2006 Golf Review

2006 was a great year for golf at Hilton both on and off the golf course. The overall development and progress made by the boys has been phenomenal and it is clear that the level of performance has improved significantly, as indicated by the scores being achieved in events, Order of Merits and the school championships.

The first team achieved the following outstanding results:

• Winners of the Pietermaritzburg Schools’ League for the second year in succession

• Winners of the Douglas Cup at Bosch Hoek for the second year in succession

• The Hilton ‘A’ Team finished in third place at the prestigious Dainfern College tournament

• The top KZN School (7th Place overall) at the St. John’s International Schools Tournament and this team did not include any Matrics.

Other highlights during 2006 were:

• The School Championships played over 36 holes was won by Giles Hedley with a score of 2 over par and the runner up was Tim Drummond. The Junior Champion (Form 1 and 2) for the second consecutive year is Craig Andrew.

• The Inter House Golf Championships using the American Scramble format. Pearce, captained by Rob Ferguson, won the event with a score of 59 gross (13 under par!).

• The Inter House Long Drive Championship. The Senior winners were Falcon (Dean Shillaw, Mark McWilliams and Angus MacPhail) and the Junior winners were Lucas. The Longest Drive went to Garth Gerber with a shot of 307 metres – a new school record. The longest junior was Josh Negri which was 294 metres.

• Giles Hedley was a member of the KZN U19 team that won the inter provincial played during the holidays. Giles also finished 7th in the Order of Merit of the Ernie Els Junior Tour played in early January.

In 2006 we were very fortunate to have contact with two South African sporting greats. On the Friday before the Douglas Cup, Gary Teichmann spent an informal evening sharing some of his success secrets with the boys and then more recently we were privileged to have golfing legend and motivator Gary Player visit the school. Mr. Player guided the boys on a number of life skills and also gave them a coaching session.

In the second half of 2006 we realised the dream of having a synthetic putting green installed, which was made possible by the generous contributions of a number of parents, Old Boys and friends of Hilton. This facility will make a huge difference to our golf coaching programme and in particular to this important facet of the game. If one considers what Bob Rotella (a world renowned sport psychologist) says: ‘Golfing potential depends primarily on a player’s attitude, on how well he plays with the wedges and the putter, and on how well he thinks’, then Hilton golfers are well placed to become very good in these departments of the game.

A number of new events were added to the calendar, including the Form 1 and 2 event and the Golf Awards Dinner. Both events were a great success and we are currently looking at new ideas for this year.

The following awards were made in 2006:

Honours: Giles Hedley
Colours: Dean Shillaw, Dean Hildebrand, Rob Ferguson.
Half – Colours: Tim Drummond and Gian Chidoni
Certificate of Merit: Arthur Horne

The leadership appointments for 2007 are:
Captain: Giles Hedley
Vice – Captains: Gian Chidoni and Nick Rowlinson

We have plenty of golf to look forward to this term. So please update your diaries:

• Second Order of Merit – Sunday 28 January at Bosch Hoek

• Douglas Cup Squad sessions – Sunday 11 February and 25 February at Bosch Hoek

• KZN Inter – High Schools – Friday 9th March at Royal Durban

• Douglas Cup against Michaelhouse – Sunday 11 March at Bosch Hoek

• Pietermaritzburg Schools’ League – most Fridays

• First Team (8 boys) Tour to New Zealand – 29 March to 18 April

Thank you to all of you for your support and encouragement and we look forward to seeing you on the fairways.

Mike Todd (golf coach)