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Veterans Golf Club of Victoria

November 2019 Newsletter

President Report

President:

President Donald welcomed all of us to Cranbourne Golf Club and the stableford competition for the 'House of Golf' Trophy. It was a lovely morning for golf with the course in good condition and as always, a good test of golf. He asked all present to thank the club for the use of their facilities, and their generous donation of our main raffle prize, a voucher for a round of golf for 4 players at Cranbourne. He extended a special welcome to our Sponsor, Innis Ireland from House of Golf. He thanked Ross Wilson, Ian Cornish and our guest Sam Pilcher for their excellent company during today's round.

Our thanks to Past President, Bernie Coyle for his help with the raffle tickets, in support of our Marketing Manager Daryl Edwards. Another successful raffle!

Under the stewardship of Daryl Edwards and John Hiscock our raffle continues to be a successful source of club funds. These funds are used directly to keep our matchday costs competitive (green fees, lunch) so please continue to support our raffle.

Number of Players / Guests:

We had a very good turnout today, with 54 players involved in the competition despite there being a unusually large number of apologies. There were 2 guests today: Sam Pilcher guest of Ross Wilson, and Peter Bywaters, guest of Laurie Comerford. Peter is now a member of the Vets as is Ian Cornish, who was a guest of Ross Wilson last month. Welcome to the Vets to both Peter and Ian! Well done also to Ross Wilson and John Newby for their good work in introducing new members!

Apologies:

There were 25 apologies noted for this month:
Keith Aldrich, Alan Baker, Peter Bimbi, Rex Buckeridge, Reg Davey, John Farrow, Gary Finnis, John Hiscock, Philip Horsburgh, Ian Hoskins, Alex Johnson, Karl Lindberg, Allan Logan, Chris Macgeorge, Bruce McMaster, Stan Odachowski, Chris Procter, Faye Quennell, Warren Stahel, Jeff Stevens, Chris Thorne, Ray Underwood, Ron Wells, Neil Wilson and Colin Wiseman.

Starters today:

Donald and the members thanked Roger Selwood, John Molloy, Joe Cirnigliaro and Tony French who got us all away very smartly, with a very successful 'partial-shotgun' start. Excellent work 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. (play '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. The starting times are clearly indicated in the Captain's email which is circulated to all members a day or two before the event.

Membership News.

Our next event will be a stableford competition for our 70th Anniversary Medal at Spring Valley GC on Monday 18th November, 2019. This takes us back to where the Veterans Golf Club of Victoria started in 1949.

We already have a field of 72 competitors for this event. Magnificent! It is a 7am shotgun start so please arrive at 6.30am to ensure we have an orderly/timely start. The winner takes home the special medal instead of a monthly trophy, all other golfing prizes as per our monthly comps. Let's make it a day to remember!

Members 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.

Please ensure that those members still to pay, do so by EFT before Friday 15th November 2019, details of which are available from Club Treasurer David Vine.

Donald reminded us that our annual Xmas luncheon and Awards ceremony will take place at Keysborough GC on Monday 9th December, 2019 with a 12 noon arrival for a 12.30pm start. All members will have received the flyer which details this event. Costs are $40 per person, payable as usual on the day. The online booking sheet for this function is also available so please make your table bookings if you have seating preferences. If you have any queries, please contact our Secretary, Jeff Taylor.

CoM Business:

At the CoM meeting on 28th October the following items were covered.

  1. Progress continues on Golfers Insurance and GolfLink numbers for all members. Having all members with GolfLink numbers will align our club with all other Vets Clubs in Victoria, in addition providing complete golfers insurance. Currently over 90% of our members already have GolfLink numbers. We will require all members to have GolfLink nos by Jan 1st 2020.
    As the club grows, having our handicaps and scorecard processes handled by GolfLink will be very beneficial. Of course we will need to negotiate with each of our host clubs to have this service, but it is routinely available at golf clubs.
  2. Review of Constitution and By-Laws continues with any proposed changes aimed at the 2020 AGM. If more time is required, then a special EGM will be held later in 2020 to deal with this matter.
  3. Succession Planning remains key to our success with committee resignations in the pipeline. President to resign at Feb AGM 2020 and Treasurer to resign at the end of the 2020 season.
  4. Membership Secretary role is being considered, either within the Vice-President or Vice-Captain roles initially. This entails an overarching responsibility for all membership matters being dealt with by the Secretary, Handicapper, Webmaster and Treasurer to provide the best possible outcomes for new members and existing members.

Special Achievements:

In the past month or so these achievements were noted;

  • Alan Millard won at Keysborough GC on 21st Oct with a total of 40 pts (h/cap 27). Alan's 'never-say-die' spirit came through after a slow start of 15 pts on the front 9. Well done Alan! Great recovery!
  • Bruce Keenan captained the winning team at the Annual Freemasony Homes tournament at Huntingdale GC. Given it was a statewide competition this is indeed quite a remarkable achievement. Congratulations Bruce!
  • Peter Sloan won at Cheltenham GC on Thursday 24th Oct. He had a total of 42 stableford pts (h/cap 28). Terrific golf Peter!
  • Laurie Comerford won at Patterson River GC on Wed 9th Oct with a total of 43 pts (h/cap 17) which is good golf down at Patt River. Great play Laurie!
  • Past President Bernie Coyle won 'B' grade at Brighton GC on Sat 19th Oct. In a stroke play comp off the back tees, Bernie had a nett 62 (h/cap 19) which is very good golf !
  • Peter Fischer had a wonderful month of October also at Brighton GC. Peter won not 1 but 2 comps (Wed 9th Oct and Wed 23rd Oct) with s/ford scores of 39 pts and 44 pts respectively. It wasn't difficult to pick out Peter today, sitting with a big grin, from ear-to-ear. Super golf Peter, Congratulations!

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

Vets Web Site :

The website continues to underpin the smooth operation of our great Club. My thanks to John Molloy and Laurie Comerford for their excellent work in keeping our members photographs up-to-date. Any ideas or queries? Please contact Laurie by email (details on the members database) if you have any queries/suggestions for the website.

Question time :

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

Spring Valley fun event

In addition to all the expected features of our anniversary celebration at Spring Valley there will be another fun competition. Due to lack of imagination it doesn't have a formal name as yet but should add incentive to play on the day.

Each group of players will compete as a 4 player team. Groups with 3 players will still compete with a suitable adjustment to their score.

The competition will work as follows:

Increase membership - Use our business cards

Over the lasr year the Club has made a change in our approach to membership, recognising that we can only get good prices from host Clubs when we have a sginificant number of members playing.

With more members playing the time gaps between the first groups and the last groups increases with obvious potentially tedius delays before eating and presentations.

An obvious solution to removing the delay is to have enough members playing that the host Club agrees with us for shotgun starts - or at least multi-tee starts and this is the target of the Committee.

Without any doubt our best method of getting new members is person to person advocacy by existing members.

Business cards

Several years ago the Club printed business cards primarily showing the address of our web site.

The idea was that members would be on the lookout for other golfers to join the Club and had an easy way of letting these golfers find us.

At that time members were issued with cards and since then all new members receive cards in their Welcome Envelope. But, we have been inadequately clear on why, when and how to use the cards.

The why is as above, the when is as often as you can spot a prospective member and the how is to carry the cards with your golf gear, talk to prospects about the joys of joining, then tell them they can find out more and join at the web site shown on the business card which you give to them.

Lastly Secretary Jeff and Webmaster Laurie have a good supply of cards, so you need not run short.

captain

Results:

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Overall winner:

Bill Dooley (26) with 41 points won the House of Golf Mentone Trophy

Our winners receive a $40 House of Golf voucher for their effort.

Grade winners

A Grade:  Peter Bywaters (6)  40 points

B Grade:  Alan Millard (25)  36 points

C Grade:  Joe Cirnigliaro (32)  34 points

Nearest to the Pin:

3rd hole: Mick Kelly  8th hole: Peter Bywaters

12th hole: Bill Dooley  14th hole: Peter Charlewood

Captain joke image not yet available

Balls down the line:

38 points  Trevor Bottomley (12)

36 points  George Weaver (18)

35 points  Daryl Edwards (24)

34 points  Bernie Coyle (20)  Roger Selwood (23)

33 points  Donald Barber (12)  Barry Pollock (30)  Ross Wilson (32)  Marg Holden (33)  David Paterson (35)

NAGA Award:

Bill Cribbes

Naga image not yet available

Door prize Winners:

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George Giles celebrated his good day at Cranbourne by winning the raffle allowing him and three of his friends to play again at Cranbourne.
 
By-by bench seats.

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Birthday boys for November 2019

Congratulations and best wishes to our members whose birthday falls in NovemberPicture

15th  David Shutler  68

16th  Garry Laird  72

20th  Peter Frost  64

22nd  John Marshall  67     Jeff Casley  64

23rd  Gary Finnis  74

27th  Christopher Thorne  61

The Company Memo

Company Memo

FROM: Patty Lewis, Human Resources Director
TO:  All Employees
DATE: October 1, 2019
RE: Gala Christmas Party

I'm happy to inform you that the company Christmas Party will take place on December 23rd, starting at noon in the private function room at the Grill House. There will be a cash bar and plenty of drinks! We'll have a small band playing traditional carols... feel free to sing along. And don't be surprised if our CEO shows up dressed as Santa Claus! A Christmas tree will be lit at 1:00 PM. Exchanges of gifts among employees can be done at that time; however, no gift should be over $10.00 to make the giving of gifts easy for everyone's pockets. This gathering is only for employees!

Our CEO will make a special announcement at that time!

Merry Christmas to you and your family,

Patty

Company Memo

FROM: Patty Lewis, Human Resources Director
TO:  All Employees
DATE: October 2, 2019
RE: Gala Holiday Party

In no way was yesterday's memo intended to exclude our Jewish employees. We recognize that Hanukkah is an important holiday, which often coincides with Christmas, though unfortunately not this year.. However, from now on, we're calling it our "Holiday Party." The same policy applies to any other employees who are not Christians and to those still celebrating Reconciliation Day. There will be no Christmas tree and no Christmas carols will be sung. We will have other types of music for your enjoyment.

Happy now?

Happy Holidays to you and your family,

Patty

Company Memo

FROM: Patty Lewis, Human Resources Director
TO:  All Employees
DATE: October 3, 2019
RE: Holiday Party

Regarding the note I received from a member of Alcoholics Anonymous requesting a non-drinking table, you didn't sign your name. I'm happy to accommodate this request, but if I put a sign on a table that reads, "AA Only", you wouldn't be anonymous anymore. How am I supposed to handle this?

Somebody?

And sorry, but forget about the gift exchange, no gifts are allowed since the union members feel that $10.00 is too much money and the executives believe $10.00 is a little chintzy.

REMEMBER: NO GIFTS EXCHANGE WILL BE ALLOWED.

Company Memo

FROM: Patty Lewis, Human Resources Director
TO:  All Employees
DATE: October 4, 2019
RE: Generic Holiday Party

What a diverse group we are! I had no idea that December 20th begins the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which forbids eating and drinking during daylight hours. There goes the party! Seriously, we can appreciate how a luncheon at this time of year does not accommodate our Muslim employees' beliefs.. Perhaps the Grill House can hold off on serving your meal until the end of the party or else package everything for you to take it home in little foil doggy baggy. Will that work? Meanwhile, I've arranged for members of Weight Watchers to sit farthest from the dessert buffet, and pregnant women will get the table closest to the restrooms.

Gays are allowed to sit with each other.. Lesbians do not have to sit with Gay men, each group will have their own table. Yes, there will be flower arrangement for the Gay men's table. To the person asking permission to cross dress, the Grill House asks that no cross-dressing be allowed, apparently because of concerns about confusion in the restrooms. Sorry.

We will have booster seats for short people.

Low-fat food will be available for those on a diet.

I am sorry to report that we cannot control the amount of salt used in the food. The Grill House suggests that people with high blood pressure taste a bite first.

There will be fresh "low sugar" fruits as dessert for diabetics, but the restaurant cannot supply "no sugar" desserts. Sorry!

Did I miss anything?!?!?

Patty

Company Memo

FROM: Patty Lewis, Human Resources Director
TO:  All Employees
DATE: October 5, 2019
RE: The Bl**dy Holiday Party

I've had it with you vegetarian pricks!!! We're going to keep this party at the Grill House whether you like it or not, so you can sit quietly at the table furthest from the "grill of death," as you so quaintly put it, and you'll get your bl**dy salad bar, including organic tomatoes. But you know, tomatoes have feelings, too. They scream when you slice them. I've heard them scream. I'm hearing them scream right NOW!

The rest of you bl**dy wierdos can kiss my *rs*. I hope you all have a rotten holiday!

Drive drunk and die,

The B*tch from H*ll!!!

Company Memo

FROM: Joan Bishop, Acting Human Resources Director
TO:  All Employees
DATE: October 6, 2019
RE: Patty Lewis and Holiday Party

I'm sure I speak for all of us in wishing Patty Lewis a speedy recovery and I'll continue to forward your cards to her.

In the meantime, management has decided to cancel our Holiday Party and give everyone the afternoon of the 23rd off with full pay.

Happy Holidays!

Joan


Next event:

Waterford Valley for the Bob Leverington Trophy starting at 7:15 on 02nd December

 Noel Manning ☎ 03 9889 0588 or 0408 638 978 Chris Procter ☎ 03 9754 3081 or 0407 543 081 Peter Sloan ☎ 0425 726 254

The real one-off next event

Spring Valley, 7am shotgun start on 18th November.

Do not miss our 70th birthday celebration event. 

Join the 65 members and 2 guests who have already booked (as of end of October).

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