CAPTAIN'S BLOG - NEWS

Drain Maintenance
For a few months we have been planning to maintain the open drains on the course as a part of the overall drainage plan.  Getting hold of contractors and having a course dry enough to start has been difficult.  The good news is we started today. With the recent dryer course conditions and the higher than average rain forecast we made a decision to start on the 2nd and 3rd holes, the aim is to get the surface water flowing and any future storm water to run off the course.  This work is not the final drainage solution for these holes and underground drainage systems will be detailed in the near future. The open drains between the 4th hole and 3rd hole have been cleaned out and extended to capture more surface water.  A swale has been cut across the 3rd fairway and the start of the 2nd hole. These will be seeded and the grass will grow and they will be back to fairway conditions in the near future. Keep a look out for other areas which will be worked on.

The remainder of the years competitions have been updated in MiClub and it is a busy few months ahead. Below is the major trophies and events to help you plan your time.  Let's hope the rain does not derail all this planning.

August 2022

Saturday 27th - Captains Trophy

September 2022

Saturday 3rd - Monthly Medal and Max Allen Trophy
Saturday 10th - Keigwin Cup - Presidents Trophy
Sunday 11th  - Mixed Foursomes Championship - Round 1
Sunday 18th  - Mixed Foursomes championship - Round 2
Monday and Tuesday 19th/20th - Greens Renovation - Course Closed
Saturday 24th - Patrons Trophy & Foursomes Championship Qualifying Round
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October 2022
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Saturday 1st - Monthly Medal
Sunday 2nd - POP-IN charity Day
Wednesday 5th - Vicars Shield Round 1
Saturday 8th - Vicars Shield Round 2
Saturday 22nd - Club Championships Qualifier - Round 1
Saturday 29th - Club Championships Qualifier  - Round 2

Wednesday 4BBB - three competitions were held and carts were back on the course for the hybrid nine hole course.
9 Hole Cart Course - Stableford
Out of 10 competitors Chris Harvey won with 18 points and Warren Ryan running up with 15 points. 
18 Hole Cart Course - Stableford
Harry Caust scored 31 points to win the competition.
4BBB 
Thirty four staters for the 4BBB and with 43 points the winners were Eugene O'Sullivan and David Scholes and running up was Piero Dal Bianco and Martin Flaxman with 42 points. Paul Carroll was the Individual winner with 36 points.
Terry Downing won the NTP 11th hole and the Pro-Pin!!
David Burgess won the 13th hole 2nd shot NTP.

Saturday
W H Friend Trophy - Par event
It was great to get a field of 63 for a Par round; with still tough course conditions.  As expected the score was relatively low with +2 the highest results.  Mark De Jager won on a count back from Stephen Heywood. NTP 11th hole winner was Gregory Morgan and Michael Firth won the Pro-Pin.

Sunday 
Medley Stableford
Justin Smith won with 37 points and Nick Reinhard was runner up with 35.

Looking forward to spring with some warmer weather...

​Dave Burgess

The short term forecast looks promising; for a week or so at least.  The longer term forecast is not so promising, however.  We will be starting some drainage maintenance next week, this will not be the major works but it will get water off the course and will help.  Every bit will help.
It was good to get the 9 hole Cart Course going again and this will be going all this week.  Thanks to Matt and his team with the additional wood chips  on the paths.

We completed a couple more Trophy events during the week, The Arthur Brassey KO has been running since February and was completed last Thursday!!

The John Owens 4BBB Trophy
This trophy event is usually a knock out competition scheduled for earlier in the year.  In order to get this competition completed it was held as a "sudden death" knock last Saturday in conjunction with the single stableford.  The winners were Piero Dal Bianco and Alan Turpie with 41 points on a count back.

Wednesday - Single Stableford
18 hole competition - with 35 players Paul Carroll won with 37 points from Chris Kunz with 35. Les Booker won the Pro Pin and Alan Weston won the 13th hole Eagles Nest.
9 hole competition - Peter Leon won with 18 points from Warren Ryan with 14.

Saturday's Single Stableford
With 51 competitors and some above par scores, Terry Downing won with 38 points on a count back from John McGuire. Wayne Knapp won the NTP on the 13th hole and Tony Hobson won the 14th hole Pro Pin.
Sunday  - Medley Stableford
Christopher Dyer won with 35 points.

Saturday 20th August - W H Friend Trophy - Par event
This event was first played in 1951; W H Friend was a committee member from 1915 for a period totalling 23 years and President in 1945 - 46.
Saturday 27th August - Captains Trophy - Nett stroke event.
Saturday 3rd September - Monthly Medal and Max Allen Trophy.
A handicap stroke - best of three grades competition.
Saturday 10th of September - Presidents Trophy - Nett Stroke event
Sunday 11th of September - Mixed Foursomes Championship - Round 1.

Enjoy your golf and the tail end of winter...

Regards,

​Dave Burgess 

It could be argued that golf is a game of statistics and data. From entering scores onto a Score Card to the technology of Trackman and websites like golf stats.com; there is data on every player, every hole and every swing. If you what it...  For some it is a very personal thing to record the number of putts per round, the number of fairways hit or "greens hit in regulation".  It all comes down to how you enjoy the game and want to remember the experience. Next is a short story of one of our members who loves golf and loves statistics.

The Whales Tooth Trophy
Unfortunately due to the ongoing heavy course conditions and the uncertainty of carts being on the course the Whales Tooth Trophy (BGC vs The Australian GC) planned for the 8th of September has had to be postponed.  This is the third time this event has been postponed this year, we all are tenacious and will try to get another date later in the year. 

J W Draper Foursomes Handicap Knockout
The draw for this competition will be done this week and sent out to the contenders.  Due to the weather there will be some flexibility in the completion dates for the rounds, please contact me if you need time extensions... within reason, it would be good to get this knockout finished as soon as practical.
When you walk into the club house past the locker rooms you will enjoy looking at a series of prints of the "Open Championship Courses". These were gifted by Jim Draper, who joined the club in 1984 and was Scottish Amateur  Champion in 1954.

John Owens - 4 BBB Trophy
Next Saturday the John Owens will be a one round knock out event.  This event was washed out earlier in the year so we have shortened it to a 'sudden death knockout".

The Patrons Trophy - Foursomes Qualifying
This has been rescheduled for the SATURDAY the 24th of September. The draw for the Tom McKay Trophy - Foursomes Championship will done based on the top 8 teams who want to enter this championship event.

MiClub Bookings
Please refer to the MiClub bookings page for all the rescheduled events to ensure you don't miss out on the competitions you want to win!! Needless to say it will be a busy few months to the end of the year.

It is unfortunate that the course conditions are not allowing carts to be used and I feel for all those cart players who are missing out on their rounds of golf.  This situation is out of a mere mortals control but we will do our best to get carts "back out there".
Wednesday - Single Stableford
Forty players competed with John Jones winning with 34 points from John Ferguson with 35. John Jones won the Pro Pin and John McGuire won the NTP on the 11th.  Well done to the Johns'.

Monday Madness Medley
The winner with 38 points was Piero Dal Bianco.  Well done!!

Dave Burgess

I inspected the course today and it is still very wet in parts and carts will not be on the course.  The next review is Friday.  The grounds staff have extended and topped up the temporary cart paths but it is still too wet with surface water for carts.
All we can hope for is a change in the weather pattern and some good winds to take the surface water away.

There is quite a backlog of Trophies and competitions that will be rescheduled this week.  The updates will be completed in MiClub so you will be able to see what is coming up.
Hopefully we will be able to complete all the major competitions by the end of the year.

This Saturday is the ​John MacMaster  Memorial Monthly August Medal. John was a committee member in the late 1980's and early 1990's and club handicapper as well. 

Wednesday
9 Hole Stableford - Pat Donoghue was the winner with 16 points on a count back.  It was a close "run thing" as there were two in the competition!
18 Hole Stableford - twenty eight competed for the winnings.  Dennis Cooper won with 36 points from Paul Carroll on 33 points. Brian Hanrahan won the Eagles Nest on the 13th hole and Peter Whittall won the 14th Pro-pin.

Saturday
A good field of 71 competitions with Terence Wood winning with 39 points from Graham Oldfield with 36.
Tom Whitmarsh was NTP on the 11th hole and Bradley Phillips won the 14th hole Pro-pin.

Sunday
Medley Stableford
Will Clayton won with 39 points.

Monday Madness
Medley Stableford
Sonya Bleakley won the day with 32 points.


I look forward to catching up on the course and in the club house...

Dave Burgess