Below the schedule for the 2019 season of the FROGS. Please note that all regular CITCO events will take place on Wednesday except the first two (Tuesday) plus the final one scheduled for Saturday 5 October 2019.
For all events tee off times will be announced in the days leading up to the event. Details of the meals will also be announced. The starter will be asking you to indicate roughly when you expect to turn up so that we can allocate starting times.
Green fees: Grand Ducal 60 euros Junglinster 44 euros (12 holes) Kikuoka 45 euros Preisch 34 euros
Well guys, here you go, not easy to summarise what was a remarkable evening from many accounts. Don and Dave would have been proud of us!!
Several questions lay unanswered as the crowds gathered on the first tee supping gently the grateful beer supplied by our event Sponsor Frank Maitry and MIXvoip,
1)Where did all these folks come from-some 40 frogs itching to show their skills in a tantalising competition format? Who dares suggests the Frogs’ spirit is dying?.
2) Could the Scoring Committee, given the absence of the IT maestro Jess, sadly due to illness, cope with the challenges of the handicapping proposals and competition format?
3)Would the Club’s new bar and catering staff cope with the demands of our vibrant group?
4)Would the Menace be able to retain the trophy with a different partner (Maarten not being available) with the top frog in form, the suave mr King?;
Daggers drawn, saw the groups tee off, not always with the customary etiquette being shown by the amassed crowds; maybe that’s why we saw so many poor opening tee shots; Had there been a novelty prize for most entertainment on the first tee—it surely would have been won by Mr PG, although Johnnie, Bruce and Fred were not far behind.
Each of the novelty prizes had their own little twists and one had to pay attention on the first tee to fully appreciate what they were. Here we go, in order of brilliance;
11th -nearest the pin—Arnaud—to get that close to the pin, which was so far forward must have been a wonderful shot.
1st -longest drive on the fairway- Nathan,
3rd -Nearest the pin in one shot- Big Dave,
With the novelty prizes awarded with little or no fuss, little did we know what was in store for us;
The best score in the club house with four groups to come in was a 3 under gross from Catweazle and Stef and with their handicap adjustment of 2.03, they were sitting pretty at 43.97 net. Just one stroke behind them was Mark and Chris at 1 over gross, 45.0 net – all getting tucked into their grub and red wine and with light failing badly , with it now being 9.45pm,were surely going to be well in the frame.
Still out on the course were the King/Menace and De Vet/Cameron pairings, the latter being the complete outsiders—could either provide a surprise and whip the trophy from under the cheezy grins of the Cat and Stef?
Well, with a tap in birdie at the 9th, followed by a birdie on 10, the Menace and King were making a late charge at 3 under gross. After par on 11, they were standing on 12 wondering where the fairway was, trying to remember what score won last year; we concluded we needed a birdie minimum to finish and lets see!! Menace went first, found the fairway ok but not a massive drive(whats new)- James then hit his usual stonker but awfully close to that bloody tree but somehow it flew through the branches and landed up past the bunker on the right. The Menace then hit a lovely hybrid just short of the green or should I say just short of someone in an orange shirt, leaving the opportunity open to show us why Mr King is Top Frog in the current rankings. With nothing to lose, he hit the most wonderful 5 wood, we thought onto somewhere near the green—little did we know it was to land up 15 feet from the pin. Undaunted by the grimaces coming from the group behind including Bill, Joost and Christian who were desperately waiting to play their shots in the last sparks of daylight, yours truly sank the putt for a memorable eagle- maybe I should putt more often in the dark with my glasses off! That gave us a score of 5 under gross and with a handicap adjustment of 0.93, gave us the leadership position in the clubhouse at 43.07.
Given the noise and banter in the clubhouse when we finally got in, clearly much beer and wine had been drunk and an excellent atmosphere prevailed; despite highly commendable efforts from Colin and Luc literally playing the last two holes in the dark, recording a net score of 45.2, a whisker behind Mark and Chris, they were not to take the glory away from us.
There was one final twist to the tail, when Catweazle and Stef were initially excluded from the prizewinners, I thought because they were both badly in need of haircuts, but upon appeal, their score of 43.97 was duly noted and they were awarded second place—worthy runners up I may add!
As to the initial questions they were duly answered,
1) The frogs spirit is flying high,
2) We cannot do without Jess when it comes to checking score cards,
3) The club’s staff were fantastic, although I understand bar service could have been more efficient early on- james and I left at 12.30am leaving two Aussies, a Frenchman and an Englishman still going strong in the bar—guess who?
4) The Menace was able to retain the trophy with his new partner, James—was there ever any doubt!!
Finally a big than you to Frank and MIXvoip for his superb sponsorship and to Dave and Botty assuming the card checking role which to be fair, notwithstanding the little glitch, was extremely difficult given the competition was over 12 holes with the inherent handicapping challenges which it brought.
Thanks to our playing partners, Martin and Hersh for keeping up the friendly banter throughout.
And finally a big thank you to all of who were able to participate in making this a wonderful event. Maybe one point for improvement for next year, lets start 30 minutes earlier, if we can.
Before I update on what happened last night I think it is appropriate to remind ourselves as to whom last night’s trophy is dedicated, no other than two of the original founding frogs Dave Moody and Don McGregor who sadly passed away in recent years. For those of the younger frogs who perhaps did not have the pleasure to enjoy their company on many a froggie and non froggie occasion, they were two of the finest characters you could ever meet and it is fitting we should remember them on this occasion.
What they would have made of last nights competition format, god only knows but time has evolved and new formats are obviously interesting, as long as they are advised well in advance. Clearly the format was set up for the big hitting,talented frogs of which we have a few; otherwise why would a Frenchman play with a South African and a Scotsman with an Englishman; two clear favourites, with Botty and Stevie B, defending their crown won so convincingly last year.
As to the first tee, on a hot,sweaty evening, those not in shorts were to be uncomfortable, with Simon doing his best to explain Frank’s wishes as to competition format; by the time Maarten and I teed off the rules were more or less understood- a two team scramble with some complicated calculation of handicaps which not many understood and effectively took handicapping out of the equation. But there was an interesting twitch with each player having to contribute three tee offs- a feature carefully followed in our group certainly!
Anyhow all ten teams got safely off with Johnnie S as a last minute sub for the over worked Danny K (who does he work for now?)
With three birdies in their first five holes and three under par, the question on everyone’s lips was could the Dutchman of Precision and his Scottish partner with dicky knees,whom no one wished to play with, maintain their impressive start? You will have to wait and see!
MixVoip the competition sponsors had put up a number of lovely prizes and were profiling a charity: Catch a Smile a.s.b.l.
A worthy cause which we were able to contribute to and which Frank has separately reported on!
As to the novelty prizes, Nearest The Bottle on the 3rd was won by no other than Johnnie S, who we understand was trying to fade his ball round the corner to the green but instead drew it into the middle of the fairway and landed up close to the designated bottle In the middle of the fairway.
Nearest the water on the 5th was won by our South African b…., who hit an enormous drive over the water and landed in his own pitch mark just across the burn. Quite a shot by all accounts.
Nearest the pin on the 11th went to James where a spanking 8 iron went very close indeed.
Longest drive on the 6th went to Chris Juste who hit a stonker to within 35 yards of the green; where have you been Chris, we have missed you and where did that drive come from!
Back to the main event , the favourites were doing well but perhaps not as well as their pre-tournament status had foreseen.
Another pairing keeping the De Grote/Robertson team in their sight and playing together was the James King/ Martin Shapiro partnership, quite a pairing this one, the highly experienced King with his happy go lucky novice Shapiro.
Not to be outdone, one unlikely pairing of Richard Neale and Will Heath (welcome back Will, you have been missed) were also going along nicely.
Back to the Leaders’ progress their early birdie blitz could not be continued, and after missing a makeable birdie on 6,it was hands to the pumps with the short games of both players being tested before pars were saved on the final holes. So signing off three under par, with 23 points we knew we were likely to be in the frame somewhere.
As to final placings,
5th, Craig and Arnaud, 19 points- (two under par plus handicap of 1)
4th. Botty and Stevie B, 20 points- (two under par with no handicap adjustment)
3rd. Will and Richard, 20 points winning on countback- ( 1 over par with handicap of 3)
2nd James and Martin, 21 points- ( 1 under par with handicap of 2)
1st. Maarten and Dennis, 23 points- ( 3 under par with handicap of 2)
There you go, quite quite a tight finish with some special liquor prizes being aptly presented by Frank Maitry on behalf of MixVOip.
There was some other action before close of play with Frank and Jess claiming a sponsor’s exemption to avoid receiving the cabbage which turned out to be a cauliflower (luxembourgers don’t know the difference), which was then passed to Tony and Colin.
Some remaining prizes were kindly donated by Frank under a quickly organised Tombola, to those frogs who had not yet won a prize must to the annoyance of Johnnie S!
A final thank you to Frank and here’s to next year with another competition format!
And final thoughts to Don and Dave who were overseeing last nights goings on with some amusement!
We are looking for one or two new committee members to help out particularly at events. It’s not that much work and full training and support will be given.
Grateful thanks to my fellow committee members this year for the efforts – Luc, James, Ernest and Ian.
We also would like to know what we can do to improve attendance at FROGS events. The numbers playing this year were the lowest ever. It’s your golf society, we just smooth the wheels. Please turn up and play.
Without mentioning events in Chicago and Paris neither of which have anything to do with FROGS or golf but are really notable most of you unfortunately missed out on a great FROGS weekend.
It all started on Friday lunchtime when the victorious Ryder Cup team met to celebrate the historic victory over our those who shall not be named. Many thanks to Dennis for organising the lunch and providing the balloons which reappeared on Saturday night to the bemusement of many at the hotel. A couple of newbies didn’t quite enter into the spirit and ordered beef rather than spicy chicken but they will know better next time. Gregor was presented with a new FROGS trophy as the winning Ryder Cup captain which he will keep until next year when we win it again.
If anyone knows the name of the winning captain 18 years ago please let me know and we will get them added to the trophy.
I’m sure some photos of all the events will appear soon on www.frogs.lu.
Onto Saturday morning for the much delayed Bijnens Beer 3 Club challenge. Serge it was worth the wait you beer is excellent and was much enjoyed by all.
18 FROGS, 2 guests and Marco braved the rain and cold just to get a free beer. Possibly as there were beers at the end our starter failed to provide anything to warm us up, thanks for starting anyway James. Fortunately half way round a buggy appeared out of the rain bearing beer and cognac. I’m not sure we really want Hoppy to start playing golf again as his support activities are much appreciated.
Somewhat sadistically the NTP was on the first hole (tenth for the pedants amongst you) and with the first shot of the tournament Peter Baxter almost won with 2.46m unfortunately he was to be pipped by a certain Arno Bottle.
The same Arno then went on to smash a drive past Ayzo’s best to also claim the longest drive.
Given the rain, just three clubs etc, etc the results were pretty good.
Johan claimed the first place with 16.
Arnaud “Arno” Boutellier shot 15 to claim second and Peter 14 for third.
In spite of an anonymous South African lawyer challenging the FROGS’ one prize rule this was maintained and therefore Arnaud’s LD and NTP went down to Mark Gillies with 13 and Gregor who beat Ayzo on countback with 12 points.
Marco will be presented with an honorary FROGS umbrella as the best non-FROG playing for his magnificent 13 points and we hope and expect to see him back in FROGS’ colours next season.
As Ayzo couldn’t be at the final FROGS event later that day he presented some very nice looking wine to Arnaud as the AKD Matchplay runner up and the same wine plus a bottle of 1978 Armagnac for the winner – Mark Houston.
Dennis – in spite of the name, Chateau Montrose is not a vineyard in Scotland but one of the best second growths in Saint Estephe, Bordeaux France. Sorry.
The Bijnens Pink Ball appropriately an empty beer bottle was hard fought over.
Neil Underwood’s 5 points wasn’t bad enough, nor was Paul Goes’s 4 points as having only sored 1 point on the last 3 holes step forward Mr Andrew Paton who took the honours on reverse countback.e
The prize giving took place in the halfway house and many bottles of the aforementioned Bijnens beer (http://bijnensbeer.com/home live following the official launch in Belgium later this month) were partaken of and the general conclusion was that it was a very fine ale. Many thanks from us all again Serge…
And so to the Annual Dinner – 27 FROGS and partners attended the dinner at the Alfa Hotel. I don’t remember but I think all there enjoyed the evening, certainly the champagne and wine flowed freely as did the cleansing ales at the end of the evening. Luc kindly broke into his cellar to provide several bottles of an excellent red wine as a bonus. Maybe that’s why I don’t remember so much.
Somehow most people managed not to fall asleep during the Fat Frog’s prize presentation speech – no idea how.
In no particular order the following trophies were handed out.
FROGS Matchplay Trophy – Mark Houston
Ken Reid FROGS Individual Trophy – Craig Ferreira
The all new Don MacGregor – Dave Moody FROGS Pairs Trophy – Alan Botfield and Steve Brown
The soon to be acquired FROGS CITCO Overall Trophy – William Heath
The Ryder Cup – Gregor Dalrymple
Interestingly the three floating Frog balloons were graciously donated by Dennis to fellow FROGS for their children.
Many thanks to our sponsors in 2016 who have all agreed to continue next year:-
CITCO
KPMG
Bijnens Beer
AKD
MixVOip
For those who still aren’t aware of the two non FROG related major sporting achievements over the weekend, the Irish ended the All Blacks 18 match winning run to earn their first victory over the All Blacks in 111 years- at least it was our second victory and we only had to wait 18 years.
The other one was a certain Scotsman becoming the No 1 tennis player in the world.
15 pairs went out to try and beat the reigning Pairs champions Brown Botty and 15 pairs came back with their tails between their legs. Steve and Alan retained the title and won the new Don MacGregor – Dave Moody Pairs trophy with 20 points (18 of which came from Steve including a 5 on the first following an eagle).
In second place with 19 points were Simon and Dave who beat Graham and Gerry on countback.
Arnaud and Ayzo were amongst 4 teams on 18 points and deserve a mention as Arnaud shot one under to score all 18 points.
Ayzo did hit one good shot though to win the longest drive on the 10th.
Johan took nearest the pin.
After a minor misunderstanding the sponsor agreed to give the leary to Craig even though the marker had been put on the following hole as no one apart from Frank claimed to be closer than Craig’s 4m.
Johan’s two shots not to win the leary deserves to be records as it was to c. 45cm. Shame about the birdie.
Merve clearly spent too much time practising on the range beforehand and almost took the pink balls alongside Danny with 15 points but they were pipped by Tony on his FROGS comeback and Colin on 14 points. The latter pair were last seen finishing their 5th gin and tonic courtesy of Colin’s ladies tees.
Thanks go to Paul for starting and to Frank for providing some very nice alcohol as prizes.
The next event tis the final round of the CITCO Grand Prix on THURSDAY 25th August. Your starters will be the Dalrymple / Gillies duo who started the opening round.
32 FROGS and guests took to the Belenhaff hillside for the MIXVoip Pairs last night. Rob McCorduck greeted all players on the 1st teebox with a MIXVoip pitch-repair & choice of cool beers before seeing them off in an orderly fashion. Cheers Rob.
Most FROGS were excited by the idea of having the last three holes considered in the 12-hole competition as the bulk of their what-if stories seemed to be on these when not being counted in previous competitions. Could they handle the pressure now that it mattered? Steve Brown definitely could. A monster drive on the 12 cut the corner & left all others in his wake. It was so far up the fairway, some were claiming that it must have been a ball that rolled out of his bag & down the hill from the first teebox! Longest Drive number 3 this season – BOOM!
A lot of FROGS were confused by the idea of a nearest-to-the-green prize on the 3rd! “Shouldn’t that be nearest to the pin?” they said, “but it is a par 4!” they exclaimed. Once they got to the tee-box on the 3rd, they realised they could forego their usual 5 iron nudge to the dog-leg for something a little longer & take the tiger-line over the long stuff. Take the tiger-line they did, but find the short stuff they did not! Dave Winters kept his head & his regular 5 iron to the corner, running his ball around the bunker, onto the fairway and took the honours.
Full flights of 4’s meant the pace of play was “moderate”, letting the last flights combine to make up a 6-ball. The excitement of which clearly distracted 4 of the 6 players. The Van Rooyen/Parisis and Doherty/McCorduck pairs in the final flight were determined to take the pink ball award with rapid fire drive and reloads sending salvos of balls in random directions about the course. Doherty/McCorduck managed to pip their opposition by one point with their score of 18 points. They were not rewarded with the Pink Ball, but instead received a spicy fruit-based beverage. As it does not contain any alcohol, they are confused with what to do with it!
The Pink Ball was awarded on the night for the “Most Artistic” shot displayed on the course. Colin Cameron was the proud winner having taken his driver to play a ball lodged up a tree, but only managing to send it scurrying backwards down the fairway he had just played up.
There were many pairs licking their lips at the prospect of their mid-20’s score earning them the title, or maybe that was just because their food had not yet arrived. Groans of disappointment were heard around the table when it became clear that high-20’s would be needed to be considered. The pairing of Lowe/Hopwood managed to score 26 points, but this was only enough to 4th place, having lost out to the Van Eysinga/Tippin duo on countback. The Houston/Baxter pairing knew they had two more points than this, so had visions of glory. They did have the highest score on the night with 28 points, but could not match the birdie/birdie/birdie/birdie/birdie finish of team Brown/Botfield, and so had to settle for second place. Congratulations to Steve & Alan on becoming the 2015 MIXVoip Pairs Champions.
Thanks Frank & MIXVoip, for your continued support of the pairs event.
While I have your attention, I think it is a good time to point out some men’s health issues that have been highlighted on WORT.lu this morning. Everyone will be aware of the need to keep checking our bits for lumps & bumps, but domestic abuse against men is something not everyone considers. This morning, the Human Resources department at BNPParibas reported a case of suspected domestic abuse against one of their staff to the relevant authorities. “He arrived to the office this morning – his face was battered & bruised” stated a shocked colleague. The sergeant investigating the case has advised that, while it is unusual, men are also subjected to physical abuse at home. “This case in particularly sad” reported the sergeant, “the victim – referred to Big Dave in order to protect his identity – vehemently denies any wrong doing on his aggressor’s part”. Much like Stockholm syndrome, cases like this see the victim defend their aggressor & invent these cover stories. “He insists on claiming that his facial wounds are as a result of a golfing incident” mocked the sergeant. “We will send a car to investigate the glass door at Junglinster Golf Club, which the victim claims to have run into with his face – but seriously, who does that!” stated the exasperated sergeant. “While he is still visibly emotional about the claimed incident, another flaw in Big Dave’s cover story is the suggestion that all 31 of his friends pointed & laughed at him instead of coming to his assistance!” he reported, “clearly that could not have happened!” It is a sad case, and a warning to us all. Take care out there, FROGS!
The competition was sponsored MIXvoip. Many thanks to them for their generosity.
The course was in the best condition that many can remember, fast greens and reasonable rough and with the sunny weather an ideal Frogs evening. We had 16 pairs playing which again was a very good turn out. The starter was Craig who generously provided the beers on the first and who made sure that everyone was teamed up and started on time.
The scores:
NTP Jess
LD Woodge – 285 meters who just edged out Mark Gillies
Pink Ball and tees went to Johnny Hill and Paul Goes with 11 points. Although it should be pointed out that Johnny was injured. We do hope that he makes a full and speedy recovery – nonetheless the pink ball stays with you.
1. Mauro and Andrew Paton on 21 points with Mauro scoring all 21 points! (Andrew did contribute when he matched Mauro’s score on the first)
2. Tony Nightingale and Simon Baker with 19 points
3. We had 4 four teams on 18 points and on a lucky draw Franco and Stevie Kaiser took third place.
Next event is on Wednesday 17th July at Canach where your starter will be Ian Docherty.
In what should have been ideal conditions for golf and high scores expected the overall results of round 7 were somewhat lower than anticipated. Perhaps the slow, sanded greens or the worse than Canach rough was to blame. Anyway 26 members and one guest seemed to generally enjoy themselves. Thanks to Woodge for starting – maybe the low scores were due to the lack of beers on the first tee.
Both matchplay competitions are behind schedule and both need to be completed before the end of July with no exceptions so get to it.
Pairs sponsored by MIXvoip
Please get your pairs into Craig soonest – he will pair you up if you’re on your lonesome. Tee-offs from 17.30 next Tuesday at Canach.
Ryder Cup
Again get your availability or otherwise into Jonny Hill (but not at his work address now) hilljo@internet.lu
CITCO Round 8
Ian Docherty is your starter for Canach on Wednesday 17 July. Email to come out next week.
The results
We were pleased to welcome back into the fold the Bottmeister fresh from his near level par round last Sunday – shame about the last but he’s available to talk you through it if you’re interested and even more so if you’re not. All he needs is a few scraps of your dinner – at least that’s all it took for him to announce the results this week. He asked me to say he is available for weddings and bar mitzvahs at very cheap rates.
Standard Scratch was 14 – only 5 people beat it shame on the rest of you.
LD Johan
NTP Botty
CITCO
1. Stuart Rowlands 17 points
2. Stephane “The Bandit” Ayache 16 points on countback from
3. Woodge
For the record (as I’m one) the two who scored 15 were Craig and meeeee.
James Holland scored a commendable 14 points as the only guest and was duly rewarded with a fine sleeve of FROGS balls for his efforts.
In the absence of our regulars – does John Sutherland still have his clubs and has anyone seen Bernard – the pink ball almost went to Jess “the man in the suit” Have on 7 points but the clear winner with 5 was Phil Zimmer.
Overall we have a new leader – Stephane on 91 after only playing 5 events, Craig on 82 and yours truly on 76.
For the record Stephane has come down from 13.5 to 5.3 in 5 rounds. A lesson to us all perhaps.
