REEF BREEZES

Tuesday 7 September 2021

From your Board

Board Meeting held 26 August 2021. 

FINANCE The Net Loss was $14,825. The Clubhouse closure is having a significant impact on revenue. The audited Net Profit for the 2020/21 financial year was $1,182,583. The Annual Report should be available from reception from September 23. 

PRO AM Unfortunately with the uncertainty surrounding lockdown restrictions the Board has decided to cancel the Centenary Pro-Am scheduled for 29 November 2021.

NEWSLETTER The MiClub E-News template will be sent as a fortnightly newsletter publication to the Membership commencing 7 September.

MEMBER SURVEY The various sub committees will meet this month to review the survey results and recommend any action plans that will be required. The introduction of a fortnightly newsletter is the first change as a result of Member feedback from the survey.

COVID RESTRICTIONS The NSW Government has announced that from 13 September outdoor gatherings will increase to five adults if all are fully vaccinated. As a result of this announcement the Board sent an anonymous survey to Members to assist the Board in understanding the Membership’s position and to plan changes to the timesheets in accordance with this new Government directive.

LONG REEF HEADLAND BOARD WALK As a result of the severe storm last Tuesday week the board walk along the 17thhole collapsed. The Council closed the walkway and erected signs and fencing to stop members of the public using the walkway. Unfortunately many members of the public have ignored the warning signs and fencing and have instead, diverted around the area by walking onto the golf course. The Board made the decision to shorten the 17th to a par 3 until Council has temporarily fixed the walkway. They have indicated that this will take 2 weeks.


CHANGES TO THE BY LAWS The Board reviewed its policy on “No Shows” and agreed to implement a first offence warning letter for a “No Show” and a second offence will be referred to the Disciplinary Committee. 
The following was added as By-Law 8.14:
“A Member failing to show for their allocated tee-time will be in breach of these By-Laws unless there are exceptional circumstances and will be issued with an email/letter stating that a breach has occurred and the date of that breach (Warning Letter). If a Member subsequently fails to show for their allocated tee-time within a period of 12 months of having received a Warning Letter, the Club will apply the disciplinary provisions as set in section 11 of the Constitution.
By-Law 22.10 was amended as follows:
Add the words “no show” to now read:
“The Club’s “no show” and “pace of play” policies”.8. 

CLUB ELECTIONS Nominations for the Board will open on Tuesday 21 September at 5pm and close on Tuesday 5 October at 5 pm. Please contact reception on 99718113 for a nomination form. 

With the government promising easing of restrictions once vaccination targets have been met, we now have a growing optimism that life will return to something like normal sometime in October. To all our Members, thank you for your patience and understanding during these difficult times. 

Stay vigilant, stay safe and stay well.

Stephen Twigg | President

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


From the Staff

It has been a challenging few months to say the least with restrictions changing daily and often with extremely short lead times to implement something which has great impact on most Members. Thank you to Members who have been cooperative with these changes and Members who reside outside the Northern Beaches who have shown patience while waiting for the restrictions to ease (I have news for some out of area Members later in this report).

As we reach day 83 of the current lockdown, we welcome some good news. From 13th September, the NSW Government are allowing up to 5 fully vaccinated adults to gather outdoors which provides the Club the opportunity to consider groups of 3 or 4 players in some capacity. Further to the easing of restrictions, Clubs NSW have submitted their re-opening plans to NSW Health and are confident that fully vaccinated Members will be able to enjoy a beer, wine or coffee with their playing partners in the Clubhouse from mid-October.

VACCINATION SURVEY

Thank you to the 650 Members who took the time to complete the vaccination survey this week. The results were very positive and the Board will review the data and feedback received before reporting back to Members shortly on what changes to golf will occur in the coming weeks.

CAFE RENOVATION

With the prolonged closure of the Clubhouse, we are taking the opportunity to complete a minor renovation of the Café. This is scheduled for Monday 20th to Wednesday 23rd September and unfortunately the Café will be closed during this period. 

MEMBERS OUTSIDE THE NORTHERN BEACHES

I've recently been involved in discussions with many Sydney Golf Clubs regarding the possibility of 'time


swaps' for our Members who are living outside the Northern Beaches. Most of our out of area Members reside in the LGA's of North Sydney, Mosman, Willoughby or Ku-Ring-Gai and the only successful agreement has been with Roseville Golf Club. Those Members who this is applicable to have been contacted, but if you believe you're eligible and haven't received the email, please contact Laura McCahon (laura@lrgc.com.au). Members will be notified if the Club is successful any securing any further reciprocals.

GIVE WAY TO COURSE STAFF

The Course staff are currently split in to two teams working alternate days to avoid to a potential COVID-19 transmission forcing the entire Course staff into isolation. The reduced staff hours have placed significant strain on the team to complete tasks, so please be aware staff are likely to be carrying out maintenance whilst you are on the Course. Please give way to Course staff if they are on in your direction of play.

STAFF

I thanked the Members at the start of this report for their cooperation but should also say a big thank you to all LRGC staff. The Club has had to reduce its staffing by 800 hours each week across all departments and whilst this has impacted many of our staff and their families, its great to hear the positivity from them, their initiative to get vaccinated in anticipation of reopening and the excitement to hopefully be back at work in mid-October.

Please take care, get out for regular exercise, follow the booking rules and enjoy Spring. We hope to be bringing better news each week from here on.

Ben Russell | General Manager


From the Vice Captain

It is nice to make my first appearance our Golf Clubs newsletter. Thank you for having me as your Vice Captain and I am proud to be working with the Board to make our Club even better.

Over the last month there has been plenty of work going on to improve many aspects of the course and Club, even during the difficult restrictions that COVID has placed on us. Here's an insight into Golf in August at LRGC.

COURSE RENOVATIONS

We are all aware of the hard work Peter and his team are putting into the course, getting it ready for Spring and Summer. Many will have noticed the recent coring of the greens, timed perfectly before a lot of rain hit the course and allowed the work to bed in.

Over the next few weeks, we'll start to see the quality of the course we can expect for the rest of the warmer weather. The rear green side bunker on 4 is almost ready for grass and with bunker renovations soon to be complete, planned renovations of the course will be limited until 2022.

When you see the course staff around, don't be shy in thanking them for their efforts. They are working in split shifts to keep the course as well presented as it is during the threat of COVID effecting a team member.

COURSE CARE HOLE

The Golf Committee has decided to have two course care holes each day. Each day of play there will be 2 holes prioritized for Members to concentrate on repairing divots and pitch marks.

Signs will be placed at the start of the two holes of the day. These will be rotated over the coming weeks until we start to see a marked improvement in the number of divots / pitch marks repaired. Please be sure to have your sand buckets full and pitch repair tools ready.

Now is the time to help our course staff by repairing all divots and pitch marks as we play. If we all leave the course in a better condition than when we arrived, we'll all reap the rewards of everyone's hard work when temperatures rise over the coming months.

CANCELLED EVENTS

Unfortunately, COVID has meant the cancellation of the Mick Snell Cup, Keno 2Ball Ambrose and the Centenary Pro-Am. The Golf Committee is hoping to reschedule the C Grade Cup Qualifying and Men's Foursomes but this will be dependent on relaxation of current COVID restrictions.

Keep an eye on the Members portal on the website over the coming weeks to stay on top of rescheduled events

PACE OF PLAY

With demand on tee times greater than ever before, it is extremely important that we are all conscious of our pace of play. Your position in the field is directly behind the group in front. If you are unable to keep up your pace, call the group behind through. Maintain your pace throughout your whole round by playing 'ready golf'. We are aware that small speed humps occur during our rounds so once in the clear, be sure to get back into your position, right behind the group in front.

 

MEMBER SURVEY

An additional Golf Committee meeting will take place this Thursday to review the survey, determine the priorities on the course and make recommendations to the Board on a proposed action plan.

VACCINATION SURVEY

Many will have seen the vaccination survey delivered to your inboxes this last week. We received a significant response from Members and will discuss introducing groups of 4 in line with the new Government directives.

While we all want to get back to 4 balls, the safety of all Members remains the priority of the Club. Please bear with us as we ensure the move back to 'normal' playing conditions is as smooth and safe as possible.

17th HOLE

The wild weather over the last fortnight has caused significant damage to the pedestrian bridge adjacent to the 17th tee. Again, safety has been prioritised here so the Board have agreed that until the repair of the bridge is complete, the 17th hole will remain a par 3. Council have indicated that repair will be ready for pedestrians again in the next two weeks.

NO SHOW POLICY

Not turning up for your round, especially with 2 balls the only form of play happening at the moment, causes all sorts of problems, not just for your playing partner.

The Club MUST be made aware of your withdrawal from your round at least 60 minutes before your tee time. This gives the Pro Shop a small window to find a replacement. Late arrivals for tee times without letting the Pro Shop know will be deemed as a 'No Show' and appropriate action will be taken by the Club.

The Board has recently reviewed it's "no show policy" and made changes to the clubs By-Laws. Effective immediately Members who fail to show will be given a warning letter for their first offence and a second offence will be referred to the Disciplinary Committee.

RECIPRICOL ARRANGEMENTS WITH ROSEVILLE

  • Please see General Managers Report for details.

GOLFING HIGHLIGHTS FOR AUGUST

  • There were plenty of great scores in August with many Members taking advantage of the perfect conditions
  • Steve Skinner had a hole in one on 17 (While it was a Par 3) - Will there be another?
  • Ray Roberge had a hole in one on 13
  • Ollie Robinson has been on fire scoring 40+ points on numerous occasions in the past three months. He has now dropped his handicap by 20 shots in 6 months. Keep up the great Golf Ollie! 
Play well this September and remember: Watch the ball.

In Golf,

Cam Gillespie | Vice Captain


From the Women's Committee

Welcome to the September newsletter. Our thoughts are with the women members who are unable to play at moment whether it is due to Covid-19 restrictions, illness or recovery from an injury. We look forward to having everyone back to golf as soon as it is possible.

Thank you to Pauline McMahon and Linda Sinclair for your hard work on the Barrenjoey Committee over the last 3 years, and thank you Angela Brown and Clare John who are joining Sue Rossi as Long Reef's representatives.

We are sorry to see 3 of our women members moving away from Sydney. As a result, our Hon. Secretary Sue Kiprovich has resigned. Sue has been a member for 11 years and on the women's committee for this year, and Sue won the Long Markers Knockout in 2021. Sue Phillips who has been a valued member of the club for 5 years is not moving too far away and hopefully once Covid-19 eases will be able to come and play a few games. Mel Venning has been a valued member for 5 years and is heading North. We will miss them and wish them good luck in the future and look forward to seeing them all at Long Reef again in the coming years.

Even though there was no Birdie Board in August the report shows across all the playing days there were 126 birdies and one eagle, and we had 44 different players getting birdies including 26 for division 2 & 3 players - awesome achievement. Congratulations to Alyssa Starc who got the eagle on the 15th hole.

Sorry there is no Birdie board in September, hopefully this will return in October.

During August the scores were incredible, there were 22 players with 40 points and above and three players who incredible scored 45 points and above, 7 players also achieved the best score of the day (over the whole field), congratulations to all the players.

9 holes, Susan Kelly (30) 19 points, Julie Preston (25) 19 points and Margaret Mullins (45) 19 points.

18 holes, the following 3 players scored an amazing 45 and over points.


Gay McCorby (31) 47 points, Sue Dewell (40) 46 points and Julie Campbell (38) 45 points, all 3 got the best score of day.

The following players also had great scores during August:

Lyn Ashton (39) 44 points, Karmen Whitford (30) 44 points, Jan Hanson (38) 43 points, Michelle Milsted (40) 43 points, Tracey Cantwell (43) 42 points,

The following players all scored 41 points, Catherine Hancock (28), Jenni Brown (15), Melanie Venning (42), Pauline McMahon (30), Helenka O'Connell (30), Jie Cheng (31).

The following players all scored 40 points, Kim Sloane (16) and Rachael Loomes (20) achieved this score twice, Debra Trim (39), Karen Smith (18), Rosemary West (20), Julia Deere Jones (31), Wendy Millson (18) and Fiona Bone (23).

Due to Covid-19 the September events for the Weekend Premiership are postponed. The Premiership dates are being reviewed for both the Weekend and Weekday Open, Bronze and C Grade Qualifying, the Match Play rounds and also the Club Championship in all 3 grades. The Medal Winners Cup dates are also being looked at and we will advise all of the revised dates as soon as possible.

Due to the lockdown the following events have been postponed in September and early October. We will advise the revised dates as soon as we can:

  • Thursday 2nd September - Remembrance Trophies, Veteran Vouchers
  • Thursday 9th September - Par and Veterans Trophy
  • Thursday 16th September - Charity Day
  • Thursday 30th September - Super Vets round 3, Veteran Vouchers 
The following events have now been cancelled:

  • Women's Captain's Trophy
  • GNSW Pewter Plate, Coronation Medal and Bronze Medallion
  • Tuesday 5th October - Long Reef V Cromer

Wendy Thomas | Women's Captain


From the Course

It is nice to be through winter and into spring now we can look forward to the course getting back into growing mode.

Renovations went very well and luckily we got most things completed before the east coast low hit bringing heavy rain and gale force wind. The spring renovations are very important to get the greens set up for the summer months. The greens were cored using 14mm diameter tines set to go 160mm deep, they were then top-dressed using fine sand which was brushed in to fill the holes. Recovery has been great after 7 days the greens were cut and after 10 days, we followed up with light dethatching in 2 directions. This helps smooth the surface and remove the bumps, over the next few weeks we will give the greens light dustings of sand the help improve the putting surface and get them back to normal.

During winter we have embarked on a major bunker improvement program. Bunkers with existing drainage have been completely revamped with all the drainage exposed unblocked and flushed out and now they drain very well in heavy rain.


 All other bunkers have been replenished with sand with some taking many tons to get them back to a more suitable sand depth. In all we have used around 400 tons of sand and we still have more to go. We are also in discussion with the course designers regarding filling in some of the bunkers mainly ones which have little use or have become irrelevant due to distance or placement. Long Reef has many more bunkers than most other courses and bunkers are very high maintenance. Modern course design has reduced bunkers on the whole especially fairway bunkering.

In the past week the cutting heights of the fairways have been lowered to 12mm and we have reshaped many of the fairways. A number of green surrounds have also been reshaped with many being enlarged and cutting heights lowered. In the coming week we will endeavor to core the tees to help them recover from a difficult winter.

Here is hoping on some great weather and a little rain to ensure a good recovery from a busy winter, enjoy your golf. 

Peter Donkers | Course Superintendent    

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Chubbs Bar & Grill

We all deserve at least one cheat meal a week, especially during lockdown, our Corporate Partner Chubbs Bar & Grill  won't disappoint! 

Owned by one of our very own Members, Jake Schmidt, he's got you covered with a wide range of burgers, beers & more, you can't go wrong!

Instagram: @ChubbsBarAndQ

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Rules with George

Question: 

Tom and Jack were playing a match. Play was from the black tees. Tom won the first two holes going to two up.

When they walked down to the third tee, Jack noticed Tom tee his ball and play between the blue markers. He hit his tee shot to the middle of the third fairway.

Jack said "you have played from the wrong set of tee markers Tom. I cancel your stroke". 

Which of the following is correct?

A)  Tom must play again from the black tees after Jack has played. Tom will be playing his second stroke.

 

B)  Tom still has the honour and must play again from the black tees. He will be playing his third stroke.

 

C)  Tom still has the honour and must play from the black tees. Tom will be playing his first stroke.

 

D) Tom must play again from the black tees, after Jack has played. Tom will be playing his first stroke.

See below for Answers

Pro Shop News & Updates

Hi Members, 

Hope everything is well with you, and you and your families are staying safe during this time. 

Thankfully golf is keeping us sane! Please remember we are playing right now for 'exercise' and follow the rules from staff at all times. 

There will be a lockdown click and collect being sent out in the following few days. 

These items include the latest wedge from Taylormade, Callaway Golf Ball Special, and the perfect warm up Training Aid for the perfect rhythm and timing - the Orange Whip Trainer. 

If there is any item you are after from the Proshop send us an email - proshop@lrgc.com.au and we can leave it behind the counter for you when you next play. 

A couple of other points; 

  • Please ensure you only arrive 15mins before your tee time - The Practice Fairway is not allowed to be used before tee off. 
  • YELLOW Range Balls - are only to be used by Teaching Professionals - it is not ok for members to pick them up and use them to warm up or practice. 
  • Please QR Code when you arrive - even for a social time. 

Thank you - please stay safe - and hopefully we can return to normal 4 balls soon! 


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The family of books that tell the story of Long Reef Golf Club from 1921-2021

LONG REEF GOLF CLUB - THE FIRST SIXTY-FIVE YEARS by Ross Lanes.
Published in 1989 after extensive research Ross gives an overview of the establishment and development of the club and the key members, administrators and some staff. (The Archive committee researched a similar in-house book- The First Sixty-Five years of Women completed in 2014.)

LONG REEF GOLF CLUB THE FIRST ONE HUNDRED YEARS by Ross Lanes and Sandra Mellowes.

 Completed in 2021 this book uses Ross Lanes book above as the foundation with additional discovered material added to the early section and further material illustrating the next thirty five years. It has an extensive glossary and is more of a reference book. Always intended as an online book the 294 pages can be found by clicking on About Us and then Archives.

Both books are available for viewing via the Website - Click Here 

VOICES OF LONG REEF - Celebrating 100 years of Long Reef.
This attractive and modern Coffee-Table Top book contains the tales and memories of Members.  Compiled by Elaine Coldham and a sub-committee the book is sponsored by members. The many photos of scenes, players and memorabilia show a lighter side, and it is underpinned by decade summaries based on the work of Ross Lanes and the Archive Committee. 

This book is for sale at the office and online for $30 - Click Here to purchase the book online


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JB Barbershop & Shave Parlour

During this lockdown I'm sure we've all looked in the mirror at one point or another in shock... Do yourself a favour and support our Corporate Partner JB Barbershop & Parlour, book yourself in for a freshen up as soon as they're able to open their doors.

Instagram: JB_Barbershop__


Rules with George

Answer: C) is correct. Jack acted correctly and promptly cancelled Tom's stroke played from outside the correct teeing area.

It was still Tom's turn  to play. In Match Play there is no penalty so Tom would be playing his first stroke as his previous one was cancelled. 

Tom would still have the honour having won the second hole. Rule  6.1 b(1) applies.

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