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Wednesday 22 November 2nd round of the Midweek Strokeplay Cup

Saturday 25 November 4th qualifying round of the Hudson Shield

Saturday 2 December 1st round of the Strokeplay Cup - In conjunction with the December Medal. Round 6 of the Captains Cup.

Monday 4 December Long Reef Senior Medal (PM) - entries open through MiTournament

Saturday 9 December Christmas Invitation Day - You will have received an e-mail about entry into the Invitation Day held on Saturday 9th December. If you are bringing a guest, you have priority access to the timesheet (it opens on Thursday the 16^th November at 2pm). You will be able to book 2 Members & 2 Guests per row. If you do not have a visitor for this day, the timesheet will open as per usual on Monday 4th December for any remaining times for both the morning and afternoon fields. Entry fee will be $20 per person which will be required when you make your booking. We look forward to a great day where Christmas hams will be up for grabs as prizes!

Saturday 16 December Christmas Dress Up Day - Dress up in your best festive attire and join us for a fun day playing a 4 person Ambrose event. Timesheet will open as per usual. There will be a prize for the best dressed!

Results

Wednesday 1 November was a Single Stableford with a 4BBB and a field of 237 players.

Some very good scores were recorded. The A grade winner and score of the day went to Glen Evans with 42 points (a par round).

Second place went to Geoff Cranfield after the countback from Doug Campbell, both had 40 points.

The B grade winner was Michael Maras with 39 points on the countback from John Dertateossian while Paul Korbel won third with 38 points, also on the countback.

The C grade winner was Peter Hensman on the countback from Stephen Holdstock, both had 39 points, while Denis Mulcahy won third place with 38 points.

Steven Hill and Steven Gearin beat Alan Patience and Nick Hughes on a countback in the 4BBB after both pairings finished with 46 points.

Nearest the pin winners were Geoff Cranfield on the second (44cm) and Chris Montgomery on the 13^th (183cm).

Doug Campbell was the Scratch winner with 3 under.

Saturday 4 November was the Monthly Medal with a field of 192 players.

Following his win the previous Sunday in the C Grade Championships, Carter Harris has had, if not his best round of golf, one that must be very close with a net 61 off 18.

The A Grade winner was Daniel Harrison with a net 63, second place went to Brett Kinsella beating Phil Marnoch on the count back, both had net 64.

The B Grade winner and score of the day went to Carter Harris. Second place went to Peter Munro with a net 65 and third place on the count back went to Brian Tapp with net 66.

The C Grade winner with a net 63 went to Garry Riggs followed by Sascha Plate in second place with a net 65 and Anthony Korbel in third place with a net 66.

The Scratch score of the day went to Chun-Ta Wu with 3 under par off +2.

Nearest the pin on the 2^nd went to Frank Skiffington (73cm) and Geoff Cranfield on the 13^th (143cm).

Wednesday 8 November - First round of the Midweek Cup stroke event with a big field of 221 players. The much-needed rain over the weekend had freshened up the course and the excellent playing conditions resulted in great scores.

The A Grade winner with a score of net 63 on the countback, was Cameron Daddo, he also had the score of the day.

Second Place with a net 63 went to Kerry Andrich and third place went to Simon Evans with net 66.

The B Grade winner was Greg Hunter with net 67 on the countback who edged out Rob Mander in second place also on net 67. Third place went to Michael Snell with net 68.

The C Grade winner was Barry Collins with net 65 with Bob Jones in second place with net 66 and Tristan Loud winning third with net 68.

The Scratch score went to Doug Campbell with 69.

Nearest the pin on the 2^nd (47cm) Dewan Murphy.

Nearest the pin, inside the circle and in the hole on the 13^th Nick Sherlock (12 Balls).

Saturday 11 November -Single stableford and 4BBB was played in good conditions with a field of 195.

The Winner in A Grade was Paul Sloman with 42 points closely followed in second place by Jimmy Little with 41 points. Third place went to Brian Tapp with 40 points.

The B Grade winner and overall winner with 43 points was Tony Johnson. Second was Shane McLoughlin with 40 points on the countback from Peter Munro in third place.

The C Grade winner was Colin Thomas with 41 points while second place went to John Edwards with 38 followed by Paul Toussaint with 37.

The Four Ball winners were Paul Morison and Henry Mitchell with 47 points on the count back from Jack Sloman and Paul Sloman also with 47 points.

The scratch score went to Jimmy Little who had 4 under par.

Nearest the pin on the 2nd (97cm) went to Andrew Daddo and Harry McKerihan on the 13th (77cm).

Hole-in-one

Congratulations to Nick Sherlock who had a hole-in-one on the 13th. Nick's playing partners thought the ball had rested on the top of the front edge of the green only to find when they got to the green the ball was in the hole.

Chun-Ta Wu

Wonderful news for Chun-Ta who has officially signed with the University of Minnesota with a full scholarship. He will be playing Division 1 college golf from August 2024. We wish Chun-Ta every success with his studies and golf next year. Long Reef Golf Club is mentioned in the University website:

University of Minnesota

Rule Reminders

Practice Fairway - A reminder that the Practice Fairway is GUR and a ball cannot be lost in GUR. In the event a player has hit their ball onto the Practice Fairway and is unable to locate their ball within 3 minutes, they can, without penalty drop a ball at the drop zone on the 18th fairway.

Preferred lies - When taking a preferred lie, it is important to mark your ball first before lifting it (14.1a). The same rule applies when identifying a ball in the general area.

(A one-shot penalty applies if you lift your ball without marking it first.)

Rob Cordaiy | Captain

Major Pennant side

Major Pennant season starts in 12 weeks on the 11th of February. We have formed a preliminary initial squad of 14 based on club championship performance, handicaps, previous pennant form and including some of our promising juniors. The courses we play are Bonnie Doon, Muirfield and North Ryde, the latter two being quite short and tight, so I expect that selections will vary based on current form and fit for the course. Long Reef historically performs well at home, but struggles away, so we as a squad will be looking to get as many away practice rounds and Vardon events in as possible in the lead up. Ideally there is keen competition for spots, but also support from non-playing squad members to turn up and caddy where possible. We will be kicking off in the next fortnight.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions,

Tony Holley | Vice Captain & Major Pennants Manager

From your Course Superintendent

Course Update

Work on the 12^th hole is progressing well with the construction phase completed and 1100 sq/m of turf laid. We still require to finish turfing a substantial area around the fairway bunker with all 3 bunkers requiring the Klingstone application before we can fill them with sand. Originally the hole had 9 bunkers this has now been reduced to 3 and shaping of the mounding short of the green has transformed the area. Work is now well underway on the 13^th hole with some major changes as well.

Recent rain has been fantastic for the course and especially all the new turf areas everything has come back to life and looking green again after a long dry spell. A small amount of follow up rain late last week after the initial downpour made a big difference with a bit of extra soil moisture. Let's hope we keep getting rain as it is still quite dry with warmer temperatures, dam levels have increased with some runoff and not having to irrigate.

Rainfall so far this month has been around 47mm with 20mm and 19mm early in the month and 8mm late last week. October was dry with only 34mm and the total for the year so far has been 683mm which is just over 50% of the Sydney's yearly average.

Peter Donkers | Course Superintendent

From your Women's Committee

Annual Women 's Christmas Party

Our Christmas party will be held on Tuesday December 5^th. It will be $70 pp for a 3-course dinner and music. Please put your name down in the locker room and pay via the timesheet (normal golf booking site) under Christmas party.

We would love to see you there.

Michelle Milsted | Women's President

Golf Achievements

On 3 November, Jenni Brown, Jie Cheng and Sonya Cordaiy represented Long Reef at the Metropolitan Final of the Golf NSW 2023 Women's Medal. The final was played at Liverpool Golf Course. Congratulations goes to Sonya Cordaiy who finished 5th in the C Grade division with 35 points.

Congratulations also goes to Emma Thurlow who had a fantastic score of 75 gross 65 nett on Saturday 4 November. Emma had birdies on 14, 15 and 16 - a great effort.

On 11 November, Kate Shank, Emma Thurlow, Wendy Millson and Karen Smith represented Long Reef at the Golf NSW Coronation Medal.

Results

Tuesday 31 October the Division I winners were Rosemary West (21) with 34 points on a C/B from Sue Smiles (20), Division II winner was Michelle Milsted (28) with 40 points from Gay McCorby (28) on 37 points on a C/B from Jude Sandvoss (25). The Division III winner was Karen Pethybridge (41) with 38 points from Suzanne Rossi (36) on 36 points. Division IV (Gold Tee) was won by Toni Wilson (41) with 44 points from Jo Bellemore (45) with 40 points. The 9 hole competition was won by Fay Sinnott (33) with 20 points from Andy Mckenzie (45) on 18 points.

Thursday 2 November was played as a 4B drop out Ambrose. The winners were Lisa Jenkins, Libby Cleary, Sandra Haberlin and Elizabeth O'Brien with 59.25 nett, from Shaloo Sood, Sue Kruse, Petrina Rousel and Vanessa Murphy with a 59.75 nett and Wendy Millson, Rachel Buxton, Liz Morton and Susan Scott with 60 nett. The 9 hole Ambrose was won by Judy Hore, Sandra Mellowes, Meriam Matheson and Jeanette Neil with 33 nett.

Tuesday 7 November winner for Division I was Wendy Millson (18) with 39 points from Alison Gattas (15) on 36 points, Division II winner was Sam Sparke (24) with 37 points on a c/b from Lorraine Stafford (27), and Division III was won by Angela Brown (39) on 35 points from Lisa Jenkins (34) on 32 points. Division IV (Gold tee) winner was Netty Newman (44) with 39 points from Elizabeth Wilkins (43) on 42 points. The 9 hole winner was Mary Payne (36) with 20 points from Fay Sinnott (33) with 18 points.

Thursday 9 November winner for Division I was Rachel Buxton (12) with 38 points from Cath Piper (22) on 35 points. Division II winner was Jan Daniel (28) on 39 points from Jenny Watts (29) on 38 points and Robyn Lyon (26) on 37 points. Division III winner was Ondrae Heiser (35) on 37 points on a c/b from Lisa Mackenzie (35). Division IV (Gold tee) was won by Jo Bellemore (44) with 39 points on a C/B from Elizabeth Wilkins (42) and the 9 holes competition was won by Fay Sinnot (33) with 19 points from Anne Nielsen (45) with 15 points.

Up Coming Fixtures

23 November - Women's Presidents v Captains event is scheduled to be played as a 4BBB. Please book online in the normal way. The first two columns for the President's team and the second two columns are for the Captain's team.

7 December - Christmas Fun day team event played with 3 clubs and a putter. There will be fun activities throughout the 18 holes.

Sue Kruse | Women's Captain

Peter Donkers - Course Superintendent

Tell us about yourself?
I grew up on the Northern Beaches but have lived in Cairns and Fremantle for a for a while, we now live at Collaroy Plateau. I have been married to my wife Kim for 27 years and we have 2 children Jack 24 and Lauren 22 and a menagerie of pets.

We love the Northern Beaches and I feel blessed to work at Long Reef and be able to work so close to home.

What do you like to do in your spare time?
We have great friends and family who we love holidaying with and spending time with, we love skiing as a family in Australia, the US and Japan, we also love camping and the outdoors. I like to roam the countryside motorcycling with mates I also like cycling both dirt and road.

Travel is also a passion and happy to go anywhere. I have travelled extensively throughout Australia over many years, I've spent 8 months in the US and a few months around Europe & Asia and hope to do plenty more in the future.

How long have you worked at Long Reef GC?
I started at LRGC as the Assistant in 1999 under Stuart Laing and about 3 years later I became Superintendent. It is an amazing place to work, not always easy with the weather but a spectacular site.

In my time myself and my various teams, committees, and management have completed an amazing amount of projects and improvements around the course and have grown with the times in every aspect to be a leading public access golf course recognised throughout the country.

Over the years our team and the club has been recognised and won many awards including the 2006 Claude Crockford Environmental award, Rotary award, numerous Council awards, Kurt my assistant in 2020 was awarded Outstanding Performance and Dedication by NSWGCSA, I was awarded Superintendent of the year in 2018 by NSWGCSA, LRGC was recently awarded Metro Club of the year.

Just some of the projects and improvements over the years include, around 25 km Drainage, complete new poly irrigation system with Toro Site Pro control system much of it installed in house, new irrigation pump shed, extensive pathway reconstruction, new tee complexes, gardens and ESA areas, construction of new wetland systems and habitats, new pro shop and surrounds, new maintenance shed and surrounds, new dams and surrounds and currently nearing the completion of the Bunker Master Plan this list could go on and on.

I have been lucky enough in my time to work at a US Open at Congressional GC helping prepare the course for the open in 2011, also at various Australian Opens.

I feel very privileged to be a part of Long Reef Golf Club for such a long time and thank my team of fantastic staff, the members and everyone who works at Long Reef.

From the Friday Club

Rules with George | Question

Question: Jonathon was playing in a stroke event. He hit his tee shot, on the 12^th hole. His ball crossed into the red penalty area on the left. Fortunately, he found his ball quickly in fairly long grass. H played this ball towards the green but the ball did not get out of the penalty area. He realised that it had ended in a very rough bush from which he would not be able to play his ball. He said I will have to declare it unplayable and drop it within 2 club lengths. Has Jonathon acted correctly?

A) True

B) False

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Bottle $37.40

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Large Glass $12.70

Members Christmas Events

From the Archives | John Kelly - Club Professional

As the arrangements in the Pro-shop change, and we know that Professional number 4, Danny, will remain we look at the Club's Professional number 2, John Kelly. We have not given John as much credit as we might for his contribution to the club over his 22 years in the position. He followed Frank Eyre who's major claims to fame were his win in the Australian Open in 1930, helping design the 18 hole layout and of course his 41 years in the role. Like Frank, John started working out of the small Pro-shop which was a part of the Club House at the back.

John became the Club Professional in 1963 at the age of 34. Les Browne remembers that John had to pay Frank a fee for the privilege of taking over at the bequest of the then President Gus Widmer, who apparently was a good friend of Franks! Les knew John quite well as he rented a small flat from his grandmother in Narrabeen.

The following quote is taken from the book "The First Sixty-Five Years of Long Reef Golf Club written by Ross Lanes in the 80s.

"John's early contact with the game was much the same as for many other good golfers - caddying and sneaking a few shots whenever possible. At one stage he caddied for Norman Von Nida and he admitted that "the Von' was always his idol in those days.

In his teens he emerged as a very competent golfer, winning Club Championships in five years at ages 16-21 at North Ryde and Ryde Parramatta. He turned Pro in 1950 and was apprenticed to Dick Carr at Manly for three years. He spent a few years touring the local circuit during which time he set a course record in Heidelberg in Victoria.

In 1955 he went to New Zealand, becoming Club Pro at Remuera Auckland. He represented N.Z. in the Canada Cup in 1957 and 1959 and each year finished in the top 20 of the 60 golfers competing. He won the New Zealand PGA in 1956.

One interesting job he held was a Professional to the Australian Army's National Service Battalion in Ingleburn. The C.O. at the camp was a keen golfer and decided that the sport would help his 18 years-old spend their weekends in camp.

Many Long Reef golfers will remember John as a sound teacher and one who greatly helped them with advice. Rodger Davis was one of his assistant Pros."

Les Browne remembers him as a wonderful ball striker but not confident on the greens. He caddied for John a couple of times, one he thinks at the NSW Open, but he was very negative and Les had to continually boost his confidence. Soon after he gave away competitive golf and hardly ever played even in club events, although Les did play with him occasionally in the annual Elanora Invitational Pro/Am.

Les describes him as a good teacher for better golfers. Les' father Col paid for coaching lessons for Les. "He would get me to hit a couple of balls and give a small tweak which fixed me ..mostly I didn't need a full lesson and he would see me hit of the 1st and when finished the round he would just say something that would keep my swing in check. I know that he struggled to teach players who really didn't understand a basic swing."

John was a very important part of the Associates 1968 Grade win, considered at the time to be the club's first and only win, Associates or Men. The women made a firm and calculated decision to improve the play of their silver golfers about two years earlier. John was part of the regime giving individual and team coaching. He reduced fees for a private lessons and recorded the handicap reductions achieved as motivation. More match play training games were planned to make sure that the players positions in the team were as accurate as possible. Over four years he helped them to two winning pennants and two runners-up positions. This fits in with Les' comment that he excelled as a teaching professionals with the low markers.

Yet in 1975 John had announced that he was starting an Associates Swingers Club. Rae Milsted, our oldest all-time female golfer had her first lessons with him.

In 1976 Rae had seen a brochure advertising lessons and she decided to give the game a try arriving with a friend from her tennis group. She remembers John being friendly but quite strict as he worked his way along the line of the 6 in the lessons given them plenty of attention in turn. At this time she was spotted by friend Adie Browne, an Associate member (Les' Mum) who thrust an application form to join in her hands, and so she did.

As the photo below shows Rae was soon winning weekly comps and medals. These few beginners lessons were the only ones she has ever had, but she did ask a question one day when she was not striking the ball well and John gave her a tip there and then. He must have been so good at the basics and coupled with Rae's natural ability, co-ordination and concentration she became a leading Bronze players over more than the next thirty years. Along the way Rae was a Pennant player, on the very first Barrenjoey Committee, the winner of 3 Bronze Premiership titles and 4 Foursomes titles. 2000 was a good year when she won both the Singles Knockout and the Medal winners Cup. It seems that John was a very capable teacher.

One memory shared by Rae was the story of John's visit to St. Andrew's. It was his life time ambition to play there, and his brother who was a priest paid for him to go to Scotland.

Rae in 2012 with a selection of her Prize cards

Rae with Foursomes partner Joan Corlis.

John was in place to see the Associates play on Thursdays drawn in 3's to speed up play, and help the Associates take over running the Tuesdays competitions in 1966 but then became their starter in 1967. New cards were printed for him to show the new 1^st and 2nd hole after the old 16^th an 17^th we abandoned and or altered. He saw the Bowling green dismantled in 1970 and it is wondered if he held an opinion when females were allowed to wear 'slacks" on the course for the first time in 1970. Perhaps he knew golfers on both teams when the Australia versus New Zealand Junior competition was held on the course that same year. His duties would be much the same as every Professional as well as co-ordinating the young caddies who were to learn the game from this advantage point.

In 1976 John and his team was moved to a new work space. The former bowlers shoe changing shed was made into the Pro-shop across the road, roughly where the putting-green is now. At much the same time the numbering of the course was reversed and the 1^st became the 9^th and the fairway beside the Pro-shop became the 1^st. The Starter's box was demolished.

Hopefully there are other memories of John that can be shared by those of us who have been here for more than 38 years. John's career at Long Reef was concluded after 22 years in 1985 when Gary Churcher Professional number 3 was appointed. He died in 2018 at the age of 90.

Sandra Mellowes | Archives

Rules with George | Answer

Answer: B is the correct answer.

The Rules of Golf do not allow players to declare a ball unplayable to take relief in a penalty area. Fortunately, there are other avenues to relief.

Rule 17.2 Options after playing a Ball from Penalty Area deals comprehensively with the problem.

If a ball played from a penalty area comes to rest in the same penalty area the player may play the ball as it lies, or for one penalty stroke may take relief under several options:

(1) Normal Relief Options.

The player may take stroke and distance relief under Rule 17.1d(1), back-on-the-line relief under Rule 17.1d(2), or for a red penalty area, lateral relief under Rule 17.1d(3).

The estimated point used to determine the relief area is where the ball last crossed the edge of the penalty area.

(2) Extra Relief Option: Playing from where the Last Stroke Made outside a penalty area.

Instead of using one of the normal relief options under (1), the player may choose to play the original ball or another ball from where he or she made the last stroke outside the penalty area ( See Rule 14.6).

From your General Manager

From your Captain

From your Course Superintendent

From your Women's Committee

Meet the Team

From the Friday Club

Rules with George | Question

From your Bar

Members Christmas Events

From the Archives | John Kelly - Club Professional

Rules with George | Answer

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