2023-2025 Board Elections

Nominations for the Board of Directors closed today, Wednesday 4 October at 5pm. The following positions will require a Members vote to determine the following office holder / Director positions: (Click on the candidate's name to view resume):

President: 

Cameron Gillespie

Keith Warren*

Vice Captain: 

Tony Holley

Vanessa Murphy

Director: 

John Hanson

Tony Holley

Tony Johnson

Rob Cordaiy*

Craig Busch

(The names are displayed in the order they will appear on the ballot  paper following a draw that was conducted in the presence of Members on Wednesday 4th October. )

(* - denotes current officeholder)

The following office holders were elected unopposed:

Vice President: Andrew Thurlow

Treasurer: Stephen Holdstock*

The position for Captain is vacant and will filled by any Member present at the Annual General Meeting and eligible to be elected to the Board in accordance with 15.14 of the Constitution. Click here to view details

Voting for the contested positions open at 5pm on Thursday 12 October and will remain open until 4.59pm on Sunday 22 October. Results of the Election will be announced at the Annual General Meeting on Thursday 26 October.

Voting is conducted online, and eligible Members will receive an email on Thursday 12 October detailing how to cast their vote online. Those Members who do not have access to online voting will be able to cast their vote at the Club's reception during office hours between the voting dates.

Ben Russell | General Manager

Finalist for NSW Metropolitan Club of the Year

The final hurdle will be a sign off by the Minister for Local Government the Hon. Ron Hoenig MP.

This is a tremendous advancement in the future of Long Reef Golf Club and acknowledgement must be given to all those Board members who have advocated the lease extension to Council and State Government over the past 5 years.

Thank you to the Members who provided supportive submissions to Council during the public notification period. I must also thank our General Manager Ben Russell for his efforts in progressing the lease discussions with Council.

An update will be provided once a timeline is confirmed for the new lease to be implemented.

Bunker Construction

Since the August "From Your Board" update, construction at the 14th, 7th, and 10th hole is completed and turfed. 153 tonnes of premium quartz sand has been received during September which will go a long way to bringing the bunkers on 14 and 10 back into play in the coming weeks.

Construction has progressed on the 9th to the stage that the greenside bunkering and reshaping of the right-side surrounds now completed and turfed.

The project remains ahead of schedule and within budget. Updates and progress photos will continue to be posted on the Members portal.

Northern Beaches Council - Sports Infrastructure Grant

The Club has been awarded a $10,000 grant through the Northern Beaches Council Sporting Infrastructure program. The funding is to contribute to cost of the bunkering on the 13th hole which forms part of the Bunker Master Plan. Thank you Steve Twigg for applying for this grant.

Annual General Meeting

The Annual General Meeting will be held on 26 October at 7pm.

The Notice of Meeting and Annual Report can be view through the following links:

Notice of Annual General Meeting

102nd Annual Report

It would be appreciated if Members, who wish to raise questions at the meeting or seek information at the meeting about the annual financial statements, would give the General Manager notice in writing of their queries or requests on or prior to Tuesday 17 October 2023. This will allow time for a properly researched response.

Please do not hesitate to get in touch with me if you would like clarification or further expansion on any of the items above k.w.warren@me.com / 0410 955 476.

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

Dragan Mitrovic, Paul Bowler, Michael Cooper and Jimmy Little played the final last Saturday and with $1,200 up for grabs, there was a little more incentive than there normally is with a Saturday fourball.

Dragan led the Skins game to the last, worth $400, but a win for any of the other three would have seen them be the biggest earner. However, it was Dragan himself who won the hole and took his prize pool to $855. Jimmy was second taking home $215 with Paul third earning $75 and Michael didn't add to his early win and ended with $55.

The event seems to have been a resounding hit so we will be putting it in the programme book again in 2024.

Major Pennant 2024

The draw is out for next season and we have again been drawn with North Ryde while Bonnie Doon and Muirfield make up our division. We start away at Bonnie Doon on Sunday 4th February before hosting them the following week. The squad will be selected after the Club Championship has concluded.

In the first qualifying round of the Club Championship and Grade Cups on Saturday 23rd September, Lennox Cleary had 5 birdies on his way to his first ever level par round. Nick Sherlock and Tim Cruickshank both matched that feat on Wednesday 26th. Last Monday, Ryan Farrell had 7 birdies on his way to a 3 under round.

However, as you can see from Chun-Ta's scorecard from last Saturday, he was able to make 6 birdies and an eagle with a solitary bogey (on the 6th of all holes!!) and had him shoot 7 under, 62 and one off his best ever round of 8 under.

The rest of us can only dream....

Lennox's level par round off the stick saw him win the A Grade Medal with nett 62 while John Dickinson won B Grade with nett 65 and Anthony Korbel was the C Grade winner with nett 69. Emma Thurlow won the Women's Medal with nett 72.

The first round of the Club Championship and Grade Cups was played in conjunction with the Medal and after the first round, the top 3 by grade are as follows:

Championship - Chun-Ta Wu (70), Luke Edgell and Ian Brown (72)

A Reserve - Lennox Cleary (71), Michael Long (74) and Richard Smith (77)

B Grade - Trevor Waters and Rex Adams (83) with Robert Watson, Rick Christensen and Mick Harding all tied for third (85).

C Grade- Cha Loh (93), Josh Dowse and Carter Harris (94).

Ian Brown holds a one shot lead over Tony Holley in the Senior Championship with Ross Bockman a further shot back while Chun-Ta has the same lead over Lennox in the Junior Championship. 

Other winners

Rex Carroll won C Grade and Score of the Day on Wednesday 20th  with 42 points while Stewart McGeady was the A Grade winner with 40 points and Craig Roberge won B Grade with 39 points, after a countback with William Nunn.

Rex also teamed up with Chris Sparkes, Michael Varvaressos and David Quinn to win the Irish Stableford team competition. Jimmy Knox was the Scratch winner with 1 over par.

I've already highlighted the winners of the Medals, played on Saturday 23rd but special mention must go to Anders Kobula who holed his second shot on the 8th for an eagle and in doing so, picked up $340 of balls for taking out the Circle. Congratulations Anders!

Ross Kocass won a countback for both A Grade and Score of the Day on Wednesday 27th after both he and Nick Sherlock both had 43 points. Nick, however, did win Scratch with 2 under par and combined with Tim Becker for 50 points to win the 4BBB. Adam Rust won B Grade after a three way countback with Craig Roberge and Michael Maras when they all finished with 40 points. Brian Cronan was the C Grade winner with 41 points.

Kyle Turner beat Bill Chapman for B Grade and Score of the Day on a countback last Saturday after they both had 43 points. Kyle also teamed up with Drew Millson to win the Split 6s comp. Chun-Ta's 7 under obviously won him Scratch but he lost out to Mark O'Connell, on a countback, for A Grade when they both had 42 points. Peter Stephenson and Frank Lorenz both had 40 points in C Grade but it was Peter who won the countback. Natalie Driver won the Women's comp with 38 points. 

Goulburn weekend

The annual away match with Goulburn will take place on Sunday 12th November. The sheet to register your interest will be posted on the board in the Members area tomorrow (Thursday 5th October). If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Greg Dousset on 0417 752696

Bunker update

Work is continuing on the 9th hole and we hope to have the construction component completed by the end of this week. The Klingstone will probably not have been applied so please be careful around the work when the full course is back in play this Saturday for the second round of the Club Championship and Grade Cups. 

After the 9th, we will move onto the 11th and that will leave us with only 4 holes to go. 

As we have done in a few other areas around the course, we have taken advantage of having the right equipment and expert shapers and taken the opportunity to open up the area to the right-hand side of the 9th green to improve the high traffic area and the quality of the turf, which has never really recovered since being used as the haul road during the construction of the mounds.

Call-up on 4A

Obviously, some can reach this hole from the tee and coming straight after a par 3 and then another short par 4, there can sometimes be a bottleneck on the tee as Members wait for the green to clear. Please use your discretion and call up the group behind to assist with the pace of play, if appropriate.

Good luck to all those playing in the second round of the Club Championship and Grade Cups this weekend. It will also double as the October Medal and fourth qualifying round of the Captain's Cup - Mick McKerihan and John Dertateossian currently share the lead.

Enjoy your golf!

Doug Campbell | Captain

Women's Championship dates

This year marks 100 years of Legacy and 50 years since the war in Vietnam ended.

An outstanding result in raising $20,622.04 for Legacy!

We would like to thank all who supported the event.

Congratulations to the winning team of the day: Colonel Warwick Young, Doug McGrath, Ben Russell and Doug Campbell

Tell us about yourself?
I've grown up surrounded by both my South African and Australian heritage, living in both countries throughout my early childhood but have completed all of my schooling here. Beginning this year I am studying a Bachelor of Nursing at UTS.

What do you like to do on your days off?
I am a golfer, so being able to work right next to my second home is a dream come true, so whenever I am not working, I'm honing my skills on the course, taking my wise father's advice and improving my putting - but smashing drives is where the real fun is. I'm also a massive fan of rock climbing and socialising both on and off the golf course.

We extend our deepest sympathy and thoughts to David's family during this difficult time.

The most obvious change to the Clubhouse is that the front of the building is now the back and vice versa. In 1923, from the front of the building there was a view up to the top of the headland and Fisherman's beach with the first tee of the 9-hole course across to the left where the 9^th is now. 

Having recently attended a guided behind the scenes tour seeing both the improved and changed facilities I was reminded of some of the changes seen in both recent times and those that are documented from decades ago. For example, the chair storage area, out the back, was the Pro Shop. This was the place where Frank Eyre the Club Professional from 1922 to 1963, was able to describe his win, hole by hole, in the Australian Open. This was held in September 1930.

In the now safe and functional main kitchen we were walking in the footstep of at least 34 caterers and their staff between 1923 and 2014. Of course we can no longer ask the question of previous Club committees and designers - just why did you do that?

• Why did you fill in the two service doors that served the kitchen and dining Room - the in and the out door?
• When the major rebuild using new plans was completed by 1960 why did the Men's and Women's toilets get the best view in the house?
• In the 2000's extension why did the Bar get moved into the centre of the new space for service on three sides yet the entrance to the bar for the staff was /is as far away as it could be from the cellar? 

The answer to "Why do we have such a small corridor leading from the front entrance to the Bar?" is known because functions in the Main Room prevented free access to all parts of the Club. Without it the Club would be cut into two.

Charity and then Trade days were allowed and established from the 1930's but the first Wedding was not booked until 1946. The Clubhouse had very little to offer visitors and if there was a function booked it could not start until every Member had left the building.

Locker rooms were very well used. With the small bags and leather studded shoes fitting inside the lockers with the grill like breathing holes. Trollies could be found in the small room now used as the Women's office. 

One favourite anecdote at the time of the first wooden building describes one particular very vocal Member who had spent too much time at the Bar before the very well attended AGM commenced. He was loud and opinionated. It was a hot Saturday evening, and all the windows were open along the front wall and he was sitting balanced on a window-sill. To everyone's relief he fell slowly backwards out of the window onto the veranda. The window was quickly closed behind him and he didn't reappear! The meeting continued. 

By the 50's the building was a complete muddle and outdated. The next decade brought the biggest change with the gradual build of the brick and tile version. This was paid for by levies when it could be afforded. The main kitchen, was the only kitchen and simple sandwiches were the lunch orders of the day. 

Golfers entered the Club through their own locker room door. The then worn spiked shoes were not allowed on the tiles in the entrance or on the carpet in the main rooms. It was possible to enter the Associate's Room straight from the beach and it was a path used many times by female golfers who would change and go for a swim after golf In the 90's for a variety of reason a brush fence was added, the first to give the Clubhouse a rigid boundary.

It was a very small kiosk, barely large enough for two people with its servery windows and it was opened mainly to support the new fixed barbecue area on the new terrace. The most popular event was the 'Friday night, do it yourself Barbecue'.  The kiosk wasn't manned all the time but it sometimes served as a halfway house. There was an open corridor beside it leading to the southern entrance doors, you didn't have to walk all the way around the new bar to get to it. The bar was on one side and the toilet doors on the other. And so the changes began - losing count of the number of alterations in that space, the now café serves hundreds of meals and is supported by the recently added extra food storage and cool rooms.

In the "one day", hoped for new Clubhouse, we can only aim to get most things right first time and in the right place! 

Many members of staff who have held the Clubhouse together cannot now be recognised and thanked. They are lost in time. However, we can thank and acknowledge the role of the late Frank Jenkins who passed away two weeks ago. He was the Bar Manager in the 80's and into the 90's and will be remembered well by Members of the time. Sympathy is extended to his wife Shirley and all his family and friends. Shirley was a long serving Member of the Club and President of the Women's Committee.