Thursday mornings are differerent to the other Serra de Monchique club days, as the games are split into the following catergories.
1 - Every week the men play pairs betterball matchplay in a fourball, against another pair and tee off from around 8:00 until just after 9:00 (Depending on the tee times we are allocated and the amount of players). Clearly fourballs are ideal for matchplay, but often it is necessary to have some threeballs, when we play "split 6", which we have found is the best matchplay related game for three players.
All pairings are drawn on arrival at the Clubhouse, but it is always possible to ask for an early or late time when registering on the website. In our peak matchplay seasons, from late February until early June, we can have around 40 men playing - so during these times players will be split into separate groups (early, middle, late), to avoid waiting at the Clubhouse too long before playing
The mens weekly performance is logged and entered on a quarterly league with 2 points for a win, 1 for a half, 0 for a loss - the best six scores of every quarter count towards the league - in the event of a tie the biggest wins are taken into account. Entry fee is €1, but each quarter's winner receives €50, the 2nd has €30 and 3rd €20 - although as Thursdays are "male bonding" mornings, it is expected that some winnings are put behind the bar! Any balance goes to extras at our lunch after the end of each quarter, and our Christmas lunch in December.
2 - The ladies play their own game after the men on Thursdays, and enter separately on the website. Numbers can range from 2 to 16, but they arrange their own draw and play any game of their choice and sort out their own prizes.
One Thursday a month (usually the 3rd), is Ladies Day, when anything up to 40 ladies play a competition, organised by Eileen Groves. Clearly this has priority over other matches that day, so usually the men will have around 7 earlier tee times from just before 8:00. Due to the above, there is little chance of playing knockout matches on this day of the month.
3 - From the end of February the Club Knockout competitions start, and again have priority of the "unofficial" games. However, Singles matches are encouraged to take the first tee times, followed by mens doubles, then mixed doubles after the matchplay men - and ladies doubles before (or after Ladies Leisure). The aim of all the above is to try to keep joint members as close as possible to each other, with travel arrangements in mind. Please enter your intention in the "comments box" when registering, and/or notify Dave Tweed
4 - From the end of March, the Interleague commences. Away games cause no disruption to the normal SdM matches, but the five home matches are in the middle of the allocated tee times by Pestana, making it impossible to keep the husband/wife combinations close together. Interleague matches start from 9:00 until 9:36, so the Matchplay Men start from around 8am and the Ladies Leisure from 9:45. Due to the limited slots on the days with home Interleague matches, knockout matches are not encouraged.
5 - In the summer, many members have guests and as there are usually spare tee times on Thursdays "HOLIDAY GOLF" is perfectly acceptable. Best for these games to go at the back of the field, so available tee times are either side of 10:00
6 - Not yet a "major" Club competition, but the Foursomes competition starts around October. By nature of the game (alternate shots), these are like a twoball and much quicker than a regular matchplay fourball - so it is highly encouraged for these to tee off before the Matchplay Men, and 7:57, 8:06 & 8:15 tee times will give priority to Foursomes every week. Members requesting later times for Foursomes will be accommodated when possible, on the understanding it is disruptive to everyone's game to continually let people through - and for the players trying to get through!
AND FINALLY - Remember we are not a members' club, and whilst Pestana do their best to help us, it is a two way thing and it is our duty to release unused tee times as early as possible, so Pestana can sell them to others. Hence, my first release of unused times is usually on a Sunday, with the update on Tuesday evening when I close the registration procedure on the website - so please take the above into account when thinking of entering.