock 149
4th Gross Dion Gonsalves 150
1st Nett Ben Martin 144
2nd Nett Simon Merry 146
3rd Nett Patrick Boocock 1491st Gross Ahamad Ali 159
2nd Gross Asraph Ali 159
3rd Gross Jean de Meillac 162
4th Gross Jamsheed Ali 164
1st Nett Asraph Ali 143
2nd Nett Ahamad Ali 143
3rd Nett Jamsheed Ali 144
1st Gross Stephen Mackay 172
2nd GrossMichael Montano 172
3rd Gross Hamish Knx 174
1st Nett Michael Montano 146
2nd Nett Stephen Mackay 148
3 rd Nett Hamish Knox 1481st Gross Sonny Maharaj 166
2nd Gross Carl Chatoor 176
3rd Gross Peter Pasea 182
4th Gross Roger Weekes 185
1st Nett Sonny Maharaj 134
2nd Nett Roger Farah 140
3rd Nett Carl Chatoor 144
Ladies 1st Flight Ladies 2nd Flight Ladies 3rd Flight 1st Gross Amoy Chang Fong 157
2nd Gross Martine de Gannes 1581st Nett Amoy Chang Fong 137
1st Gross Kitty Murphy 176
2nd Gross Kelsey Lou Hing 1761st Nett Kelsey Lou Hing 142
1st Gross Natalya Rahamatula 183
1st Nett Patricia Inglefield 136
St. Andrew's
Golf Club
P.O. Box 3403
Moka, Maraval
Trinidad, W.I.Office:
868-629-0066
868-629-6187-8Fax:
868-629-0411Starter/
After Hours
868-629-2314
