THE MWSS Trophy Cabinet
The MWSS Trophy
The first Trophy in the cabinet was donated by foundation member Crazy at the second game, at Huapai Golf Club in February of 2003. Crazy thought if this golfing thing was ever to get any traction it needed something to play for. So a trophy was forged in Mooloo country, by a mate, for a beer.
The plastic golfer on top of the then single wooden plinth was wacky enough to work. Levels have been added and every winning player's nick name has been added since that day.
To have your name added to this illustrious trophy you must score the highest amount of stabies, and if tied it goes to count back.
Banger's Shot
It took nearly 7 years for the group to register that we actually had some good golfers amongst us and that real golfers should have a trophy that acknowledges their abilities.
The Trophy is a Shot casing from large callibre artillery. It is appropriately named Banger's Shot after the undisputed best golfer at the time Gary " Bangers" Bancroft. His name appears on it many times after it came into the competition in March 2010 at North Shore Golf Club
To have your name added to this amazing trophy you must have the best Gross score on the day, and if tied, it goes to count back.
Glug's Mug
Glug's Mug was started up and named in August of 2005, after AT or Glug as he was known back then. The month before he had been dragged along to play and the jammy bugger got a hole in one at Formosa's 144m 11th hole. To celebrate not putting that hole, Glug's Mug was put in play.
It has become part of who we are as a group, being just off the green is a good thing.
The cup is awarded to the player with the least putts for their round, Putts are deemed as those that the ball starts on the green. The last person to score 3 putts or more holds the "snake". If you are holding the Snake at the end of the round you put in $10 to the cup. The winner of Glug's mug for that day gets that money
The Plate
Now this may look like we buy into "everyone is a winner" mentality, but in truth it is having a laugh at the cost of the second place getter, who really is the winner of the losers. We have been laughing at ourselves since the 17th game back in March 2005, when Broomy was our first Winner of the Plate.
The plate is awarded to the player with the second highest Stabies Score, but you can't win it if you have won the MWSS Trophy in the last 12 Months. If tied it goes to count back.
The Gnomes
Like the plate this is the chance to celebrate having a bad day on the golf course, as we all have them. They have morphed a bit over the years but there are now Shanksy, Yipsy and Grumpy. They are the negatives to The Bangers Shot, Glugs Mug, MWSS Trophy. We have records back to January 2014
You are awarded Shanksy if you have the largest Gross, awarded Yipsy if you have the most Putts and Grumpy if you have the lowest Stableford. Like everything, if tied it goes to count back, as per usual.
Ernie's Mere
Ernie's Mere is awarded to the Order of Merit winner contested since 2018. It is beautifully carved Pounamu Mere and represents the Mana that the winner of this seasonal competition has achieved. It is named after Ernie, who holds all the attributes the Mere represents.
To win Ernie's Mere and the substantial prize, it is simply the addition of your 5 best stableford points from all normal games. Overseas tour games are not included.
El Presidente’s Cup
The El Presidente’s Cup formally the Ryder Cup, as a format and concept was one that was meet with excitement by the guys. When most of us had come from team sports, going head to head against another team, with the added benefit of playing 3 days of golf with 3 different formats, has become one of those most anticipated events on the MWSS calendar.
The teams are basically, those born in Auckland (North) versus the rest of the world (South),
The annual event is played over three days in July, historically at the Dunes GC, Matarangi. It utilises, Day 1 Four Ball, Day 2 Foursomes, Day 3 Singles & Teams. Just like that one the Pro's play.
The Jackets
In respect to one of the greatest golfing showdowns each year, we play for our own Green Jacket, and also a Black Jacket on the final day of the US Masters. The timing for NZ to watch the final day, is a Monday morning. So we catch the final round while breakfasting with MWSS and Club members at North Shore Golf Club. Then after the Green Jacket has been presented at Augusta, we all play for the MWSS jackets. This has been in play since 2012 where Slim won our first Green Jacket and Banger won our first Black Jacket.
To win a Green jacket you must have the Best Stableford on the day, to win the Black Jacket you must have the best Gross on the day. It has been argued that The Best player on the day should be in Green, but it is the way it started and the way it will stay.
The Boomerang
This comes into play when we do an overseas tour. We have been touring NZ since 2004, and did our first trip overseas to Queensland in August of 2010 with the first tour winner being The Phat. It wasn’t until 2014 that a trophy was donated to celebrate winners. An Australian Boomerang, donated by The Chief.
To have your name added to this Australian ancient weapon, you simply need to have the best combined stableford score from all games on a tour outside of New Zealand
The Ranfurly Batton
Introduced by Scooner in February of 2021 as a side game to the MWSS events. It gave rivals in past rugby, soccer, cricket schools etc a vehicle to again go head to head. The ultimate, like it's name sake, is to win it and then defend it.
To challenge you must have 2 players from the same organisation play against the defenders, the competition is match play on handicaps. If you win it you hold it, until you lose it. The Batton is engraved at the end of the line of defences.
The Bugle
The Bugle was brought into play to celebrate the games we have with like minded groups around the country. We have played groups from Far North to Dunedin. Each Group is represented by a dog tag with the history of each time we have gone head to head. There has been some great battles over the years and the WW2 23rd Royal Welsh Fusiliers Signalling Bugle, represents these encounters well.
When MWSS visits a club we put a challenge out to play, but will take challenges also. The group needs to be more than 4 players. We play any format agreed between us