CAPTAIN'S BLOG - NEWS

Arthur Brassey Singles Knockout 
- Don Barker
The final between John Jones and Paul Pettiford went to the 18th hole and was won by John Jones -  1 up. John was 2 up at the turn and extended his lead to 4 up at the 12th. Paul won the next 3 holes to move back into contention but John held out, halving the last 3 holes to close out the match on the 18th.

(Thank you Don for refereeing the match  - Kevin B)

The Vicar's Shield - The second round was played on Saturday. Unfortunately no carts were allowed on the course which precluded the first round leader Col Collins, from taking part. The winner was Peter Watson by one stroke from Brian Lamb. While they entered with what appeared to be similar scores, in this type of multi round event, the handicap that players play off in the first round, is carried forward to the second round and that adjustment to Peter's nett score in the second round gave him a one stroke margin over Brian. Peter's handicap had dropped by one stroke between the first and second round. 

Note: I was asked would it have been possible to re-schedule the 2nd round so that all those who played in the 1st could take part. There are a couple of reasons why it wasn't re-scheduled. The first, is that it would cause a ripple effect in our calendar, that is next week we play against Royal Prince Edward Yacht Club, then in a couple of weeks we have the Parent & Offspring trophy  and so on. There is also no guarantee that in the re-scheduled date we can have carts. A more important reason is that people may have arranged to be here specifically for a certain event and to change it to another date disenfranchises those members. So that is the story why fixture dates are not changed if the carts are not allowed on that day. 

The Fixtures Calendar
The mix of events in the calendar is selected based on many factors.  We play a lot of single stablefords , some with a 4bbb in conjunction. We have followed Golf Australia's recommendations by combining a single stableford with all stroke rounds. Now I think the majority of members are comfortable with this format.

Many members do not favour Par events. Some do not enjoy stroke rounds as a "blow out" on just one hole makes a very untidy score at the end. (Having a stableford run in conjunction with a stroke round has the advantage that whilst a player's stroke round may give a high nett, the stableford round may not be as affected as much. Many people like playing 4BBB, American Foursomes or other team events. In fact, I think these are very popular but in moderation. More than one member has said to me that they feel embarrassed in a 4 Ball by inflicting themselves on another player for the event. (I have gotten used to this embarrassment and occasionally all the "ducks line up" and I win a ball with my partner.) So, out of interest I counted up the number of 4 balls and single stablefords and you can see the result below. 

We have about 41 weeks left in the year for a total of about 80 events this year. I've just updated the on-line calendar and done a quick count of the number of 4 balls that will occur during that period - they are:-

• Wednesdays - say 40 events of which 8 are individual stablefords with a 4BBB in conjunction - these are all on open days (the 3rd Wednesday of the month)
• Saturdays - say 40 events of which 11  of those are 4 balls - 6 of those 11 are because the club event calls for that format and 2  are because of the nature of the comp

So that''s 19 4 balls which is about 1/4 of the events, half of which must be in a 4 ball format in any case.

Video Rules
Here is a very interesting video posted by Mount Osmond Golf Club in South Australia. It deals with some of the rules and has video examples from the PGA tour of infringements of the rules. Please click here to view

The sign-up sheet for the 
Winter Eclectic is in the Pro-Shop now.

An extract from Doug Stalley's book:-



       'Bowral Golf Club 
          1901 - 2001'

In the Beginning 
Bowral 1901

The times were very eventful to say the least when the Club was formed in 1901.On 1 January 1901, the Australian States federated to form the Commonwealth of Australia; on 22 January 1901, Queen Victoria died; troopers were leaving for, and some being welcomed back from, the South African Wars; and the first Federal election was under way, the big issue being protection versus free trade.These events were being prominently recorded in the local Bowral papers. Bowral in 1901 was a post town and had been incorporated in 1886. It had a populationof 2000, considerably more in the summer months, a branch of the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney, four hotels, a number of boarding houses, a public school with an ordinary attendance of 415, several private schools, a School of Arts with a library of 2000 volumes, three Masonic societies, six places of worship, a town orchestra, a cottage hospital, a court of petty sessions, water from tanks and the town lighted by gas. Importantly for the development of the town, as well as the Club, it was only 80 miles from Sydney by rail, for a fare of 15s 3d and 10s,with excursion trains on Saturdays at the rate of 1d per mile.Bowral by 1901 had become a popular destination for those wishing to escape the summer months in Sydney, ‘it being a favourite resort for metropolitan gentryand a much favoured sanitarium’. A private boys school was advertising that 






 

Coming Event 
Parent & Offspring Day
Saturday 12th April 2014 is the fixture date this year for the Parent & Offspring day. The trophy is the Secretary's Plate, donated by Karl Bolte, a past Secretary / Manager. The current holders are Fred Sewell and son-in-law Jason Wren-Pattison

Donations from two members and, using the expertise of Di Mellon, has given us this wonderful arrangement of flowers. The arrangement allows us to have year-round colour. 

Click on the image to enlarge it. The figure in the last column is the rainfall to 9 am that day 

it was ‘situated in one of the noted health resorts of New South Wales [and] offers special advantages to those who wish to send their boys to a good climate’. No doubt the boys also received a good education. 
Loyalty requires this conclusion,as the headmaster, Mr H. L. Thirtle, was one of the founders of the Club and a member of its first committee. As for sport, there were active tennis, football, cricket and gun clubs in existence.Golf was not unknown and there were several private locations where short courses had been established. However, there was no fully operative golf club in Bowral.According to Dan Soutar, in his The Australian Golfer , as early as 1894 the Bowral and Moss Vale Recreation Club held a tournament on some roughly made links round their clubhouse in Burradoo. This location known as Werrington was to bethe venue for Bowral Golf Club’s first inter-club match versus Goulburn in 1901.

The Founders
On 4 February 1901, a meeting was held in Milton House, a large boarding house inMerrigang Street, Bowral, to see if there was enough interest in forming a golf club.The groundwork for this meeting had been carefully prepared and the decision wasa foregone conclusion – to form a golf club to be known as the Bowral Golf Club.Right from the outset proper procedures were followed. It was decided to advertise and call a meeting for the purpose of formally constituting the Club and telect a committee. This meeting took place on 18 March 1901 and was held in thechurch hall of St Simon and St Jude’s, Bendooley Street, Bowral. This date, 18March 190l, marks the beginning of the Bowral Golf Club.
to be continued

Whales Tooth
The annual Whales Tooth match against The Australian Golf Club was played on Saturday. Unfortunately, we lost. This result is not unknown when we play them at their home club. Their modesty and our embarrassment forbids me to say what the score was. The course is in superb condition. Bob Constable and I played against Noel Darnell (the AGC captain) and John Rowan. Noel was elected captain in 2012. John has been involved in the event for around 40 years and organises it on their side. Ian Mckenzie organises it on our side. During the last year or so all of the greens have been remodelled, under advice from course design Jack Nicklaus. Some bunkers have been reshaped, added or changed and an extensive path system has been added. Specialised landscape designers recommended by Jack Nicklaus were used. One of the main criteria was that the paths had to aesthetically "sit" in the landscape of the course without being obvious and this has been achieved. The paths are hidden by being set-down into the contours of the land. Whilst at Bowral we don't have many bunkers, the opposite is true at the Australian. On the first 8 holes I was in bunkers each time, sometimes twice on one hole (on the first I was in 3 different bunkers). In the end I got quite good at getting out of them on my first attempt. Bob and I used a cart and the carts are equipped with a colour screen GPS which you can command to do a fly-over of the hole, showing where the hazards are (that doesn't help because you still go in them). The GPS also shows you your carts position on the hole and it will tell you if you indicate on the screen where you want to hit to on the approach, what the distance that shot would be and what the distance for the final shot would be. A really fantastic system. 


Noel played a great game with 2 four pointers on the first 9. Bob and I started off traditionally with a wipe on the 1st hole. On the first 9 we were beaten conclusively - on the 2nd 9 we were just beaten by one point. Remarks by members in the Members Bar afterwards suggested, perhaps untruthfully, that the course had been set up to defeat us - some of the pin placements were horrific. The day was extremely enjoyable, played with great company and followed by a lovely dinner in the evening. The Members Bar manager is a wine aficionado and has introduced some really outstanding wines - the Pinot Gris was excellent.  

Coming Event Parent & Offspring Day
Saturday 12th April 2014 is the fixture date this year for the Parent & Offspring day. The trophy is the Secretary's Plate, donated by Karl Bolte, a past Secretary / Manager. The current holders are Fred Sewell and son-in-law Jason Wren-Pattison

Open Days
Starting this Wednesday (19th March) Bowral Golf Club is hosting Open Days for members of golf clubs that hold a Golf Australia handicap. It is a medley competition and the format this Wednesday is a stableford. Bowral Golf Club welcomes visitors and visitors on these days, playing in the medley, will only pay the $15 comp fee (no green fee is charged). Both our male and female members could take these days as an opportunity to invite players from other clubs to enjoy our club. Visitors are, of course, very much welcome in the clubhouse for lunch or refreshments after the game. 

We plan to hold Open Days on the third Wednesday of each month and they will be added to our on-line Fixtures Calendar. 

THE WHITE HORSE CUP
On Sunday Bowral team 1 defeated The Grange at Pt. Kembla by 4 1/2 to 1 1/2
Stuart Denholm   Squared
Alex Mulholland  won 2/1
Brian Hanrahan   lost 7/6
Pascal Timores   won 5/4
Don Barker         won 2/1
Peter Girven       won 6/5
Although we have not qualified for the semi final we can celebrate finishing the season on a high note. Thanks to all who rose before dawn and travelled to distant places to represent our club and remind the district that we are not going away until the WHC is in our Trophy cabinet. - 
Don Barker -Team Captain
 


Bowral team 2 went down today against Moss Vale 2 at Kiama 3.5 / 2.5:
Paul Pettiford won 1 up
Jim Phillips squared
David Boyd lost 3/2
David McGinnes lost 5/3
Alan Turpie lost 3/2
Robert Eriksson won 5/3.
That's the end of the season for us. Thanks to all the fellows who represented the Club demonstrating exemplary sportsmanship, showing we are good losers as well as good winners. Hope to see them all again next year.  David Boyd -Team Captain

The Watson Cup
The Watson Cup is one of our older trophies and had been 'missing' for almost 80 years. Our records show that Mr P.W. McIntyre was the only winner of the cup and it was presumed by some that it had remained in his possession. On Saturday 9th March 2014, a granddaughter of Mr Walter Laing, Mrs Diana Brown, returned the cup to the club. Mrs Brown tells us that Walter Laing won the Watson Cup in 1936 and had been the family's possession since Mr Laing passed away in 1959. It can be seen in the trophy cabinets. 

Following are two extracts from Doug Stalley's book "Bowral Golf Club 1901-2001" referring to the Watson Cup. Doug's book can be seen on the website by clicking here. 

In May 1935, there was a letter from T. Watson presenting a cup, the Watson Cup, the conditions of play being left to the match committee. Conditions of the event were not recorded but the donor was almost certainly Thomas Watson, a visiting member and manager of Tooth and Company, Sydney, and a subscriber to the Club’s debenture issue in 1939. Hastings Clark has something to say about him later. The only recorded winner of the cup (in 1937) was P.W. McIntyre, then manager of the Bowral branch of the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney. Competition for the cup stopped during the War and for some time afterwards be- cause in 1961 the minutes record a decision to reintroduce the event ,and in 1962 it was played as a stableford event, later disappearing from the fixture book list.

 As already noted, there is only one entry on the Watson Cup for 1937. But the event was scheduled again, certainly in 1962, but at some time later both the event as well as the Cup itself seems to have escaped the attention of the match committee. It can be presumed that the reason why these events were not scheduled was associated with the controversy surrounding the course changes and the added problems for the captains E.C. Grant and K. Campbell and the match committee at the time. The scheduling of competitions suffered in the process.

 

Recently we had a visit from John Rigg a long time friend of our president Ian McKenzie. Ian and John both studied medicine together at Edinburgh. John is a past captain of Royal Birkdale and retired Chief Medical Officer of the R&A.
John was in Bowral for a few days and, together with Ian, I enjoyed a round of golf at Bowral a couple of weeks ago. John plays off 12 and lives very near to Royal Birkdale. When John was Chief Medical Officer of the R&A Ian assisted on the medical team for the British Open.  

 Royal Birkdale  has hosted the British Open nine times, first in 1954 and most recently in July 2008. Previous winners of the Open at Royal Birkdale are Pádraig Harrington, Mark O'Meara, Ian Baker-Finch, Tom Watson, Johnny Miller, Lee Trevino, Arnold Palmer and Peter Thomson (twice). It has hosted the women's tournament five times, latterly in 2010.

Royal Birkdale has also hosted the Ryder Cup in 1965 and 1969, the Walker Cup, and the Curtis Cup. It also hosted the Senior Open Championship in 2013. It was during the Ryder Cup  of 1969 that one of the most famous sporting gestures in all of sport was made. 

The Sporting Gesture
"I don't think you would have missed that, Tony," Nicklaus said, "but I didn't want to give you the chance."
All golfers know this quote - it defines the sportsman. During the 1969 Ryder Cup the competitiojn became a little bit 'enthusiastic'. Jack Nicklaus - then 29 years old conceded the last putt of game to Tony Jacklin hence ensuring a draw. 

Click here for other examples of sportsmanship.

Bowral 1 was defeated today 4 / 3 by Links Shell Cove 1
Frank Eggert       won 1up
Brian Hanrahan  lost 4/3
Pascal Timores  lost  5/4
Don Barker         lost 4/3
Peter Girven       lost 3/1
David Stanley     won 7/5
We have one more round to play next Sunday against The Grange at Pt Kembla but are out of the running for the semi-final.  - Don Barker

Bowral team 2 drew with Links Shell Cove 3-3 at Highlands today. Links is the top side in our division, so it was a very good effort by the guys.
David Burgess won 3/1
David Boyd lost 6/5
David McGinnes lost 2/1
Alan Turpie won 1 up
Bob Young won 2 up
David Mathers lost 3/2
We play Moss Vale 2 at Kiama next week in the last round for the season. - David Boyd

Many players use our course for practice. Here is an extract from our Members Handbook. Practice on the course can only proceed according to our rules.


The Club has a putting green between the Clubhouse and 18th green. There is a practice area and chipping green between the 1st Tee & the 18th green. Members may also hire range balls from the pro shop. Members may also play practice strokes to an adjacent fairway in the direction of play from any area of rough on the Course PROVIDED that players on the Course are not inconvenienced. Practice from/on fairways is not permitted. Sand Buckets must be carried at all times when practising and divots repaired. When using the practice area between the first and eighteenth fairways on competition days, practice balls must be collected prior to competitors playing those holes. Members may play a practice round on the Course but no more than TWO BALLS are to be used.

Dads' Army
Innovation. 
Dad's Army showed an innovative approach to clearing the vegetation from the side of the path going to the pro-shop using many of their on-hand implements and then one of the Club's carts as a tractor. 

12 HOLE COMP


Results of the 2013– 2014  Robert Eriksson
 
The 12 Hole Comp concluded on March 7, 2014. Due to the inclement weather there was no play on the scheduled last day.  In this year’s competition we had 38 registered players giving us a total of $760 in the kitty. Prizes are for the top 3 ladies and top 3 men with the money being put into the winners’ accounts. 

Congratulations to all our winners and thank you to all the members who entered the 20-week competition. Thank you also to the members and guests who joined the ball competitions held in conjunction through the period. 
It is all scheduled to start again on October 10, 2014.  Please click here to see the spreadsheet with the comp round scores.