Veterans Golf Club of Victoria
October 2018 Newsletter
President:
Vice-President Roger welcomed us to Waterford Valley Golf Club for the Ken Gangell Trophy stableford competition and asked all present to thank the club for the use of their facilities, and their generous donation of our main raffle prize. The members had a cold but clear morning in which to play golf, with a nice sunny outlook as the morning proceeded. As always the lunch and clubhouse facilities were thoroughly enjoyed by the members.
Number of Players / Guests:
44 members along with two guests, Grahm Morgan - guest of John Field and Steven Hassan - guest of David Vine played today's event. Steven joined the club today and we are discussing membership with Graham.
Apologies:
There were 23 apologies this month.
Starters today:
Roger thanked Al Abraham, Joe Cirnigliaro and John Molloy for a job well done in getting our groups off smoothly.
House of Golf (Moorabbin) Trophy:
Next month we will be playing for the House of Golf (Moorabbin) Trophy at Cranbourne.
As our major sponsor, the Committee have invited Innis Ireland along as guest, and Innis will present his trophy to the skilful winner.
Special Achievements:
In the past month or so, we have noted the following successes;
- David Vine cleaned up at Keysborough with 41 pts.
- Laurie Comerford in the midst of a dreadful round only needed one shot at the Patterson River 12th on 28th September.
Our congratulations to both David and Laurie.
Christmas Lunch
This year our Christmas Lunch has been booked at Patterson River to start at 12:00pm on Monday 10th December.
With its $40/head price tag, this event remains the highlight of our social year and provides the opportunity to meet the 'powers behind the throne' for our members.
Members may organise in advance to sit with particular friends and Patterson River will set up tables for 8, 9 or 10 people to suit requests.
You can book on the relevant sheet at our next events at Cranbourne & Patterson River, or there will be a booking sheet added to the Web site in the next week or so.
Putting aids
Sooner or later and most of the time our golf balls end up in a little hole in the ground from where we bend over with creaking backs to retrieve them. Laurie demonstrated two putter add-ons allowing the ball to be retreived without bending.
The better of these he had purchased in a bulk lot of a dozen from Coffs Harbour where they are made and offered them to Club members at a discount rate of $10. Seven have been taken up and the remaining five will be available at Cranbourne.
Roger then handed over to our Captain, Harold Hayes.
Results:
Overall winner:
Christopher Tierney (28) with 37 points won the Ken Gangell Trophy
Our winners receive a $40 House of Golf voucher for their effort.
Grade winners
A Grade: Trevor Bottomley (13) 37 points
B Grade: Reg Davey (26) 35 points
C Grade: Philip Horsburgh (31) 35 points
Nearest to the Pin:
2nd hole: Jeff Stevens 5th hole: Hans Bleeker
13th hole: Keith Aldrich 17th hole: John Hiscock
Switzerland v. Russia.
Balls down the line:
35 points George Robinson (27)
34 points David Vine (15) John Field (13) Declan Stephenson (24) Roger Selwood (24)
33 points Alan Millard (32) Keith Aldrich (17) Lindsay Quennell (26)
32 points Peter Sloan (32) Joe Cirnigliaro (35)
NAGA Award:
Peter Fischer
Door prize Winners:
Trevor McGilton celebrated his good day at Waterford Valley by winning the raffle allowing him and three of his mates to play again at Waterford Valley with carts.
Only the best will do. But, where's the chauffer?
The new rules - Not till next year
Rule 15: Relief from Loose Impediments and Movable Obstructions
There are three sections to this rule to deal with Loose Impediments, Movable Obstructions and Ball or Ball-Marker Helping or Interfering with Play
Loose Impediments
You can now remove loose impediments anywhere on the course, but if you move the ball it must be replaced in the original position and there is a one stroke penalty for moving the ball other than on the green or tee.
Movable Obstructions
You can remove a removable obstruction anywhere on the course. If the ball moves, it must be replaced without penalty. If the ball is on the obstruction, the ball can be lifted then dropped after removing the obstruction.
Ball or Ball-Marker Helping or Interfering with Play
If the ball is one the green the ball must be marked and lifted if it is likely to help or interfere with another putt.
Elsewhere on the course another player may require you to mark and lift your ball if they reasonably believe the ball will interfere with their play. You must mark the place before lifting the ball and you may NOT clean the ball. Failure to mark, or cleaning the ball both incur a 1 shot penalty.
Rule 15 - The whole 'box and dice' provides expands on my very simple explanation.
Birthday boys for October 2018
Congratulations and best wishes to our members whose birthday falls in October
5th Mark Slatter 58
6th John Hendrie 71
8th Miguel Magana 73
10th Brendan Cooney 62
11th Tony Villani 67
12th Russel Montgomery 68
30th Barbara Grant 73
The quick thinker
An old North Queensland cocky had put a dam in a lower paddock. He has fixed it up for swimming, planted mango and avocado trees and had a BBQ with table under the shade of the fruit trees.
One evening he decided to go down to check it all over and grabbed a bucket to bring back some fruit.
As he neared the dam he heard giggling and shouting. He found four young women having a lovely time skinny dipping .
He made some noise to let them know of his arrival at which they shot into the deep end.
One girl shouted, "We're not coming out until you leave."
The old cocky responded.
"I didn't come here to watch you ladies swim." Holding up the bucket he said, "I'm here to feed the crocodile."
Course review: Bonville - NSW
Members have asked for course reviews to be added to the newsletter and clearly we can, but someone needs to write the review.
In this occasion, I've just returned from playing Bonville (written last July) and thought I'd put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard).
Many members will have heard of Bonville as one of Australia's premier golf courses (voted number one public access course in NSW in 2010. Also voted Australia's most beautiful mainland golf course 14 years in a row by The Golf Course Guide, and Australia's Leading Golf Resort four times in 2006, 2011, 2012 and 2013 by the World Travel Awards, this Par 72 championship course rises and dips through the serene and beautiful layout with each fairway private from the next.
Bonville Golf Resort is known as 'Australia's Augusta' and rated as one of the best resort courses in the country.), but what makes it that way?
Firstly the course was developed in the early 1990s from an old farm and as a consequence there are still several fruit trees (oranges, lemons, avocados, macadamia as well as a small banana plantation) on the course near the original homestead.
Bonville
Bonville in an undulating area about 10km SW of Coffs Harbour and is amongst the most attractive scenic areas you could wish for with 300 to 500m forested mountains enclosing the area.
High rainfall and good soil mean the forests are full of magnificent trees.
Course design
The course architect had a very large area available and used it to create totally independent fairways with long gaps between the greens and following tees - over a km in one case. The fairways are typically steep, nicely grassed and have a significant series of very rocky water courses crossing them as well as beautiful tree borders. The greens are large and need experience to handle well.
Unusually, the course is divided into 8 and 10 hole halves, with the ninth being away from the Clubhouse. Thankyou for the carts!
Playing the course
It is approximately 16 km around the par 72 course and so there is no option but to use a cart. There are new rope barriers along many of the cart paths and hence you need good distance judgement and a handfull of clubs before walking to your ball. Due to the greens' large size and tricky slopes, 36 putts first time out would be highly acceptable.
The bunkers are ever present, but with consistent loose sandy construction it is possible to develop a way out.
A further unusual feature of the course is a public road running through the middle of the course and 'Stop Signs' for the carts at the various road intersections.
Round highlights
I'm not playing well just now, so a round including hitting 6 trees, being in water hazards 10 times (some are dry at the moment), 2 bunkers, 2 birdies and balls found matching balls lost meant my day was mostly enjoyed due to the fine weather, course appearance and my playing partners.
Laurie Comerford