Club Email

Dear Members,

Thank you to all who have read the Notice of the Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) and Explanatory Memorandum, which outline a proposed constitutional amendment to ensure a minimum of two female and two male Directors serve on the Board.

You can view the notice here.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is the amendment being proposed?
The Board believes this amendment strengthens the Club’s governance by promoting balanced representation at the Board level. While Long Reef has a proud history of inclusiveness, this change ensures future Boards continue to reflect our broader membership.

When would this clause apply?
The proposed clause only applies if two or more candidates of each gender nominate for ordinary director and less than two from each gender are elected to the Board in the standard count.

The clause only applies to the four (4) Ordinary Director positions, and excludes the positions of Office of President, Vice President, Captain, Vice Captain and Treasurer.

So in the instance that a Member from the underrepresented gender is elected to an Office role, then only one additional member of that gender would be required.

Could a candidate with fewer votes be elected over a candidate with more votes?
Yes, instances where the underrepresented gender does not hold a position of office but have nominated for ordinary Director positions and don’t poll in the top four votes, they will replace the lowest polling elected of the opposite gender.

What if there are not enough candidates from both genders?
If fewer than two of either gender nominate, the election proceeds as normal. The provision only applies if sufficient eligible nominees are standing for election.

Has legal advice been obtained?
Yes. Our legal advisors confirmed the proposed wording is legally sound.

How will gender be determined?
Candidates self-identify their gender when nominating, consistent with current Australian Government guidelines or as determined on their Membership profile when joining.

What if a Board member resigns mid-term resulting in underrepresentation of a particular gender?
The Board may fill the vacancy in accordance with the Constitution, but there is no obligation to fill it based on gender.

What is Golf Australia’s position on gender diversity on Boards?
Golf Australia, in line with the Australian Sports Commission are striving to improve Board diversity across National and State Sporting Bodies with the goal of feeding down to Club level. This national push was formalised through the launch of the ASC’s National Gender Equity in Sports Governance Policy in 2024, which mandates that by July 2027, at least 50% of Board directors, chairs, and key committee members across funded sports bodies must be women or gender-diverse.

Golf Australia has aligned itself strongly with these directives through its Vision 2025: The Future of Women and Girls in Golf, which commits to gender targets at governance and operational levels. It also supports clubs in implementing change via constitution amendments, inclusive policy frameworks, and leadership pathways for women. This collective reform recognises that gender equity in leadership is not only a matter of fairness, but a strategic imperative for improving decision-making, accountability, and long-term sustainability within the sport.

The EGM will be held on Tuesday 29 July 2025 to commence at 7pm. All eligible Members are encouraged to attend and vote.

Thank you for your continued engagement as we collectively support strong, future-focused governance at Long Reef Golf Club.

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.

First Hole-in-One
They say good things come in threes—and for Mark Gilligan, the past few months have been nothing short of a dream run. First, Mark claimed victory in the President’s Cup on Saturday 7^th June. Then, on Saturday 5th July, he held his nerve to win the playoff for the Wytock Cup.

But the highlight came on Saturday 12th July during a Foursomes semi-final. Standing on the 7th tee, Mark struck the shot of his life—his best ever 4-iron to a back pin—and watched it drop for his first Hole-in-One. Celebrations continued well into the afternoon!

Men’s Foursomes Championships
Congratulations to all the teams that reached the finals, which were held on Saturday 19th July. Finals were contested across A, A Reserve, B and C Grades, with the A Grade Championship played over 36 holes, and the remaining grades over 18 holes.
The results of the Championships are as follows:

A Grade
Cam Gillespie & Nicholas Mundy defeated Mitch Bockman & Stephen Prior 5 & 4.

A Reserve
Roland Merhab & Mark Broadhead defeated Jasper Bennett & Dan Bowyer 3 & 1

B Grade
Mark Pitt & Trevor Waters defeated Mark Frith & Lindsay Bates 8 & 7.

C Grade
Rick Christensen & Peter Skiffington defeated Peter Verrills & Phil O’Regan 6 & 4.

Fairway Renovations
Fairway renovations will commence in early August. More information will be shared shortly, but the aim is to minimise disruption to play as much as possible throughout the works.

Eric Apperly Shield
Our Eric Apperly Shield team opened their season in impressive fashion with a commanding 4.5–1.5 victory over Penrith at NSW Golf Club on Sunday, 20th July.
The upcoming matches are against Pymble, Stonecutters Ridge and NSW Golf Club in what promises to be a competitive draw.

Team Members:
Lennox Cleary, Joel Davies, Will Elliott, JP Felice, Angus Greenland, Harry McKerihan, Oli Robinson, Joel Warren, Chun-Ta Wu.

Team Manager: Michael McKerihan
Team Coach: Lee Grierson

We wish the team continued success throughout the season!

Barling Trophy – The Barling Trophy is open to all 5, 6, and 7-day Members who have held their Membership for 20 years or more. This year’s event was held on Sunday, 20th July.

Congratulations to Tanya Heber, who claimed the trophy with a great score of 39 points!

Keep the Game Moving - Maintaining a good pace of play is crucial. The 10th hole at Long Reef is a "Call up hole" and before hitting your shot on the 10th, make sure the group on the 10th hole have signalled for your group to hit their shots from the tee. It is also important to acknowledge their call up.

Upcoming Events:

Goulburn Weekend - will be played on Sunday 27th July for the Dr  McCarthy Shield.

Men vs Women

This much-anticipated event will be played on Sunday, 10th August.
The winning team will be decided by the average of the 10 best scores from either the Men's or Women's side.
The team with the best average will take home the trophy

Results

Wednesday 9^th July - Single Stableford and Vince Horan Qualifying with a field of 223.

The winner and score of the day went to Peter Verrills with a score of 42 points.

Saturday 12^th July – Medley Stableford and Team Multiplier with a field of 181.

The winner and score of the day went to Evan Gibbs with a score of 38 points.

Wednesday 16^th July – White Tee Single Stableford & 4BBB with a field of 209.

The winner and score of the day went to Colin Thomas with a score of 41 points.

Saturday 19^th July – Medley Stableford and 2 Ball Aggregate with a field of 196.

The winner and score of the day went to Stuart Cleary with 42 points.

Rob Cordaiy | Captain

Pennants - Bronze IV Shield
The Bronze IV team played at Elanora against Asquith on 18 July 2025. The team was Heidi Lillyman, May Yeng, Virginia Murphy, Julie Vargeson and Val Hindmarsh. The result for the day was a win for Long Reef 3 and 2. Well done ladies. The Bronze IV team are leading at this stage with one game left to play at Wakehurst against Bayview on 25 July 2025. The team will be Heidi Lillyman, Libby Cleary, Julie Vargeson, Virginia Murphy, Val Hindmarsh and Sandra Haberlin.

Medal
The midweek July Medal was played on 10 July 2025. The winner of Division 1 was Peta Bird 81 nett on a c/b from Jenni Brown. The winner of Division 2 was Jie Cheng with 73 nett from Harper Lee with 77 nett. The Division 3 medal was cancelled and rescheduled for 4 September 2025.

Captain’s Trophy
On 17 July 2025, the qualifying round of the Captain’s Trophy was played. The event was a 4BBB with 8 teams qualifying for the Match Play. The first match will be held on 24 July 2025. The matches will be:

Sally Hill and Prue Bardsley playing Julie Vargeson and Jen Vasseleu
Sue Rossi and Tanya Tate playing Vanessa Murphy and Diana Sier
Adrian Bowyer and Karen Reader playing Vanessa Donlan and Lisa Jenkins
Jodie McPherson and Nikki Winestock playing Gay McCorby and Helenka O’Connell

The semi-final will be played on Tuesday 29 July and the final on 31 July 2025.

Late to the Tee
A reminder to all women about being late for your tee time. Rule 5.3a states a player must start at (and not before) their starting time. The starting time is treated as an exact time and the player must be present on the tee, ready to play. If the starting time is delayed for any reason such as weather, slow play there is no breach of the rule if the player is present and ready to play when the player’s group is able to start.

A breach of Rule 5.3a is disqualification except in three cases.

Exception 1 - Player arrives at the starting point, ready to play, no more than five minutes late the general penalty of 2 shots is applied to their first hole.

Exception 2 – Players starts no more than five minutes early the general penalty is applied to their first hole.

Exception 3 – Committee decides that “exceptional circumstances” prevented the player from starting on time there is no penalty.

While there is no specific guidance in the Rules for deciding what is an exceptional, as it depends on the circumstance in each case and must be left to the determination of the Committee. However, the Rules do provide some examples of what is not meant by “exceptional circumstances” e.g. player gets lost, car breaks down, heavy traffic or an accident that results in the journey to the course taking longer than expected. An example of an exceptional circumstance would be if you were present at the scene of an accident and required to provide medical assistance or give a witness statement.

Up Coming Fixtures:

31 July – Final of the Captain’s Trophy

2 August – Weekend players final GNSW Medal round 6

7 August – Midweek players final GNSW Medal round 6

14 August – Remembrance Day Trophies played in conjunction with the Par round

18 and 19 August – course closed for renovations

22 August – Players and Caddies Day

23 August – Weekend GNSW 2 ball Ambrose

28 August – Midweek GNSW 2 ball Ambrose

Sue Kruse PSM | Women's Captain

Bag Tags

For those who haven't done so yet, please visit Reception and collect your bag tag.

As of the 22nd of July, the Course has received 879.6mm of rain so far this year, compared to 1018.4mm at the same time last year. That’s 138.8mm less rainfall this year compared to last year. In the last fortnight, 12mm has fallen on the Course.

Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve had a fair bit of vandalism around the Course. A number of our greens have been dug up, soil bins smashed and ball washers destroyed and we’ve had kids riding E-bikes across the greens, skidding and causing damage.

A bubbler on the 15th was snapped off causing water to flow out all night, resulting in the pathway being washed out.
It’s been really frustrating for my team, who spend a lot of time and effort keeping the Course looking good. I would appreciate everyone keeping an eye out. If you see anything out of the ordinary, please let someone in the Club know.

Despite the amount of rain we’ve received over the winter months, the Course has held up fairly well. The greens are in great condition and continue to provide a consistent playing surface.

Tees are showing the usual signs of heavy wear for this time of year. Fairways are still showing some signs of growth, while the rough has slowed right down as expected during the cooler months.

Swan update, unfortunately, we’re now down to 3 cygnets. While it’s always great to see new life on the Course, nature can be unpredictable. We’ll continue to keep an eye on the swan family and provide updates as they continue to grow.

Kurt Schulenburg | Course Superintendent

Do you struggle with Putting?

Are you using the right putter for your stroke? Most golfers don't realise putters are designed differently based on your setup. Whether your eyes are over the ball or inside the line, using the wrong style can lead to missed short putts and frustrating 3 putts. We offer putter fittings in the shop to help match you with the perfect putter for your stroke. Pop in today and start sinking more putts with confidence!

Jenny Schulenburg | Director of Golf

Ping iDi Driving Iron

The brand NEW Ping iDi Driving Iron is built for control, power and versatility. With a compact forgiving head, explosive steel face and low spin profile, it' s perfect for the conditions at Long Reef. Try it in store and see for yourself why more players are swapping hybrids for this game changing choice!

Question: A player was playing a hole with rough on each side of the fairway. His first tee shot went well left, ending in deep rough.

He played a provisional ball which went almost the same distance but ended in the deep rough on the opposite side of the hole. The player and other members of the group began searching for the two balls.

Which is correct?

There is a total of 3 minutes for the group to search
There will be two periods of 3 minutes, A total of 6 minutes for the group to search.

A relationship with North Berwick Golf Club!

The Men’s Scottish Open Championship has recently been held at the North Berwick Golf Club (established in 1832) south of Edinburgh.

What do the North Berwick Golf Club, Long Reef Golf Club and Goulburn Golf Club have in common?

The answer is Golf Professional Peter Merrilees.

Peter was born in North Berwick and attended the primary school there. He was often absent from school and drawn to the club, where he was often in trouble for hitting around the course without permission.
Peter was later to do an apprenticeship at the club showing talent as a maker of clubs.

Peter arrived in Australia in 1909 and worked in a variety of golf course related positions until 1939 when he left to continue his career in the USA.

In 1910 he was employed by Goulburn Golf Club (established in 1898) to supervise course improvements and instruct in the game.

He met and married a local girl in Goulburn. Coincidentally and much later, Goulburn Golf Club was to become a reciprocal course of Long Reef.

In June 1921, immediately after the first LRGC meeting, Peter was invited to walk the area and mark out a 9-hole course on Long Reef Headland.

The Scottish influence continued after the official opening with Club Captain William Whytock from 1924-27 and the design of the 18 hole course, completed in 1931, led by Professional Dan Soutar.

The relationship between Goulburn and Long Reef continues and has done so since 1953. The club will be our guests next weekend as part of the continuing Goulburn versus Long Reef weekends.

A display of ‘Goulburn’ memorabilia is now to be seen in the archives cabinet in the Member’s Bar. Mark Pitt, a long-standing player in the event, is thanked for acquiring, donating and loaning items for it.

One of only four trophies of this style (above) presented, for a win in the 1998 Curly Harvey Trophy Goulburn Golf Club ‘Cenntenial’ event, to Mark Pitt, Stuart Laing, (LRGC Course Superintendent) Barry Tooth and Geoff Hillyard. The small figurine in appropriately dressed as a player of the times.

If “Tradition is the armour for the soul’ continuing events like this and remembering what came before can only make our club stronger and more unique.

Sandra Mellowes | Archive Committee