Golf - Sunday 4th January 2009

Another very pleasant day on the village green today with a beautiful day to play golf even though the breeze got a little brisk at times. We had a very enjoyable day with our golf partners Graham and Anne Smith (my brother and sister-in-law). Graham had a great day scoring 40 points.

The Event of the day was a 2-Ball Team plus Singles mixed men and ladies. We had 116 starters with 6 visitors from Magenta Shores, Muree, Redcliffe & Trundle.

RESULTS:

2 BALL MEN:

WINNERS: Charlie Hodgkinson & Michael Evans - 50 points on a countback

2 BALL MIXED:

WINNERS: Ray Stapleton & Wendy Stapleton - 49 points

2 BALL WOMEN:

WINNERS: Di Beechey and Wendy Stapleton - 48 points

MEN'S SINGLES:

WINNER: Ron Dekker - 43 points

RUNNER UP: Charlie Hodgkinson - 42 points

3RD: Michael Evans - 41 points on a countback

WOMEN'S SINGLES:

WINNER: Robin Incoll - 38 points on a countback

RUNNER UP: Di Beechey - 38 points

3RD: Vicky Morris - 37 points on a countback

NEAREST THE PINS:

MEN'S 12TH: Ben Carter; LADIES 8TH: Vicky Morris

BALLS WENT TO: MEN: 37 points neat; LADIES: 36 points neat

CCR MEN: 69 (38 points); AWCR LADIES: 73 (36 points)

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DAY as reported to me: Graham Smith had 2/4 on the 14th after chipping over the bunker and into the hole and also scored 4/4 on the 2nd; Anne Smith scored 3/3 on the 14th and also got over the water on the 3rd; Mark Stimpson had a birdie on the 18th; Des Wilson had a birdie on the 4th and had 21 points on the back nine; Mark & Des were 4 shots up with 5 holes to play for the keno ticket, the girls won the next four holes and it was a close encounter on the last hole with counter claims from both sides of unfair play which gave the boys a close victory on the day; Luke Harrison (one of our juniors) had 38 points today; Mark Douglas had 2 birdies; Terry Coyle had 39 points; Ray Stapleton broke his handicap today scoring 41 points; Di beechey had 38 points - scoring 24 points on the front nine; Ron Dekker had 43 points & a birdie on 18; Norma Presdee had 4/4 on the 7th and the girls squared with the boys for the keno ticket; Peter Martin birdied the 4th & the 15th; my highlights were scoring 3 pointers on the 14th, 16th & 17th and scoring 34 points which was great news for me as my golf has been at the crest of a slump.

IMAGES ATTACHED: With Graham & Anne Smith at the first tee; Ray & Wendy Stapleton - winners of the 2 Ball Mixed; Di Beechey and Wendy Stapleton - winners of the 2 Ball Women; Ron Dekker with Captain Mark Stimpson - Winner of the Men's Singles; Robin Incoll with Captain Mark Stimpson - winner of the Women's Singles.

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