Sunday January 17th 2021 saw a group of hardy Sandgrown’uns gather at the delightful El Gusto restaurant in La Cala for the annual prize giving lunch and a celebration of a good year of golf.
Steve Pemberton the proprietor of El Gusto Restaurant and a Sandgrown’uns regular player was a great host. He and his team provided excellent food and wine in the convivial setting of the function room upstairs at the El Gusto restaurant.
The centerpiece of the room was the prize table groaning under the weight trophies and prize envelopes waiting to be distributed to the great and the worthy!
Mark Lundon and John Walker the organisers of the Sandgrown’uns Golf Society were the joint MC’s for the occasion. The assembled players rightly showed their appreciation to Mark and JW with a standing ovation in recognition of their dedication to the Sandgrown’uns Golf Society and the enormous effort they contributed to make the golf society the success it has become.
With a bottle of wine on board and the most exquisite “slow roasted pork belly” safely ensconced within the prize giving, clapping and raucous banter began!
The Honours for the year
Most 2’s scored during 2020
1st Mike Mariconda 45!!!!!!!!
2nd John Walker 30
3rd Jason Luczyniec 22
4th David Hamon 21
5th Mark Lundon 20
Singles Matchplay
1st Mike Mariconda
2nd Chris Hutton
3rd Steve Pemberton, Simon Greer
Gross Eclectic Los Lagos
1st Mike Mariconda
2nd John Walker, Jason Luczyniec
4th Nigel Freer
5th Dean Moore, Chris Hutton
Gross Eclectic Los Olivos
1st Stuart Leary, Mike Roberts
3rd Dave Hamon
4th Ian Bishop
5th Frank Spies
Stableford Eclectic Los Lagos
1st Pete Jolly
2nd Mark Lundon
3rd Nigel Freer
4th Dean Moore
5th Barney McCaffery, Dave Stewart
Stableford Eclectic Los Olivos
1st Gary Goodman
2nd Martin McAteer
3rd Simon Greer, Steve Pemberton
5h Frank Law, Joe McKelvey
Player of the Year (Tuesday games)
1st Dean Moore
2nd Jason Luczyniec
3rd John Walker
4th Joe McKelvey
5th Bronagh McCaffery
Player of the Year (Thursday games)
1st Caorline Boxleitner
2nd Mike Mariconda, David Hamon
4th Nigel Freer
5th Chris Hutton
Player of the Year (Saturday games)
1st Simon Greer
2nd Alex McCubbin
3rd Mike Mariconda
4th Pete Jolly, Stewart McCall
Player of the Year 2020
1st Mark Lundon, Stuart Leary
3rd Frank Law
4th Martin McAteer
5th Mike Roberts
The year in review
Covid break
I can remember vividly sitting in Paddys Bar post golf on Saturday 14th March 2020 having played in our first “major” of the year, The Costa del Sol Cup. The Covid outbreak in China was big news and the rumors that the Spanish government was about to impose a lockdown were rife.
Fuelled by beer and post golf euphoria our group of Sandgrownuns had it all figured out. “It’s no big deal” we concurred, they will lock us down for 2 weeks, the golf courses will stay open and then back to normal.
How wrong we were! The 2 week lockdown became 2 months. Our next game together was on the 14th May.
Increase in numbers
With the travel restrictions and general Covid chaos we were expecting small numbers of players during 2020.
However, we actually saw an increase of close to 30% on player numbers throughout the year!
The golf courses
Most of our golf this year has been played over the excellent courses at Mijas Golf. Los Olivos proving good hunting grounds for the high handicap golfers and Los Lagos proving a little kinder to the low handicaps!
The feedback from the players has been largely unanimous in saying Los Lagos has never been better! It is a fabulous golf course, we are very lucky to be able to enjoy it on a weekly basis. Well done to the team at Mijas Golf!
We enjoyed “away days” at Cala Nova and Valle Romano during the summer both of which were fully booked. 12 “Away days” are planned for 2021. To learn more about the society go to www.sandgrownunsgolfsociety.com.