Tarleton Team Golf Competition

January 25th, 2008 - Chris Marshall

John and Jacqui are taking part in the Tarleton golf event here in Almerimar this week and are going to give us regular updates throughout the week

The week started last night (Thursday evening) at 7.30pm with drinks at a welcome meeting in the AR Hotel in Almerimar.

Here we met the other of the 40 competitors taking part. A large number from England, a number from elsewhere in Spain, 6 locals and at least 1 person from Norway. The 40 people have been split into two teams each with an experienced and well thought of golf professional captaining the team. The two captain are: Mickey Walker a former Solheim Cup captain, winner of 6 European titles and Sky TV presenter, and George Will, a former Ryder Cup and World Cup player.

We were briefed about the format of play and there was a bit of banter between the two captains. This is because George has won more times than Mickey and he said he was already practicing his acceptance speech for collecting the annual trophy. Jacqui is in George’s team and I am in Mickey’s. We are playing a practice team game today to give those people who don’t know the course an opportunity to play it. The main competition starts tomorrow (Saturday) with further rounds on Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The week ends with a prize giving dinner on Wednesday evening. The people here on holiday have a busy time. The team captains give golf tuition to their team from 9.00am onwards before each round of golf. The golf itself starts at between 11.30am and 1.00pm. Luckily we can have a lazy morning and just stroll down for our alloted tee time.

Watch out for regular updates throughout the week.

About Almerimar

Almerimar is located in the region of Andalucia, Spain. The nearest airport is 30km away in Almeria. Other airports that are within 3 hours include Malaga, Murcia, Granada, and Alicanti. Other holiday resorts in the region include Mojacar , Aguadulce and Roquetas de Mar

Almerimar is a great place to live as an expat amongst the expats, or to work amongst the Spanish. There are all kinds of properties including villas, apartments and town houses for rent or sale. It is a very traditional part of Spain, with traditional Spanish foods so if you plan to travel to Spain either to look for jobs, for your company to trade with companies in Spain, or to learn Spanish and enjoy the Spanish weather then come and take a look.

If you are interested in purchasing a property in Almerimar please visit our sponsor Mirror of the Sun

Almerimar is also one of the largest marinas in Spain with over 2,000 births and excellent boatyard facilities.

Trackbacks & Pingbacks

Golf In Almerimar | AlmerimarLife Says:
February 8th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
[...] Golf Course Improvements Bahia San Miguel Prices 2008 Course Improvements Press Release Bahia San Miguel Prices Clarification Friendly Golf Matches Tarleton Team Golf Competion [...]
Golf In Almerimar - Friday Friendly Golf Competitions | AlmerimarLife Says:
March 8th, 2008 at 11:55 am
[...] e. g. Texas Scramble, Best 2 from 4 Stableford, an easy version of Yellow Ball, a Waltz (thanks to Tarleton Golf for introducing us to this format. On hole 1, 1 players stableford score counts, on 2, 2 players, [...]

20 Responses to “Tarleton Team Golf Competition”

Chris Marshall Says:
January 26th, 2008 at 9:04 am Quote
Good luck to you both Am naturally not allowed to have a favourite but don’t let that stop you shouting out who you want to win
John W Says:
January 26th, 2008 at 11:17 am Quote
First day over. Pretty difficult for golf as it got a bit windy in the afternoon and our tee times were from 11.30 to 12.40. This was a friendly competition with 2 players from each team in a group of 4. SO 10 groups of four. On the first hole, the best stableford score from the group counted. On the second hole, best two scores. On the third hole three scores. Then back to one score on the fourth hole then repeat the 1, 2, 3 pattern of scores on the rest of the holes. That meant it was 3 scores to count on the par 3 18th hole over the water with a strong wind against. There were also nearest the pin prizes on hole 5 for the ladies and hole 9 for the mens. All followed by drinks in the hotel bar afterwards.

I know my group scored more that Jacqui´s but we won´t know the final results until the prize giving dinner on Wednesday evening.

Today, the team competition starts for real. The hotel guests start their practice on the driving range from 9.00am and finish at 11.15am. Each under tuition from the captains George Will and Mickey Walker. The competition starts at 11.30 with each team having 5 groups of 4 players playing together. It is a team betterball competition with the best 2 stableford scores from the team to count on each hole. The scores from the best four groups from each side count towards the final result.
Chris Marshall Says:
January 26th, 2008 at 11:23 am Quote
Sounds complicated having to remember all those different systems

Have you and Jacqui got a side bet going then on which of you does best?
Jacqui M Says:
January 26th, 2008 at 12:26 pm Quote
Not as such, especially as it has been windy and he plays better in the wind than me. Don´t know what the side bet could be, maybe the loser makes the cuppas every morning for a week….but then again, he usually does that!
John W Says:
January 27th, 2008 at 12:44 am Quote
We have created a subsite of almerimar24.com dedicated to the Tarleton Golf team competition being held here in Almerimar this week. Click here to see the latest details.Here your will see pictures from the practice round plus the results from day 1 and associated pictures. Lets hope that things improve for myself and the rest of Mickey Walker´s team during the rest of the competition.
Chris Marshall Says:
January 27th, 2008 at 7:43 am Quote
That is a good idea. I think Sands wants to do a ‘wrap up’ post at the end, but if you can keep the daily summary updates coming in as well that would be really helpful!!!
John W Says:
January 27th, 2008 at 11:40 am Quote
11 points down overall and just getting ready to play the competition today. It is pairs better ball stableford. 10 pairs from each side with the best 7 or 8 scores scores to count (Brian, the organiser, said 3/4 to count so that would be 7.5 scores - not sure whether he will round up or down).

George´s team are going out for a group meal this evening. Jacqui said they are going to the Nautilus restaurant on Darsena 2. Not sure what Mickey´s team is doing.

Spent last night publishing the photos and results so far on the mini site mentioned in my previous comment and changing it so that it uses the Tarleton logo and corporate colours. I feel it looks a little more professional now. What do people think?
John W Says:
January 27th, 2008 at 7:56 pm Quote
Change of plan for George´s team. Apparently, Nautilus is closed this evening so they are going to Teds instead. Mickey´s team are eating in the hotel. Day off tomorrow so if I don´t get a chance to publish the results and photos tonight we´ll do them tomorrow.

8 pairs scores counted out of 10 on each side. Final result for the day was another win for George´s team but only by 2 points. So the gap is 13 points with 2 more days to go.

Special mention for my partner today Eva who had a par on the par 3 18th hole into the teeth of a gale force wind to get us 37 points overall. 2 better than the people we were playing with.
Chris Marshall Says:
January 27th, 2008 at 8:02 pm Quote
Way to go Eva
John W Says:
January 28th, 2008 at 3:41 pm Quote
Results and photos now published on the site mentioned in my earlier comment.

Both teams enjoyed their meals together last night. A great mix of people in Mickey´s group including 5 Norwegians, 3 locals and others from around the UK. We had the standard buffet in the AR Hotel restaurant but we had a table for 20 of us in an annex to the main restaurant so we had a little privacy. A quiet evening meal followed by a few short informal speeches and some jokes. Including lots about Skodas as Pat (a local on our team) and here husband Frank (on George´s team) are the proud owners of a new Skoda.

If I can get Jacqui off her sun lounger I´ll ask her to comment on her night out.

Today is a rest day from the competition so we are able to complete some chores and potter around. Back to the serious golf competition tomorrow.
Jacqui M Says:
January 28th, 2008 at 4:38 pm Quote
We (George´s team) actually ended up in Rincon Ted´s as the Nautilus was closed on Sunday night. Like Mickey´s team we too had one large table, the vino tinto was flowing and I tried the Roast Lamb for the first time which was absolutely fab, and I impressed myself for asking for mint sauce (salsa de menta) in spanish. Our neighbours Sune & Marianne invited some of us back for drinks at their place after the meal

I´d like to point out that John has done no chores at all today!!
Chris Marshall Says:
January 28th, 2008 at 7:34 pm Quote
Time to crack the whip then
John W Says:
January 29th, 2008 at 3:07 am Quote
Sad person that I am, I have been burning the midnight oil looking to improve the Tarleton Golf mini site for the event this week.

Click here to see the latest version of the site.
Chris Marshall Says:
January 29th, 2008 at 1:34 pm Quote
Site is looking good - nothing sad about being on the internet late at night!!!!
John W Says:
January 29th, 2008 at 9:21 pm Quote
Day 3 completed. Weather was fantastic. No wind and quite a lot of sun. Great for golf. Back to a team comp today. Best 2 stableford from a group of 4 to count on each hole. 5 groups for each side and the lowest group score from each side dropped. Mickey´s team won by one point (302 to 301) so we are still 12 points behind.

Everything to play for in the final day singles tomorrow. Each side has 20 players and the top 15 individual stableford scores to count for each side (worst 5 scores dropped. So it is still possible that Mickey could get a win. We´ll just have to wait and see.

Finished updating the site with scores and photos for today (see the link in an earlier comment if you want to take a look at the details).

Hoping to pick up a camcorder and audio recording equipment from Sands in the morning so we can record some comments and perhaps capture the team captains speeches at the gala dinner tomorrow night.
Chris Marshall Says:
January 30th, 2008 at 7:21 am Quote
Not sure what is more exciting, keeping track of this or the fact that the Dubai golf starts tomorrow and our office overlooks the course.

Of course with my luck I leave tomorrow so miss out on the VIP tickets, but I have tickets for the practise round today and hope to get down later to watch a bit.
John W Says:
January 31st, 2008 at 4:30 pm Quote
I think the quality of golf is somewhat better in Dubai.

All over now and the final winners were Mickey Walker´s team folowing a great comeback on the final day.

Have a look at the mini-site mentioned in the comments above to see final details plus some audio from the final day.

Life gets back to normal again now. As it is Friday tomorrow we will spend our evening sorting out the teams for the regular Friday golf comp.
Chris Marshall Says:
February 1st, 2008 at 9:40 pm Quote
That is some comeback, and thanks for the great coverage of the event!!!