...at Dale Hill GC ...where we played at least 50 times en famille on Sunday when Mum prepared lunch, we played and had a late lunch... younger bro pipped me 4 & 2 with a back-to-back birdie on 11 and 12 when I had two good up and down saves ...
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Friday, June 14, 2013
Memorial service at St Johns church, Heron's Ghyll
Father Stephen kindly allowed us to use the noon mass for Charles with a reading by John and eulogies by Jeremy and Andy - 45 minutes or so with no fuss. Around 20 family and friends in all at St John the Evangelist church, Heron's Ghyll, Sussex.
H
H
Jeremy and Martin (godfather)
Jeremy, Mr and Mrs David Kemp, Mr and Mrs Aylward, John Gibbs & Andy
Everyone: John and Heather Wilmot, Caroline Smith (nee Wilmot), Lucinda (nee Wilmot), Nancy and Peter Curtis, Martin Scicluna, Tony Cotterell,
Eulogy "Dad"
Thank you Father Stephen for allowing me to share some words about our own father, and to the regular parishioners for their patience.
Charles, Tusker, Major CM, Wilmot. Loving and caring. As straight as a die. A thoroughly honorable man. A gentle man, erudite, learn-ed and terribly handsome...... His steadfast loyalty and devotion in later years with Margie served as an example for all of us...he was inspirational in his care for her and the dignity he gave her with his devotion. These were some of the words used in the messages we received shortly after Dad passed.
A talented sportsman with a super eye for the ball. Very competitive with many trophies in the cabinet and a very proud mother who kept all the press cuttings from his conquests during the Army days. Always an ambassador for fair play whilst on the court. Quick with a joke to break the tension. The greatest teacher and tutor Andy and I ever had.
Dad was my google. Never it seemed was he stumped for an answer. His ability to read and absorb and interpret was truly legendary. He never stopped learning whether it was South East Asian studies or Papal elections or the history of jeu de pomme or real tennis - the latter being a real passion.
A linguist with French and Bahasa. Although he could never master Cantonese or Hokkien - but I am sure that was Mum's way of having the upper hand! Well now they are back together to continue the 51 years they had together down here - and I am sure the balance of power will continue just as it was...
God bless you Dad. Lets hear some words to remember him from Andy.
"Death is nothing at all,
I have only slipped into the next room
I am I and you are you
Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.
Call me by my old familiar name,
Speak to me in the easy way which you always used
Put no difference in your tone,
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow
Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was,
Let it be spoken without effect, without the trace of shadow on it.
Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same as it ever was, there is unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
I am waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near,
Just around the corner.
All is well. ”
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
World Golf Statistics, 2005 to 2008
Dad hosted a website for several years and posted updates every week ... it allowed him to watch golf ALL the time!
Here are some extracts:
Which country is most likely to be the first
to overtake the US as the top golfing nation?
This question may appear somewhat premature, if not
presumptuous. But empires come and empires go, even golfing ones. and last
month's article highlights the speed at which changes can occur. Nevertheless
the US is so far ahead of any other country at the present that the current
closest challengers may no longer be so once the time comes. A glance at the
Dec entry in Analyses will emphasise the size of the
current gap.
The US has over 40% of the
professionals in the top 200 of the world rankings and nearly one thirds of all
the rankings professionals. It has over four and a half times as many golf
courses as the second country, the UK, and actually has over 50% of all the
courses in the world. Admittedly, it has one of the lowest ratios of
professionals to courses but this because it has already got almost as many
ranking tournaments as it can fit into the year. What would improve that, and
other statistics, would be for many more US pros to play in the increasing
number of ranking events elsewhere in the world. The US has the biggest
population of any established country from which to develop new professionals.
It also has by far the largest economy in the world, over two and a half time
that of the next country, Japan, from which to provide by far the largest prize
money for it's tours, to provide sponsorship and to build golf courses. Finally
it has the second longest established professional game after the UK, the US
Open started in 1895, the British Open in 1860. It also has an effective range
of satellite tours.
Although England does not come second in the world rankings the UK would
do so, quite easily. The UK has less courses per head of population and per $
of GDP then the US, 25% and 13% respectively but produces nearly two and a half
times more ranking pros per course. It dominates the expanding European Tour and
has an equally effective range of satellite tours. It is more restricted then
the US in space to develop new courses and it's population and GDP, at 20% and
18% of the US, is far smaller The UK would need to increase it's number of
ranked professionals by 165% and it's number in the top 200 by 225% to match the
US and that is almost certainly unattainable, especially as there are no obvious
weaknesss in the golf scene in the UK.
The next closest challenger at present is
Australia which has over 50% more courses per head of
population, 50% more courses per $ of GDP and still generates over three times
as many ranking pros per course. It is a far more efficient producer of ranking
pros. It is also probably the most sports conscious country in the world. It
also has virtually unlimited space to develop new courses but it's population is
under 7% of that of the US and its GDP under 5%. This could prove an
insuperable handicap, whatever it's immigration policy. More seriously, it is
lacking a world class professional tour. This year there were only five ranking
events in Australia and only eight altogether on the Australasian Tour. One of
these was a four way co-sanctioned event in China which provided over 40% of the
prize money on the whole tour. The result is that all the top Australian
players play predominantly overseas and some rarely play on their own home
tour. It is surprising how recently Australia developed world class players.
Apart from Norman von Nida immediately after the war it was not until the 70s
that their players started winning internationally. If the Tour could be
regenerated Australia might overtake UK but it would be hard pressed to ever
catch the US.
Sweden which has made
dramatic advances since it first appeared on the world stage in the late 70s and
80s. That was the result of intensive development and training on a national
scale. Sweden has more courses per head than the UK and still generates well
over twice the number of ranking pros per course (second only to Spain in
Europe) as UK, of whom a 30% higher proportion are in the top 200. Sweden has
only one problem, their are just not enough heads, only 3% of the US and under
half of Australia. It also has a shorter playing year than any other leading
country.
Japan is the largest and
wealthiest contender, with a population 43% and a GDP 36% of the US. However
golf is still an elitist game, despite the fact that Japanese were in the top 30
of the US majors before the war, and this shows up in some of the ratios. The
number of courses per head is one third of the US and just over one fifth of
Australia. Course per $ are 40% of the US and 18% of Australia. The conversion
rate of ranking pros is about the same as UK but the conversion into the top 200
is 30% below UK. With a land area, part of which is snowbound in winter, only
50% bigger then UK and a population double the size there is a comparative space
problem, but not enough to prevent a significant increase in courses. Japan has
a flourishing tour but the prize money is surprisingly low for such a wealthy
country, most prize funds are under US$1 million. Few Japanese play overseas
and few foreigners play in Japan. More interchange would certainly improve
Japan's ranking as a country.
South Africa is a unique
case. It is by far the poorest country amongst the contenders. It has only
just over half the number of courses per head compared with Japan which means it
has one of the highest number of course per $. However the vast majority of
golfers wer, until recently, white and the country has the highest number of
courses per white population only in the world (except for Iceland). At the
same time it has the third highest number of ranking pros per course in the
world, only Korea and Taiwan are higher. 71 of their 73 ranking pros are white.
Only six of these are in the top 200 but this is mainly because only a limited
number play regularly overseas. The Sunshine Tour had 27 events in 2006 but the
median prize fund was only US$70,000, well below any other ranking tour,
including the European Challenge Tour. Much depends on the development of
playing pros from the black community and the improved funding for both the
local tour and for more golf courses. If both of these could be achieved then
South Africa could become a leading contender but that will take
time.
Spain has a sufficient
population and economy and an excellent ratio of ranking pros to courses, just
behind South Africa but, sorprisingly, is very short of courses, with even less
per capita than South Africa. It's present position of 7th in the world
probably means that it is just too far behind at present.
Ireland is just too small to feature,
with a population under half of Sweden.
Korea is a very interesting
possibility. It's ladies are already vieing with the US for top position in the
ladies world rankings .It is desperately short of
courses, under 10% of the number per capita of UK and only just over half of
Spain's low figure. It has the second highest conversion rate of ranking pros
per course, after Taiwan and double that of Sweden. It has the population to
use the courses and the money to build them. During 2006 the number of ranking
Korean pros increased by 50% to 43, higher then Spain. It has it's own domestic
tour and is a leading light on the expanding Asian Tour. Korea only emergrd
internationally this century and is already 9th/10th in the world and second
only to Japan in the Asian order.
Nevertheless, it is unlikely that any of these
countries will overtake the US unless there is a dramatic reduction in the golf
scene in the US. A significant fall in the value of the US$ would, for
instance, give a comparative advantage to all the other tours. Even then, it
would take a time for this to happen and, during that time, it is probable that
the there would be new countries featuring in the top countries in the world.
The biggest expansion of golf in the world is currently in Asia and it is likely
that new challengers will come from that region. Tha Asian Tour has room for
more expansion both in events and, especially, in the size of the prize funds.
Japan and Korea have already been mentioned above. The number of ranking
professionals in India increased by 50% in 2006 and,
given it's population, it's economic growth and it's already large and expanding
middle class it is likely, in time, to overtake both Japan and Korea. However,
at present there is only one ranking tournament in the country. While this
makes the number of ranking pros it has aleady produced all the more remarkable
the country cannot expect to compete at the top level until it has more ranking
events at home. China, on the other hand, already has
eight ranking events (including Hong Kong and Macao) but has, so far, only
produced three ranking pros (four at one point earlier this year). With an even
bigger population and higher economic growth rate than India it is, despite its
still relatively small middle class and lack of sporting culture, also likely to
overtake Japan and Korea in due course. If and when both India and China have
done so then Asia, as a region, may have already overtaken the US. By that time
the main challenger to the US will probably come from Asia.
For how long will the US dominate world
golf? Nov
2006
At the end of the seven years from 1994 to 2000 the
top 60 players from the USA were beating the top 60 players from the rest of the
world (see USA vs RoW). The closest score was at the
end of 1994, 99- 81, the best score for the US was at the end of 1999, 170 – 10.
At the end of 2001 and 2002 the rest of the world beat USA. By the end of 2003
the US were winning again by 102 to 78. But this may prove to have been a
temporary remission as, by the end of both 2004 and 2005 RoW were winning by 180
– 0. In fact by that time all the 390 odd ranked US players in the Official
World Rankings were being beaten by their opposite number from RoW. Since then
the top three US players, Tiger Woods, Jim Furyk and Phil Mickelson have moved
in to the top three places in the rankings, cutting the RoW lead to 165 – 15.
However the next ranked US player, David Toms, is down at No 16.
USA is still beating both Europe and the rest of the
rest of the world (R0R), but their lead in both cases is being cut quite rapidly
(see USA vs Europe and USA vs
RoR). Against RoR, USA was leading 180 – 0 at the end of every year from
1998 to 2002. That lead has now been reduced , during 2006, from 170 – 10 to 107
– 73. Against Europe, USA was leading by 180 – 0 at the end of every year from
1996 to 2004. That lead has now been reduced, during 2006, from 175 – 5 to 135 –
45 and has recently been as high, for Europe, as 127 – 53. The decline of the US
score has, in both cases, started from the top, initially in the top match and
then into the second match.
Is this a long term decline or can the the US reverse
the trend? It has certainly accelerated dramatically in 2006 although it
started some years before, around the turn of the century. The expansion of the
Asian Tour, in the number of events, in the amount of prize money and in the
number of countries in which events are held, which has only just started and
will undoubtedly continue, will almost certainly see a continuing reduction in
the US lead over RoR. In fact, it is quite likely that the RoR may start beating
the US within a few years. The concurrent and earlier expansion of the European
Tour benefits both RoR and Europe. The joint events with other tours also
provides a fast track advancement for the top RoR players who would otherwise
take much longer to reach the top ranks.
The situation in Europe is rather different. The
number of main European Tour events being held in Europe has actually declined
from a peak of 35 in 1992 and 1993 to 26 in 2006, while the number held on the
continent has declined from a peak of 26 in 1992 and 1993 to 16 in 2006. At the
same time the number of Challenge Tour events held in Europe has declined from a
peak of 45 in 1993 to 24 in 2006, while the number hed on the continent has
declined from a peak of 41 in 1993 to 20 in 2006.
An increasing number of the top European and RoR
players are now playing regularly on the US Tour and the percentage of events
won by international players on that tour is much higher then the percentage of
international players playing on the tour. This has an significant effect on the
rankings as the US Tour attracts far more ranking points then any other tour.
Not winning on the US Tour is therefore much more damaging, for the rankings of
the US players, than failing to play and win in events outside the US. Very few
US players play outside the States which only reduces their potential ranking
points even further. Unlike the European Tour which now lasts for 50 weeks, the
US tour also has a long interval of two months between official (ranking)
tournaments at the end of one season and the start of the next.
Paradoxically, Tiger Woods dominance on the US Tour
deprives other top US players from accumulating ranking points and moving up the
order. Tiger Woods’ ranking points exceed the total of the lowest eight players
in the recent US Ryder Cup team. However Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus were
once (nearly) as dominant but still had plenty of other leading US players close
behind them.
But these are all technical issues affecting the
rankings. One fundamental problem, at present, is the lack of top level new
young players to replace the stars of yesterday. The position as at the end of
2005 is shown in Analyses under Where are all the young men from. This
shows that, at the end of 2005, Europe was well ahead with 10 players in their
20s in the top 100, against 6 for the US and 4 for RoR. Not only that but three
of the US players pass 30 this year compared with two from Europe and one from
RoR. The position at the end of 2006 will be published in late December and is
likely to show a further decline in the US position.
So what about the stars who no longer feature in the
main tour, whom the young men are replacing? The following players who were in
the top 25 of the rankings at the end of the year since the end of 2001 are now
no longer in the top 100:
- USA: Todd Hamilton, Justin Leonard,
David Duval, Bob Estes, Scott Hoch, Paul Azinger, Rich
Beem, Brad Faxon. (8).
- RoR: Nick Price, Eduardo Romero, Toshomitsu Izawa, Jose Coceres. (4).
- Europe: Bernhard Langer, Fredrick Jacobsen. (2).
- RoR: Nick Price, Eduardo Romero, Toshomitsu Izawa, Jose Coceres. (4).
- Europe: Bernhard Langer, Fredrick Jacobsen. (2).
To these can be added Ryder and Presidents Cup
players from 2002 – 2005 who are no longer in the top 100 of the
rankings:
- USA: Mark Calcavecchia, Hal Sutton,
Chris Riley, Jay Haas. (4)
- RoR: None.
- Europe: Philip Price, Pierre Fulke, Thomas Levet. (3).
- RoR: None.
- Europe: Philip Price, Pierre Fulke, Thomas Levet. (3).
The expansion of the professional game outside the
US, particularly in Asia, is bound to reduce the dominance of the US,
particularly against RoR. Against Europe they are already suffering from the
advance of the young European players and the decline of their own senior
players. Given these factors RoR have an increasing long term advantage while
Europe has a distinct short term advantage. Both these advantages are already
apparent. It is probable that RoR will be beating USA within the next three to
five years, it is possible that Europe may also do so.
Next months the article will examine which country has the best chance of replacing the US at the top of the country order, if any. They all have a very long way to go.
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
From Richard Cottrell
Canon Henry Scott Holland once wrote these words which I wanted to share with you:
"Death is nothing at all,
I have only slipped into the next room
I am I and you are you
Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.
Call me by my old familiar name,
Speak to me in the easy way which you always used
Put no difference in your tone,
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow
Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household world that it always was,
Let it be spoken without effect, without the trace of shadow on it.
Life means all that it ever meant.
It it the same as it ever was, there is unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
I am waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near,
Just around the corner.
All is well. ”
"Death is nothing at all,
I have only slipped into the next room
I am I and you are you
Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.
Call me by my old familiar name,
Speak to me in the easy way which you always used
Put no difference in your tone,
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow
Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household world that it always was,
Let it be spoken without effect, without the trace of shadow on it.
Life means all that it ever meant.
It it the same as it ever was, there is unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
I am waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near,
Just around the corner.
All is well. ”
First draft obituary (short version)
After
leaving Tonbridge School in 1949, Charles joined the Royal
Sussex Regiment. He served in Malaya during the Emergency where he
met Margie and left the Army in 1969 as a Major. He then
qualified as a business man with a first in PPE from Corpus Christi
Oxford. He travelled widely as a general manager and managing
director of industrial multinationals in the Caribbean and the Far
East. He changed careers into education and considered teaching when
offered a position at Tonbridge School. Instead he headed up a
British charity advising parents and recruiting headmasters and
teachers for private schools. At the age of 53 when living in
Malaysia, he went independent and directed consultancy projects under
the name of Edukasia for over 30 clients in eight countries. He also
created an educational business bringing foreign students to study in
the UK through publishing, exhibitions and English language schools
in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Mandalay. When Margie became ill, he
retired to care for her, study and write. At the age of 70, they
moved to Johannesburg, South Africa to enjoy their final years
together and when she passed, he spent his last years in England. His
interests in his early years were sports of all kinds and in
particular his love of real tennis, rackets and squash being Army
squash champion. Latterly even with a slipped disc, he was a single
figure golfer. When he was writing, his interests included the
socio-politics of Malaysia, papal history and the families of
Indonesia. He had two children Andrew and Jeremy, and five
grandchildren. He will finally be laid to rest in Ipoh, Malaysia
with his beloved wife Margie at St Michaels Church – together
forever...
Notice
We are so desperately sorry to tell you that Dad died yesterday in hospital from severe pneumonia which he had struggled with for three weeks after he was first admitted. Both of us spent time with him after his admission and we were able to communicate with him enough to say our goodbyes.
He had been almost unconscious for a while and he had not been allowed to have food by mouth because of the risk of choking. The lung infections had affected his swallow reflex and he had been on intravenous drips and oxygen.
Whilst his vital signs in the main were variable and marginally acceptable, the continued effort to recover was too much and he passed away at 1:30pm on Saturday 8 June 2013.
Since Mum's loss in 2008, Dad suffered from depression and his needs were tended to in the comfort of care homes in Singapore and most recently in Hereford, where he made great friends with the Asian staff particularly the chef who would be known to cook him fried rice on request.
We will likely have a memorial service or other form of remembrance in UK and later in Malaysia where he will join Mum at St Michaels Church in Ipoh.
With much much sadness,
Andy and Jeremy
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