Reflecting on the year
Greetings Fellow Golfers,
The year is coming to an end dramatically fast and what a great year it has once again been at Stellenbosch GC…
2024 started on a Monday and will be finishing on a Tuesday, wonder if it always works like that, but this year it did. Titleist launched the SM10 Vokey wedge in January and JJ Senekal got married and they are now expecting their first, so if you see him again remember to congratulate them!
In February we had 7133 rounds in 29 days with a turnover of R4 379 092 (excl VAT) – wonder what February 2025 has in store for us?
March is always a great month at the club – as we host the annual golf days of Bloemhof, Paul Roos and Huis Horizon with the first school term coming to an end later in March.
April is Club Championship month – who will ever forget the 2024 weekend with the damaging storms that hit Stellenbosch and the rest of the Cape that weekend. Your dates for 2025: the 12th & 13th of April.
During the month of May, it’s time for autumn treatments; however, for 2025 we are moving it slightly earlier and it will be happening in April so we can utilise the last bit of the summer heat.
In June the President’s men take on the Captain’s men in the annual Honorable Gentlemen of Stellenbosch Day. As always taking place on the 16th of June.
July = School Holidays, Wimbledon and The Open Championship. In 2025 the Open will be returning to Royal Port Rush in Ireland. Oh and not forgetting the club’s B-DAY on 27 July. This year we celebrated the club’s 120th trip around the sun with a special birthday function.
In August we celebrate Women and the biggest rugby match in the WORLD takes place as Paul Roos Gymnasium and Grey College take on each other.
The 1st day of September is a day of celebration for me and the first day of spring. The club’s Ladies Open Day takes place in this month (best day ever) and in 2024 we also hosted the Premier IPT.
October, we start with our “spring” treatments, as we start to get ready for the annual ABACUS Eikestad Classic.
November is all about golf and year-end functions, with our festival week always happening at the beginning of the month.
And the best part we are still looking forward to is December 2024 with only 41 days till we wave goodbye to this year…
Our beautiful wildlife
In my Mulligan Tale I referred to the little feathery fellows that whooo whooo whooo kept us busy the last couple of weeks… Well, I thought I would share these photos with you that were taken on the course. They are almost ready to fly and doing well. Great to see so many owls on the golf course. Stellenbosch GC is also very fortunate to have some antelopes and jackal on the course. I wonder how many of you have seen any of them?
Falling out of the nest – AGAIN – or was he kicked out again?
Safely returned… again!
Parent & Child competition
The annual Parent & Child competition will take place on Saturday morning, 7 December hosted by Dr Hertzog. I have so many wonderful memories over the years of playing with my father, and these days I get to tee it up with my son. We hope to see as many past champions in the field as we can along with the 2023 winners – Richard & Craig Hurndall.
Ouer & Kind Trofee
PGA Championship
It has not been the easiest of returns to golf for Justin Harding after his injury in 2023. He made a brave return this year fighting hard to retain his DP World Tour card, but sadly could not hold on to it at the end. But if there is one thing Hack can do it’s hack his way back… and he did just that at Q-School earlier this month under some rather tough conditions. Congratulations – Well done – Baie mooi! This week Justin will be playing down under in the BMW Australian PGA Championship, and we wish him all the best for the event.
Justin back on the DP World Tour
In South Africa, just over 150 professionals will be playing in the PGA Championship back home, at the beautiful St Francis Links. Stellenbosch GC will have 4 members in the field: Oliver Bakker, Keenan Davidse, Henny O’Kennedy and JJ Senekal (who has won there before). I will be arriving at St Francis Friday afternoon to root the boys on in person and hopefully hand over the trophy to one of them. Keep the ball low and go even lower with your scores – play well gentlemen!
Coming up next
As we get ready for the final stretch to silly season, we will be doing a 4BBB Stableford XMAS MEAT Wednesday on the 4th. So, remember to enter and peg it up in our Wednesday Members Competition for the chance to win some wonderful meat prizes on the day.
This coming Sunday we are hosting our last Monthly Mix Competition of the year, proudly presented by Visio Vintners. Established in 2018 in collaboration between Kleine Zalze Empowerment Trust and Kleine Zalze Wines. If you are playing, I hope you remember this as it might come in handy for the quiz and if you would like to join us – there are still a couple of spots available. Please contact Marizan – bookings@stbgolf.com and she will gladly assist you as always.
Keep it down the middle,
Louis