What Happened at Our Meeting

Pres. Chris opened the session by stating (jokingly) that he had to begin early because we were going to have an extraordinarily "long-winded" guest speaker today - PP. John Kwok! He then invited Rt. Rudy to introduce the visiting Rotarians and guests of the day. We had Rtn. Benny Ratnani of HK North-East as visiting Rotarian and Rt. Bill's son, Jonathan, as the guest for today's session. Pres. Chris doubled-checked if he had missed any birthday boys and found none.

Subsequently, Rtn. Andy who acted as the Sergeant-at-Arms announced a handsome collection of HK$1,400. He also thanked PE. Henry for hosting a great party at the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) last Wednesday. Rtn. Andy further elaborated that some members had some gains that evening, whereas others "contributed" money to the HKJC.

Pres. Chris then took the rostrum and introduced PP. John as the featured speaker of the day. Pres. Chris mentioned that PP. John used to be called "Mr. Long John." PP. John had been a long-time member of the Rotary club, since 1979. Currently, he had retired from his directorship of the Wing On Group, as well as the Tung Wah Hospital. Pres. Chris joked that he would call PP. John a "retired golfer" - retired from everything to play golf. Finally, Pres. Chris added that he was really appreciative of PP. John, who actually volunteered to substitute for another speaker who was unable to show up at the last minute.

PP. John started his talk by saying that in this presentation he wanted to share with members his golf learning experience with his coach, David. For that matter, he had prepared the videotape that his coach had recorded for him. PP. John further stressed that the material in the tape was especially useful for beginners, since it mostly covered the basic skills and the what-not-to-do in a golf swing. He then started the tape, which showed him being in action, together with the commentary made by his coach. The coach was teaching PP. John the fundamentals of the swing, hand-positioning, weight-shifting, and properly releasing of the wrist during the downswing.

The uniqueness of the golf tape rested upon the fact that PP. John's swings and movements were being compared and contrasted against some of the world famous players, namely, Fred Couples, David Duval, Ernie Els and so forth. For example, in illustrating PP. John's problem of early release of the wrist cocking during the downswing, the coach showed slow motion play of the other professional players and instructed PP. John to perform some practice exercise (such as starting the downswing from a halfway position) to remove such deficiency. Other flaws that that coach covered included lifting of the body during the body turn, wrong hand-head-elbow positioning, change of the spine angle, and insufficient weight transfer. The videotape also showed vivid improvement of PP. John's golf swing after fixing the various flaws.

To test members (especially those who already think they are seasoned golf players) on their knowledge of the golf rules, PP. John put to the floor the following FIVE-question quiz:

1) In the process of playing from within a water hazard, the player's club brushes grass and a small, unattached twig is moved on the back swing. The stroke is completed and the ball comes to rest on the putting green. What, if any, penalty does the player incur in stroke play?
a. No penalty.
b. One-stroke penalty.
c. Two-stroke penalty.
d. A pair of two-stroke penalties.

2) In stroke play, a competitor plays a wrong ball out of a bunker, but doesn't realize it is a wrong ball until after he putts it into the hole. What is the ruling?
a. No penalty, must hole out with original ball.
b. Two-stroke penalty, must hole out with original ball, strokes with wrong ball do not count.
c. Two-stroke penalty, must hole out with original ball, strokes with wrong ball count.
d. Disqualified for holing out with wrong ball.

3) On the putting green, a player marks his ball with a coin, lifts the ball, cleans and replaces it, and ensures that the ball is at rest, but leaves the coin in place. As the player walks to the other side of the hole to look at his line of putt, a gust of wind moves the ball two inches closer to the hole. What is the ruling?
a. Ball must be replaced where it was marked.
b. Ball must be played from its new location.
c. Player has choice to play from either location.

4) After declaring his ball unplayable and accepting a one-stroke penalty, the player measures two club-lengths from the ball and drops a new ball. The new ball strikes the ground within two club-lengths (not nearer the hole), but rolls back into the same unplayable lie. What is the ruling?
a. Player re-drops ball without penalty, because it rolled into original condition.
b. Play must play the ball as it lies or declare it unplayable again, taking another one-stroke penalty.
c. Two-stroke penalty for substituting a new ball, he can re-drop without further penalty because ball rolled into original condition.
d. Two-stroke penalty for substituting a new ball, he must play the ball as it lies or declare it unplayable again, taking another one-stroke penalty.

5) A player is three down after three holes of a match. Before playing from the fourth tee, he discovers that he has 15 clubs in his bag, breaking the 14-club limit. What is the ruling and the status of the match?
a. Player is three down after three holes; loss-of-hole penalty does not apply because he lost the holes anyway.
b. Player is five down after five holes, maximum penalty of two holes applied on next two holes to be played.
c. Player is five down after three holes, maximum deduction of two holes applied to status of match.
d. Player is disqualified.

Members were excited and keen in trying to "guess" the right answers for the questions. PP. George commented that these questions reflected practical situations during a golf game, relating that a dog once picked up his golf ball when it landed inside a bunker. Amidst a lot of discussion and conjecture, PP. George, PP. Tim and PP. David were the ones who responded to these questions correctly, and subsequently, PP. John presented to them each some lottery tickets as prizes. The answers were c, b, b, b and c.

Pres. Chris commented that the quiz session actually proved to him that nobody in the club knew the golf rules well. PDG. Uncle Peter led members in thanking PP. John for his enlightening talk in the usual Rotarian manners. Pres. Chris then ended the session by proposing a toast to the Rotary Club of Hong Kong North East.

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Obituary

Mrs Ella Cheung, mother of our past president Desmond Cheung, passed away last week due to illness. PDG Peter Hall, PP John Kwok and VP Rudy Law attended the Lyke-Wake service on 24th January 2003 and a flower wreath in the name of R/C of H.K.I.E. had been arranged. Funeral procession was held at the Hong Kong Funeral Home, North Point at 1.00 p.m. on 25th January 2003.

Only real golfers will understand and appreciate this.

A businessman was attending a Conference in Africa. He had a free day and wanted to play a round of Golf. There was a course and he was directed to one in the nearby jungle.

After a shortjourney, he arrived at the Course and advised the Pro that he wanted to play. "Sure," said the Pro, "what's your Handicap?"

Not wanting to admit that he had an 18 handicap, he decided to cut it a bit. "Well, it's 16," said the Businessman, "But what's the relevance since I'll be playing alone."

"No, it's very important for us to know," said the Pro who then called a Caddy. "Go out with this Gentleman," said the Pro, "his handicap is 16." The businessman was very surprised at this constant reference to his handicap.

The Caddy picked up the businessman's bag and a large rifle, again the businessman was surprised but decided to ask no questions.
They arrived on the 1st Hole, a Par 4. "Please avoid those trees on the left," said the Caddy.

Needless to say, the businessman duck hooked his ball into the trees. He found his ball and was about to punch it out when he heard the loud crack of the rifle and a large snake fell dead from a tree above his head. The caddy stood next to him with the rifle smoking in his hand.

"That's the mamba, the most poisonous snake in all Africa, you're lucky I was here with you."

After taking a bogey on the hole, they moved to the 2nd, a Par 5. "Avoid those bushes on the right," says the caddy. Of course, the
businessman's ball went slicing away into the bushes.

As he went to pick up his ball, he heard the loud crack of the caddy's rifle once more and a huge lion fell dead at his feet. "I've saved
your life again," said the caddy.

The 3rd hole was a Par 3 with a lake in front of the Green. The businessman's ball came up just short of the green and rolled back to the edge of the water. He had a shot. However, he had to place one foot into the lake to be able to play. As he was about to chip the ball on to the green, a large crocodile emerged from the water and bit off his right leg. As he fell to the ground bleeding and
in great pain, he saw the caddy with the rifle propped at his side, looking on unconcernedly.

"Why didn't you shoot it?" asked the man in pain.

"I'm sorry, Sir," said the caddy, "this is the 17th handicap hole, you don't get a shot here!

PP John IV giving his talk on "What is an ideal golf swing?" which included a video of his lesson with his Golf guro David Lloyd.	A view of the TV Monitor showing John's "swing" ? showing you what not to do.
The left head table pictured PDG Uncle Peter, speaker John IV & Pres. Chris.	The right head table pictured Hon Sec. Eddy, visiting Rotarian Benny Ratnani (HKNE) & PE Henry enjoying the meeting.

Close up of PP Tim & PP George enjoying the golf quiz. They both won two Mark Six tickets for answering the questions even though they get some of the answers wrong. Let me know if you win othe Mark Six or not!!

Even PP Tim though not a golfer got into the Golf quiz the speaker gave to the meeting.

Even PP Li got into the swing of it by answering one of the questions.

Even Rtn Sam is smiling even though he doesn't need this lesson. All are smiling happily & enjoying the talk.

Rtns Andy, Dr. Tony & Hon Tres. Clark two of which are budding golfers.	Rtns Alex, Heron, & VP Robert showing some interest in the talk.

Group Photo of the visitor & Rotarians & PDG Uncle Peter, Pres. Chris on 22 January, 2003.