Below are notes from the Board Meeting held on Thursday 26 October 2023

Peter Donkers has provided more information on the current water status of the Course later in this newsletter.

Social Media Policy

A social media policy has been adopted to provide guidelines for the appropriate use of social media platforms by Club Members, Staff, Contractors, and Volunteers. The policy ensures that all individuals associated with the Club use social media in a responsible, respectful, and professional manner.

The Social Media Policy can be viewed on the Clubs policy and document page of the website at www.lrgc.com.au/club-documents-and-policies/

 By Law Amendment

Amendments of By-Laws 25.2, 31 and 32 were approved by the Board.

By-Law 25.2 relates to the make up of the Women's Committee, and By-Laws 31 and 32 relate to use of the members Directory and Campaigning for Board Elections respectively. The amendments to the By-Laws can be viewed here: By-Law Amendments

 Golf Shop Plans

Announced at the AGM was the plans for the new look Long Reef Golf Shop. The AGM presentation can be viewed here: AGM presentation

The Golf Shop will incorporate more than Golf, whilst offering wide range of the best brands, club fitting, coaching and repair services, there will also be an emphasis on an improved food & beverage offering providing a convenient alternative to the Clubhouse for Members and visitors to enjoy.

The Golf Shop team comes with years of Professional Golf experience with Jenny Schulenburg, Danny Vera and Michael Infanti.

Internal fit out plans are currently underway and will be presented to the Membership as the planning progresses.

Annual General Meeting and 2023-2025 Board of Directors

After the Board Meeting the 102^nd Annual General Meeting was held. I would like to thank the 110+ Members who were present. There was also a very healthy Member voting engagement with 482 votes cast, around 48% of the Members had their say.

Thank you to outgoing Board Members - Abigail Gruzman, Helenka O'Connell, Doug Campbell and Cameron Gillespie for their contribution to the Board and the Club.

Welcome to Tony Holley, Tony Johnson, John Hanson and Craig Busch for volunteering to support the Board and the Club for the coming two years.

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.

It is an honour to have been elected Captain of Long Reef Golf Club and I would like to thank everyone for their words of support and encouragement as I take on this role.

Growing up I was fortunate to live across the road from the course. We lived in Hay St and the course was, and still is a prominent place in my life. I joined the Club as a Junior aged fourteen and as well as playing golf I picked up a job raking bunkers on Saturday mornings for 75 cents an hour!

I have 52 Years of continuous Membership and continue to enjoy playing on what I believe is the best Public Access Golf Course in Sydney. Working with the Board and Ben and his team to further improve the experience and enjoyment of golf at LRGC for our members and wider community is what I see as my role as Captain.

Again, thank you for your support and I look forward catching up with as many members as I can over the next two years, as well as welcoming new members.

Club Championships

The weather on Sunday was perfect for the final of the Club Championships and the course had been well prepared for the event.

The defending Champion Chun-Ta Wu was up against Jimmy Knox. Both players are known for their excellent short games which ultimately was to be the decider over the thirty-six holes. Following the first eighteen holes Chun-Ta was five up. Some wonderful shot making was displayed by both players in the ensuing holes. Chun-Ta went to eight up after chipping in on the ninth for an eagle while Jimmy took the tenth to bring the match back to seven. However, the twelfth was to be the decider. Jimmy was on the green for two and Chun-Ta's second shot was over the back with a difficult chip to a back placed pin. Chun-Ta then proceeded to chip in for a birdie to win 8 & 6. 

The A Reserve final was between Andrew Hayward and Richie Smith and was set to be a close match as both players were on their game. The early lead went to Richie who was three up through the first six holes and following the first eighteen remained three up. The second eighteen was tightly fought with the match square after ten holes. However, Richie was able to win the next couple of holes to be three up heading up fifteen. Andrew put his third shot to the left of the green with a tricky fourth shot that landed just off the right edge. Richie played his go-to chip shot to the green for three and was able to finish with a par to win the match 4 & 3.

B Grade was between Greg Dousset and Will Elliott and both got off to a good start through the first three holes. Will took an early lead over the next couple of holes and by the eighteenth was six up. Over the second eighteen holes Will was able to consolidate his lead and was eight up through the ninth. Greg fought well, however, Will played very consistent golf and was able to win the match 9&7 on the eleventh.

The C Grade was between Carter Harris and Yutaka Yoshino. While Yutaka won the first hole Carter managed to settle his nerves and build a handy lead over the first nine holes and by the eighteenth Carter was nine up. The second eighteen was tightly fought. However, Carter managed to maintain his lead and went on to win the match 10 & 9 on the ninth.

Congratulations to all who participated in the Championship finals and for playing in the true spirit of the game. Thank you to caddies and members who came out to watch and support the players. A big thank you must also go to Pete and Kurt and the Course maintenance team for preparing the Course so well for the Championships.

Results

Saturday 28^th Fourball and Single Stableford. The A grade winner was Colm Galloway with 41 points beating Peter Watson on the countback. Third place went to Simon Couch with 40 points.

Greg Bourke won B Grade with 39 points, Stuart Cleary beat Alan Morisset after the countback for second and third, both had 38 points.

Peter Skiffington won C Grade with 37 points followed by Nick Thorowgood on 36. Guy Phillips was third with 35.

The scratch stableford winner was Chun-Ta Wu with 41 points, two under par.

The Circle prize on the 8th went off for a second week with both Innes Maclennan and Dan Bowyer inside the circle.

Nearest the pin on the second went to Jimmy Little (76cm) and Mark-Rodney Stevens on the 13^th (142cm).

The Four Ball winners were Dan Bowyer and Nick Thorowgood with 49 points and runners-up were Timothy Jones and Garry Riggs with 47 points.

Preferred Lies on 14, 15, 16

Rob Cordaiy | Captain

The recent rain late last week was very welcome and much needed, but no where near enough to fill dams. We had around 15mm of rain which is great for course and especially the new turf and struggling fairways. In the past 11 weeks we have had only 44mm of rain along with many days of very strong wind. With summer still a while off we need to conserve water as much as possible with predictions for a long dry period ahead. 

We are currently only using automated watering on greens and tees, fairways and dry areas are being watered using hoses and knocker sprinklers to help keep areas alive and avoid losing grass cover. To date this year we have had only 636 mm of rain well under average and well below last year's total of over 2,350mm.

The bunker program is moving along really well with 12 holes now completed. We are still catching up with the sand in bunkers on the 11^th hole, the availability of bunker sand has been limited for some time making it difficult to complete each hole in time. The new work has seen plenty of subtle and significant changes to many areas. These changes will make a huge difference to wet weather access with many historically wet areas now reshaped, mounded and drained with all water runoff from the new bunkers and newly mounded areas going directly into our dams. 

Work on the 12^th hole has commenced this week with some major changes to the hole and a reduction in bunkers from 9 to 3. There will be some significant change to this hole short of and around the green hopefully making it more playable for the average golfer. Enjoy your golf.    

The finals of the Women's Club Championships were played on Thursday 26^th October.

We welcome our 2023 Women's Club Champion Jennifer Jansson.

The Open Division was played between Jen Jansson and Karen Smith. Jen reached the final having won on the 21^st hole from Natalie Driver and Karen won 1 up from Helenka O'Connell.

The day started early with the competition set for 36 holes.  Over the first few holes, the score kept changing and then Jen started to pull away and a birdie on the 7^th put Jen 4 up.  The next 11 holes consisted of an up and down tussle and by the end of the first 18 Jen remained 4 up. After a quick break, Karen won the first 3 holes of the second round. The competition was very close over the next 5 holes, many of which were tied and then Jen started to pull away. She was eventually too strong on the day and won the Championship on the 32^nd hole. Congratulations to both Jen and Karen who played exceptionally well in the very hard conditions with the wind howling and icy cold showers which persisted throughout the day. The match was played in a competitive and very sporting spirit and it was great to watch the game unfold.

The Women's Bronze Championship final was played between Dani Montgomery and Debbie Hankey.

Dani reached the final having won 4 & 3 from Karmen Whitford and Debbie won 3 & 2 from Chez Hickman.

Dani got away to an early lead and then Debbie fought her way back into the match. It was an excellent match where both players played great golf. There were some twists and turns throughout the round till Dani won on the 17^th. Thank you to Sue Kruse and Michelle Milsted for refereeing the match.

The Women's C Grade championship final was played between Lisa Mackenzie and Sue Dewell. Lisa reached the final having won 6 & 4 from Lisa Jenkins and Sue won 6 & 5 from Sonya Cordaiy.

Lisa led by 3 after the 5^th hole and then Sue fought back and the match was squared after the 9^th. It was close over the next 8 holes and Lisa went on to win on the 17^th. Thank you to Rosemary West and Veronica Betram for refereeing the match.

Congratulations to Jen, Dani and Lisa on winning their respective divisions in 2023. 

Thank you to the caddies and the spectators who came out to support the players in all of the finals.

Thursday 19^th October congratulations to Julie Vargeson (35) who scored an amazing 47 points. Alyssa Starc (6), Gilda Severino (17), Prue Bardsley (25) and Jen Vasseleu (35) all scored 38 points.

Tanya Heber (13) had a great score of 42 pts on Monday 23^rd October.

Upcoming Fixtures:

Thursday 23^rd November President v Captain 4BBB Stableford.

Thursday 7^th December Christmas Fun Day 3 Clubs and a Putter 8am shotgun start.

Wendy Thomas | Women's Captain

A) John may borrow a club for intermittent use from another member of the group.

B) John may replace the lost club as he passed the Pro Shop.

C) John may not replace the wedge so he again has 14 clubs.

The Championships and Premierships are over for another year. Names will be placed on the two Championship honour boards that now sit side by side in the Members' Room. The Premierships can be found in the locker rooms or by the south door.

If a player started a round with 14 clubs and then lost a club during his round or while play is stopped under Rule 5.7a, "The player must not replace it with another club".

If John replaced the club during his round, he would get the general penalty of two strokes for each hole where the breach occurred, with a maximum of four strokes penalty.

Fortunately, a player in a following group found the wedge and handed it into the Pro Shop. John was happy to have his lost club back for his next game.