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BOARD MEETING NOTES | Below are notes from the Board Meeting held on Thursday 27 October 2022

1. BUNKER MASTER PLAN UPDATE

The Bunker Master Plan budget of $800,000 was approved. The scope of the work will include bunkers on all 18 holes and the mounds between the 15th and 16th holes. Currently the start of construction is scheduled to commence in April 2023. We are working with Craig Parry and a construction team to determine the timeline in which the project will be carried out over.

Members will be advised of a presentation evening date shortly, where Craig Parry will present the bunker master plan.

2. MiMEMBERSHIP UPGRADE

The Club's new Membership system was successfully installed at the beginning of October. The Membership application is part of MiClub's suite of products and will provide the administration with greater reporting, integration across other software platforms and give Members more access to their accounts and ability to pay subscriptions online.

3. FAIRWAY MOWER

This month the Course team accepted delivery of a Baroness LM551 Fairway mower. This piece of machinery was originally ordered from Toro in July 2021 along with two additional mowers used to cut green surrounds and the first cut of rough. Due to global supply issues from Toro, the Club is still waiting on the three pieces of machinery with no expected date of delivery provided and in turn has purchased the Baroness as an alternative.

4. FINANCE

The result for September was a net surplus of $90,594. The net surplus year to date is $124,084.

5. CREDIT CARD SURCHARGE

Effective from the 15th November, there will be a 1.25% surcharge on card transactions at the Point of Sale at the Bar and Café. This is consistent with the current surcharge applied to payments at Reception and the Pro Shop. In recent times, the increased use card payments have significantly increased the Club's bank fees. Members will be able to avoid the surcharge by topping their Membership card up in which case the surcharge will be waived.

6. FAREWELL TO GEORGE SULLIVAN

Our Finance Manager George Sullivan is leaving Long Reef after 6 years to pursue a career opportunity on the Sunshine Coast. George has been an integral part of the Finance Committee and administration team particularly during some testing times over the past three COVID affected years. We would like to thank George for his service and wish him well with this new opportunity.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING NOTES

The Annual General Meeting was held on Thursday 27 October 2022.

LIFE MEMBERSHIP

Life Membership is the highest award available to recognise the distinguished and exceptional contribution of individuals to Long Reef Golf Club. In 2022, John Steuart, Ross Lanes and Mick Snell were nominated by fellow Members for Life Membership. Each were presented to the Membership and voted on at the Annual General Meeting, requiring 75% of those present to vote in favour of the nomination.

Life Members pictured (Left - Right): Mick Snell, John Steuart & Ross Lanes

All nominators spoke eloquently about their nominees and it was a celebratory mood when all three Life Membership nominations were passed. Congratulations John, Ross and Mick and thank you for your contributions to Long Reef Golf Club over many years.

JOHN MULLINS OAM DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD

The John Mullins OAM Distinguished Service Award is bestowed upon Members who have provided dedicated service to the Club over a number of years. In 2022, the recipients were:

Wendy Millson for her contribution to the Rookies program and dedication to growing the Women's Membership as Women's Captain and continuing to do so since stepping down from the role.

John Davison for his contribution to the Club through consultation of the Members survey, strategic planning and Board assessment.

John Davison with his John Mullins OAM Distinguished Service Award

Steve Twigg presenting Wendy Millson with her John Mullins OAM Distinguished Service Award

GOLD MEMBERS

Members Paul Bradford and Rex Donovan were acknowledged for achieving 50 years of Membership at Long Reef Golf Club and will now acquire Gold Membership. Congratulations on this incredible accomplishment.

SPECIAL RESOLUTIONS - CONSTITUTION AMENDMENTS

The Members present at the AGM passed special resolution 10.1 and 10.2 to amend section 14 and 21 of the Constitution. The full amendments can be viewed here.

Please do not hesitate to get in touch with me if you would like clarification or further expansion on any of the items above.

Keith Warren | 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 your Captain

Club Championship and Grade Cups

The weather and course were both perfect for golf on Saturday and Sunday as the semi-finals and finals were played.

Defending Men's Champion, Chun-Ta Wu was very consistent in beating Matt Hunter 2&1 in his semi-final while Cam Gillespie had to come back from 3 down at the turn to eventually see off Jimmy Little on the last, to book his place in the final.

The tone was perhaps set for Cam when his tee shot on the first hole hit the metal grate in the semi rough on the right and bounced out of bounds by a matter of inches!! Whilst they matched each other in distance off the tee, Chun-Ta's iron play was better and he had built a commanding lead after the first nine. Cam, however, hung in and got a couple back by the 14th. They both comfortably reached the 15th green in two and with Cam closer, you perhaps thought he had a chance to get it back to 2 down. Chun-Ta hadn't putted particularly well up to that point but found the perfect time to hole a 30 footer for eagle and when Cam missed, it was back to 4up. Chun-Tan didn't look back from that moment and won 7 of the 8 holes they played in the second round to eventually win comfortably 12&10.

The A Reserve final between Paul Bowler and John Carroll looked a great match-up, after both had good wins over Ross Kocass and Andrew Frith respectively in their semi-finals. It proved that way until the back end of the first round when John won the closing 4 holes to move from 1up to 5up. He built on that lead at the start of the second round and a very early finish looked a possibility before Paul fought back to win three holes in a row. He was, however, running out of holes and John shut down any prospect of a comeback with a great tee shot into the 13th and saw out the match 7&5.

Both B Grade semi-finals were very close with Lennox Cleary beating Mark Pitt at the first extra hole while Glen Brown beat Dave Karlsson on the last. This final was the closest of all the male Grades with holes exchanged on a regular basis. Lennox had got off to a better start so always had the benefit of playing from in front and try though as he did, Glen could never get back on level terms for long. Having only just turned 14, Lennox doesn't yet hit it very far but he certainly hits it straight and his 3 wood gets a work-out on many holes for his second shots and he hit that club so consistently, he eventually ran out a 3&2 winner. I think the rest of B Grade won't need to worry about coming up against Lennox next year, I'm happy to stick my neck out and predict he'll be in A Reserve or the Championship itself.

C Grade qualifying form held up with the numbers one and two making it through to the final after John Davison saw off his good friend Peter O'Reilly in the first semi-final while Malcolm Weir just did enough to beat Sami Gaundar on the last in their semi-final. Malcolm got off to a fast start in the final and he never looked back. John couldn't get a run of holes together as Malcolm was too consistent and he eventually had a convincing 8&7 victory.

Wendy will go into more detail in her section about the Women's finals but in the battle between the defending Women's Champion, Josie Garrett and the past Champion, Julia Bowen. Josie played some really good golf and led virtually all day and ran out a 4&3 winner to secure her second Championship in a row. Just in case she doesn't talk herself up enough in her section, I must commend Wendy Thomas for her 2&1 win over Heather Garrett in the Bronze division. Her two shots to the 17th hole will stay with her forever as they ensured she closed out the match.

Congratulations to all the winners!

I would like to thank all the Members that came out to watch during the day and the playing Members that were so accommodating in letting the finals play through in the afternoon. The course was brilliantly presented and I would like to thank Pete, Kurt and the Team for their work after the course was flooded on Monday last week.

Upcoming events

The Long Reef Senior Medal will be held on Monday 21st November, with a 1pm shotgun start. Entries close at 5pm on Monday 14th November. Full details and the link to the MiTournament site for entry are on the website.

The Invitation Day will take place on Saturday 10th December and is open to all 7 day Members but they must be accompanied by a visitor with a Golflink number.

What's On Your Mind

I have previously invited Members to provide feedback, questions or suggestions directly to me via my Captain's Email address. I have recently been having technical issues (not just that I can't keep up with technology!!!) and so please use dougcampbell188@gmail.com from now on to ensure there is no delay in me receiving your thoughts and enabling me to respond quickly. As always, you have my commitment that I will reply to every Email.

Practice Area

Just a reminder (because it cropped up again at the weekend) that there is a rectangular area of GUR marked by white posts on the practice range. This is no longer a red penalty area. The entire area is not GUR so please ensure you take the appropriate action when playing from the practice area / right hand side of the 18th.

Course Update

As mentioned by Keith, the Board has approved the budget to engage Craig Parry Design and work will start on the bunker master plan and other course improvements in April next year. We are just working through sequencing of work and when we have that finalised, playing Members will be invited to attend an Information Evening, probably before Christmas, at which Craig will talk through the agreed changes. I would like to thank Geoff Cranfield who initially suggested Craig to us.

I am very excited by the plan and I look forward to sharing it with you as soon as possible

Doug Campbell | Captain

Chun-Ta Men's & Junior Club Champion

Josie Garrett Women's Club Champion

John Carroll A Reserve Club Champion

Lennox Cleary B Grade Club Champion

Malcolm Weir C Grade Club Champion

Jimmy Little Senior Champion

From your Women's Committee

The Championship and Premiership finals have now been played. The finals days were all played in sunshine and warm conditions with a Long Reef breeze. The course was in magnificent condition and thank you to the ground staff team. There were many twists and turns throughout finals and the games were played in a great competitive spirit.

Congratulations to Josie Garrett in being the Women's Club Champion winning 4 & 3 from Julia Bowen.

Julia Bowen won the Women's Open Division Weekday Premiership by winning against Rosemary West in the semi-final 6 & 5 and played Jen Jansson who won 1 up in her semi-final against Karen Smith. Julia won the final 6 & 4.

Josie Garrett won the Women's Open Division Weekend Premiership by winning against Susan Hay in the semi-finals 3 & 2 and played Kim Sloane in the final. Kim won here semi-final 1up against Jenni Brown and Josie won the final from Kim 4 & 2

The Women's Bronze Premiership was won by Wendy Thomas winning 2 & 1 against Heather Garrett.

Wendy Thomas won the Women's Bronze Weekday Premiership by winning in the semi- finals from Helenka O'Connell 3 & 2 and then played Jude Sandvoss in the final winning 5 & 3, Jude reached the final by winning against Muriel Dawson in the semi-finals 4 & 2.

Heather Garrett won the Women's Bronze Weekend Premiership by winning in the semi-finals from Catherine Wiggett 8 & 6 and then played Sue Smiles in the final winning 6 & 5, Sue reached the final by winning against Prue Bardsley in the semi-finals 4 & 2.

C Grade premiership winner is Tanya Gadiel who won against Liza Mackenzie 1 up. Tanya reached the final by winning on the 19^th hole versus Tracey Martin and Lisa won 2 up versus Di Muncke. It was fantastic to see these two players reach the finals for the first time.

Thank you to Gilda Severino, Wendy Millson, Rosemary West, Veronica Bertram and Sue Kruse for referring during the final series. Thank you to the caddies and supporters who came out to watch.

Bronze Premiership Winner Wendy Thomas

Women's Club Champion Runner Up Julia Bowen

C Grade Premiership Winner Tanya Gadiel (left) with Runner Up Lisa Mackenzie (right).

Women's Club Champion & Open Division Weekend Premiership Winner Josie Garrett (left) with Open Runner Up Kim Sloane (right).

Bronze Weekend Premiership Winner & Bronze Premiership Runner Up Heather Garrett (right) with Bronze Weekend Premiership Runner Up Sue Smiles (left).

Sisters & Winners!
Josie (left) & Heather (right) Garrett

Congratulations to Wendy Millson being awarded the John Mullins OAM Distinguished Service Award for Members who have provided dedicated service to the Club over a number of years. The award was presented to Wendy at the LRGC AGM on Thursday 27^th October.

37 Long Reef ladies played in the Duntreyleague Ladies Open in Orange, the ladies had a great time and played exceptionally well, 6 players won 13 events, very impressive from the Long Reef Ladies. Congratulations goes to

Pat Williams, Lyn Ashton, Val Wilson, Kerry McCallum, Helen Ayres and Angela Brown (absence from the photo)

Results:

Over the last two weeks we have seen some great scoring. 18 holes - Sally Hill (25) had two great scores of 41 pts, Lisa George (32) 41, Dani Seisun (39) 41, Alyssa Starc (7) 40, Corinne Crawford (43) 40 pts Lynne Parsons (34) 38 pts, Sue Kruse (18) 38 pts, Jen Jansson (15) had to scores of 37 Jeannie Reitzer (22) 37, Wendy Thomas (25) 37 Vanessa Murphy (20) 37 and Karen Smith (15) 37.

9 holes Fay Sinnott (34) 21 pts, Lynne Parsons (33) 20 pts

Up Coming Fixtures:

Thursday 24^th November President V Captain 4BBB Stableford, (not handicapped) this is the normal tee times not a shotgun start, so please book in the normal way. The first two columns on the time sheet is the President's team and the second two are for the Captain's side. Information will be up in the locker room shortly.

Thursday 1 December 4 Person Dropout Ambrose - book in as per normal.

Tuesday 6^th December, Women's Christmas Dinner 6pm - Booking will be required and Information will be advised shortly.

Thursday 8^th December Christmas Fun Day 3 clubs and a Putter 8am Shotgun start - information will be up in the locker room shortly.

Wendy Thomas | Women's Captain

Anders Kobula | Special Olympics National Games

Anders Kobula triumphs Special Olympics National Games

The Special Olympics National Games were held in Launceston last week and our own Anders Kobula competed in Division 3 of the golf competition. Playing outstanding golf with rounds of net 70, 67 and 61 Anders won the Gold Medal with his nearest rival 17 shots back. The final round included 2 birdies but unfortunately a 9 on the final par 5 hole.

The event was played at the Country Club in Launceston where fortunately the sun was shining for the whole week particularly on Anders.

Congratulations Anders your handicap has now been reduced by 4 shots.

Rex Langthorne AM
Chair | Special Olympics Sydney Northern Beaches and National Games Golf Technical Delegate

Mizuno Pullovers now 20% Off | Mizuno polo now 20% Off

Goulburn v Long Reef

Rules with George | Question

Question: Jim was playing the 13th Hole and his tee shot finished in the front left bunker, When he reached the ball he found that it was lying on the down slope of the bunker against a rake. In removing the rake the ball moved. Jim attempted to replace the ball as required but the ball would not stay on the spot where it had been against the rake. Jim followed the procedure outlined in Rule 14.2e placing his ball a second time without it remaining at rest on the down slope. He looked for the nearest spot in the bunker but found that there were no spots in the bunker that were not nearer the hole. In desperation Jim pushed his ball slightly into the sand so that it would remain in its original position.

Jim acted within the Rules?
A) True or B) False.

Friday Club Report

It's all in the mind

"The game of golf is 90% mental and 10% physical." - Jack Nicklaus

Sometimes you're having such a shocking round you think the only sensible thing to do is give up the game ... better for your sanity, better for your family, better for your blood pressure and better for onlookers shocked by your outbursts of unbridled anguish. ....

CLICK HERE to read full Friday Club Report

More on: Tilting at Windmills, Gerringong or bust! & Most consistent player

From the Archives | Sandra and Don (Bill) Gillies

After over 40 years of membership at the club Life Member Sandra and husband Bill Gillies are making the big move to live in Queensland. Life Members never leave but now their support for the club with come from a distance. They will be missed. We thank them for all that they have done as volunteers and congratulate them on their golfing achievements.

Sandra joined Long Reef on 22nd October 1981. Bill joined the next year in July 1982. The years of golf games played and the filling of volunteering positions had began.

Together Sunday mixed competitions were enjoyed as they also took part in their own competitions. Bill of course was still working full time. They were the first married couple to have both served on the Club's Board. In fact Sandra was the first woman on the Board in 1996 when membership was changed, a change she had contributed to when serving on the Equality of Membership committees. Sandra served as Club Vice-Captain that year, and was part of the club's 75th birthday organising committee. Bill was on the Board in 2005 and 2006 as Vice-President and brought his expertise in Management, Finance and Accountability. As a Board member, and aware of the decline of the support for the Junior Programme he was able to suggest the changing of the fee structure and he and Sandra took over the programme with the help of extra volunteers. They ran it from 2002-07. Sandra was able to guide the girls in particular and see that a Junior Girls Championship was created.

Sandra excelled at welcoming new members of all ages and running women's beginner programmes. She also encouraged a special Opening day for the weekend players, created a Seniors competition, donating the trophy and in a completely different vein introduced the Christmas dress-up fun day in 1996, which is still one of the best supported days on the women's programme.

Sandra has shown to be that wonderful mix of a great player, a knowledgeable administrator, and an inspiring leader, always with confidence, kindness and grace. She is one of a very small exclusive club to have been a Captain and a Club Champion. During the time of her nomination for Life Membership in 2016 we were able to see the very long list of achievements and club committee work. There were years as Secretary, Captain (twice) and President on the Women's Committee at a time when few tasks were completed by Admin. After serving on the club's Board Sandra became a delegate on the WGNSW and GNSW Council for five year. Her major role was joint chair of Match and then a Director of Jack Newton Junior Golf.

Trophies and titles won are endless with medals and cups not listed here. But as an example the Club Championship wins came in 2000 and 2007 and she was also runner-up seven times. Success was there in the Foursomes Championship with her name on the Board five times as well as being runner-up on 8 occasions. For many years she represented the club in the Coronation Medal. No one has played in more Pennant and Grade matches over these years with Sandra playing in Grade between 1986 to 2018 with two wins to the teams credit in 1997 and 2001. Then there are all her achievements in Senior Amateur Championship events around the country with Bill on the bag!

Together they have been champions of members rights and club progress, being aware of the need for professionalism in all things and communicating in an informed, pleasant and persuasive way.

To you both - thank you and good luck.

Sandra Mellowes | Archives Committee

Source - extracts from story written by Pam Burke, Archive Committee member

From your President