Firstly some important news relating to the 2019 Annual General Meeting. Due to circumstances beyond the control of Club management, and the Club auditors the Annual General Meeting scheduled for Sunday December 15 has been pushed back to January 19, commencing at 11am. Nominations for the various board of directors positions will still close this Sunday at 6pm as originally planned. The Club apologises for any inconvenience this change may cause, however it was unavoidable.
Notice is also given, that from Tuesday December 3, mats will be provided to all players for use around the course, exception in all penalty areas, both competition and social golfers and their use will be compulsory. The mats are to be used on both the fairways and in the rough. Around the greens their use will be optional if you are using a putter to approach the green, if you are using a wedge, the mat must be used. This playing condition obviously will not be to every one’s liking, however the idea is to not only to preserve what is left of the course, but will also protect your golf equipment. The mats can be obtained from the Pro-shop. Any concerns, refer to our Club captain, David Morgan, or Mark Harvison. This playing condition will remain in force until the course conditions improve to a point that the use of the mats are no longer required.
Last Saturday, in hot and humid conditions, 80 players hit off in the Grafton Golf Club sponsored 18 hole Stableford with the scoring a fair indication of the prevailing course conditions. Best of the 80 players was Paul Gadd (23) who completed his round with a score of 40 points which gave him the overall win. The A Graders obviously found the conditions a little more than difficult with the best of that group being Ian Langley (9) with 34, next on 33 points on a countback was John Tracey (7). The B Grade players were a little better with a c/b required to determine the winners with both Scott Bishop (15) and Stephen Hancock (10) both recording 39 points and that was the order they finished in. Len Jones (18) is getting more than used to featuring in the results, again making a name for himself on Saturday by taking out C Grade with 39 points. Golflink has rewarded Len with the loss of three shots to his handicap, which may slow him down a little in the future. Runner-up to Len was Neville Henwood (16) with 38. Every ones favourite D Grader, Leo Jordan (27) cleaned up that grade with a well put together 36 from Tony Miller (25) on 34 on a c/b. The Pro pin was taken out by Neville Gilbert. Seventeen players finished with 33 points from which only three players were awarded with a pro ball, together with those players on 34 or better.
Next Saturday, Cromack Transport will be providing the trophies for the Stableford event which will also serve as round one of the eight round Bendigo Bank Summer Consistency trophy. That event will be followed up on Sunday with the final mixed event for the year with prizes provided by the Golf Club. Post entries will be accepted for both the Saturday and Sunday competitions.
Finally those players who are eligible the next and final event for the T.G.I.F. group is scheduled for Friday December 13. Being your Christmas event your membership dues for next year will be due. For further details contact the T.G.I.F. coordinator, Neil Hayward.
Ray Hopwood