President:

President Donald welcomed all of us to Lang Lang Golf Club and the stableford competition for the Ken Gangell Perpetual Trophy. He congratulated all of the members and guests for such a magnificent turnout given the travel time involved in getting to Lang Lang. It was a lovely morning for golf with the course in good condition. He asked all present to thank the club for the use of their facilities, and their generous donation of our main raffle prize of a voucher for a round of golf for 4 players. Once again the warm hospitality we received  from Lang Lang was very pleasant, not least the superb roast lunch enjoyed by all. He thanked Jeff Stevens, Phil Horsburgh and Chris Macgeorge for their excellent company on today's round.

On behalf of the members, Donald thanked Chris Macgeorge for his generous donation of a dozen golf balls towards our raffle prizes. Thank you Chris!

Under the stewardship of Daryl Edwards and John Hiscock our raffle continues to be a successful source of club funds.

Number of Players / Guests:

We had a very good turnout today, with 51 players involved in the competition despite there being a large number of apologies. There were 2 guests today;  Roger Foreander guest of Roger Selwood, and Ian Cornish guest of John Newby. Both were warmly welcomed and received a complimentary golf ball. Ian will now join the Club while Roger still has work commitments for the next couple of years. He will look at joining the Vets at that point. Apologies to Ian for the absence of membership application forms as a result of our Secretary, Jeff Taylor having to leave early. I'm pleased to report that Jeff has now recovered and we look forward to seeing him at Cranbourne on the 28th of October. Welcome to the Vets Ian!.

Apologies:

There were 17 apologies noted for this month:
Al Abraham, Keith Aldrich, Donald Barber, Donald Barrett, Hans Bleeker, Rex Buckeridge, Bill Dooley, Bill Frey, Graeme Hallam, Donald Harrowell, Alex Johnson, Karl Lindberg, Trevor McGilton, Warren Stahel, Malcolm Turner, George Weaver and Colin Wiseman.

Starters today:

Donald and the members thanked Jeff Stevens, Philip Horsburgh and Chris Macgeorge who got us all away with a very successful shotgun start. Well done guys!

Please take pride in your club and always ensure that you "keep up with the group in front of you". That is the number one priority we have in terms of efficient golf. ('ready golf')
It is important to note that the much improved starting process relies very heavily on members being ready to play at the alloted time, especially those on carts as any delay causes a domino effect on playing groups. That means that you must be at your nominated tee for the required tee-off time as specified by our Captain.

As previously mentioned, we cannot proceed without volunteers to run these events every month, so please consider helping out as a starter, as it is a bit of fun and you will get to know so many more members of the club. Please help your Club.

Membership News:

Note: Our November monthly comp will actually be on 28^th October.

The slightly earlier date is to create some space in our November calendar month for the blockbuster meeting at Spring Valley GC on Monday the 18^th, on the occasion of the Club's 70th birthday. Captain Harold has forwarded the details of the Spring Valley comp to all members recently, with the request that members pay their dues for this special event at the earliest possible time. If you have any queries, please contact Harold by phone text or email. His details are available at our website.
Member costs are: $60 green fees/lunch and $20 each for those who wish to share a cart. Please book your carts direct with Spring Valley once you have agreed on a cart partner. Keep Captain Harold informed by using the online booking system on our website. Remember that guests are welcome on the day as usual, however their fees for the day are $85 green fees/lunch. Carts are the same as members.

Another reminder that our annual Xmas luncheon and Awards ceremony will take place at Keysborough GC on Monday 9th December, 2019. Details of this event will be circulated by Webmaster Laurie Comerford around the 9th of October, at which point the online booking sheet for this event will also be available.

CoM Business:

There was no CoM meeting today.

Special Achievements:

In the past month or so these achievements were noted;

• The VicVets representative team recently competed in the VVGA event at Beaufort, Western Victoria. Special mention goes to Daryl Edwards whose individual score was up there with the best in the comp. Also congratulations go to Laurie Comerford for 2 NTP wins. Well done guys!!
  
• Ian Hoskins won second place (Div 3) at the Vanuatu Open at the tail end of August. International success!  Well done Ian.
  
• Informed sources tell me that Gary Finnis has had a busy spell of late. He managed to fall off a ladder while hanging up a picture, executed a triple somersault with pike before landing flat on his back in some pain! No matter, he hopped on a plane up to "Cooley" to renew his lifesaver accreditation. While in the surf he was bowled over by a metre high wave, which I can only assume is excellent therapy for a rather sore back! This achievement is really the fact that Gary then dragged his broken body to Keysborough GC for a par comp and managed a very credible -3 score. What a hero!  Vets are tough old buggers.
  

We look forward to more success on the golf course in the coming weeks. Go Vets!

Congratulations to all our Vets winners.
Thanks as always,  go to all those who contributed the information.

Vets Web Site :

The website continues to underpin the smooth operation of our great Club. Any ideas or queries?  Please contact Laurie by email (details on the members database).

Question time :

There being no member's questions, President Donald then handed over to our Captain, Harold Hayes.