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.\u00a0 Namely Cottesloe, Joondalup, Nedlands and WAGC, with a bye at Mandurah.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Consequently we met some very tough competition.\u00a0 A big thank you to the dedicated members of our team who were available every game and made the pennant season a priority.\u00a0\u00a0 Sadly, despite the short season, we struggled each week to fill the seven places.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
In our thankyous let\u2019s not forget the 11 invaluable caddies, 6 of them being our husbands.\u00a0\u00a0 And the 3 caddies who agreed to go reserve, even though they were hoping they didn\u2019t have to play.\u00a0 Caddying is good fun and something our newer players should consider as it would greatly benefit their own game.<\/p>\n
In terms of winning we didn\u2019t have a good season.\u00a0\u00a0 Our lowest player was a 14 handicapper, which wasn\u2019t quite strong enough at no. 1 and 2 positions.\u00a0 Had we had the luxury of playing the team further down the order I think the result would have been very different.\u00a0 However, even though we were often outclassed it didn\u2019t stop every player doing their utmost to win, and that\u2019s all we can ask.<\/p>\n
Age and health issues are having an impact on lady golfers wanting to play pennants.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
In all likelihood we will be relegated to Division 4 next year, which is a handicapped division, as opposed to being \u201coff the stick\u201d.\u00a0 The rules for using a motorised cart in that division do not require a specialist\u2019s certificate, exemption letter etc. so I would expect this would make pennants more attractive to some players.<\/p>\n
Playing pennants and representing your club is an honour and something to be proud of.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
In my endeavours to get players to fill in I discovered confidence is the biggest factor that is holding people back from \u201cputting themselves on the line\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0 A lot of the \u201cfears\u201d people face in golf, for example getting out of bunkers, come down to purely the right technique.\u00a0\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
Last year I ran pre-season practice sessions for the Outer Suburban Pennant squad, with Tappie involved.\u00a0\u00a0 Attendance and enthusiasm was very good and I believe beneficial.\u00a0 This year Karen Johnson continued with OSP pre-season practice, which again was very well received.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
I ran the same practice sessions for the Metro Pennant players, who elected not to have professional coaching involved.\u00a0 Those that attended also gained benefit from them.\u00a0 But next year I would like to see a bigger squad involved from the beginning.\u00a0 The sessions are purely on practicing the short game.\u00a0\u00a0 I personally believe Tappie should be involved to ensure you\u2019re practicing the right, not the wrong, way.<\/p>\n
Ladies we can and need to make MCC competitive again in women\u2019s pennants and in my opinion the reason we are not competitive enough can generally be put down to the short game. \u00a0This is due to the nature of our course, where putting is possible from almost everywhere and there\u2019s always an out away from the bunkers.\u00a0\u00a0 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.\u00a0\u00a0 The good news is that this is fixable and just a matter of time and effort.\u00a0 So to those amongst you who are interested in becoming good pennant players this is the time to start developing those skills.<\/p>\n
Fran Harris,\u00a0Ladies\u2019 Metro Pennant Captain<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MCC played at Nedlands Golf Club on Monday 29 May 2023, unfortunately MCC were defeated by WAGC 5 \/2. The Women’s Metro Pennant Finals will be played on Monday 12 June 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The girls played at Joondalup this week, unfortunately MCC were defeated by Nedlands 0 \/ 7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The girls played at Cottesloe this week, and they Halved with Joondalup 3.5 \/ 3.5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The girls had a bye this week, MCC hosted the Round 2 Pennants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our girls played the first game at WAGC, unfortunately MCC were defeated by Cottesloe 7 \/ 7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n