Around the Club. Festive season good wishes

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1 Around the Club A newsletter for Wodonga Golf Club members December 2017 Phone: (02) facebook.com/wodongagolf Festive season good wishes We wish all members, guests, sponsors and staff a Merry Christmas and prosperous and healthy New Year. The progress in the club is very positive, with a great improvement in the course condition and the management of the pro shop. The course is at its best condition, thanks to our superintendent John Anderson and the crew. John and his team has been putting in a great effort and long working hours to make this happen. INSIDE: The pro shop looks fantastic. Thanks to our golf professional Gavin In just a few months, Gavin and his team has completely changed the pro shop to be one of the best in the region, putting his passion and professional knowledge to work to help make the club proud. Thanks to Nic Fothergill, club directors David Rye, David Crutch and Bruce Sukroo and our many members. They provided valuable advice in challenging times, and have been invaluable in helping with the club restructure. The many positive changes at the club would not have happened without their guidance. Special thanks to our volunteers group which gave us great help after the course was impacted by storm, and they have been keeping the course beautiful on a weekly basis for many years. Many happy returns for a great Christmas and wonderful Club management All the fun from presentation night 1

2 Presentation night enjoyed Men s Foursomes Nett Winners Mack and Ken McQuilton with golf pro Gavin Barlow Bros Match Play C Grade Winner Rob Strang with Gavin Barlow Bros Match Play B Grade Winner Greg Tickle and Gavin July Monthly Medal Michael Stanton with Gavin June Monthly Medal winner Malcolm Driscoll with Gavin August Monthly Medal Judy Langford with Anne Harris. October Monthly Medal Jack McAuliffe with golf pro Gavin Gavin Vearing with June Monthly Medal and Medal of Medalist 2017 Anne Harris. 2 December 2016 Monthly Medal and Medal of Medalists 2017 Malcolm Jackson and Gavin

3 Azzi/Nusser 4 Ball KO Connor Flavell and Jack McAuliffe with Gavin Vearing and Steve Nusser. 4BBBall Ladies KO Winners Captain Anne Harris, Anna Foote and Tracy Quinlivan. Anne Harris with Ladies Foursomes Championship Nett Winners Gail Howard and Linda Butler. Ladies Foursomes Championship on countback Scratch Winners Judy Langford and Jac Surman with Anne Harris. Nett Winners Mary Thiele and Grant Smith enjoy their win with Gavin Scratch Winners Josh Hayes and Judy Langford with golf professional Gavin Barlow Bros Match Play Handicap winner Nat Sariman with Gavin 3

4 Veterans have successful year The past 12 months have had their highs and lows. The storm in March - while a disaster at the time with the destruction of over 600 trees - has resulted in a more open and playable Golf Course. The appointments of Gavin Vearing as Professional and John Anderson as Course Superintendent has proved very popular and rewarding for the WGC. The standard of the playing conditions has greatly improved and we congratulate all those involved both in the Pro Shop and the Course Maintenance Team. The Wodonga Veterans held their Annual Christmas two-person Ambrose Event and Luncheon on 11 December with 80 members playing and 80 attending the luncheon. The Annual Presentation included the Autumn Cup which went to John Hamilton, who was also the recipient of the Award of Awards Medal for The winner of the Spring Cup was Malcolm Driscoll. The NEDVGA Annual Subscriptions fall due on the 1 January The fee remains unaltered at $15 and can be deposited in the Vets Box. Refer to Tim, Kevin or David for any further information. We wish our members a Happy Christmas and Great Golfing and Good Health in Summer has finally arrived and greeted us with some interesting weather, with a couple of really hot weeks and also a week of nearly 100mm of rainfall. With works starting on the new creek crossing at the 9th we have had to uninstall some irrigation that was still feeding the old bowling greens and also redirect some town water. The works have gone very smoothly and been of minimal interruption to golf and also our maintenance. In the coming months the 9th will be shortened to a par 3 while the creek crossing is conducted. The greens have been holding up quite well during the hot and humid conditions and while there has been some disease and dry patches, we have been on top of it and after having a couple games of late I believe they are rolling very well. During this period we 4 Men s Captain s report What a year 2017 has been at the Wodonga Golf Club. Since the massive storm late March that destroyed more than 600 trees, shut the course for over two weeks and cancelled the last round of our club championship, there has hardly been a day where we have not heard the buzz of a chainsaw, or the roar of a stump grinder out on the course. And now we have the groan of the earthmoving equipment that is helping to relocate the soil needed to develop the Parkers Road land, and redirect the creek across the ninth fairway. We said goodbye to our lady pro Mandy Buchanan and welcomed Gavin Vearing to the team. Gav s enthusiasm and technical approach to coaching has been infectious. We look forward to a long and fruitful partnership. Lastly, but by no means least, is employment of John Anderson to the course curator s position. We have all enjoyed the difference he has made to the course in such a small amount of time. Welcome home John. Late this year, after direction from our owners, we reinstated the men s committee to assist in running golf. Setting up a new committee from scratch has been a somewhat slow process, but we are beginning to get our procedures into place, working out what is required from the new owners, the greenkeeper and pro. We began the men s committee with the election of Cam McCormack as men s captain. Unfortunately, through personal reasons, Cam stood down from Captain at our last meeting. The men s committee was given permission by the Directors to elect another interim Captain. This vote resulted in myself (Peter Surman) stepping up into the role, with Adam Besic filling the vice-captain position. We owe Cam a big thank you for stepping up and taking on the Captain s role when the floor stood motionless during the committee election. The men s committee consists of Peter Surman (Captain), Mark Evans (vicecaptain), Adam Besic (vice-captain), Mick Last (secretary), Brett Howells (treasurer), Robert Strang, Malcolm Jackson, Brian Manzie, and Cameron McCormack. Thank you, gentlemen, for your commitment, enthusiasm and input you have shown in the short time we have been together. Congratulations to Wal Larkin, our December Monthly Medal winner returning a 66 nett. And big thanks for hanging around for presentations Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope the sticks will be kind to us all in Peter Surman. Maintaining course in hot weather is top priority have conducted a light scarify of the greens and followed it up with a light dusting of sand. This should minimise the thatch layer in the greens and ultimately make for firmer, faster and smoother surfaces. You would have probably noticed that some of the bunkers on the back 9 have been topped up with the white sand. This will continue and in the coming months all bunkers should have the white sand in them. There are still a few bunkers, particularly on the back 9 that hold water, these will need a full rebuild but adding the white sand will at least mean some consistency in playability and appearance in the short term. In other news, you may notice a new face out and about on the course. Jay Hillary is the newest member of the AML turf team, Jay is the son of popular member Ross and is looking to do an apprenticeship in Turf Management next year (between cricket and footy) and has been a great fit to our team. Also last month myself and 2nd year apprentice Max Barraclough volunteered our services at Thurgoona Country Club for the NSW Senior Open. Max worked three out of the four mornings of the tournament and was a great experience for him. Course superintendent Dean Lewis was very grateful for the help. I will be pushing Max and some of the other staff to volunteer at next year s World Cup of Golf at Metropolitan Golf Club. From all of us here on the ground staff team we hope you have a safe and happy Christmas. - John Anderson Course Superintendent

5 Brandt s marathon golfing effort Brandt Johnson with golf pro Gavin On December 18, Wodonga Golf Club member Brandt Johnson completed 72 holes of the Wodonga course in the heat to raise money for cancer research. Here, he shares his reasons for taking part and how he found his marathon round. My motivation for participating in Cancer Council's "The Longest Day 2017" was kind of a perfect storm. I'm a golf tragic that will play whenever I can, the work Cancer Council does is priceless and it was an opportunity to showcase local organisations. Collective Communications, my newly created business in marketing and public relations had an opportunity to grow an excellent well-being initiative and help grow some awareness for a local CFA brigade, the Wodonga Golf Club, JAMU Drinks and of course our own PR capabilities. We took a quiet little something and turned it into a media feature that helped our business community, a worthwhile charity organisation and any Australian who spends time in the sun. The win, win, win was our focus. The day went well. It was hot, but the golf was strangely level across 72 holes. I became aware of the enormity of the game. It's easy to see nine or 18 holes as a good or bad round. As I continued on, I experienced the roller coaster and found that over 72 holes... the strikes, choices and lucky breaks come and go. My total stableford score was 149, playing at, or better than, my handicap all the way around. Strokes totalled 350 for the day, averaging 87.5 each round. Only two birdies on the day at holes 6 and 11. Three out of the four rounds each had one wiped hole. The Longest Day is an endurance golf challenge designed to test skill, strength and stamina. The challenge is to successfully complete four rounds of golf on a single day, whilst raising funds for skin cancer research. Australia has one of the highest rates of skin cancer in the world, with more than 750,000 people treated each year. Brandt after finishing. 5

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