We were lucky with the weather and our Spring renovations went well. The recovery process is underway with the Course Team having now started mowing the greens and they will continue to roll, cut and dust them as appropriate over the next few weeks.

If you'd like to see how the process unfolds, click on this link which contains a time lapse video of the 18th green being done.

This is the part where I always say that we need to play our part too. We must ensure that we always repair our own pitch marks and ideally, any others that you see and please repair them correctly. If you need a refresher on the best method of repairing a pitchmark, please click on this link, or visit the Member section of the website. Thank you in anticipation of your assistance.

Weekend Premiership qualifying dates, 6 and 7 day members - Sunday 17^th and Sunday 24^th September. Match Play dates - Sunday 8^th October, Sunday 15^th October and Sunday 22^nd October.

Weekday Premiership qualifying dates 5,6, and 7 members - Tuesday 10^th October and Thursday 12^th October. Match Play dates Tuesday 17^th October, Thursday 19^th October, and Thursday 26^th October.

For those players who want to pay their entry fee of $30 up front, entries open 6 days prior to the 1^st round of stroke play.  This entry fee is for both qualifying rounds.  You will only be required to book once as your booking for the 1^st round will be cloned for the 2^nd round.

For those players who want to pay their entry fee prior to teeing off in the 1^st qualifying round entries open 5 days prior.  The entry fee is $30 for both qualifying rounds and must be paid at the Pro shop prior to teeing off in the 1^st round.  You will however, be required to book for both qualifying rounds, as your time will not be cloned.  

Championship play off Sunday 29^th October.

The Conditions of play are on the locker room wall and also on the Long Reef Club website.

Charity Day Thursday 14^th September.

Our next Charity Day is in aid of The Burdekin Association. As per their website,

"Burdekin work with the community to offer an integrated approach to solving issues of child and youth homelessness." burdekin.org.au

Golf will commence at 8.00am shotgun start, the game is Texas Scramble. You will be able to score using the MiScore App. If your visitor doesn't have the app they will use a scorecard which is then scanned using the scanner in the clubhouse. Please can one member of the team go into the Proshop to pick up the concession sheets and information about the game. The committee will enter in the teams on Thursday 7^th September so please pay by this date the $70.00 which includes golf with concession tickets, High Tea, welcome drink and bottomless tea included, and of course an amazing menu.   Lunch only tickets also available for $50.00. Great prizes are on offer. Colours of the day will be Blue, Orange and white. 

GNSW Bronze medallion was played at Ryde - Parramatta and Camden Lakes Golf Club last week. The team of Jude Sandvoss and Sam Sparke, Michelle Milsted and Marg O'Connell represented Long Reef at the two courses. They all enjoyed the experience even though both courses were tough on the day.

GNSW2ball Ambrose was played on Thursday 31^st August and Saturday 2^nd September. Thursday's winners were.

Gilda Severino and Dani Seisun 67.5 and Saturday winners were Natalie Driver and Jenni Brown 61. Good luck to these teams who will play in the regional final during the next two months.

There have been some great scores over the last couple of weeks. Lynne Parsons (31) had the most impressive score on Sunday 3^rd September - 47 pts. Lynne played exceptional golf and scored this most amazing number of points which even included one wipe!

Julia Deere Jones (27) 42 pts, Vanessa Murphy (21) 41 points twice, Amanda Savage (37) 41 pts, Lynne Clayton (21) 39 pts, Judy Gietz (39) 39 pts, Angela Brown (38) 39 pts, Lisa George (28) 39 pts, Pam Burke (25) 38 pts, Helen Cregan (38) 38pts, Clare John (30) 38pts, Bella Warren (43) 38 pts, Wendy Thomas (21) 38 pts.

Wendy Thomas | Women's Captain

It has been a very sad past two weeks for the Club with the passing of three of our long serving Members and one passed Member.

Roger Poignand passed away on the 24^th August after a 12 month battle with illness. He joined the Club in 1997 being a Member for 26 years, with two years as Treasurer between 2007-2009.  He is survived by his wife of 60 years Michele, daughter Martina and son Howard. Members are welcome to leave a message of condolence to the family on 0407906292.

Liz Ruthven passed last week after a long battle with cancer. Liz joined the Club in 2008 being a much loved Member for 15 years. At her Celebration of life she was remembered as a "mixture of all good things in the world" She is survived by her husband Peter and sons Michael and David.

 Wendy Langthorne passed this week after a short stay in palliative care. She joined the Club in 2004 and spent 3 years on the Women's Committee. She was kind, gentle, unassuming and a willing volunteer. She is survived by her husband Rex and sons Peter and Marty.

A funeral service will be held on Tuesday 12 September 2023 at 10am at Anne Wilson Mona Vale.  This will be followed by a celebration of Wendy's life at LRGC from 12pm.

Brian Gosson who was Club Champion in 1963 also passed away last week

We extend our deepest sympathy and thoughts to the families of Roger, Liz, Wendy and Brian during this difficult time.

On a brighter note - Lindsay Bates, Neil Lucey and Peter Frith are all recovering well and are expecting to be back playing golf in the next couple of months.

Stephen Twigg | Welfare Coordinator

Tell us about yourself?
I was born and raised in Dorset in the UK with my family but have spent the last 8 years living in Hong Kong with my Husband and little Dog. We moved as we wanted to see the world and my husband had the opportunity to play rugby for Kowloon and later went onto play professional for HK. I had previously trained as a primary teacher in the UK but fell into working as a Nanny in HK. I worked for some incredible families that I am still very close with today, a few of them now living in Sydney, which is lovely! However, I always knew I wanted to have a career in Weddings, so last year I undertook a course on Wedding Planning and became obsessed! 

After growing tired of the fast-paced lifestyle of Hong Kong, we jumped at the opportunity to move to Australia and made our move in December 2022. We have since been exploring Sydney, setting up our lives here and planning our own 'covid' Wedding which finally happened in Greece this July!

What do you like to do on your days off?
Being new to Sydney, most weekends are spent exploring what this beautiful part of the world has to offer! I love to get out for walks with my little dog, getting into the gym or going to a Pilates class.

How long have you worked in LRGC?
I have just hit my 6-month mark at LRGC and I am loving every second! I work as part of the Functions department as a Wedding Coordinator / Function Manager and I truly LOVE my job. I have always wanted to work within Weddings and making our couples special day come to life is a dream come true for me! The team at LRGC have been incredible and I have learnt so much over the short period of time being here. I can't wait to see what lies ahead and to host all the Weddings this season in our beautifully renovated Pacific and Reef Rooms!

He said he would play a provisional ,announced it correctly and took a second new ball out of his bag.  He played the provisional which unfortunately headed into the same general area as the original ball. Luckily after a short search both of the new balls with his identifying mark were found fairly close together. When the players looked closely at the balls they were not able to distinguish which ball was which.

Which of the following applies?

It was a close tussle with Long Reef coming out on top 5.5 to 4.5.

Winners of the major trophy, the "Ray Harvey Memorial" were Pete Verrils and Brad Jones from Long Reef and Digger Gann and Tony Boyd from Goulburn. 

The Dave Cooper trophy for best Saturday score from Goulburn was Omo O'Neill. 

Best overall four-ball was Sami Gaundar and Phil O'Regan. Best Goulburn four-ball was Paul Falk and Noel Ostini while Wayne Picknell and Glenn Bruce were Long Reef's Best.

The other half of this annual competition is in Goulburn on Sunday 12th November, so clear the diary, get away from Sydney for the weekend and enjoy the country atmosphere. 

The sign-on sheet will be on the notice board in early October. 

Since 2000 15 males have won the Club Championship. Only 5 of them remain active Members and we will be losing Chun-Ta Wu (our current Champion) to the US college system in 2024. The women have produced 11 Champions in the same time frame - of these 7 are still active Members of the Club and 2 have only recently left. It's not so much a case of where are they now but a review of their accomplishments and history. It is also of interest to see if any were home-grown.

Sandra Gillies was the first Champion of the new century winning in 2000 and again in 2007. She was also runner-up 7 times. Sandra played golf at school (Hornsby G.H) at Gordon and later Marrickville. Her serious golf career started in 1982 when she joined Long Reef and had lessons with John Kelly. Sandra was a fixture on the Assoc. /Women's Committee from 1989 to 2004 and in 1996 became the first female to be elected to the Club's Board serving as Vice Captain. This was followed with time served as a delegate to GNSW. She was rewarded for her service not only to Long Reef but to golf in general with election to Life Membership in 2016. Sandra and husband Bill a former Director of the Club moved to Queensland last year.

Jessica Kliman won the title 2001 on the back of her previous win in 1999. At the time of her 1999 win she was the youngest ever Club Champion and a most graceful golfer to watch. She went on to pursue a successful career in Television, got married and has a family. Many Members will also remember her mother Larka.

Our most prolific winner since 2000 is Julia Bowen and she sits in third place in the list of all-time great multiple winners. Julia is behind Ruby Watts with 7 titles and Dulcie Fouracre with 8. Julia was successful in 2006, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2018. She began serious golf in 2001 and joined Cammeray where she played and practiced and reduced her handicap from 45 to single figures in mid-2003. She joined Long Reef in 2005. She is also a Member of the Lakes G.C. where she has played representative grade golf and is a champion.