Ah, Nicklaus Signature Courses DO offer more for their members.
| In America, I had the pleasure of overseeing the golf operations at a Jack Nicklaus Signature Course, The Hills of Lakeway, near Austin, Texas. In my 5 years there, I led a team of members each year to an event created for Jack Nicklaus Signature courses; it was called the Jack Nicklaus Cup Matches. The team event was hosted each year at a different Nicklaus Signature course, giving my members the opportunity to play some of his other great designs. I took my members to Country Club of the Rockies outside Vail, Colorado, English Turn in New Orleans, Louisiana, Shoal Creek in Alabama, Desert Mountain in Phoenix, Arizona and the best of all, Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio. We played great courses and met great people from around the country. |
 The Par-3 seventh hole, the Jack Nicklaus Signature Hills of Lakeway, Austin, Texas
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Coming to St Francis Links and another Jack Nicklaus Signature course also meant that there could be and would be opportunities to work with other Signatures courses both here and abroad. With six Jack Nicklaus Signature courses now open in South Africa, the time had come to get our own Cup matches going. Dietrich Uys, The Director of Golf at Serengeti came up with an idea that was a little twist on the American event – he called it the Champion of Champions. I liked the idea and we launched the event around the PGA Tour Majors. On the weekend of each Major, the Masters, US Open, The Open Championship and the PGA, we also hosted our own “Major” – an individual competition where the winner would qualify to represent the Club at Serengeti at yearend in the 1st Annual Jack Nicklaus Signature Course Champion of Champions. Our representatives received free airfare, accommodation, shirt and caps for each day of play and meals!! Entry fees on the day were used to offset our team expenses. Heck, those four got a treat. Representative, Scott Keevy, who won an 18 holes playoff over John Hanley to make the team, sent the following mail:
Hi Jeff,
I would just like to let you know that I had a really enjoyable time representing “Our Club” at this weekend’s event. We got to meet some great characters and made some good friendships, especially with Meyers boy’s from Simola. As always with these events, we were spoilt with some clothing /meals etc. and in general treated very well in all aspects, deserved considering the “very” difficult qualifying criteria.
The reason for this mail however is to mention two “people” to you, for going beyond the call of duty.
Firstly Dietrich, or “Deets” as we got to know him, did a great job hosting this event at his wonderful facility, Serengeti. It is never easy with so many characters and “ego’s” flying about; but it all went very well thanks to him - and bodes well for the future of this event. The second needs no introduction to you and hopefully is not taken for granted - and that is Ryan Dodds. Simply put “Dodd’sy” is a class act who does whatever it takes to make his members happy, often giving up his own time despite it being a bit of a “get away” for him as well. He is a credit to our club and if we could get him to play more and coach less then we may even take him along a bit more often in future.
I would just like to let you know that I had a really enjoyable time representing “Our Club” at this weekend’s event. We got to meet some great characters and made some good friendships, especially with Meyers boy’s from Simola. As always with these events, we were spoilt with some clothing /meals etc. and in general treated very well in all aspects, deserved considering the “very” difficult qualifying criteria.
The reason for this mail however is to mention two “people” to you, for going beyond the call of duty.
Firstly Dietrich, or “Deets” as we got to know him, did a great job hosting this event at his wonderful facility, Serengeti. It is never easy with so many characters and “ego’s” flying about; but it all went very well thanks to him - and bodes well for the future of this event. The second needs no introduction to you and hopefully is not taken for granted - and that is Ryan Dodds. Simply put “Dodd’sy” is a class act who does whatever it takes to make his members happy, often giving up his own time despite it being a bit of a “get away” for him as well. He is a credit to our club and if we could get him to play more and coach less then we may even take him along a bit more often in future.
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Anyway Pards, it is just to say thank you.
I’m sure we all did “Our Links” proud. Cheers, Scott Keevy |
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That pretty well sums up why we do these things for you, our members. The boys did us proud, as well, finishing a strong second to our host club, Serengeti.
 Brent Vos, Ryan, Vlam Michau, Scott Keevy and Colville Pieterse |
Ryan escorted the guys to Johannesburg. He gave me the following summary of the event.
The inaugural Nicklaus Champion of Champions Interclub challenge took place over the past weekend, hosted by Serengeti Golf Estate. All of the Nicklaus signature courses (6 in total) send a team of 4 to participate in this interclub challenge to decide on the champions for the year. It really is a fantastic event and one all of our members should aspire to be part of.
The home course advantage the Serengeti players had proved too much to handle, but our boys were the "best of the rest" and finished runners up on a score of 204 and an average of 34 per player per day (the best 3 scores out of 4 are combined for the team total). The full results are listed below.
Our team members, comprising the winners of each of our four qualifying events held on the Saturday of each of the Majors, were Vlam Michau, Brent Vos, Scott Keevy and Colville Pieterse.
For those of you that don't know, this is what paying their R100 entry fee and winning the qualifying event meant for these players:
• Return Air Ticket to and from JHB
• Accommodation
• All Meals
• 3 x Team shirts
• 1 x Team cap
• 3 x Rounds of Golf @ Serengeti including Green Fees, Halfway House and Golf Cars
• Accommodation
• All Meals
• 3 x Team shirts
• 1 x Team cap
• 3 x Rounds of Golf @ Serengeti including Green Fees, Halfway House and Golf Cars
I hope that next year we will have full fields for the qualifiers - mark it off in your diaries now!
| Results: Team Scores Serengeti 216 pts St. Francis Links 204 pts Pecanwood 202 pts Simola 188 pts Pearl Valley 182 pts |
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Smiling Faces!
With the holiday rush coming, you see some new “smiles” around the Club. One new smile is on the face of Derek Kovacs, who joins us for the season from The Ladies’ Club in Toronto, Canada. Yep, the Ladies’ Club is an all ladies course and club… Maybe he is still smiling because he was the only male allowed on the premises! Derek will assist with starting and outside operations during the holiday period. He plays off ‘scratch’ and will be available for a game when he is not scheduled to work.
Start Booking… Or You May Miss Out!
Christmas Lunch is fully booked! New Year’s Eve is starting to fill up and the Centre Stage shows are a MUST DO. Morning golf is reserved for members and their guests - those times will be held for you until 48 hours prior to play. Please book in advance to aid our team!
 
 
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Special Rate for Members
December 14 and 15
Golf Digest Suscriber Challenge - Two days - Two Events!
Call the Golf Shop for details - 042 200 4502
Special member rates for the events*
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*if you want to play on Tuesday or Wednesday, but not in the event, R100 Green Fees have been arranged at St Francis Bay Golf Club (member rates)
Happy, Happy and safe travels during the holiday season!
Jeff
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