Golf - Wednesday 31st December 2008

The Event of the day was a Men's Single Stableford + 2 Ball Team and we had 215 starters with 15 visitors from Ashlar, Everglades, Frederickton, Gympie Pines, Howlong, Mangrove Mountain, Royal Aust. Engin., Terrigal, Toowoomba, Toukley, Coventry UK, Trundle, Tuggerah Lakes.


RESULTS:


2 BALL TEAM RESULTS:

WINNERS: Geoff Johnson & Roger Williams - 49 points

RUNNER UP: John Griffin & Malcolm Angus - 48 points

THIRD: Warren Dunkel & Michael Smith - 47 points on a countback

FOURTH: Mark Stimpson & Steve Shanahan - 47 points on a countback

MEN'S SINGLES RESULTS:

WINNER: Mark O'Connell - 43 points on a countback

RUNNER UP: David Lenihan - 43 points on a countback

3RD: Roger Williams - 43 points

4TH: Mark Stimpson - 41 points

5TH: Ian Gross - 40 points on a countback

SCRATCH WINNER: Michael Bowditch - 35 points on a countback


NEAREST THE PIN:
8TH HOLE:
A GRADE: Jim Forrester
B GRADE: Michael Brown
C GRADE: Ken Austin

BALLS WENT TO : 35 points on a countback

CCR: 70 (37 points)


I have a late highlight from today's match reported to me by Cyril Daly.
Ian, hit a big drive off the 6th tee and after some searching his ball was found inside the ladies toilet. After colaboration with his marker it was decided that he was entitled to"full" relief, but there was some argument about whether he should have lifted the seat first. After his 'drop' Ian went on to score 5/2 on the hole.

F-Troop Monday 29th December 2008

What a big day it was today for the F-Troopers. Talk about boys and their BIG TOYS!

Wouldn't we just love one of these excavators on hand 52 weeks a year to remove tree stumps and keep the dams and drains clear. We will have to put that one on our wish list.

F-Troopers on hand today were Martin Gallagher, Geoff Bridge, Duncan Dyer, Des Wilson, Peter Martin helping with the rubbish removal and Ray Presdee and Garry Trigg working on the rough cutting. This was a great effort from everyone given that we are in the midst of the silly season when time is difficult to find.

This was all made possible via Bruce Binns organising with his friend Tony Wade. Adam & Tony Wade (father and son) offered the use of their excavator for a very reasonable price & the work that they did was invaluable. The workload that they managed to get through this morning before the rain storm called them to a halt was fantastic. Our sincere thanks to Adam & Tony for their help and also for offering to come back tomorrow to finish off the work.

The dams on the 3rd had the drains cleared - what a great job as you can see by the photos above. That job is very difficult to do by hand due to the heavy weight of the fungus.

The oleander stumps have been removed. They apparantly had tap roots that were heading for China and they would have been impossible to remove by hand. It took five hours to get all the stumps out which will give you an indicator at how hard the job was. This area is now cleared and levelled - thanks to Matt Smith (greenstaff) and his handy bobcat. We can now replant some environmentally safe trees that will not cause any distress to the farm animals next door.

The Troopers also cleared & removed the rubbish that was building up at the back of the "Old Third Tee" - or better known as the temporary second tee.

There are some stumps on the first fairway that still have to be removed so the F-Troopers are fronting up again tomorrow to take care of that job.

How good are these boys!!! - YES! YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

Images attached: A 'before' and 'after' vision of the drain at the 3rd dam - what a difference!; removing rubbish from the back of the temporary second green; various photos of the removal of the oleander stumps; Alvin arriving for an inspection of the work; Peter supervising the rubbish burn; clearing around the third dam.

My thanks to Martin Gallagher for all of these great photos.

Golf - Wednesday 24th December 2008

The Event of the day was a Men's Single Stableford + Team 1 x 2 x 3

We had 197 starters with 18 visitors from Chatswood, Commercial Albury, Coolangatta, Robina, Everglades, Frederickton, Magenta Shores, Massey Park, Muree, PGA, Terrigal, Tuggerah Lakes and Wyong.

TEAM RESULTS:

WINNERS: Tony Van der Kolk, Luke Wilby, Jason Trigg and Ron Dekker - 97 points

RUNNERS UP: Michael Geary, Paul King, Peter Allen and David Small - 95 points

THIRD: Timothy Elbra, Peter McCabe, Charlie Hodgkinson and Zach Churcher - 95 points


MEN'S SINGLES RESULTS

WINNER: Malcolm Angus - 46 points on a countback

RUNNER UP: Michael Lipscombe - 46 points

THIRD: Neville Walker - 45 points on a countback

FOURTH: Gilbert Sullivan - 45 points

FIFTH: David Grant - 44 points

SCRATCH WINNER: Dan Snelson - 36 points on a countback

NEAREST THE PINS:
A Grade: G Patterson
B Grade: M Brown
C Grade: G Elliott

BALLS WENT TO: 37 points neat.

CCR MEN: 69 (38 points)

Golf - Tuesday 23rd December 2008

I was at the Clubhouse this afternoon to pick up the results slip for today's competition and sat on the verandah overlooking the course. It was late afternoon and I watched the social golfers come in. It was a pleasure to look over the nice neat grounds - no loose timber lying anywhere, the grass mowed, the gardens neat and colourful, paths clean. At that time of the afternoon it was beautiful looking at that lovely white gum and the trees in general looking neat and trimmed. Gosford Golf Club is the place to be.

Today was Ladies Competition, the Event of the day was a Single Stableford and we had 27 starters with 1 visitor from Tuggerah Lakes.

RESULTS:

WINNER: Pam Bourne - 37 points on a countback

RUNNER UP: Lynn Puiatti - 37 points

3RD: Anne Burke - 35 points on a countback

4TH: Rhonda Robertson - 35 points

CCR: 36

PAR: 73

BALLS WENT TO: 34 points

F-Troop - Monday 22nd December 2008

Given that it is a mere three days until Christmas I was very impressed with the number of people that turned up for F-Troop duty today. We got through another huge workload moving almost 20 cubic metres on mulch out onto the 6th tee gardens, front entrance garden and part of the 15th tee garden. Super job F-Troopers.

The Troopers also finished off the timber edges around the gardens at the 6th tee and the difference in the appearance of this area is amazing.The Kangaroo Paws are planted and will look very nice along the front edge. Some nice new fresh native trees and perhaps some new hedging to "finish" the look. The edge along the creek is gradually being cleared of excess trees and rubbish.

By next year this hole will be looking superb.

Ray Presdee and Garry Trigg did a great job on the rough cutting; Martin Gallagher and Des Wilson took care of some low lying branches throughout the course; Peter Martin & Warren Gray picked up a lot of loose timber lying around the course among other things; Di & Ron Beechey spruced up the BBQ area, cleaned up around the first and 10th tees and watered the front entrance gardens; Robin Incoll helped me with the garden at the back of the putting green. Robin is going to adopt this garden as part of the Adopt-A-Garden scheme and she will look after it in the future - so that is one less job for me. Thank you Robin; Des & Yvonne Wilson did some watering and weeding at the 14th and 15th; I sprayed and trimmed the roses, raked up around the 7th and 1st tees and worked on the putting green and the garden behind, the rest of the crew moved and spread mulch and did some general pick up.

I am not sure how many F-Troopers we had there today but I do remember seeing Martin Gallagher, Des Wilson, Clyde Cruickshanks, Garry Trigg, Doug Incoll, Ray Presdee, Warren Gray, Ron Dekker, Peter Martin, Neil Hancock, Yvonne Wilson, Ron Beechey, Di Beechey, Geoff Bridge, Robin Incoll, Mark Stimpson and Arthur Verlander. That is eighteen people on deck to spread the workload. (I am sorry if I did miss anybody) . A super effort from F-Troop at the time of the year when we probably have plenty of other things that we should be doing. So once again YES! WE HAVE MADE A DIFFERENCE!

Images attached: The F-Troopers taking a break at morning tea - provided by Jason Barton; clearing up at the 7th tee; working on the timber edges at the 6th; spreading mulch; yesterday I was presented with an end-of-year gift from the Lady Golfers - It is a"Sudoku" toilet roll - How good is that! They all know of my love of Sudoku Puzzles so that will take care of my "spare time".

Golf - Wednesday 17th December 2008

The event of the day was a Single Stableford over three grades and was also the first of the Ham Days. We had 212 players with 11 visitors.

RESULTS:

A GRADE:
WINNER: James Fyfe-Smith - 44 points

RUNNER UP: Gordon Hamilton - 41 points

3RD: Bob Thomas - 40 points

4TH: Zac Churcher - 39 points

SCRATCH WINNER: James Fyfe-Smith - 37


B GRADE:
WINNER: Robert Twible - 41 points

RUNNER UP: Matt Ellis - 40 points on a countback

3RD: Barry O'Connell - 40 points on a countback

4TH: Michael Upton - 40 points

SCRATCH WINNER: Michael Upton - 27


C GRADE:
WINNER: Ken Tunks - 43 points

RUNNER UP: Nicholas Tucker - 42 points

3RD: Wayne Brown - 41 points

4TH: Don Holmes - 40 points

SCRATCH WINNER: Nicholas Tucker - 23

NEAREST THE PINS:

8th HOLE:
A Grade: Barry Robertson; B Grade: Craig Mulhearn; C Grade: Terence Baumback

ACR: 70
PAR: 71
CCR: 70

Golf - Tuesday 16th December 2008

Well no prizes for guessing who is back in town! Sighted at the Gosford Golf Club this afternoon were Paul (squid) and Bev Way. Paul arrived back home yesterday for a two week holiday/work break and I understand that he plans to spend a lot of time playing golf so you will all have a good opportunity to catch up with all his news. Bev seemed a tad happy to have him home.

I had a wonderful late afternoon at the club gardens today welcoming some new white iceberg roses to finish off the putting green garden. It is exciting to see the "big picture" starting to come into play and we can thank people such as Marian Gray (Enone Sammons mother) who has very generously donated both of these roses to us and was present for the planting. (picture above). We have received some very generous donations in the last month which contributes greatly to our ability to beautify the course in a shorter period of time. As I said yesterday - we had 22 volunteers of F-Troopers working at the club on Monday morning. This also contributes greatly to the "big picture" where our course can be in tip top shape & looking beautiful to boot.

It was a beautiful day for golf today - sunshine and blue skies - just as we like it.

The event of the day was a single stableford and we had 51 starters.

RESULTS:

WINNER: Linda Rankin - 39 points on a countback.

RUNNER UP: Pam Cowin - 39 points

3RD: Bev Adams - 38 points on a countback

4TH: Di Beechey - 38 points

5TH: Fay Bailey - 37 points on a countback

6TH: Annette Dunk - 37 points on a countback

7TH: Yvonne Wilson - 37 points

BALLS WENT TO: 34 points

CCR: 36 points PAR: 73

No pictures or highlights today as I was preoccupied at a Christmas luncheon - sorry about that!

F-Troop Monday 15th December 2008

F-Troopers were nothing less than magnificent today. Talk about many hands making light work. We had 22 volunteers today that I know of (and I hope I have not missed anyone)

Today I saw Spencer Walklate, Clyde Cruickshanks, George Foster, Garry Trigg, Doug Incoll, Ray Presdee, Gary Sammons, Warren Gray, Bert Brink, Peter Martin, Neil Hancock, Bruce White, Geoff Bridge, Di Beechey, Mark Stimpson, Peter Murphy, Robin Incoll, Arthur Verlander, Ray Stapleton, Wendy Stapleton and John Coddington.

The work load was huge. The timber edges on the native garden on the 6th were finished (great job!) ; cleared excess trees from the creek side of the 6th; picked up loose timber from all over the course; raked up untidy ares, removed stumps from the putting green garden so that we can plant two more iceberg roses to match the other side; removed excess shrubs and plants from the magnolia garden, replanted cliveas, trimmed bird of paradise plant, watered in petunias, cleaned up the old putting green, raked and swept the front entrance to the Magnolia garden, weeded the hedge garden around the practice putting green, removed leaves and loose rubbish from the gutter surrounding the putting green, planted in the new kangaroo paws in the native garden on the 6th; rejuvinated the orchid soil, fertilized the orchids on the 14th; rough cutting where needed on the course, cleaned up around the BBQ area & refreshed the water feature, removed and cleared rubbish from the gardens being worked on.

Whew! what an effort. YES! WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

After all that work some of us managed to make it to an afternoon tea at Rosie Dyer's in the afternoon. We had a lovely pleasant afternoon enjoying Rosalie & Duncan's garden & hosting.

photo attached of Pam, Rosalie, Judy, Yvonne, June, Rae, Alice, myself, Helen and Rosemary.

Duncan & Des enjoyed watching "The Bucket List" while the ladies chatted on through a lovely afternoon tea.

Images attached: Timber edges going down on the native garden on the 6th; Hydrangeas on the 3rd; Oleanders on the 5th; work on the Magnolia garden; Tree stumps out on the putting green; cleaning up at the approach path to the Magnolia garden; Robin Incoll weeding at the putting green; photos of the finished magnolia garden; afternoon tea at Rosie's.

Golf - Wednesday 10th December 2008

Todays event was a Men's Single Stroke - Summer Medal and we had 191 starters with 7 visitors.

RESULTS:

A GRADE:

WINNER: Mark Churcher - nett 64

RUNNER UP: Anthony Hanna - nett 66

3RD: Norm Parker - nett 69

4TH: Mark Stimpson - nett 69

SCRATCH WINNER: Mark Stimpson


B GRADE:

WINNER: Mervyn Mason - nett 66

RUNNER UP: Michael Smith - nett 67 on a countback

3RD: Michael Wilson - nett 67

4TH: Darren Wotherspoon nett 68 on a countback


SCRATCH WINNER: Michael Wilson - 80


C GRADE:

WINNER: Leonardo Buan - nett 65

RUNNER UP: John Burg - nett 66

3RD: Michael Tunny - nett 68

4TH: Peter Yabsley - nett 69 on a countback

SCRATCH WINNER: John Burg - 88 on a countback

NEAREST THE PINS:

8th HOLE: A Grade: James Fyfe-Smith; B Grade: Bradley Anderson; C Grade: Duncan Dyer


ACR: 70

PAR: 71

CCR: 70

Golf - Tuesday 9th December 2008

The summer competition has started with the 7 am starts to beat the heat. Todays event was a Ladies Single Stableford and we had 57 starters.

RESULTS:

WINNER: Annette Dunk - 37 points

RUNNER UP: Julie Hazzard - 35 points on a countback

3RD: Carmen Fitzgerald - 35 points on a countback

AWCR: 73

PAR: 73

CCR: 73

F- Troop - Monday 8th December 2008

F- Troop was a hive of activity again today with some good work being done on the 6th, 15th & 18th. We welcomed two first time troopers to the fold to day in the way of Arthur Verlander and Robin Incoll. It is great to get more members involved and every little bit helps with the end result.

Today the troopers put down some timber edging around the native gardens on the 6th tee. We ran out of timber, but the work in progress looks great. After a bit of trimming & weeding the garden is going to start to take shape. We now have room for more native plants and I believe that we have been donated 30 Kangaroo paws to enhance this garden. I will keep you posted about that. The timber edging is designed to prevent weed growth from the banks of the creek.

In 12 months time with some fertilizer and some TLC this area will look magnificent. The new garden at the back of the tee adds to the appeal ( previously was a mess of weeds and brambles) & with special care with selection of trees and shrubs this garden should look special.

The troopers then moved on to do some laying of grass on the 18th fairway to repair the damage caused by the old gravel pathway. After that the new section of the 15th tee was completed with laying of new grass. This tee is also going to look sensational when all the work is completed.

Robin Incoll assisted me on the native garden on the 6th tee removing weeds & preparing the front beds for the new Kangaroo Paws. I was only at the one garden point today so am not sure of how many troopers we had in total over the course but we did have a good number & it was good to welcome another two new members.

Images attached: F-Troopers working on the 6th tee gardens,note the new garden at the back of the 6th); repaired area on the 18th tee; new grass down on the 15th tee.