Copy
View this email in your browser
View this email in your browser
It's Golf Month!

Neville's News

Golf Australia, the organization responsible for our game, is very aware of the falling number of people who are members of golf clubs everywhere in Australia, now runs a golf month, the focus of which is to get clubs to make a unified drive for new members. We are in this game all year round and so far this year have gained sixteen new members. Pleasingly half of these are females. Disappointingly none are juniors. This month we have a number of events aimed at drawing new members to our club. Everyone of us can be involved in this. You only need to encourage someone you know to get along to one of our events. Here are our offerings:
  • Golf lesson from golf professional Wade Hooper on Sunday October 7. Contact Nev McP on 0408883345 to organize a time.
  • Come and try golf session followed by a sausage sizzle
  • Twilight golf on Friday October 26 from 3 till 6pm.
The best way to make our club thrive is increase the number of members and the best recruiters of new members are you and me. If we encourage people we know to play our club will go from strength to strength.
Support for the Spring Classic
Our Spring Classic will be bigger and better than ever with Laser Electrical becoming even more involved than they were last year. The Classic is on Nevember 17 and 18 and is the ideal opportunity for you to invite that out of town friend for a great weekend. Now is the tome to get on the phone or to send a text to get the ball rolling. Do it!
While on the topic of big events next weekend (October 13 and 14) is the Country Pennant event. It involves teams from all eight country regions and gives our club publicity as a golf course that you could not buy. Unfortunately it restricts our playing times. There is still the opportunity to play at the end of the visitors field at about 9.15 on Saturday morning. Don’t shy away. It is great for the visitors to meet some real locals. Come along for a BBQ tea at the club Friday night and show these visitors some true Barmera hospitality.
 
The Role of Captain
Being Captain of a golf club is a quite demanding position. You are responsible for the playing of the game, which is of course the main purpose of the organization. The captain sets up the program of play, organizes sponsors for events, purchases trophies, communicates events and results to the members and the public, liaises between golfers and the committee and does numerous other things!
While the above list may serve to scare you I believe fulfilling the role of captain is a very rewarding experience and offers lots of opportunity for personal development and interaction with a wide range of community members. Some of our previous captains who are still around the place include Brian Frost, Eddy van Hensbergen, Gary Moate, Ash Kassulke, Don Marrett and Mick Cenko. All of these guys enjoyed the experience and lived to tell the tail.
Garry Eitrich is our current captain and has done a fine job even though his work commitments on weekends has made some things difficult for him. I believe his weekly communication of results to members is a best ever benchmark and his organization of trophies for big events have made them well worth winning. Unfortunately Garry feels his  work commitments will preclude him from undertaking a second two year term and so we are going to need to find a new captain. I urge anyone who has any interest in becoming captain to have a talk with me. I can guarantee you will receive all the help and support that you need.
 
 
 

Garry's Goss!

This month began with the monthly medal round-stroke, on the 1st of September, sponsored by Riverland Pools & Maintenance Trophy, thanks Phil. Neville McPherson scraped in with the win for A grade with an impressive net 66, just over Dennis Hodgson (67) and Dougie Johns (68), which means he also won the privilege cup. Unfortunately for him, he was away for half of the month and couldn’t collect with the privilege cup, unlike Luke in August who saw just about everybody.

Bob Mudge won the B grade, also with an impressive score of net 68. The next best for the B’s was Eddie van Hensbergen with net 72. Thanks again to Phil Selfe and Riverland Pools & Maintenance for their kind donation for the winners.

September the 8th was the Andrew Ivanovic Trophy and the 4th round of the Morrell Clan Shield. Russell Wickstein won the day, and the scotch, with 39 Stableford points on a count back from Bob Mudge who was continuing his good form from the previous week. Trevor Hansen was right behind them with 38 points then came Steve Morrell with 37. I suspect he might have been trying to win his own trophy, it must be that good. The 4th round of the Morrell Clan Shield was the final one for this year, so the Morrells will keep the winner a secret until the presentation on the closing day, 20th October.
Thanks Andrew Ivanovic and the Morrells for their support to the club.

Saturday the 15th September was a bit light on for players (12) as it was the Berri Open weekend. Out of those who played, Joffa won the day, on a count back, with 36 points over Twisty Martin and Dave Babbage. Nothing overly exciting to report on this day, not even a birdie. Due to the Berri Open being on, we only had a club prize, Barmera $, up for grabs. Well done Joffa.

Between this last Saturday and the next, on Wednesday, I have to mention that the $1000 for the hole in one went to Gary Denton for his hole in one on the 6th. Apparently, what I heard was, the ball ran up the inside edge of one of the bunkers, popped up onto the green and went in the hole. Very lucky and well done Gary.

Saturday the 22nd of September was the Kingston Estate Trophy day-Stableford. Ken Moore featured with 41 points, narrowly beating Dave Babbage (40). Then came Kevin Magain (37) and Larry Fragomeni (37). They all had a share of some bottles of wine, thanks again to Kingston Estates Winery.

On Saturday, the 29th September, because of another big event elsewhere, the AFL grand final, we didn’t have a sponsor. So we played for a Captains mystery prize,( beer and Barmera dollars), as I thought the number of players might be a bit down. However, around 9 o’clock to about 10, there was a hive of activity which saw 28 players tee off in this time and everybody was in and off by 2:30 pm to watch the footy. Despite two wipe outs, one of which was on the 18th, Paul Jericho played a stellar 16 other holes to finish with 41 points, closely followed By David Agg (40), who also messed up the 18th for only one point. Twisty Martin finished with 39 and Dennis Hodgson with 38.

Finally, on Sunday the 30th September was the mixed Foursomes championship. Maureen Costello and Mick Cenko won the day with 140 off the stick, narrowly beating Joy Mules and Kevin ‘Twisty‘ Martin as runner up with 141. Brian Finn and Sharon Thomas had a net 108.25 to win the handicap prize. They’ll receive their prizes and recognition on the closing day, which, by the way, is on the 20th October and is also the Trevor Foot Memorial day.

Later this coming month is also the beginning of the Renmark Tyre Power Friday 9 hole comp. Apart from the odd regular front and back nine, there will be other variations of the nine holes, i.e.; teeing off from the ladies, cross country, etc. Dougie Johns has put in a bit of an effort in planning this so if you’re at a bit of a loose end on a Friday arvo, play 9 then come in the clubhouse for happy hour. More on this to come later.

The men’s foursomes championship is coming up on the Sunday the 7th, 27 hole, so get your names in. This will be followed by professional coaching school afterwards. A professional coach is coming over from Mildura for the afternoon for those that may need a little guidance in their golf or if you know anyone that may be interested in giving golf a go, then bring them along.

Legend of the month goes to Gary Denton. Not only for his hole in one, but he featured 5 times in the wins and ball run downs this month, Well done again. Thanks to Chris Minerds and Riverland Skips for the monthly $20 voucher for each Legend of the Month. It’s much appreciated.

The hole in one prize has started again and is now up to $46.

That’s it for now,
Cheers
Gaz

Meredith's Message

This month some of our lady members attended open days at both Renmark and Loxton. The monthly medal winner was Joy Mules.

Our kindergarten girls are still playing well with gaining around 17 or 18 points for their rounds. There has been a bit of coaching from Wendy, Brian Featherston and Brian Finn. These girls are really keen. 
Meredith won the Berri open this year.

Thanks once again ladies for your help with catering.

Thank you and good golfing,
Lady Captain

15 Golf Laws

LAW 7: Every par-three hole in the world has a secret desire to humiliate golfers. The shorter the hole, the greater its desire.

LAW 8: Golf carts always run out of juice at the farthest point from the clubhouse.

LAW 9: A golfer hitting into your group will always be bigger than anyone in your group. Likewise, a group you accidentally hit into will consist of a football player, a professional wrestler, a convicted murderer and a tax agent — or some similar combination.

The next three will be in the next edition.

Joke of the month

Our joke this week comes from Member Cornwell.

A young man, who was also an avid golfer, found himself with a few hours to spare one afternoon. He figured that if he hurried and played very fast, he could get in 9 holes before he had to head home. Just as he was about to tee off, an old gentleman shuffled onto the tee and asked if he could accompany the young man as he was golfing alone. Not being able to say no, he allowed the old man to join him.
 
To his surprise, the old man played fairly quickly. He didn't hit the ball far, but plodded along consistently and didn't waste much time. Finally, they reached the 9th fairway and the young man found himself with a tough shot. There was a large pine tree right in front of his ball and directly between his ball and the green. After several minutes of debating how to hit the shot, the old man finally said, "You know, when I was your age, I'd hit the ball right over that tree."
 
With that challenge placed before him, the youngster swung hard, hit the ball up, right smack into the top of the tree trunk and it thudded back on the ground not a foot from where it had originally laid.
 
The old man offered one more comment, "Of course, when I was your age, that pine tree was only 3 feet tall."

Hitting perfect irons shots that you don't even know you have hit!

Rod Green a staunch country member

Rod Green loves Barmera. He grew up a few hundred metres from the golf course and with his parents Joan and Jim Green became a member in 1965. He played golf from an early age. He showed great promise and won the Barmera Junior Championship in 1970 and backed that up with the Riverland Junior Championship in 1972. He stayed a full member until the early 80's but left Barmera to work in Adelaide in 1976. He kept returning for some years to play pennants. 

Rod was a member of a winning A grade pennant team that included the likes of Richard Swinstead, Brian Frost, Ian Warwick, Keith Germein and Ivan Paull.

Rod worked for the Lands Department here in the Riverland and transferred to what became the Department of Environment and Heritage. He worked there for 43 years exactly, retiring a couple of years ago.

Rod played off in an A Grade Championship but was beaten by Richard Swinstead on the 33rd hole. Not a bad effort against a star like Richard.

His lowest handicap was 7 and best scores ever were two over par at Barmera, Loxton and at the Patawalonga Golf Course. Unfortunately Rod has not had a hole in one, YET!

Rod continues to play, bringing a coup,e of groups up here each year and is a member of Barmera as a country member, Islington Workers Golf Club and the Lower Murray and Hills Veterans.

Rod recalls the day he was playing pennant on the 13th green and smoked one down the middle, only to see a crow swoop in and take the ball over the fence and drop it in the salt bush. Lucky he had an honest opponent who said he saw it happen, so he played it again with no penalty.

Rod has been a wonderful advocate for our club for over 50 years. 
 
That's all folks!
Copyright © 2018 Barmera Golf Club, All rights reserved.


Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp
Copyright © 2018 Barmera Golf Club, All rights reserved.


Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp