The tournament committee has now organized its last tournament for the 2019 season. We look back on a fantastic season where we have learned so much.
The season got off to an incredibly fun start with Who can beat Kjus? This was a pleasant start to the tournament season for us. Shamble was on everyone's lips and questions were flying around. But I think we can all say that Shamble is a fun game that we will definitely use again.
The big tournament this year was the Garmin Mid-Am NM in June. This was a success that I will never forget. All the volunteers who came together and helped the club touched my heart (as you may have seen in the thank you video on Facebook). There's nothing more amazing than volunteers coming together and running an event like this to top marks from referees, TDs, players and the Norwegian Golf Federation. This was so much fun, and again THANK YOU SO MUCH TO EVERYONE WHO SHOWED UP AND HELPED. You are all fantastic.
The summer golf course was new this year, and it was great to be able to do something together with our partner clubs. This concept will be further developed next season. Social tournament where we got to know great players from Asker GK, Drammen GK and Kongsberg GK. We look forward to next season.
Mads came to me with an idea last spring to organize Greenkeepers Revenge. I lit all the plugs on that idea. I guarantee that Greenkeepers Revenge will become an annual tournament to be organized. This was a lot of fun. I think everyone who played can agree that this was an incredibly social and fun tournament. We're already looking forward to next time. It's great to see that more clubs have picked this up after we organized it. It's important to have a few informal tournaments where laughter is put in the driver's seat.
The Ladies' Round is a tradition at Holtsmark. Unfortunately, we had to cancel this year due to rain. We promise that the weather will be fine next season, and then we will arrange the Ladies' Round of all time.
The club championship 2019. What can I say? This is THE most enjoyable tournament to arrange. A party for the club. It's so gratifying to see the socializing around the clubhouse after we've finished playing. As head of the Tournament Committee, this has been a major focus for me. We need to get better at talking to each other, and sit down together and talk about everything and nothing. It happened during this year's KM. It warms my soul when I see that the «veranda» at the clubhouse is full after a tournament. That was the case during KM. Thank you to everyone who participated, and I hope to see you at KM next season too.
We hosted the final of this year's Østlandstour at Holtsmark. So it's fun that the winner of OoM Netto was Reidar. This year, as last year, he took home the title. A lot of good golf from everyone on a heavy and wet course. "The Østlandstouren is an incredibly nice and good tournament for us to organize. We get to show off our facility to golfers from all over Eastern Norway. We hope we can arrange it again next year.
"The Lucky Loser + Match Play finals were a bit of a sad tournament this year, I think. When people canceled in droves, it eventually became a bit sad the whole thing. It's a shame that people don't take note of dates when they sign up for a tournament. After a lot of back and forth, we arranged the finals in both single and team matches. Both finals were incredibly exciting. Next season, we will make some changes to the setup here so that we can avoid these problems we had this year.
Tuesday Golf. What a fantastic tournament series this is. The backbone of the club, with everything from 46-26 players starting every Tuesday. Something new was added this year to help raise the status of this tournament. I feel that we have succeeded well with that. The Tuesday golf final was a fantastic end to the season. The winners were announced, and it's crazy that Bjørn Lindberg Bjerke won ALL categories. You know you've won a lot of prizes when you have to order a delivery truck to get everything home.... he he he
Greenkeeping with Mads in the lead. Thank you so much for the fantastic job you do in connection with all the tournaments we organize. You are all a dream to work with, and as I say to Mads; «You're not an employee at Holtsmark, you're an inmate indefinitely». I hope we can work together for many years to come. You and your team are invaluable. Thank you very, very much.
Next season, as you may know, we will be organizing NM. It will be with 99% security the first week in August. If you have the opportunity to help with this, shout out.
I must also take this opportunity to thank our partners this season. Kjus, Sparebank 1 Østlandet and LPG AS (Golfpremier.no) have made it possible for us to «step up» the prizes this season.
"Finally, I'd just like to thank all the players in the club who have made this season an absolutely fantastic one. It is a little sad that we have now arranged the last tournament at Holtsmark for 2019. However, it's not quite over. New this year is that we will arrange a Winter Series at Peggen in Asker. Every other Tuesday from Nov. 5, we will have tournament games. More info about this is coming.
Thank you for a fantastic season. You are all fantastic.
Regards
Mikkel Opsahl
Head of the Tournament Committee
