Below are notes from the Board Meeting held on 29 August 2024

Craig Parry Design

Last month's 'From Your Board' reported the re-appointment of Craig Parry to prepare design options for the fairways and mounds across the 14th, 15th and 16th holes. In addition to this project, it was approved to have Craig Parry re-design the current chipping green surrounds, proposing a design that allows for wider variety of shots to be played to the chipping green, similar to what's experienced on the Course. Rest assured, the design options for the mounds and fairways on 14th, 15th and 16th holes are Craig's priority.

Member Satisfaction Survey

Every two years we conduct our Membership Survey to gauge satisfaction levels of our Golf Members on all aspects of the Club, Course, and their overall Membership experience.

The 2024 survey will be issued to Members on 26 September via email. The survey serves as a platform to track Membership satisfaction over time enabling us to benchmark our performance on previous years and identify areas that need to be improved. The results will assist the Board and the Club's management in their role as custodians of the Club's future direction.

We received an excellent response rate in 2022 with 45% of Members completing the survey. Continually receiving a high response rate will allow us to track and analyse your Member feedback and continue to implement any improvements and changes to reflect what you as Members want.

The survey will cover the following:

•  Importance of Membership
•  Golf Course Layout & Condition
•  Golf Competitions & Booking Process
•  Golf Club Website & Communication
•  Clubhouse
•  Golf Shop
•  Café & Bar
•  Member Benefits
•  Major Projects
•  Rebranding
•  Member Profile

The survey will remain anonymous as always so please be candid with your responses. We look forward to receiving your feedback.

Strategic Plan

The Strategic Plan adopted in 2022 is reviewed annually by the Board, Sub-Committees and Management, ensuring the Club is striving towards the goals outlined in the plan.

The 2024 update considered the recent completion of the Bunker Master Plan, the Clubhouse compliance works, the Golf Shop operation, our growing Membership waitlist and the current status of the approved lease.

Click here to view the updated Strategic Plan

Acoustic Treatment in Function Room

In August, acoustic panels were installed on the ceiling of the Reef Room as a trial to reduce the noise reverberations in the Function rooms. It has proved successful and now the Pacific Room will be fitted with the same style of acoustic paneling.

Note: This document is not intended to be a minute of the relevant Board meeting but is intended to provide members with a summary of the significant decisions made or issues discussed by the Board at its most recent meeting. Certain matters may be commercially sensitive, subject to privacy considerations or otherwise confidential and will not be included in this summary document.

The Women's Club Championship is open to all 5, 6 and 7 day Women Members. The qualifying rounds for the Open, B and C Grade championships will be played on Thursday 19 and 26 September 2024. Eight players from each division to qualify for the match play, which will be played on Thursday 17 October 2024, Thursday 24 October 2024 and the final on Thursday 31 October 2024. The final of the Open Championships will be played over 36 holes, the B and C Grade finals will be over 18 holes. Presentation of Trophies will occur after the finals.    

Women's Weekend Premiership

The Women's Weekend Premiership is an honour board event. To ensure all weekend women members (6 and 7 day) are able to play in the Women's Weekend Premiership, the event will be played on a Sunday over 36 holes stroke. The first round will be played on Sunday 20 October 2024 and the final round on Sunday 27 October 2024. All 6 and 7 day women members are eligible to play in both the Women's Club Championship and the Women's Weekend Premiership as they are two separate honour board events. Times will be allocated on the Sunday timesheet for the Women's Weekend Premiership. Please put your name on as usual on the timesheet within the allocated times for the first round. The second round will be a seeded draw. The winner of the Women's Weekend Premiership will be announced at the Men's Club Championship presentation.  

2Ball Ambrose

On Thursday 22 August 2024 and Saturday 24 August 2024, the Keno Golf NSW 2 ball Ambrose was played.  The top two leading women's teams from the combined field of the Thursday and Saturday competitions were: Ali Gattas and Mary-Jane Sanderson with 68.25 nett and Emma Thurlow and Rachael Loomes with 69 nett. Both these teams go on to play in Stage 2 the Regional Finals. Good luck girls!

 Visitors Day

Our Visitor's Day will be held on 12 September 2024. The event will be Waltz event commencing at 8am with a Shotgun start. Please put your name down on the sheet in the locker room. If you have a visitor, please provide their GolfLink number. The draw will be done on 5 September 2024. Given it is a shotgun start can you all please pay via the registration sheet which is open on the timesheet. The cost is the normal competition fee of $15.00. The cost for Visitors is also $15.00.  

Lunch will be served at the back of the room. Please let Michelle Milsted know if you or your visitor has any dietary requirements.  

Results:

On Sunday 25 August 2024, Liz Morton (31) came second with 42 points as well as won the 4BBB with Vanessa Murphy (15) on 49 points followed by Tracey Martin (27) and Gilda Severino (17) with 46 points. 

On Monday 26 August 2024, Ali Gattas (17) won the B grade with 41 points and Deb Kent (27) came third with 39 points. 

On Tuesday 27 August 2024, division 1 was won by Lynne Clayton (17) with 37 points from Helenka O'Connell (15) with 36 points. Division 2 was won by Marg O'Connell (24) on 39 points from Tracey Martin (23) on 38 points, division 3 was won by Lisa Jenkins (29) on 42 points from Aki lee (30) on 40 points. Division 4 was won by Karen Pethybridge (39) with 39 points from Netty Newman (45) with 38 points. The 9- hole competition was won by Jen Vasseleu (32) with 16 points. 

On Thursday 29 August 2024, the score of the day was Adriana Bowyer (40) with 43 points, division 1 was won by Jen Jansson (12) with 41 points on a c/b from Kim Sloane (16) with third place going to Wendy Millson (36) on 36 points. Division 2 was won by Rowena Robinson (29) on 41 points from Deb Trim (29) with 38 points and third Karmen Whitford (27) on 36 points. Division 3 was won by Adriana Bowyer (40) on 43 points from Sachiko Elsworth (37) with 37 points on a c/b from Sue Rossi (41). Division 4 was won by Karen Reader (44) with 43 points on a c/b from Elizabeth Wilkins (40) and third was Caroline Berner (40) on 39 points.   

Upcoming Fixtures:

5 September - last Par round mixed divisions for the McNicol Trophy and the Remembrance Day Trophies.

12 September - Visitors Day.

19 and 26 September - qualifying rounds for the Women's Club Championships.

Over the past fortnight we've had no rainfall, keeping the YTD total to 1065.4mm. an increase of 474.4mm compared to this time last year. With the unusually high temperatures we're experiencing, the Course is starting to dry out.

The Greens are recovering well after spring renovations. Over the next few weeks, I plan on grooming the greens and giving them regular light dusting to help smooth the surface out and recover well in time for Club Championships mid September. Please remember to fix your pitch marks. It's especially important right now with the greens being soft after renovations. 

Following the recent vandalism, the bubblers on the 5^th and 7^th have now been repaired and are fully operational.

Long Reef is still looking to hire an Apprentice Sports Turf Manager. If any Members know of young people interested in pursuing a career in the Golf Course industry, please encourage them to get in touch with me directly at 045044928 or super@longreefgolfclub.com.au for more information.

Kurt Schulenburg | Course Superintendent

Srixon/Cleveland Fitting Day

Joel and Harry were playing a match.

On the 9^th hole both players had reached the green. Joel was about 1 meter from the hole and Harry was approximately three meters away from the hole. Harry asked Joel to mark his ball one putter head away from the line of putt. Harry putted and his ball ran on a little so he putted again successfully. Joel placed his ball in front of his ball marker and putted his ball into the hole. Suddenly Joel realized that he had played from the wrong place.

Which applies?

1. No penalty to either player as Joel had acted out of courtesy.
2. Joel got the General Penalty, Loss of Hole, for playing from the wrong place. Harry won the hole.
3. Harry offered Joel the chance to replay his putt from the correct place, to absolve the penalty.

Before joining the Long Reef, Ed played half back for Manly League team, playing in the 1970 team which was beaten by South Sydney in the Grand Final. He was Club Chairman of the Football Club 1999-2000, becoming a Life Member of the MWRLFC in 1992. 

Ed loved a punt, his golf and trips away with the boys. Always good for a laugh and a story, "Toy" will be missed by all his friends. 

We extend our deepest sympathy and thoughts to Pam, Brett, Natalie and their family during this difficult time. There is a memorial service for Ed on Friday 20th September at 10.30a.m at St Kieran's Manly Vale, followed by a celebration at Manly League's Club.

John Steuart has had a shoulder reconstruction and is progressing well, hoping to start playing golf in December/January. 

The Gotcha4Life Charity Golf Day was held on the Friday 23 April. With the $1000 donation from the Friday Club the total amount raised was $14,786.45. I would like to thank all those who played, donated and bought tickets in the raffle.

The council listed some simple rules -that the club would develop a course and be responsible for maintenance and safety. It also stated that members who were neither residents or ratepayers could only fill 25% of the total membership. (Until the 70s a member was not allowed to stand for the Club Committee unless they were a Warringah resident. The Club had started to pay rent to the Council when it became an incorporated company in 1939. By 1931 the club had developed an 18 hole course.) 

In 1922 the contact with the Shire Clerk was so helpful and immediate when following the club's request. Permission was given for the club to have the use of another small parcel of land to build a Golf House. This was to be built entirely at the new club's expense. The total cost was $510 at a time when the fees were set at two guineas for men, and one for associates and non-players, about $3 and $1.50. The club was allowed to take the Golf House with them if and when they moved!

One hundred plus years later the generations of fee paying, fund raising, loan repaying, volunteering, staff selecting members can be more than proud of the course and club they have created over that time and whatever the council's plan was or wasn't we can thank Cecil for writing that letter! 

As for the more democratic spirit of membership of Manly Club quoted in the letter it can be imagined that it had something to do with who you knew and who you were proposed by, what you did as a profession and if you could pay the fees. It was a leading private club not only on the peninsula but also in the city. They may have had imported Scottish club Professionals like Dan Soutar but Long Reef had a local Manly larrikin Frank Eyre in 1922 for their first Professional and he stayed for 41 years! He suited the club's needs.

Wally Smith was a volunteer who we can acknowledge now as a major part in the creation of a legacy. He had been a caddy at Manly and arrived in 1926 as a  brilliant golf club swinging young gun . He became a multiple Club Champion, Champion of Champions the first Long Reef Medal winner, played for NSW and was a Pennant player for years etc. He was a long standing Handicapper when on the committee for 11 years and by the 50s he was President for four years, Captain for 6. He was part of the rebuilding of the clubhouse planning team* and went on to become a Life Member. He provided a lot of information and many anecdotes for Ross Lanes in the 80s when the book -"The First 65 years of Long Reef Golf Club" was written. Wally's quote describing the club in the 20s helps provide a summary of who we were and are!

"When I first arrived I was struck by what a happy sort of place it was. Members used to hang their clothes under a tree. Many of them were cricketers and footballers from the surrounding district. Some were men of considerable standing in the business and professional community, but there was little stuffiness. The general atmosphere was free and easy."

Sandra Mellowes | Archives