Mossel Bay SCOOM February 2013
Mossel Bay Golf Course is one of those hidden gems – a short course requiring good course management. It offers a real challenge to all golfers – the good, the bad and the ugly! A fairly strong wind forms an integral ‘part-of-the-course’ since Mossel Bay GC is built on a hilltop overlooking the Indian Ocean. Another unique attribute of Mossel Bay is that the sea can be seen from each one of the 18 holes. The Southern Cape juniors were hosted at this wonderful course on Sunday 24th February and were greeted with sunshine and a friendly breeze that wasn’t too testing for golf but that kept the conditions nice and fresh.
Mossel Bay is a tough course for juniors because on a general basis the youngsters have not yet developed their course management skills and without excellent course management skills a potentially big score on a hole is always a threat. At Mossel Bay juniors will quite often use the wrong club off a tee. In view of their previous challenging experiences there was quite a negative attitude from KeNako students towards the tournament during the week prior to the tournament – some of the students regard the course as being unfair. Reality is that a player should not use a driver all the time – getting the ball in play is rather the priority.
After many of the KeNako students enjoyed a very successful tournament, hopefully some of the negative attitude has been laid to rest! KeNako students finished 1st, 2nd and 3rd – a great result!! James Pennington won his first tournament in the Southern Cape with a fine 69 and by all accounts his score could have been quite a bit lower. James has shown consistent improvement in his game and now that he has experienced a win expectations are that this will be the first of many wins. Cameron Moralee finished 2nd – another fine performance from this talented youngster who has become a very consistent competitor. Cameron sets a fine example with his hard work ethic and great attitude. Both James and Cameron joined the academy at the start of 2012 so they have enjoyed the benefit of a full year program.
Alan Lones, who finished 3rd, only joined KeNako at the beginning of 2013 and he is already showing considerable improvement, having shot his career best score of 71 when finishing in 2nd place at Kingswood just one week prior to Mossel Bay. Alan and Cyril Botha from the Louis Oosthuizen Foundation in Mossel Bay both shot level par 72’s, with Alan winning the count back. This is another excellent result for Alan who is yet another talented 15 year old at KeNako. Alan has adjusted superbly to the intensity of the golf program. He has taken the technical changes in his stride and he has already started hitting the ball further and more consistently.
Other notable performances by KeNako students included a best ever result for David Park, a Korean boy who had never played golf before joining the program at the beginning of 2012. Davis won the B Division. Special mention must be made of Nicholas Bacon, who had his best tournament round to date, beating his previous tournament best by 7 shots.
One of the highlights of the Mossel Bay tournament was young Dijon Coetzer’s 5 birdies-in-a-row blitz – this from a 12 year old with an enormous passion for the game who cannot wait for his next competition! There are not many golfers around the world who can claim to have made 5 consecutive birdies! Dijon has been working with the team at KeNako since early 2013 and he has impressed Roger with his enthusiasm and knowledge of the game.
Well done to all.