Club Email

From the Captain

Strokeplay Cup

With the downpour overnight on Friday and again first thing on Saturday morning, it looked like the already delayed final round was in jeopardy again. Whilst conditions were far from ideal, they did allow play and congratulations go to Luke Edgell who led from start to finish to become the Men's Strokeplay Champion. Luke had rounds of 69.71.77 and finished with another 71 for a total of 288 which was a massive 25 shots ahead of second place.

A Reserve provided the drama when, after 72 holes, Chris Thorp and Michael Hodgett finished tied on 332. So, it was off up the first again to determine a winner. Hodgy put his second shot into the creek which handed the advantage to Chris and he went on to win the first sudden death play-off hole. Well done, Chris.

Robert Watson led B Grade going into the final round and despite Peter Watson closing the gap, Robert held on to win by three shots with a score of 350.

John Crowley took a healthy lead in C Grade into Saturday's round and extended his lead to win by 9 shots in the end with a total of 371.

Julia Bowen led from wire-to-wire in the Women's event and finished with a total of 338.

Saturday's competition

The downpour put paid to the Medal on Saturday but there was still a Stroke competition of the day and Billy Edwards was the winner in A Grade and had the Score of the Day with a nett 70. He finished 2 shots ahead of Clint Sulway who beat Luke Edgell on a countback for the minor places when they both had nett 72. Luke did win the Scratch prize with a level par round of 71.

Hamish Grant was the B Grade winner with nett 71 with Luke Partridge and Alan Dean a shot further back with Luke winning the countback. Phil Hooper had nett 72 to win C Grade by four shots from Michael Clements, and John Briscoe third with 77.

Emma Thurlow may have finished runner-up to Julia in the Strokeplay Cup but she did at least have the satisfaction of winning the Women's comp on the day.

The March Medal will be cancelled as the greens renovations are Wednesday and Thursday this week and the April Medal is the Saturday after.

TPS Hunter Valley

This televised event survived the storms and went ahead at Cypress Lakes Golf & Country Club in the Hunter Valley a couple of weekends ago. For those of you not familiar with the format, it comprises male and female professionals, amateurs and juniors, all playing together. There was another great showing from our own Chun-Ta Wu, who unfortunately lost on the second play-off hole in the Junior Players Series but still highly commendable Chun-Ta - well done!

Mick Snell Cup & 4Ball Knockout

Due to the course closure over the last couple of weeks, we have extended the deadline for the first round to 7th May for both events and all subsequent rounds will be pushed back accordingly.

"Greenkeepers' Revenge" / Ambrose

With the renovations that I mentioned before taking place this week, we have rescheduled the 4 person Ambrose event to this Saturday. I think the pin positions were not that vengeful last time so I'd expect a few trickier ones this Saturday!!

Mixed Foursomes Championship / Cup

The Mixed Foursomes Cup (18 holes nett event) will be held on Sunday 3rd April which will also be the first round of the Mixed Foursomes Championship (36 holes gross event). The second round of the Championship is the following Sunday (10th).

The timesheet for Sunday 3rd April will open on Wednesday 23rd March (today) at 6.30pm so we can assess numbers. The timesheet for the following Sunday will open as normal but those electing to play in the Championship will automatically be allocated a spot.

Can anybody stop Ian Brown and Jenni Brown?

Course Team

I would like to finish by thanking Pete, Kurt and the entire Team on their outstanding effort in getting the course back to something like normal. We are not there yet as we still have areas that remain inaccessible by mower and the rough and fairways are still not back to their usual heights. I thought the bunker repairs were going to take much longer but by the time you are reading this, they will all be back in play. Thank you, guys!

Doug Campell | Captain

From the Women's Committee

It was lovely to see players at our presentation last Thursday and we look forward to seeing more players on Thursday 3st March which is our 1^st Par round (McNicol Trophy) for 2022.

Thank you to Pete Donkers and his team for making the course playable over the last week. I am sure that you will all agree that they have done a magnificent job considering the extraordinary amount of rain we have experienced over the last few weeks. Please remember the course is closed for the Green Renovations on today and tomorrow (Wed 23^rd & Thurs 24^th March).

Due to the weather, the Grade matches at Cromer v Massey Park on Friday 18^h March were cancelled.

Good luck to Emma Thurlow, Rachel Buxton, Kate Shanks, Kim Sloane & Karen Smith who are playing at Elanora v Woolooware on Friday 25^th. Thank you, caddies Ali Gattas, Rachael Loomes, Wendy Thomas, Stephen Sloane and Lynne Parsons.

Good luck to the Grade team on the following Friday 1^st April for their last match at Wakehurst v Elanora. The team is Emma Thurlow, Rachel Buxton, Kate Shanks, Kim Sloane and Sue Kruse, caddies Cath Piper, Robyn McCormick, Wendy Thomas, Stephen Sloane and Sara Backes.

The final round is at Long Reef on Friday 8^th April.

Good luck to the Silver Pennants team, co-ordinated by Gilda Severino who start their matches at Castle Hill v Ryde-Parramatta on Friday 1^st April.

The Singles Knockout and Long Markers Knockout Trophy semi-finals were finally played. All matches were extremely close and amazingly they all went beyond the 18^th hole. Congratulations to the winners of the Singles Knockout Trophy, Rosemary West on the 21^st hole v Wendy Thomas, Catherine Devrye on the 19^th hole v Cath Piper and for Long Markers Trophy Michelle Milsted on the 19^th hole v Amanda Savage. Nan Crump had a w/o. Good luck to the finalists on Tuesday 29^th March.

Results:

Saturday 19^th saw the 4^th and last stroke round for the Strokeplay Cup played, and congratulations to Julia Bowen on winning the cup with accumulative total of 338, 2^nd was Emma Thurlow with a score of 344.

Tuesday 15^th division 1 was won by Helenka O'Connell (25) with a great score of 37 pts closely followed by Rachael Loomes (17) 36 pts, and Wendy Thomas (22) 35 pts. Division 2 was won by Lisa George (29) 36 pts, followed by Julie Campbell (31) 33 pts and Jie Cheng (29) 31 pts.

9 holes mixed, Doug McGrath (16) won with 20 pts from Carol Cummins (40) 19 pts and Faye Sinnott (31) 17 pts.

Thursday 17th division 1 was won by Sally Hill (23) 36 pts on a C/B from Gilda Severino (21), 3rd Jude Sandvoss (27) 35 pts. Division 2 was won by Cindy Chen (41) 33 pts, 2nd Jie Cheng (29) 32 pts and 3rd Janine Banks (36) 25 C/B.

Scratch was won by Emma Thurlow and Rachael Loomes eye was in with two great NTP 's on 7th - 332cm and on the 13th a very impressive 15cm.

9 holes was won by Colleen Thompson (37) 16 pts and 2nd Helen Ayres (37) 15 pts C/B.

Sunday 20th March saw Vanessa Murphy (22) 36 pts win on a C/B from Karen Smith (17).

Thank you to Wendy Millson and Laura McCahon for organising and to Rachael Loomes, Linda Sinclair, Veronica Bertram, Lynne Parsons, Helenka O'Connell, Dani Montgomery, Fay Sinnott, Jan Daniel, Ali Gattas and Paul Gattas who played with the Rookies on Tuesday 22nd March in the Dropout Ambrose. The winners were Julia Smith, Fiammetta Archer, Fay Sinnott & Jan Daniel - 35 gross - 17.5 net, runners up Jane Holland, Fats McConochie, Ali Gattas & Paul Gattas - 33 gross - 14.9.

2nd Hole NTP, Sonya Cordaiy
1st Hole Longest Drive, Sal McIntyre
Dropout Ambrose Winners

Dropout Ambrose Runners Up

Tuesday results 9 holes was won by Lyn Harper (37) 18 pts from Jeanette Nell (26) 12 pts. Congratulations to Jeanette who also won NTP on the 7^th hole.

18 holes Division one winner was Robyn Lyon (27) 36pts from Di Heffernan (24) 32 C/B

Division 2 was won by Lisa George (29) 34 c/b from Jie Cheng (29)

Please remember to check the local rules board (outside the Pro Shop) before you play, and please don't rely on the rules when you last played as the rules can change on a daily bases.

Before you write on the NTP sheets please check that your shot is nearer to the pin than the last person's on the sheet.

Upcoming Fixtures:

Thursday 31^st March is our 1^st Par round of the year for the McNicol Trophy. The sheet is in the locker room and also 3 weeks out from 10^th March you can enter your name via MiClub.

Tuesday 5^th April is the Long Reef Plate for players with a daily handicap of division 1, 19 - 30 DH and division 2, 31 - 45 DH. There will a stableford event for those whose handicap is below 19 DH. Information will be up in the locker room within the next week for players playing in this event. If you are not eligible then please enter on the timesheet in the normal way.

Thursday 7^th April Stroke and Club GNSW Medal round - the sheets are up in the locker room; you can use the ballot system online to enter your name.

Thursday 14^th April Stroke and Club GNSW Medal round, Goodwill Plate and Veteran Vouchers. This event was cancelled on Thursday 10^th March, and the sheets are up in the locker room, and you can use the ballot system online from 24^th March to enter your name.

Wendy Thomas | Women's Captain

Judy Lockhart

Sadly Judy passed away on Wednesday 16^th March. Judy and her husband John were long serving Members of the Club. Judy joined in February 1985 and retired from golf at the end of the 2020-21 season. She had been a keen golfer and Bridge player. We find her name on Trophies and Honour Boards but her legacy will be that wonderful smile, her constant positive attitude and her sense of joy.

For decades she lived with a debilitating health problem and the past two years have been the hardest for her own well-being, yet her priority was caring for John who still resides in the Nursing home section of War Vets.

The family will hold a small private funeral, but a time to celebrate her life in full will be organised later.

Photo- Judy with the Dot Leonard trophy

MiScore Updates

Score Comparison

There is now an extra validation at the end of a competition round with a score comparison function between player and markers recorded scores. This validation ensures only matching hole by hole scores can be submitted. If there is a score discrepancy a warning message will appear when swiping from last hole to the score confirmation screen. Scores will need to be corrected before the score can be confirmed and submitted. Touching on the hole number on the warning message will send you back to the holes not matching for correction.

3 Minute Lost Ball Timer
To assist with pace of play, a lost ball timer has been added. Once activated this timer will engage a 3-minute countdown clock . Select the Round Time box in the top left corner and the new 3-minute timer will commence to assist keeping track of time in search for a lost golf ball.

Rules With George | Question

Question: Ted and Adrian were playing a singles match starting on the first hole., Ted had the honour. At the first hole Ted played his tee shot from between the blue tee markers and hit his ball well right.

The official starter from the Pro Shop came out and said “Play is from the back black tees”. Adrian said I will not recall your stroke and there is no penalty in match play for playing outside the correct tee markers. Adrian proceeded to play his tee shot onto the fairway. Ted found his ball just out of bounds and returned to the teeing area, teed his ball and played from between the black markers. Which is correct?

A) Ted acted correctly and was now on the fairway for three... He had his first stroke from the blue tees, one stroke penalty for his ball out of bounds and his second tee shot.

B) Ted had lost the first hole so he and Adrian should walk to the second tee.

From the Archives

Harper Family Medals

Winning a medal, in a stroke competition, is a special and for some a rare event. It was even more so for the men Members who until the 2000's had only one awarded on the day across the whole field. The Archives have examples of pins, spoons, letter openers, badges, glasses, tankards and even a trivet (a support stand for a casserole dish) used as a monthly medal.

Can anyone beat this Harper family medal achievement? In February this year Amanda Savage won the first C-Grade women's medal for the year. Amanda has come up through the Rookies programme and this was her first medal.

Amanda is the daughter of Lyn Harper and the late Don Harper both of whom have won Long Reef medals - Lyn more than once. Son Todd joined the club as a Junior.

Todd's medal was achieved at a time when only one was awarded around 1985. Don's one medal also came before the 2000's change. Are they the only mother, son, father and daughter combination to do so? Four medals in one family at the same club must be a record.

Les Browne who has served on not only our club board for years and years but also GNSW and is now the President of the Golf Heritage society has not heard of anything like this in our club or the metropolitan area, but feels if anywhere this achievement may have occurred in a county club where it is more common for families to be members.

Sandra Mellowes | Archive Committee

Images Below: (Left) Don & Lyn in costume for the Club's 90th Birthday golf day 2011, (Middle) at the Board dinner in 2001 when Don was Vice President. (Is Don wearing a medal pin or a hole-in-one pin?), (Right) Harper Family photo.

Back on Dry Land

Ahhh ... the mystery of spin. Friday Club members have always struggled with it.

The only time we ever get any backspin at all is when our approach shot to the pin is short and we need it to release ... a lot. We can only ever play a draw when the water is on the left and our most reliable shot with maximum spin is that ugly slice off the first tee straight into the dog park! (More about dogs later).

However, the real masters of spin are not the top tour professional golfers, they're our politicians (and our journalists). How else could we have headlines describing the recent floods as a "one in a thousand-year event." Pollies and reporters are very good talkers, just like golfers, but without the humour.

Having said that, the recent rain was epic in its ferocity and the outcome in flood-affected areas was devastating. Repairing their homes, their businesses and their lives will severely test a lot of Australians.

Back at Long Reef, after three weeks and more than 50 centimeters of rain, the water finally receded enough to allow play, and the blue-clad Friday Club army took to the links to do battle with the course and each other in ironically hot and humid conditions.

The top scores of the day came from division one, the fortress of formidable golfers, where Greg Dousset just got the better of Rob Butcher on a countback with 41 points. Greg's a relative newcomer to Friday Club (less than 12 years) but one to watch as we head into the serious events of the calendar.

Another relative newcomer to shine was Matt Collins, who won division two with 40 points, also on a countback. In second place was John Lennard who has hardly played at all since a dog attacked him just before Christmas (he needed stitches). Not surprisingly, John steers well clear of the dog park with his tee shot on the first hole.

Old timer Phil Newman had too much experience for young gun Jie Cheng and had three shots to spare with a neat 35 points in division three.

On Friday we have a shotgun start. There's a big golf morning scheduled for LRGC so members are advised to get to the course nice and early if they want to find a decent parking place.

Perry Yeldham | Friday Club President

Yoga For Golfers

LRGC Member and Corporate Partner Shar Votano has a great opportunity for Members.

Yoga For Golfers is a 60 minute yoga sequence designed to help you improve your game and find balance in both the mind and body.

You will find core stability to increase your golf swing,
Increase range of motion,
Build awareness of muscular imbalances (your left side versus your right)
Prevent injury.
Open the hips,
Open the shoulders
Increase flexibility in the spine
Improve Proprioception & mental focus. (energy flows where attention goes)

Learn the concept of Drishti (Focus) to remove and balance distractions and using your breath to focus inward to achieve laser beam awareness and focus

This Yoga for Golfer's practice is a fantastic gateway to the wide range of yoga tools for healing, strength, and balance.

Appropriate for all golfers of any handicap, age or stage, level of flexibility or range of movement.

You do not have to be flexible to practice yoga, there are modifications to keep you safe and so you receive the benefit.

Class Options

Spirit Flow Yoga Warriewood

Mondays 11am to 12pm | Wednesdays 2pm to 3pm

Cost $15 per class

Bring your own yoga mat and water bottle

Mats will be available if you don't have one.

Click Here for more details

REEF BREEZES