FROM THE KIEWIET
What a season!
St Francis Bay was a buzz like we haven’t seen over season in the last few years and the holiday makers ensured they enjoyed their time in St Francis Bay Longer than usual and especially on the golf course. We had record days of golfers over season as we had 3891 golfers grace our fairways over December, and January has started off just as strong with 1187 golfers in the first week of January alone. This of course resulted in excellent income at the bar, Pro Shop and with the rental of equipment.
Some interesting figures over the peak 3 weeks from 16 December to 07 January. Golfers were very thirsty as we sold 6034 beers, 5132 shots of spirits, 1725 cokes, 1331 Powerade’s, and 1006 shots of liqueurs, which I hope weren’t all for guzzlers. In the shop we sold 4548 golf balls of which 3435 were used balls. On average 22 push trollies and 33 golf carts were rented every day.
The season is also about giving back and with the Crouse Classic, Choccy Cup, Pink Ball and the Hat & Hound a large amount of money was raised by them that will be going to their different charities.

After a very busy season and the greens seeing a lot of traffic over them, we will be hollow-tining from the 28th – 30th January. The golf course will re-open on Wednesday 31 January again. We need to hollow tine to ensure we can keep the surfaces of greens in their best condition, hollow tining will ensure we can achieve this as it removes the thatch layer that builds up in the greens surface. It allows for the compaction to be broken down and for oxygen to get to the roots and better drainage. Once the holes are filled with new sand this also in turn creates a new growing medium for the plants roots to grow in creating more roots which will create a stronger plant. We thank you for your understanding during this period and as the greens recover after.
I would like to thank all the staff for their dedication over the season and the long hours worked to ensure everyone had such a great experience playing here and enjoying their holidays in St Francis.
See you on the fairways!
Justin
From the Captain
It’s a strange realisation that this will be my last article for the newsletter as Club Captain and I would like to thank all the club members sincerely for their support to me and the Club during my three years in that seat.
Particular thanks go to our Chairman, Ken Nieuwenhuizen, for his continued leadership and sterling efforts, not only this year, but over many years as a club member and past Club Captain.
Our Club Committee for a job well done, the Calamari Classic sub-committee for their continued hard work, which in this, our 26th. Year, was still a tremendously successful tournament, despite the last day being washed out. The Ladies Committee and their Captain, Noelle, for their valued contribution to much that the club provides. The Management and staff ably led by Justin, Jan and the grounds staff for providing a course that is a pleasure to play week in and week out, my most sincere thanks for the work you do and long may it continue. The front desk manned, or should that be “ womanned” ????, by Anzet and Zane, for always carrying out their daily operations with a smile on their face and to Lisa Eden, for managing the books so efficiently.
Our bar staff, who I am sure, are the envy of every hostelry for miles, Lilian, Elton & Virginia, thanks for always serving with a smile or a raucous laugh whilst keeping our glasses topped up and to our caterers, Andro, Suzette and their team for providing us with sustenance.
We are very fortunate to have a number of generous and loyal sponsors who make a significant contribution to the success of our club:
The Village Spar, Humansdorp Toyota, Fras Africa, Kitchen Windows, Grand Comoros, Tavcor Suzuki, Citadel, Cape St. Francis Resort & Resort Properties, Absolutely Water and The Quays.I trust that these wonderful sponsors will continue to find our club worthy of their continued support and we are certainly enormously appreciative of their generosity.
Golfing matters:
We have a very popular and well run seniors section which is down to the hard work and drive from Adrian, Bertie and Roger, very many thanks to that “merry” little band (and judging by some of the stories I hear of the regular Monday golf, “merry” is the right word to describe them ????) for the time and effort you all put in.
EP Scratch league, enthusiastically organised by Craig Haverly and my thanks go to him for his time and effort in doing so. The team finished 5th. In League 1, one place higher than last year, so are heading in the right direction.
Kouga league, due to bad weather and other outstanding factors only half the league fixtures were completed. Our team were sitting in third place, only a couple of points away from second spot.
Kelly Foursomes- this year for the first time we entered 4 teams rather than the usual 3 which meant we had a team in every division. Our first team were 4th. in division A, the second team came 2nd. in division B, the 3rd. team were 8th. in division C whilst the 4th. team were 5th. in division D.
Calamari Classic- with a full field and a long reserve list, this continues to be a very popular tournament and despite losing the last day to the inclement weather, we still managed to raise R356351 towards Club funds, a fantastic achievement in the current economic climate.

Congratulations to them all ????????.
In summary then, the Club has had another very good year and I am grateful that our finances are in a very healthy position. The AGM has been set for Tuesday 30th January and audited financials will be sent to all in due course.
I feel very privileged and enormously honoured to be Captain of this fantastic little gem of a Club and I thank you all for your support and patience……especially during prize giving ????.
All that remains for me to do is to wish you all a healthy New Year.
Nodolig Llouwin, blwyddyn newydd dda, Gelukkige Nuwe jaar, Bai Dankie, Diolch Yn Fawre.
Viv Jones, Vivianus Johanus
From the Chairman
We grant our best wishes to all of our members and their families and loved ones for the year ahead and we trust that 2024 brings happiness, prosperity and health to all. I would also personally like to thank the committee and our superb staff for their commitment and excellent support during the past year which brought a number of challenges that were generally successfully met, resulting in a satisfactory performance for the club. Our golf rounds suffered as a result of bad weather and, although we were below budget on rounds played, the shortfall was made up elsewhere, resulting in an above-budget result on our bottom line for the year.
It is with much bewilderment that we bid farewell to 2023 because it seems that “Time and Tide” are becoming more impatient as we grow older, along with the fact that the Tide component creeps ever closer to our village each year. King Neptune would appear to be expanding his empire so the revetment of our precious 12th green was timeous indeed. It would seem, however, that his expansion plans will require that we add further revetment during the course of the coming year.
After a lengthy and solid innings our greenkeeper, Gordon Dennet, retired during the second half of the year and Jan Nel has seamlessly stepped up and taken over his role. The course has been in outstanding condition all year and we thank both of them sincerely for their dedicated efforts, along with the loyal and long-serving greenkeeping team, as they have, week after week, presented us with a most enjoyable playing experience. We trust that Jan, who still has Gordon’s support as required, will build a long and successful career with our club and continuously develop our course into something even more special than it already is.
The “Bay Club Vibe” seems to be alive and well and we are regularly complemented by outsiders on what an enjoyable experience a round of golf is at our club. The friendliness of our staff on arrival and the atmosphere around ….and behind….the bar are important components of our ongoing success ….so may this, with thanks to all of you, continue ad infinitum. Our flagship event, the Calamari Classic was sadly curtailed, as the weather gods chose to claim the third day for themselves. The spirit, however, was not dampened at all as we still managed to emerge with a very successful financial result, along with all the commitment for the coming year’s event. Our sponsors again generously stepped up to the plate, as they do year after year and we are eternally grateful to them for their contributions.
We, sadly, bade farewells to Kieran Jones and to Roy O’Hara last year and both will be sincerely missed by all.
Our financial and management plans for the year ahead are in place, having been approved by our membership and we look forward to another successful period. A solid jump-start to the year, with a busy holiday season almost behind us, augurs well and we trust that this will spin off into the balance of the year.
Our annual general meeting takes place at the end of this month and we look forward to the usual excellent support from our membership at this important meeting, at which our results and plans for the year ahead will be shared.
May our committee, management, staff and membership enjoy a year of health, happiness and wonderful golf.
Ken Nieuwenhuizen
From the Lady Captain
With a blink of an eye 2023 came to an end. It has been a busy but very happy year which saw the end of another drought in the Eastern Cape and the catchment dams filling up at last. Through the dedication of the ground staff, our golf course survived the drought and the very welcome rains turned it to emerald green in the latter part of the year. Golf days took a knock with heavy winds and rain but players soldiered on and were taught some very good lessons on how to play in extreme conditions. We welcomed our Swallows back as summer gradually returned. By the end of the year, we were able to play on our beautiful manicured course which visitors rated as the best they had ever played on. Our ground staff deserve every accolade and words of appreciation that were constantly passed on to them throughout the year.
The final EP Ladies league game was played at Wedgewood on 4 August and concluded with lunch and the final prize giving. Our 2023 league players were: Liebie Meyer, Katie Belman, Renee Both, Heilie Uys, Noëlle Pearson, Joan Louise Manthe, Chamel Malgas, June Mason and Zane Gouws. The competition was really tough so we were happy with our results.
The Ladies Knock Out competition was completed by the end of October. Unfortunately, we had a few injuries which resulted in some walk-overs. Noëlle Pearson was the ultimate winner of the competition.
Chanre’ Coenraad and Renee Botha played in the Regional Champion of Champions Finals in September. Chanre’ won her division which resulted her playing in the National Championship where she did extremely well to come 5th in her division.

June Mason flew the SFBGC flag in the ladies division of the Calamari Classic by coming 2nd C/O overall. Once again our 4 competitive dress-up ladies were pipped at the post by the ladies from Plett who caught the eye of every golfer in their beautiful bling outfits. It was a happy/sad end to the Calamari Classic this year with a beautiful rainfall but also which washed out the 3rd day of golf on the Sunday. However, this didn’t dampen the spirits of another very well-organized and successful event.
The President vs Captains Day brought 16 ladies together in Salmon and Blue colours respectively. The final result of 9 – 7 to the President’s team is testimony to the wonderful spirit played amongst our ladies.

The Annual 36-hole Pam Golding Ladies Open, sponsored by Pam Golding and Richard Arderne, which is played at The Links Golf Course and the SFBGC, was postponed due to weather conditions from July to a Thursday and Friday in November. Unfortunately, this resulted in a decrease in the usual number of bookings. However, the courses were in immaculate condition, the hospitality was excellent and the well-organized tournament was another resounding success. Winners were Lynda Mynhardt and Carol Sharman, local ladies from The Links.
The Kettlewell Trophy was our final Ladies Competition of the year on 11 December. With 24 players dressed in the beautiful colours of Christmas, after a morning of closely contested golf in perfect conditions, we enjoyed a delicious meal prepared by Suzette at Christmas tables of crackers and wine. Congratulations to Katie Belman who was the overall winner on 37 points and June Mason 2nd on 36 points.

EP Senior Women’s golf continues to attract many senior ladies to the monthly competitions. We have had 6 regular players from our club attending these competitions and encourage more ladies to join in the future.
Our gratitude and appreciation is extended to our local community and businesses who have, once again, been incredibly generous with sponsorships for many of our prizes at all our ladies events throughout the year.
Noelle Pearson