The winner
Frank Eggert (11) score 39
r/u
Tony Hobson (15) score 38
good golfing
Kevin
Wednesday's event was a single stableford with a field of 47 The winner Frank Eggert (11) score 39 r/u Tony Hobson (15) score 38 Ball winners went down to 32 and the last winner was determined by a countback. In this last lot of rain we measured 148 mm at the course. The average for January is 80mm and we can remember last year when the rain kept coming for the first 3 months of the year- a bit too much last year. It resulted in many days with the course closed.
good golfing Kevin Andy Noble The complete gentleman, Andy Noble passed away a week ago. Andy joined our club in 1990 and was an active golfer for many years and together with Betty, his wife of almost 64 years, took an active part in club life attending many functions and lunches. The photo was taken at his birthday lunch at the club last year when Andy turned 91. Andy was born in 1921. Andrew Noble was to enlist in the Australian Imperial Forces on the 23rd April 1941 at the age of 22 On the 29th July 1941 he was posted to Malaya as a member of the 2/30th Australian Infantry Battalion - NX140812. On the 16th February 1942 he was reported missing, this being the case until 22nd August 1943 when he was reported as a guest of the Japanese at Changi Prison. On the 15th September 1945 almost 3 1/2 years after being reported missing he was recovered from Changi, weighing just 5 stone, he then returned to Sydney disembarking on the 9th October 1945. He was with the rank of Lance Sergeant discharged from the army on the 15th December 1945. (Thank you John Cummins for this information.) Andy was one of those to whom the debt can never be repaid. After the war Andrew rose in his chosen profession to be senior partner at Dewsburys before retiring and then later moving to Bowral. Outside of his profession Andy was active in the Legacy organisation and was a President of the Sydney branch. Each year at the club we have a well-attended Legacy Day. Andy was an inspirational person, always interested, positive and happy. He bore goodwill towards all men including his former captors. His long life was an active one only standing down from golf a few years ago. He was the complete gentleman. This morning, Sunday, the rain gauge near the Greenkeeper's sheds, showed the club had received 50mm of rain. The first significant rain for January. When driving around the course this morning, the ground was saturated and the dam had gained what looked like to be 2 megalitres (correction 3-4 megalitres) or so of runoff water. The ephemeral waterways on the 15th & 13th worked well with the water that couldn't 'fit' down the pipe running on the surface of the water hazard. The latest ephemeral water construction across the 16th had little, if any, grass cover, there was erosion and as a result the plastic piping was exposed. In the next days/weeks this will be repaired and that area sown again. On Friday Pascale Timores picked up a Mercedes for the long weekend. Macarthur Mercedes at Campbelltown, as well as being a tee sponsor, had generously provided monthly prizes for the Monthly Medal winners. At the end of the year the Monthly Medal competition is run with all Monthly Medal winners competing for the Ted Box Medal of Medals. The winner, in addition to winning the Medal of Medals, won a weekend car use of a Mercedes sponsored by Macarthur Mercedes. The winner also received dinner for two at the club. Pascale was going to drive up to Oberon and Orange over the weekend and, as it worked out, Macarthur Mercedes were able to lend the car for 3 days instead of the agreed 2. We hope to continue our association with Macarthur Mercedes who have been extremely generous in their sponsorship. More than a few members enjoy driving a Mercedes and this company should be kept in mind. click to enlarge Our treasurer, Bob Constable, was in Whyte's at Moss Vale ("You can face the world when dressed by Whyte's") and spotted a photograph that he recognised as one from Bowral Golf Club. It was taken in 1954 and you can clearly see the poplars, which were planted well before then. Have-a-happy-day All the best Kevin
Wednesday's event was an Irish Stableford with a field of 58. The winners R Young, A Fotheringham & P Allen score = 82 r/u N Ridge, M Klopper & B Windybank score = 81 c/b Ball winners all the best
Kevin Saturday's competition was American Foursomes with a field of 80. Visitors from golf clubs at Bathurst, Howlong, Gordon and Mt Broughton played in the field. The winners Tony Fitzpatrick (12) & Jim Phillips (11) Score 64 3/8 r/u Graeme Smith (15) & David Boyd (16) Score 67 3/8 click photo to make bigger Temperatures during the week peaked with 39.1 degs recorded on Friday. Little growth has occurred on any area of the course that is not watered. click photo to make bigger Trees are suffering also. During the week we sought advice from an arborist who has a wide experience of trees in the Highlands and also trees on golf courses. We looked around the course and his observations were informative. The poplars on the right hand side of the 18th are looking pretty sad at the moment and he confirmed what we had thought that lack of water was the main factor. (The hazard drain was blocked off by the ground staff and the hazard flooded last week to drench the area.) We probably all saw the suckers that came up in the rough adjacent to the trees and also in the hazard. This is a sure sign of stress. He said the root system for poplars can extend 100 meters or more, so the roots of those may extend through the fairways over to the pine trees on the western side. The poplars on the right hand side of the 2nd near the water hazard have never gone that well - his observation of these trees was that the soil was quite compacted in the area. Having trees surrounded by closely mown grass is far from their natural environment. Trees with little foliage spread, such as poplars and conifers, provide little shade for the root system. Mulching around in some tree areas would provide protection for the root systems. Trees growing in a forest usually have their roots in a rich, well aerated soil full of nutrients. The soil is covered by leaves and litter and provides essential nutrients to the tree while conserving moisture. Trees on the golf course are not really in a natural environment and are much more likely to become distressed during harsh weather cycles. We will be addressing specific areas on the course to see if a better environment can be provided for the trees. As in everything on the course a balance has to be struck. It's a golf course not a forest - but I'm sure we can improve things. click picture to make bigger In some areas on the course different species of trees are competing. Slow growing gums are being crowded out by the more vigorous pinus radiata. The gums have much longer life spans than the pines so everything is compromised. The trees on our course are things of great beauty and make our course what it is. The choice, position, number of trees planted around the course is critical. The care of the trees that we have involves compromises - we want the best of both worlds. all the very best Kevin You may have noticed a larger number of rabbits in the last few months. At home there are many more and the residents adjacent to the course have seen an increase in numbers. In dryer weather the diseases that are transmitted by insects (flies, mosquitoes and fleas) are less prevalent. Because of this the spread of diseases such as myxomatosis and rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus (both diseases were introduced as biological controls) is diminished and hence more rabbits. A doe can produce around 50 to 60 offspring a year - no such thing as "stopping at 2" The Department of Primary Industry has much information on rabbits. I had thought that the increase in rabbits was probably due to less foxes or foxes preferring ducks - not so. The fixtures section of the Members Handbook is available on the website's Members Page under the link "Fixtures 2013". Inevitably there are changes to the program and we will be updating the on-line fixtures book with the latest information. The latest changs is that the Parish Golf Day has changed to the 26th of May from the 5th of May. The Anniversary Cup is played this Saturday - it's an individual stroke. An extract from Doug Stalley's book :---- "At the AGM in 1953, the president, Sefton Cullen, announced the intention to hold an open event on Anniversary Day, now called Australia Day. It was only in 1964 that this event was permanently endowed with a trophy donated by Sefton Cullen" all the best Kevin
Wednesday's 2BBB stableford had a field of 63 players including 3 visitors. The winners John Millard (33) & David Stedman (22) score 46 c/b r/u Fred Sewell (17) & Jason Wren-Pattison (24) score 46 The Arthur Brassey Singles Knockout sign up sheet is on the board. Entries close this Sunday. The draw will then be done and will be available early next week.
all the best Kevin . Saturday's competition was a single stableford and was for the H A Murdoch Trophy. Harry was Captain from 1956 - 59, President 1960 - 62, Captain 1971 - 73 and then Club Patron from 1978 - 86. He was also largely responsible for the organisation of the Whales Tooth competition played between The Australian Golf Club and our club. A field of 64 completed for the trophy - the 2012 holder was John Cummins. The winner Terry McAuliffe (16) score 41 points r/u Bill Morton (28) score 39 points Ball winners were:- Carts on the course. There has been a large improvement in carts driving on the fairways. Almost without exception few member carts are observed being driven on the fairways and near the greens. Thank you. Casual golfers are still seen to ignore the advice signs and we are thinking of different and more ways to remind them. The Stroke Index. We have 6 golfers who have accepted an invitation and volunteered to review the stroke index of the holes on the course. A simple (an over simple) explanation for the terms: The par for a hole is what a scratch golfer on a normal day would expect to score on the hole. The par for the course is what a scratch golfer could go around the course in on an average day. It's more complicated than that of course and involves the length of the hole and many other factors, such as the relative elevation through the hole, obstacles and suchlike. The stroke index. Each hole has a relative difficulty, for example there are easy par 4s (that could be our 1st) and harder par 4s (e.g. our 17th) and this relative difficulty is different for players of different handicaps. For example, a player on a higher handicap of say 32 may not clear the water hazard on the 1st in normal circumstances, but a player, on say 18, can. In setting the stroke index for each hole (commonly) it is set for players of all handicaps as our one is. When a player has a handicap of 0 or scratch or 18 or 36 there is no problem as they get 0, 1 or 2 shots per hole spread over the round equally, however where a player has a handicap of say 10 or 28 the stroke index becomes important as it 'gives' shots on some holes and not others. The idea is to be as equitable to all golfers on all handicaps. A tall order. The relative difficulty of each hole for golfers on all handicaps can be found quite easily from the statistics of competitions played on the course. However it is not quite so simple. An extract from an email I sent recently to a member illustrates one of the problems. "Based on a pure statistical analysis of scores on each hole the asymmetry of easy and difficult holes at our course means that we end up with a stroke index that reflects that difficulty - without favour, i.e. some of the hardest holes are at the end on the round for example and so have a stroke index that reflects that. During my time at the club the sequence in which we play each hole has been changed once and the stroke index changed several times. " Our new course rating/slope has yet to be received from the NSW Golf Association but independent of that we can look at the order in which strokes are given on different holes. The USGA on its website has excellent reference material and details some suggestions and guidelines on how the stroke index can be determined. The slope is a measure of how our course par rates against other courses for bogey golfers (those around 18 handicap or so). So the idea here is that when we play on another course our handicap can be modified rated on the degree of difficulty our course has for a bogey golfer versus how difficult their course is rated the same way. eg Our course could be easy for a bogey golfer whereas another course could be difficult for a bogey golfer. So that means when we play there our handicap in calculation will be higher. The whole idea is to be equitable so that golfers can play against other golfers of different handicaps derived from different courses. It may all seem a bit esoteric but this subject of handicapping and the stroke index as well as the slope rating does and will produce vigorous debate now and into the future. So my thanks to those gentlemen who are about to work on this. It's not easy but I have full confidence that this task will be taken on with a determination and ability that the task deserves. The Immovable Obstruction on the 14th. We have a net on the 14th which is designed to 'catch' balls that are sliced off the tee so that they do not end up in neighbouring properties. Our local rule defines it as an Immovable Obstruction and furthermore offers an optional drop zone near the support post at the western end of the net. It should be noted that this drop zone is only for relief from the immovable obstruction not for relief in conjunction with any other rule, i.e. it is not a drop zone if one takes an 'unplayable lie' or if one falls foul of the 'water hazard'. A drop zone for those rules in this situation would have to be defined under a local rule relevant to Rule 28 and Rule 26. There is, of course, no line of play relief for immovable obstructions, that option is only for temporary immovable obstructions. The nets are not. There are 'only' 34 rules but there is plenty of complexity in those. As well as keeping ones head down, 'swinging' not 'hitting', course management and not going for the 1 in a 1000 shot it's not easy - but who said it should be. That's the challenge.
As said by Gardner Dickinson - "They say golf is like life, but don't believe them. Golf is more complicated than that." all the best Kevin Wednesday's single stableford competition attracted a field of 65. the day was warm with the Bowral temperature peaking at 28 deg. The winner on a handicap of 20 was Charles Vaughan-Smith score 44. r/u Mischa Aksenoff (2) score 42 Mischa score works out as a 65 of the stick ! Some discussion about course records was had but course records are only for rounds in competition played off the plates. Ball winners The sign up sheet for the Singles Knockout will be on the notice board by Friday.
all the best Kevin A field of 67 players competed for the January Monthly Medal in 3 divisions . The Medal winners and runners up were:- Division A James Burkett (11) 66 r/u Jim Phillips (11) 70 Division B Brian Lamb (19) 64 r/u Leigh Batchelor (19) 65 Division C Peter Dunn (28) 68 r/u Michael Klopper (26) 70 Best Scratch James Burkett (12) 78 Ball winners were:- The Irrigation System (click on any picture to zoom) On Monday night, as I write this, weatherzone.com.au predicts for Bowral a temperature of 37 degs. Fortunately we had an irrigation system installed back in 2000. Before the irrigation system, in summer, the conditions on the fairways of the course were such that one had to be a very loyal member even though the greens staff were forever busy moving hoses and sprinklers around. Our irrigation system was funded by the members and has produced dramatic improvements to the quality of the course. The system was supplied by Aquaman in Moss Vale. In brief, there is a bore, a holding dam, pressure pumps, a reticulation system, fairway, tee and green watering sprinklers. We are fortunate in having our own bore. We are licensed by the Department of Primary Industries - Office of Water, to extract water from the aquifer. For this they charge an annual licence fee. The bore pump submersed in the bore, pumps about 360 litres/minute into the dam which can hold 9 megalitres. A megalitre is approx. the amount of water contained in an olympic sized swimming pool. There is a pump house on the edge of the dam - this contains electrical control gear plus the pumps. The pumps supply a sprinkler system which runs around the course. The pressure in the system is maintained at 880 kilo pascals or approx. 120 psi. The sprinklers around the course are controlled from satellite stations, each sprinkler has a control valve next to the sprinkler head. These control valves are programmed to turn on and off in accordance with a program entered by the green's staff. When a sprinkler turns on, the pressure in the line drops and one or more of the main reticulation pumps starts to maintain line pressure. We have around 267 sprinklers and these are programmed to water the fairways and tees between 7pm and around 1am in the morning. The greens are watered around 3 to 5am. Our sprinkler system has a single line of sprinklers going down the centre of each fairway - they can cover an area of 30 or 40m wide. A more expensive system has more sprinklers so that only those areas that need watering, are watered. Some clubs have sprinklers going down each side of the fairway, so selective watering is possible. In our case, it is either on or off, so that means that some areas of the fairways end up wet, e.g. on the left side of the 2nd fairway near the green keeper's sheds, but on the other side of the fairway, serviced by the same sprinkler, it is quite dry. Another question that sometimes comes up, is why are sprinklers used during the day. The time of watering is calculated to feed the plant water in an optimum manner. Evaporation, the risk of fungus, the need to cool the plants during the heat of the day - are all considerations. Turf agronomy is the science that backs the decisions that our green's staff make to keep our course in tiptop condition. Running the irrigation system is a considerable expense and its judicious use means that we can still maintain a course even through our extremes of climate. Running the sprinklers during the day is necessary to cool the plant - without that the plant would be stressed and perhaps die. I was fortunate to play at Avondale on Sunday - the sprinklers were going there as it was a hot day. A few weeks ago you would have noticed the area around the practice green was severely affected by a lack of water at the appropriate time. The timely use of the irrigation system is critical. So that's the (short version) story of our irrigation system. all the best Kevin
Wednesday's event was an ambrose. The winning team John Mulholland (9), Linden Toll (11) Tony Fitzpatrick (13) & David McGinnes (19)Score of 56.8 r/u David Farthing (22), Warren Ryan (18) Peter Given (22) & John Cummins (19) Score 56.9 Ball winners. good golfing for 2013
Kevin |
Kevin Burke
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February 2014
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