Division 3
Although there were only four pennant games to play in Division 3 this year the games were at some of the most prestigious courses in WA. Namely Cottesloe, Joondalup, Nedlands and WAGC, with a bye at Mandurah.
Consequently we met some very tough competition. A big thank you to the dedicated members of our team who were available every game and made the pennant season a priority. Sadly, despite the short season, we struggled each week to fill the seven places. After much coercing this resulted in six different people filling in over the four weeks, which is not quite the same as having 7 or 8 permanent, dedicated team members. However, thank you to these players and also a special thank you to Chris Ryan who filled in for us twice and took on the No. 1 position.
In our thankyous let’s not forget the 11 invaluable caddies, 6 of them being our husbands. And the 3 caddies who agreed to go reserve, even though they were hoping they didn’t have to play. Caddying is good fun and something our newer players should consider as it would greatly benefit their own game.
In terms of winning we didn’t have a good season. Our lowest player was a 14 handicapper, which wasn’t quite strong enough at no. 1 and 2 positions. Had we had the luxury of playing the team further down the order I think the result would have been very different. However, even though we were often outclassed it didn’t stop every player doing their utmost to win, and that’s all we can ask.
Age and health issues are having an impact on lady golfers wanting to play pennants. Going forward we need some of the newer up and coming players and some of the Outer Suburban Pennant players to step up and work on their games so they can confidently have a go at Metro pennants.
In all likelihood we will be relegated to Division 4 next year, which is a handicapped division, as opposed to being “off the stick”. The rules for using a motorised cart in that division do not require a specialist’s certificate, exemption letter etc. so I would expect this would make pennants more attractive to some players.
Playing pennants and representing your club is an honour and something to be proud of. Sure we have to get up early and travel, but we have the privilege of playing beautiful courses for free and the experience of being part of a pennant team.
In my endeavours to get players to fill in I discovered confidence is the biggest factor that is holding people back from “putting themselves on the line”. A lot of the “fears” people face in golf, for example getting out of bunkers, come down to purely the right technique. We have a good professional coach in Tappie and I would urge anyone who lacks confidence with different aspects of the game to face up to them and get it sorted, rather than avoiding the issue.
Last year I ran pre-season practice sessions for the Outer Suburban Pennant squad, with Tappie involved. Attendance and enthusiasm was very good and I believe beneficial. This year Karen Johnson continued with OSP pre-season practice, which again was very well received.
I ran the same practice sessions for the Metro Pennant players, who elected not to have professional coaching involved. Those that attended also gained benefit from them. But next year I would like to see a bigger squad involved from the beginning. The sessions are purely on practicing the short game. I personally believe Tappie should be involved to ensure you’re practicing the right, not the wrong, way.
Ladies we can and need to make MCC competitive again in women’s pennants and in my opinion the reason we are not competitive enough can generally be put down to the short game. This is due to the nature of our course, where putting is possible from almost everywhere and there’s always an out away from the bunkers. With kikuyu courses this is not the case and as a result our opposition players develop very good short games, whereas a lot of our players do not. The good news is that this is fixable and just a matter of time and effort. So to those amongst you who are interested in becoming good pennant players this is the time to start developing those skills.
Fran Harris, Ladies’ Metro Pennant Captain
