Shoretalk: Friday 3rd November 2017 Members Corner: Introducing a Fun New Twilight Competition: We are delighted to announce that we will be introducing a new golf competition/concept to NSGC, to make use of our lovely, light Summer evenings. Kindly and proudly sponsored by ILG (Insurance and Lending Group), the new format/concept is called 2 for 9 Golf and we will be running the events on Monday 20 th, Monday 27 th November and Monday 11 th December 2017. If the event proves popular with members, we will be introducing regular dates throughout the 2018 Summer months. Here are the details of the competition: Tee booking for the first event on Monday 20 th November 2017 (Shotgun start at 4.00pm) is now open. To book please telephone Richard (Golf Operations Manager) or e mail him: richard@nsgc.co.nz and he will be delighted to add you to the field. PS: Be quick tee options are limited!
Christmas Twilight: It may seem ages away, but Christmas is really only just around the corner! We re already planning the festivities here at NSGC and a traditional part of the club s celebrations is the famous NSGC Christmas Twilight. This year to be held on Tuesday 12 th December, with a fantastic Christmas prize table. Very reasonable entry fees of $6.00 for members and $25.00 for visitors so why not invite some of your friends along to join in the fun. The tee booking for the event is now open via Dot Golf. Vicky Chen: Winner of the North Shore Combined Championship (Silver Division) on Monday, which was this year held at Waitemata GC. Well done Vicky! What a fantastic achievement. Men s Wednesday Eclectic: Just a reminder that the last day of this season s Men s Wednesday Eclectic is on Wednesday 15 th November 2017. The annual Eclectic Lunch will be held on Friday 24 th November 2017 (details in your programme book) and the Eclectic organisers are now taking names/money for the lunch. Cost is $25.00 per head and the fun begins at 11.00am. The organisers need to know final numbers by no later than Wednesday 22 nd November 2017. North Harbour Master s Team: Peter Reid (our very own NSGC member) is the Manager/Selector for North Harbour Golf s Master s team for the 2017 Freyberg Masters, which commences this Monday 6 th November at Whitford Park GC in East Auckland. The team is as follows: 1 Stu Nicholls (Waitemata) 2 Mark Anderson (Muriwai) 3 Rob Simmonds (Muriwai) 4 Mark Dawson (Pupuke) 5 Wayne Flintham (Muriwai) Travelling Reserve Chad Meyer (Wainui) Manager Peter Reid Any NSGC support would be most appreciated by the team and there will most certainly be some
great golf on display. The standard of golf at this national master s level is extremely high, so if you have some spare time next week and want to watch some quality golf, you won t be disappointed. For more information on the tournament plus the schedule of play see the link below: http://www.golf.co.nz/tournaments/dashboard.aspx?competitionid=546056 Women s gardening days are starting again as the weather is starting to improve: The next two dates scheduled are Monday 6th November (10.00am 12.00pm) and Wednesday 15th November (1.00pm - 3.00pm). Even an hour of your time would be most helpful. Bring along your smile, gardening forks and gloves! Any queries, please contact Marie Dunn on 021 417419. Driving Range: Over the next few weeks/months we will occasionally be allowing members to use the grass area of the driving range to hit off the grass instead of the covered bays. After the grass has been used, it will then be closed to allow it time to recover. As you walk down to the driving range area you will see a large green sign which will indicate if you are to use the driving bays or the grass. Please follow those instructions carefully. If the grass sign is up, you must only use the grass between the roped areas. If the driving bay sign is up, you must only use the driving bays. We hope this is clear to all our members. From the Management: Improving your Golf Course: Recently our Greenkeepers have been approached by a couple of members simply wanting to thank them for the work they do on the Course. Having seen first-hand the work that Tony and his team do and the passion they all share for the course, I can tell you that those few words of appreciation mean a lot to them. I m not sure if everyone is aware of what the guys do, but just to give you a glimpse of a day in the life of an NSGC Greenkeeper. They start the week (very early) with a strict schedule that includes mowing fairways, roughs, collars and greens, preparing bunkers, setting pin placements, fertilising, weed control, tree and bush work, filling sand boxes, replacing buckets, cleaning the wash-down bays, taking care of the practice area/driving range, and that doesn t include all the smaller tasks we throw their way. Once they catch their breath they then move onto project work which includes cleaning and edging cart paths, irrigation and bunker maintenance, drainage, tree removal, the list is almost endless. To put this into perspective a member asked me if we could get the greenkeepers to rake the bunkers ahead of the afternoon field on a Wednesday. Fairly simple request however, we have 84 bunkers, if we just focus on the greenside ones we re talking around 60, say 5 mins each = 300 mins, that s 5hrs work for one person! Needless to say it can t be done.
Like so many golf clubs these days, we are developing a very strong partnership between Greenkeepers and volunteers and without the help and support of both the Dads Army and the Worker Bees, we would struggle to address the aesthetic needs of the club. I therefore cannot begin to tell you how grateful we are for the work these guys do. Just this week they manned weed-eaters and screwdrivers then attacked the grass that had grown up against the netting on the right of the driving range and the balls that had plugged in the ground. Their efforts (with still more to do) released somewhere between 1000 and 2000 range balls. The driving range after the Dad s Army had been let loose on it! So to our extended team of Greenkeepers, Dads Army and Worker Bees Thank You Generous donation: During the year the Korean members have engaged in their own mini-tournament. This proved to be a lot of fun and they all ended up in the bar for their prize giving and to celebrate the game. They have advised me that they have been able to generate $2000 from these small events and they would like to donate the funds to the club to be used for whatever purpose we see fit. I think this is a tremendous gesture and we will advise you in due course on how this money will be spent. Forthcoming Golf Events: Men: Men s Matchplay Championships begin tomorrow (Saturday 4 th November) and runs for two consecutive weekends.
Women: Jane Cowan Memorial Cup: Thursday 9 th November 2017. Shotgun start at 8.30am. The draw for this event has been completed and is available in the Women s Locker and on the NSGC website (under Club/Notice Board). We have a few spaces available, so if you would like to play, please let Golf Operations know as soon as possible and they will be happy to add you to the field. The event is 4BBB, so they will pair you with another player. Mixed: Mixed Open Canadian Foursomes 4 th and Final Round. Sunday 19 th November 2017. Shotgun start at 12.00pm. Entry sheet is available in the downstairs foyer. FINAL CALL! Melbourne Cup Day: Tuesday 7 th November 2017. Twilight Golf Shotgun start at 5.30pm. Watch the race first, play 9-holes and come back to the clubhouse to socialise afterwards. The tee sheet for this very popular event and the day is open and filling up very fast. Members $10.00 per person and visitors $20.00 per person (CASH ONLY) includes Scramble and TAB ticket. Registration will be upstairs in the members lounge. PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE IS NO PREMIUM REAL ESTATE TWILGHT ON THIS DATE. Rules Questions of the week: Sean & Bae Wan were having a mammoth tussle and their game was all square playing the 18 th. Both players played their 2 nd shots into the 18 th. Sean s ball came to rest 1m in front of Bae Wans ball and although not within club striking range Bae Wan asked Sean to mark his ball. Was Bae Wan within his rights to make this request? Answer: Yes A player can request a ball to be marked anywhere on the course if he deems it to be interfering with his shot. Even if it s purely it s visible presence that is distracting. Golf quote of the week: If you worry about making bogeys, it makes the game that much more difficult. You put more pressure on yourself without even noticing it. It makes a difference to take it easy when things aren t going right. - Sergio Garcia