Rob Cordaiy | Captain 

The Pennants season is well underway with three teams currently competing in the Northern Districts Pennants Association competition. 

Bronze Plaque

On 14 June we hosted the Bronze Plaque on a wet and cold day. Thankfully the food was great, and the clubhouse warm.  Thank you to those that helped on the day. On 21 June our team went to Mona Vale to play Manly. A good win 4.5 to 0.5 to the team of Prue Bardsley, Sam Sparke, Debbie Hankey, Veronica Bertram and Danielle Seisun.  Next week is their last game at Wakehurst playing Elanora. The competition is very close and could go either way. Good luck girls! 

Bronze III Shield

Bronze III played their second match at Bayview against Wakehurst with a win 3 and 2. Well done to the team of Liz Morton, Julie Campbell, Aki Lee, Nan Crump and Lisa Jenkins. On 21 June the team went to Mona Vale and played Mona Vale at home.  Unfortunately, the team of Liz Morton, Tracey Cantwell, Nan Crump, Lisa Jenkins and Lerida Grant narrowly lost 3 and 2. Tough to play a team at their own course! Next week we are hosting at Long Reef and the team will play Bayview at home. Good luck girls!

Bronze IV

The Bronze IV team played their first match at Wakehurst against Asquith. The team was full of debutants. A great win 3 and 2 for the team of Julie Vargeson, Petrina Rousel, Adriana Bowyer, May Yeng and Nikki Winestock. Next week they are playing Elanora at Roseville.Great to see so many new golfers playing and enjoying pennants. Good luck girls next week! 

Dot Leonard Rose Bowl

On 13 June we played the Dot Leonard Rose Bowl over the first 9 holes, for those women that have been a member of Long Reef for 25 years continually. The winner of the trophy was Jenni Brown with 16 points from Clare John on 15 points. 

Pewter Plate

On 4 July the Pewter Plate will be played at Lakeside Camden Golf Course. Petrina Rousel and Adriana Bower will be representing Long Reef in the Plate. All the best ladies and enjoy the course.  

Captains Trophy

On 18 July the qualifying round for the Captains Trophy will be held. Get your partners as this year's Captains Trophy will be a 4BBB match play event. Fun to play a different type of match play.  

Results:

On 11 June division one was won by Wendy Thomas (20) with 34 points from Prue Bardsley (33) on 21 points, division 2 was won by Maria Russell (30) with 38 points from Gay Mccorby (27) with 34 points, division 3 was won by Sue Dewell (35) on 38 points from Judy Gietz (40) with 37 points. Gold tees was won by Sachiko Elsworth (43) on 33 points from Sharyn Hillman (38) on 32 points. The 9-hole competition was won by Dale Ronald (26) on 20 points from Kathie Nelson (37) on 19 points. 

On 13 June the overall winner was Helenka O'Connell (19) on 38 points. The winner of division one was Helenka O'Connell (19) on 38 points from Jenni Brown (15) on 34 points on a c/b from Vanessa Murphy (15).  Division 2 was won by Corinne Crawford (29) on 35 points from Camilla Lassen (27) on 34 points from Debra Trim (27) on 33 points. Division 3 was won by Nikki Winestock (42) on 38 points from Robyn Carson (42) on 37 points from Colleen Thompson (39) on 33 points. The Gold Tee division was won by Jo Bellemore (44) with 35 points from Fran Taylor (45) on 33 points from Sharyn Hillman (38) on 32 points. The 9- hole was won by Ann Henderson (38) with 16 points. 

On 18 June Division one was won by Jenni Brown (18) on 34 points from Jie Cheng (23) on 33 points, division 2 was won by Julie Campbell (31) with 42 points from Corinne Crawford (29) on 32 points and Division 3 was won by Sue Dewell (34) on 34 points from Nikki Winestock (42) on 33 points. Gold Tee division was won by Jeanette Black (43) on 37 points from Grace Ping (45) on 32 points. The 9-hole competition was won by Kerry Mccallum (4) on 17 points from Anne Nielsen (45) on 17 points. 

On 20 June the overall winner was Jie Cheng (23) on +4. Division one was won by Jie Cheng (23) on plus 4 from Debbie Hankey (22) on square. Division 2 was won by Lisa George (26) with a square from Liz Morton (31) on minus 1, division 3 was won by Carol Sherlock (37) on square from Sue Dewell (34) on minus 2. The Gold Tee division was won by Karen Pethybridge (39) on plus 1 on a c/b from Netty Newman. The 9-hole competition was won by Meriam Matheson (29) on plus 2 from Julie Vargeson (36) on plus 1. 

Up Coming Fixtures:

27 June - GNSW medal round 5 and Gold tee stableford

30 June - Women's Weekend Foursomes

11 July - Par round mixed division - sheet is up in the locker room

18 July - Captain's Trophy 4BBB event qualifying round - match play 25 July 30 July and final 1 August

Her funeral will held at the Northern Suburbs Crematorium, 199 Delhi Road, North Ryde on Wednesday 3^rd July at 11am in the South Chapel. This will be followed by a celebration of Jenny's life at LRGC from 12.30pm.

John Davison, Graham Heiser and Gary Milsted are all progressing well after successful hip replacements.

Margaret Mullins is also progressing well and hoping to soon return to golf.

On Friday the 23^rd August we will be holding the postponed charity golf day for Gotcha4Life. This was the charity voted for by our Members. For those that are not familiar with Gotch4Life its mission is to inspire and enable people to take action to build their mental fitness. Its vision is a suicide-free world, where no one worries alone.

The day will be an 8am shotgun start, $150 a head with the field limited to 120 players. There will be breakfast and lunch with guest speakers, auctions and raffles afterwards.

The entry form can be located on the Club's website.

Stephen Twigg | Welfare Coordinator

Given the frequent discussions surrounding the rules of golf, I have arranged for Golf NSW to host a rules information night for all Club Members and their guests.. This is an excellent opportunity to improve your understanding and knowledge of the game's rules. Please note that this is not an accreditation session, but a Club-level rules presentation, followed by a Q&A session.

Details:

• Date: Monday, 29th July
• Time: 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
• Venue: Pacific Room

This is a great chance to brush up on your knowledge and consider pursuing a Level 1 rules course online afterwards.

Please register your interest in attending by heading to the registration 'timesheet' in MiClub, you will find this by scrolling down to Monday 29th July.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Jenny Schulenburg | Director of Golf

Which applies?

A) Jeremy acted within the rules. No penalty applies.

B) Jeremy incurs a penalty of one stroke.

C) Jeremy incurs a penalty of two strokes.

A few weeks ago having read a Golf In Australia magazine article we were able to confirm that Scottish born golf professional, Peter Merrilees, was responsible for the layout of the first 9-holes at Long Reef Golf Club in 1921. He returned in 1923 to help with a bunkering plan.

It has been rewarding to discover a little more about him and I thank members Les Browne, Gary Martinolli, Joy Reece, Peter O'Brien and Lockey McGrath for their help and interest. The main source of information and photographs have come from a list and history written by the North Berwick Golf Club, including the 'North Berwick Golfing Pioneers.' Archive Committee members Joy has also had a close look at electoral rolls and birth, death and marriage Registers. 

The North Berwick Golf Club opened in 1832, but had been a rudimentary golf area since the beginning of the 16th century. It considers itself to be the 16^th course to have opened in the world.

LRGC 9-Hole Course layout 1921-23 Peter Merrilees

Peter's professional career in Australia was typical. He made clubs, gave demonstrations and talks, acted as a club professional, planned the layout of golf clubs  and entered the leading competitions of the day. In the Pioneers article the following is said. " It is often written that Merrilees spent most of his time making clubs and teaching and if he had time to practise he played well." He sometimes competed as an unattached professional. We have a brief outline of some of the golf clubs and businesses that he worked at and some of his achievements. 

His name can be found as an entrant into many major competitions but we do not have a record of him as a major Champion. He was an entrant into the Australian Professional Championship on several occasions as well as the Royal Sydney Cup at Rose Bay. He represented NSW in many interstate competitions. In 1924 he entered the NSW Sun newspaper 500 pound competition, a competition Frank Eyre was to win in 1926. In 1932 he set a new course record at Moore Park which included a hole-in-one on the 18^th. By 1939 he was playing off a NSW Golf Association handicap of minus 6, a rating designed to consider the number of Amateurs who entered events at that time. 

On several occasions he partnered the teenager Joe H. Kirkwood in exhibition matches. Joe's parents came from Inverness in Scotland. In 1920, the year Joe turned professional, he won both the Australian and New Zealand Open Championships. Peter would eventually become his manager and organise trips for Joe abroad. 

Meanwhile two of Peter's younger brothers had definitely served as apprentices as golf club makers with James Hutchinson and James Watt in the North Berwick workshop. In 1906 Andrew was at Aldershot in England but in 1922 he arrived in New York. From 1925 he mainly worked at golf clubs in North Carolina. 

Peter had married his Australian wife Sarah in Goulburn in 1910. They had one son, Peter, but sadly he died in 1912. There were no more children. Electoral rolls show that they were living together in Manly until 1935 but that was the last mention of them being together. There is no record of a divorce. Sarah died in Manly in 1963. 

The Pioneers article states that in June 1939 Peter applied for a leave of absence from the Woollahra Golf Club and the Council and with his Australian wife Sarah, he travelled to visit his brother in the US. Joy Reece's research disputes this idea. The ship's passenger list does not include Sarah's name. It may have been said to keep up appearances! 

It was not the safest time to travel for anyone. By May 1939 Australia was being prepared for war. It seems that it was more than a term of absence as by August 1939 he had joined his brother as the Assistant Pro at Emerywood Country Club North Carolina. He became an American citizen within the year. War was declared in September 1939. Peter meanwhile was appointed Head Professional at Santa Rosa Golf and Country Club in California where those golfers who had originated at the North Berwick Club were well established in the State. This was at a time when the US was hoping to remain neutral in the war. Peter remained in the United States for the next twenty years until his death in Sonoma County, California in 1959. His brother Andrew had died in 1951. 

We do not know if Peter visited Australia again, or indeed visited Scotland. During his thirty years as a Professional in Australia Peter seems to have had his longest relationship with Woollahra Golf Club and was also busily occupied as an independent golf club maker. It seems as if he worked and played in the shadows of Carnegie Clark and Dan Soutar who prospered as course designers and champion golfers. 

We can now add the details of just who designed the first 9 holes to the E-book "The First 100 years." Answer - Peter Gullane Merrilees in 1921. 

Sandra Mellowes | Archives