News from the Clubhouse

Transcription

1 News from the Clubhouse P a g e 1 Welcome to the April 2017 Edition of the Club s Newsletter is: A photo from Capetown, South Africa. No, not an April Fool. A true picture! Two cars are garaged here! Guess which side the bigger car uses!

2 P a g e 2 OUR NEW HEAD GREENKEEPER - We have already welcomed Dale Robertson to the post of Head Green Keeper. You will get to know him better over the coming months, but here are a few facts and figures that may be of interest. DALE ROBERTSON Dale comes to us as a greenkeeping professional with significant experience of golf course construction and maintenance of 9, 18 and 36 hole golf courses. He has a proven record of effective management including the recruiting of staff and conducting of staff assessments. He knows how to work effectively within a team both as a team member and as manager of a team. He has a good working knowledge and experience of health and safety assessments and risk assessments. Budget holding and the effective controlling of budget are among his skills. On top of this he has gained extensive knowledge of irrigation systems, machine maintenance, golf course presentation and the management of major competitions. Dale has not been content to stand still over the years. He has maintained a genuine engagement in professional development attending a range of seminars on a variety of topics. One such goes back to 1996 when he attended a European Tour 5 day Greenkeepers Conference in no less a place than PORTUGAL (SENIORS PLEASE NOTE!) More recently up to 2015 he has continued involvement with B.I.G.G.A. Seminars and Conferences at Harrogate and acquired (St Andrew s Ambulance Association) certification in Emergency First Aid. His management of a variety of major competitions extends over a period of twenty years. Dale is a married man with two children and lives in Bridge of Don. His

3 P a g e 3 interests include Football, Music and not surprisingly golf. He is a past Secretary of North Scottish Section of B.I.G.G.A. We first got to know Dale last summer as a temporary Head Greenkeeper at Newburgh and were impressed by the quality and quantity of his work. We shouldn t have been surprised as he previously held the position of Course Manager at Newmachar Golf Club from and was responsible for 11 staff, and maintaining two 18 hole courses, driving range and gardens. In early career, previous courses where he worked were Kings Links and Hazlehead. Dale is a very approachable and friendly person and he is committed to serving Newburgh well. Let s lend him our wholehearted support in what is a crucially important job for the Club FORBES BRUCE The quiet man of Newburgh, and no stranger to members, Forbes Bruce, has been the backbone of course management at Newburgh for more than 20 years. No one has worked harder for the Club than Forbes and we are truly indebted to him. Time and time again he has put the Club before personal interests. You may not know that Forbes had been at Murcar Golf Club for 17 years prior to coming to Newburgh. Their loss was our gain! Dale and Forbes work together as an ideal team and we are very fortunate to have their joint services.

4 P a g e 4 VOLUNTEERS You are more than familiar with our plea for volunteers to help with regular raking of bunkers, moving tee markers, clearing dew off the greens and other similar duties. THIS REQUEST REMAINS IN PLACE. However, we recently publicised a specific request for volunteers to help repair and control the damage that rabbits regularly inflict on our golf course. A turfing remedy was at hand. All we needed was some help to do the turfing. TWENTY VOLUNTEERS turned up all eager and ready to go. WELL DONE AND THANKS YOU ALL!!! The work was carried out with such efficiency Dale and Forbes had to return to base on more than one occasion to replenish the necessary materials for turfing. The wind got up and there was a slight pause as we waited for more earth and turf to arrive and if spirits threatened to flag a remedy was at hand. Club Manager, Shona Reid turned up Meals on Wheels with 20 bacon rolls, coffee, tea and biscuits to revive any flagging spirits. Not only that entertainment was provided as the drinking cups decided to fly off in the wind. Fortunately, golfers experienced in searching for lost balls were on hand to retrieve the errant cups! The morning work ended with the

5 P a g e 5 front nine holes all taken care of. AGAIN, WELL DONE AND THANKS TO ALL VOLUNTEERS. Keep up the good work. There will be more opportunities to help A YEAR TO REMEMBER Not an April Fool either. There are moves afoot by the R&A and the USGA to alter the rules of Golf and MAKE THEM EASIER TO UNDERSTAND AND APPLY. The current proposals are not due to come into effect until 1st January So no need to panic! While the Rules are revised every four years, this is the first fundamental review since 1984, and was established to ensure the Rules fit the needs of today s game and the way it is played around the world. HOWEVER, THIS COMES WITH THE ASSURANCE THE PROPOSERS HAVE BEEN CAREFUL NOT TO CHANGE THE GAME S LONGSTANDING PRINCIPLES. There are too many proposals to list here but some of the more interesting ones include: Elimination or reduction of ball moved penalties: There will be no penalty for accidentally moving a ball on the putting green or in searching for a ball; and a player is not responsible for causing a ball to move unless it is virtually certain that he or she did so. Relaxed putting green rules: There will be no penalty if a ball played from the putting green hits an unattended flagstick in the hole; players may putt without having the flagstick attended or removed. Players may repair spike marks and other damage made by shoes, animal damage and other damage on the putting green and there is no penalty for merely touching the line of putt. Relaxed rules for penalty areas (currently called water hazards ): Red and yellow-marked penalty areas may cover areas of desert, jungle, lava

6 P a g e 6 rock, etc., in addition to areas of water; expanded use of red penalty areas where lateral relief is allowed; and there will be no penalty for moving loose impediments or touching the ground or water in a penalty area. Relaxed bunker rules: There will be no penalty for moving loose impediments in a bunker or for generally touching the sand with a hand or club. A limited set of restrictions (such as not grounding the club right next to the ball) is kept to preserve the challenge of playing from the sand; however, an extra relief option is added for an unplayable ball in a bunker, allowing the ball to be played from outside the bunker with a two-stroke penalty. Pace-of-play support: Reduced time for searching for a lost ball (from five minutes to three); affirmative encouragement of ready golf in stroke play; recommending that players take no more than 40 seconds to play a stroke and other changes intended to help with pace of play. Simplified way of taking relief: A new procedure for taking relief by dropping a ball in and playing it from a specific relief area; relaxed procedures for dropping a ball, allowing the ball to be dropped from just above the ground or any growing thing or other object on the ground. Elimination or reduction of ball moved penalties: There will be no penalty for accidentally moving a ball on the putting green or in searching for a ball; and a player is not responsible for causing a ball to move unless it is virtually certain that he or she did so. THE IDEA IS TO ALLOW GOLFERS TO JOIN IN ON THE CONSULTATIVE PROCESS AND EXPRESS THEIR VIEWS OVER THE NEXT NUMBER OF MONTHS. SO GO TO IT. HAVE YOUR SAY! o0o

7 P a g e 7 Support your Club by shopping here! You will be familiar with our request to support the club by shopping in the Golf Shop. But there is more to running the shop than selling goods. In fact, the Shop is one of the key ways we run the Golf Club!!! Staffing the shop is an ongoing requirement. We need friendly faces to welcome our members and visitors and to deal with tee booking requests. The ideal is to have a rota of volunteers so that the burden can be shared out in a reasonable manner. If you can spare a few hours on a weekly or other basis let our Club Manager know. Training will be given and you can operate on a buddy system to begin with. So do let us know if you can help.

8 P a g e 8 THE ROCK FOUNDATION ACCOUNT SOME VERY GOOD NEWS. The Clubhouse Loan which stood at 90,000 just a few years ago has been cleared! Yes, THE ROCK FOUNDATION ACCOUNT can now be closed!!! A special thanks to all of you who have made this possible by making donations over and above your normal Club fees. This appeal was started under the Captaincy of Jeff Winslade and we are grateful to him for supporting this and all the other hard work he put into the running of the Club. In fact, every member has supported this effort as each year has seen 10,000 from Club funds going towards the repayment. So thank you one and all. Our Clubhouse is now a very welcome financial asset and that can only be good for our future development o0o BUSY BEE S CATERING (Newburgh Golf Club) SUMMER OPENING HOURS Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner Menus including Kids Menu (Up to age of 12)

9 P a g e 9 SERVED - Monday-Friday 10.30am 3.00pm and Friday 5.30pm pm Saturday & Sunday 10.30am 8.00pm NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW EVERY SUNDAY High Tea 4pm - 8pm Selection of Main courses & a big selection of Scones, Pancakes & Cakes per person AND MORE 2 Person and more eating - FULL HIGH TEA MENU 20% OFF Busy Bees Cater for all occasions Functions, Party, Barbeques, Weddings ASK MARTIN OUR CHEF FOR DETAILS. Telephone (Option 4) OLD RAKES LEGACY THANK YOU DAVE & CO Dave Philip has been an inspiring leader over these past years in ensuring that the immediate environs of the Club House are kept in a tidy and attractive order. For example, a lot of work went into the

10 P a g e 10 establishment of the rockery and it is good to see that it is now showing results in the form of attractive heathers. Well done to Dave and all his helpers. Dave intends to ease back from tasks such as grass cutting and hopes our new Greens Staff will take over some of the work. But thank you Dave for all that you have accomplished on behalf of the Club o0o GOLF Fees for Junior Golf have been significantly reduced. This is to help to encourage new members - the future of our Club! We also need someone to bring on the youth with coaching. It s often a parent of a talented youth that can become involved. IS THAT YOU??? LAST BUT NOT LEAST THE RETURN OF THE PRODIGALS (PORTUGALS!) VILAMOURA 2017 The 16 worthies (George Annand, Eric Barclay, Gordon Chalmers, Mike Collie, Gordon Coull, Norman Cox, Ian Cromarty, Don Hawthorn, Michael Herbertson, Bobby McClymont, Bob Paterson, Dave Philip, Peter Scott, Ron Souter, John Stewart, and Bruce Stronach) that set out for Portugal on the 23 rd April are now back home safe and sound.

11 P a g e 11 The first contingent of Newburgh Seniors to Vilamoura in modern times for some foreign golf experience was in 2012 when six members lodged at the Vila Gale Marina hotel whilst tackling a selection of Oceanico courses. In 2017 the party numbered 16, but was completed after withdrawals because of health problems and work commitments by the inclusion of guest colleagues from Fraserburgh, Hazlehead, Newmachar and Montrose. Six cars departed from the north east on 22 March for a night in the Holiday Inn at Glasgow Airport before an early morning flight to Faro in the Algarve next day. Stops were planned along the way at Stirling Services and for dinner at Sarti s in Glasgow. One car, driven by the excursions Competition Secretary George Annand missed the turn-off for Stirling perhaps, as reported, because George may have been pre-occupied talking, but there is no truth in the story that it continued for that reason to Carlisle before finding Glasgow! The first day s golf took the group to a good weather start at the Millennium course where a first tee photo-call preceded some

12 P a g e 12 adventurous tee shots on a relatively kind starting hole. As in past years, Stableford scores were low on the first day as players tried to come to terms with longer, slower fairways and faster greens. Poorer weather on day 2 at Vila Sol, with heavy rain delaying the start and heavy rain showers during the first nine, made it a day of waterproofs and further low scores. Quinta do Lago South was the venue for day 3 and it started well before a thunderstorm stopped played for all at the turn or just after. On the following day planned as a golf-free rest day 8 of our group returned to the same course on a sunny afternoon to complete the second nine, with much improved scores. Good weather was enjoyed on each of the fourth and fifth days at Quinta do Lago North and Laranjal, where again scores continued to improve for most. Sandwiches fries and beers were enjoyed in a long post-match lunch on the terrace bar of Laranjal the orange grove course of Quinta do Lago. During the lunch a presentation was made in thanks to George Annand for his sterling efforts in organising competitions on each day and in reporting at some length at predinner meetings in the Presidential Suite the apartment in the Gale Marina occupied by Peter Scott. ROOM WITH A VIEW (courtesy of John Stewart) for debriefing - match results!!!

13 P a g e 13 It was fitting that Peter was overall winner in the individual Stableford aggregate competition over 5 days. Dave Philip with a 100% win record was the Stableford Fourball winner. Competition Secretary Annand presented both with a Kowloon Trophy a small replica of the Champions League Cup. Other, low achieving players received a Bounty Bar, as George maintained that they were bound to improve. He was wrong, of course! However, in the excursion we were all winners, enjoying good company, varied golf on some excellent courses, fine hotel accommodation and a variety of refreshments. NOW, TO PLAN FOR 2018

14 P a g e o0o FRIDAY 7 TH APRIL AT 7.15PM If you have an article for the May Newsletter please send to donhawthorn@btinternet.com by Wednesday 26 th day April 2017