Blog Archives

Fairway extensions, the Flag flies free, bridge on the 15th and nesting boxes, changing auditors, golf clinics

25/9/2015

Fairway Extensions
All playing members would be aware the fairways on the 5th, 13th, 17th and 16th have been extended by rotary-hoeing the rough. The new area will be seeded next Monday, weather permitting and will be GUR until sufficient growth to allow traffic. In order to minimise effect on our members, we will move the tees forward to the existing fairways for a period of about 3 weeks. The exceptions will be the medal round on Saturday Oct 3 and the club championships which will be played off the plates. All rounds off the forward tees will be non-handicap rounds. During the period of growth there will be several drop zones available on each hole for those playing off the plates. Please use the nearest point of relief, however, we would appreciate if you do not retrieve your ball as you will be up to your ankles in mud and do damage to the preparation of the ground. Balls will be collected at a later date and be available for you to retrieve, if they can be identified. Thank you for your patience during this period of reconstruction, however it is a “short term pain for a long term gain”. I am confident you will be pleased with the result. PC

click on the image to enlarge

Flag Our flag pole has had the stays removed to stop tangling and allow the flag to fly free.

Hassos and Associates have been appointed the club's new auditors following a vote at a General Meeting last Wednesday at 5pm. There are a number of steps stipulated by ASIC to be carried out in the changing of an auditor this General meeting was one of them. The appointment of the new auditor is budgeted to save the club around $8000 per year. Hassos and Associates are located in The Highstreet complex on Bong bong Street.

Bridge on 15th
With the opening of the new bridge on the 1st, the temporary bridge has been relocated to the 15th over the ephemeral water hazard to allow walking traffic easier access to the fairway. Bird wire will be put on the bridge to provide better footing in wet conditions. The approaches to the bridge are GUR however, the hazard is back in play.

Nesting boxes. Members will have noticed the nesting boxes on the trees next to the triple tee. The club was asked permission by the owner of the property across Links Road to put the boxes on the trees to replace local fauna habitat, as many trees in residential Links Road had been removed. Permission was granted, with conditions, as part of our environmental policy.

September 17th, 2015, Medal Winners, Photos

15/9/2015

Sam Mulholland, aged 28 won the “A” grade September medal with a net 68 off a handicap of 10. He also won the Max Allen Memorial Trophy, his first individual trophy won at the club. Sam is an avid golfer, who can be seen practicing regularly on the course. As Sam was leaving the club after presentation, I met him in the locker room and once again offered my congratulations. He was so excited with his achievement he was “jumping out of his skin”. It was a pleasure to see enthusiasm rewarded. Well done Sam, a worthy trophy winner.

Dennis Neale won the “B” Grade Medal with a net 71 off a handicap of 22. Dennis is a newish member, somewhere between Ray's and Sam's age, who has firmly entrenched himself into our club and is well regarded by all members. Unfortunately Dennis was unable to be at the presentation and I have not had a chance to offer my congratulations, however he is a very consistent and competitive golfer and finishes around the top on most outings. Well done Dennis.

Ray Smee who is 84 years young, an ex-Olympian and all round good guy, won the “C” grade Medal for September with a round of net 70 off a handicap of 24. I had the privilege of playing golf with Ray on that day and a lot can be learnt from his level temperament, consistency and accuracy. As Ray say’s “ I can’t hit far anymore” but does that really matter. With his handicap he plays “par” golf and loves every bit of the competition. Well done Ray and nice to see you back on the course after your recent illness.

Conclusion. It’s great to see the younger players joining our club and our thanks must go to the Mulholland clan (Alex is Club Champion) for the support they give. Younger players, bring younger players, as we are seeing on the course. However, as we all can’t win, you don’t have to be young or old to enjoy success at our club. Success comes in all forms, just competing by playing to your handicap, enjoying your round on our beautiful course, the company of others or the fellowship enjoyed in the club house afterwards, should be rewarding enough. It keeps us all young. - Paul Carroll

Annelise King, Peter White, Kevin Kenny and Jane Whitaker during their round on Wednesday

Golfers will have noticed the Star Magnolia by the pro shop.

The BGC 2015 Wine Cellar Raffle

Rules seminar - Renovations

9/9/2015

A Work in Progress

“The coring and sanding of the greens is now complete. Starting Sunday afternoon and finished Tuesday, Chris Bloggs cored all greens with Damian and his ground staff ably supported by 7 of Dad’s Armies finest, raking, shovelling, moving and preparing the greens for the future. A great job done by all. Many thanks from all the members” Paul Carroll++

There is a rules seminar being put on at the club in October. In our club we have several members qualified as Rules Officials - Club Level. They qualified by attending a course and then sitting an Accreditation Exam. Those attending this seminar will gain a good familiarity with the rules and how to 'steer' the rule book. There are only 34 rules of golf but, as we know, there are always situations that can arise where one is not totally familiar with the applicable rule. Knowing the rules increases the player's confidence that they are playing the game fairly the same way that other players in the competition are playing it.

Please register through the Golf NSW website - please click the link www.golfnsw.org

New members, Photos and the Redmond Dalton Trophy, 4BBB handicapping

4/9/2015

Terry Downing was the clear winner with 37 points in very heavy conditions of the Redmond Dalton Memorial trophy Saturday a week ago. He followed this up with another win last Wednesday when Terry partnered Alan Turpie in the American Foursomes event. Here is an extract from Doug Stalley's book about the Trophy:

"In January 1982, the Club received a letter from the Dalton family concerning a memorial trophy to Dr W.R. Dalton, a long-time resident in Links Road first elected as a full member in September 1949. His wife was an associate member from 1950, and their sons Paul and Christopher joined as juniors in 1973. Each year since, members of the Dalton family have been present on the occasion of the event and to present the trophy, a silver tray, the Redmond Dalton Memorial Trophy, a handicap stableford event for playing members.

An excellent job of mulching by Dad's Army at the 6th tee area was completed recently. Dad's Army conducts campaigns on Thursday morning followed by a ration of coffee and cake. Our club has many volunteers and the work that Dad's Army does is appreciated by all members.

Jim Evans has been a member for around 6 years and recently has been playing a lot more golf - good.
Jim splits his time between Bowral and Sydney. Many of our players, due to the time that they normally play, have not had the opportunity of meeting all members at the club. I plan to put more photos of our players in the blog to introduce them to all.

Just a quick explanation of how part of the handicapping system 'works'.

When we play a 4BBB a good score has to be specially processed. The full procedure is below, however in brief, if a player is on the card 9 times or more and the team that they are in scores 42 points or more, then the score is 'made up' so that player who is on the card 9 times or more has their score calculated as if they had recorded strokes on every hole. This procedure is done manually and, in our case, it is done by the gentleman in the Pro Shop. The resultant score is then uploaded to GolfLink with the date that the score was achieved. Recently a score was uploaded to GolfLink - there were 9 that day that had to be 'looked at' - and there was an incorrect date assigned to when the score was recorded. This caused an error and some confusion. GolfLink had then processed the data and a new handicap was allocated to the player but at a different date. However the regulations state that a player must play on their most recent published handicap. That is the way it works. As an extract shows -

5. The maximum Golf Australian Handicap is 36.4 for men and 45.4 for women. All players will play off their handicap that is recorded at this Club even if they know a previous score, that has not been processed, may effect their handicap. Previous handicaps known as Club or Domestic are no longer applicable; however, the Match Committee may nominate a player’s handicap for use in certain events.  (the bold characters are mine - kb)

Four-ball scores (including mixed events) MUST be used for handicapping an individual player but only if the following requirements are met:
1.     The pair has a score of at least 42 Stableford points (6 up in Par or net 6 under in Stroke events).
2.     The individual player's score appears at least 9 times on the four-ball score card.
3.     The adjusted score (after the below method has been followed to create an individual score card) produces a handicap differential which is equal to or better than the individual player’s handicap.

New members John and David Ferguson. John moved to Bowral recently and joined earlier in the year. John's son David plays at Castle Hill and has joined as a country member. If you see John or David at the club please introduce yourself.

Daffodils - Glebe Park - near Bradman Oval

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CAPTAIN'S BLOG - NEWS

Fairway extensions, the Flag flies free, bridge on the 15th and nesting boxes, changing auditors, golf clinics

September 17th, 2015, Medal Winners, Photos

Rules seminar - Renovations

New members, Photos and the Redmond Dalton Trophy, 4BBB handicapping

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