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I hope you all had a good Christmas and New Year break. Here’s to 2012.
As you will have seen from the reports on the site the IGC year has already begun with a mild, if a little damp, start on New Year’s Day
and the first set of Winter Cup fixtures taking place at Empereur and Limburg.
I would encourage all of you to take the opportunity to play Limburg, it is without doubt one of the finest courses in the country and well
worth the slightly longer drive to get there. It is also a course well suited to the winter conditions, staying dryer than most due to the well
draining heathland soil.
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You will also have seen the calendar for the first part of the year; along with the winter cup fixtures (note the extra points on offer to encourage
participation at a wide range of venues). I make an early appeal to you all to take part in the traditional Seniors vs. Juniors challenge on the
17th March. The devious behaviour and unsportsmanlike conduct by the Seniors failed to secure them the victory last year and I hope that the side
of youthful honesty will triumph against all the odds again this year! We also have the first club match of the year confirmed against the Wild Geese
on 15th April at La Tournette so please mark that one in your diaries as well.
I have read a number of recent articles in the media about us all suffering from information overload in this constantly connected world in which we
live. The golf course seems like an obvious escape from this but do we threaten that respite as more and more of us carry these dreaded devices telling
us it is in fact 127 yards to the 2nd bunker? For me it’s a bit like revising for exams – fundamentally I don’t believe in it and consider it morally
a form of cheating, however if everyone else is doing it then you have little option.
I blame distance markers on the courses to be honest – they were the soft drug leading to the cocaine of GPS. Back in the 80’s I didn’t know how far I
hit any club in my bag, nor how far in yards any shot I played was – and did it do me any harm? Actually sometimes yes, I would horribly misjudge a shot
and go 70 yards past the green from time to time – but did it matter? Well it didn’t as long as everyone was doing it, however then the temptation of
the 150 yard markers started to appear and golf became more a computer game than spiritual experience. As most of you know I love links golf, and one of
the reasons for this is that knowing your yardage is often futile on a links course; not only because of the ever-present, ever-changing wind but also
the nature of the hard-bouncing and undulating terrain makes two 150 yard shots as different as you could imagine, and neither of them an 8-iron!
Now as I have some doubts as to whether anyone reads these columns, or if you do whether you make it this far, I offer a drink to the first 10 IGC
members* who say to me ‘down with GPS’ when within reach of an open bar (*Committee members excluded, sorry Per).
And finally – what did I get for Christmas – a GPS! Feel free to call me a hypocrite as well next time.
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