The Cocky's Cry The Cocky's Cry - Gisborne Golf Club

The Gisborne Golf ClubNewsletterThe Cocky’s CryIssue 6. February 2008Gisborne Golf Club Inc.Daly Street Gisborne, 3437Phone 03 5428 2493Emailgisbornegc@bigpond.com.auwww.gisbornegolf.com.au1Welcome again to all members, enjoy this current issueInside you will find a report from the President, the Promotions sub-committee, some rule changes from theMatch committee and a concise report from the Greens committee on our course.The main topics at this time of year are the final report on activities and finances for 2007 and the up-comingCommittee elections. Please take the time to scrutinize the candidates and their policies and exercise yourfranchise at the ballot box, remember its your Club and your future.Also there is a great report from Ron Albany on the trip/tour to Gisborne, New Zealand and the frivolities andgolf that ensued.We want this publication to be a service to you so please contribute.The EditorHouse and Social News.The re-vamped and more user friendly Chicken run on Fridayevenings is a success, the fields are up to about 40 players eachcompetition and the barbecue arrangements are attracting a lotof new players who obviously are enjoying the game and thecompany. Join in!!These evenings will run until the end of daylight saving.The Social committee is planning a 50s /60s Tribute night formid April, keep this note in your diary.Mitre 10 and the Paterson boys,Graham, Wayne, Steve and of course dad Rob Paterson havefor years been wonderful sponsors of our Club, as well as otherGisborne community sporting activities such as the Footballclub and the Bowls club and once again we want toacknowledge their support for our Club, when the barbecue forthe Friday night activities was shown to be too small for thegrowing number of cordon bleau sausage chefs they quicklycame to the rescue with a barbecue that is very suitable andmuch appreciated. Thank you from all our Members.Inside.House and Social 1Presidents message 2Finance reportPromotions 3Match Day news 3Rules 6..Special points of interest:Page 5, 6 and 7, N.Z. report by RonAlbanyPage 1 and 2, be aware of what isplanned within the Club socially andwhat is being considered for thecoursePage 8, meet the Club Sponsors for2007

The Gisborne Golf Club Newsletter2Report to Members from Club President, Mr. Rob RiordanAnother Christmas has come and gone, and we are well into 2008 so I thought ittimely to give you a brief summary of our Club's position.2007 was an extremely good year for our club. Green fee income has improved markedly as aresult of not just regaining a full playing course, but that our course is in such fantastic condition.Marketing initiatives set up by our Promotions sub-committee during 2007 have resulted in asubstantial increase in membership and we are still seeing steady growth in this area eachmonth. We would however like to see more growth in the five day membership category.Income and enjoyment from our special events such as the Pro-Am, Victorian Corporate GolfChampionship, Gisborne Open, and the Social Club Championship continues to grow. Thisoutside income is absolutely vital to the future growth, maintenance, and improvements to ourclub for all members to enjoy. Without this income we would not be able to maintain our modestannual fees. Di and Gareth plus others put a lot of time into these events and it is nice to seesuch great results.Both the House and Social sub-committee and Match sub-committee have introduced newevents during 2007 that show great promise, such as the new Friday 9 hole competition, andseveral high quality social nights. These new events are designed to make your membership andgolf more fun as well as contribute financially to our club. Give them a try.We have ended calendar year 2007 in great financial shape, with a course that is the envy ofmany other clubs, and with plans to begin upgrades to the club-house facilities in the future.Happy 20082008 Gisborne Pro-Am. To be held Wednesday 5 th March.The Gisborne Pro-Am for 2008 will be known as the 2008 AIG Australia Pro-AmAIG Australia is now the Naming Rights Sponsor and will also be the Major Sponsor for the GisborneGolf Club for 2008. We welcome their support and look forward to a mutually beneficial and progressiveyear. AIG Australia is a member of the world’s largest commercial insurance group, (AmericanInsurance Gisborne Group) Golf Club and Newsletter is a market leader in the Australian insurance industry. Their support will help in thefurther success of our annual major event. Jarrod Lyle will compete in Gisborne the afternoon Golf field. Club Newsletter Spectators aremore Match than Day welcome News to come along and watch the Pro’s in action.All the regular weekly results are available on the Club website or on the results board in the Clubhouse so we will.Further information regarding the Pro Am can be obtained from the office.

Promotions Sub-Committee, report to Members.3History RepeatsAs we complete our 60th year on the Gisbome Golf Club new course, one really doesunderstand the phrae "history repeats itself. I read with great interest the history of theGisbome Golf Club that was authored by Ray Keane. I would encourage all members thathave not purchased a copy of this book (for a modest $8) to do so. In reading the historya new member really does get to appreciate the efforts that our past members and Office'Bearers have contributed to the club. Outstanding efforts are remembered through thevarious perpetual trophies and honour boards that adorn our clubhouse walls MurrayHeard, Bert Storey, Bill Brady and W.E.D Robinson to name a few. Whilst these nameswill be remembered for ever in our club, it was the unmentioned names that Ray Keanegave greatest praise to on our 60th Anniversary July 7th, 2007. When helping to open theGala Day and the launch his book. Ray said that none of it would have been possiblewithout the thousands of volunteer hours put in by many of the members. This is still truetoday. The success of the Gisbome Golf Club to date has been brought about by peoplegiving to^their capacity, be that time and effort, donations for raffles, or financial support.In the 61s year we will be going to our members with an exciting refurbishmentprogramme of the clubhouse. As was explained at our information meeting and SpecialGeneral Meeting, this will only be possible if Fees in Advance are taken up by asignificant number of our members. This and similar programmes have been successfullydone in the past, and is why we have the club we have today. Whilst there will be someminor incentives packaged for those Ordinary or Corporate members electing to take upthe offer, the main benefit will be to the club and give it the ability to move to anotherimportant era in its history. Please give our Fees in Advance programme some seriousthought as it will be soon be upon us when our fees are due in a few months.Paul Treloar - PromotionsMatch News.The Match news is very brief this edition due to the travel documentary on pages 5-6-7 and the spacerequired to publish Rons report, I might say that the report was condensed from 10 pages to 3!Jarrod Lyle has confirmed his attendance at the AIG Australia Pro-Am and we can look forward to thisprevious winner and congenial playing partner being with us again. Good news.The ladies always keep me informed of their events and two of the recent prominent results were SueHeffernans excellent win at the Medway Ladies Open tournament making it two in a row after her win atGisborne.Linda Wadden has been awarded recognition as the most improved player in 2007, Linda has reduced herhandicap from 45 to 23 which is a terrific effort and has probably required a lot of practice, well done..Will get back to the usual format when the new year settles down.Member of the Month has been temporarily dropped to make way for the report from N Z and otherinformation in this edition but I can assure you that it will return next issue.

4Greens Committee reportMembers may have noticed that some greens have become patchy over the past two years . This is because theBent grass, which is the darker of the grasses on the greens is the grass that was originally sown and is nowbecoming more prominent, for a number and variety of reasons.The higher salt content in the re-cycled water, some disease pressure, and seed head control due to chemical useand dusting is working against the Poa grass (or winter grass) which is the lighter colored grass on the greens.This is a positive and the Poa is retreating against the Bent grass which is a better greens cover. Also with theLegend couch on the fairways and the elimination of Poa in those areas there is less Poa seed being transferred tothe greens surface. So when you see the different colored grasses on the greens it is a sign of improvement on theputting surfaces.The new hole to replace the existing 12 th is progressing well, the fairway and surrounds to this hole have had avery successful strike. In the coming weeks the green will be completed and sown with a suitable Bent grass, thiswill be a variety that suits our climate and growing conditions.Recently the amount of unrepaired pitch marks in the greens have become more obvious and prominent. Whenpitch marks are repaired while they are fresh the recovery time is much quicker and better.Therefore we ask all members (and their guests where appropriate) to repair not only their own pitch marks butalso any others that may be noticed during their round. It may well be you who benefits in coming rounds from aproperly repaired mark in previous rounds. Check for and repair your own pitch marks and remind your playingpartners.Bernie Morrison, Greens ChairmanRules.There have been various rule changes that have come into effect from January 21 st 2008, a summary ofwhich is available at the beginning of your R & A “ Rules of Golf “. These books are on the table nearthe Bar and if there are none at that place then please ask the office staff or someone from the MatchCommittee.Major rule changes are:Rule 12-2 Identifying ball- Amended to allow a player to lift his ball for identification in a hazard.Remember you are required to advise your marker or fellow competitor of your intention andyou must mark your ball prior to identifying it. Penalty-1 stroke.Rule 15-3 Wrong Ball-amended to remove the penalty the exception from penalty for playing a wrongball in a hazard.The change means you must identify a ball at all times prior to playing it.Penalty- Loss of hole in match play, 2 stroke penalty in stroke play.Rule 19-2 Ball in motion deflected or stopped by player, partner, caddie or equipment, amendedto reduce the penalty in both match play and stroke play to 1 stroke.A summary of the Principal Changes are to be found on pages 6 to 10 of the Rules book.There is a quick guide to the Rules of Golf on pages 19 to 25, Gisborne these can be Golf read Club for a Newsletter. quickintroduction and interpretation of the Rules of GolfChris Gaunt, Member and Course Record holder.Percy Schlossberger, Match Committee

5NZ TRIP, reporter Ron AlbanyThe very first annual Gisborne vs. Gisborne Trans-Tasman Challenge took place at Poverty BayGolf Club in Gisborne NZ on the 29 th and 30 th November.Twenty three players ventured across the Tasman to do battle with our fierce tongue lashingopponents (actually they were quite placid), who unfortunately have still not gotten over theunder arm incident decades ago.The first round was the championship round and was an aggregate Stableford event.Captain Roy Hodges gathered a few of the players together on the Wednesday to play nineholes and reconnoitre the battle ground. Leading by example he eagled the par 5 first holewhich automatically inspired everyone else to excellent scores. Buoyed by this exceptionalshow of talent he called us all together on the night before and after a few drinks gave anextraordinary motivational speech and assured us Victory if we hit the ball straight up thefairway and putted straight at the hole. Inspired by this speech and after a few more drinks weall went to bed ready for the big event the next day.After gathering at reception the coach took us to the golf club where we assembled for a photoshoot. As you can see it is very hard to get 22 players to look at the camera at the same timeand be sensible.The team from left to right were: Connie Albany, Ron Albany, Roy Hodges, Melissa Evans,Geoff Dillon, Judy Trimble, Andrew Lindberg, Allan Trimble, John Kennedy, MaureenKennedy, Marianne Stoettrup, Harold Shepherd, Rob Riordan, Pauline Morant, Bob Park, CraigEvans, Marie Park, Karen Dillon, Marlene, Hodges, Adele Merlin, Ken Baddeley, and PaulTreloar. Not pictured was Mike Leahy from Harvey World Travel who was our tour organiserand was taking the picture and Leigh Lindberg who was sick in bed.

6Our hosts prepared a bbq snack and organised free of charge carts and buggies for those whoneeded them. We were teamed up with locals and were sent off to do battle.Notwithstanding some excellent efforts from Connie Albany 44 points (who became the overallLadies winner), Marianne Stoettrup 39 points, Adele Merlin 35 points, Ken Baddeley 38 points,Rob Riordan 37 points and Geoff Dillon 37 points, we were unable to secure a win. Inretrospect we should have played the back nine on Wednesday as it proved to be considerablydifferent and we should have had an Australian on the Match Committee, say no more!We stayed in Rotorua for a couple of days, where everyone did what they pleased, some playedGolf, some ladies pampered themselves with a mud bath others were a bit more adventurousand took a helicopter ride over the lakes and volcanoes, but one of the real highlights was acultural visit to a traditional Maori Village, here we were treated to a show and enjoyed atraditional hangi dinner. Our group was honoured by the appointment of Harold Shepherd asour “Chief”Harold is third from the left, he was the tallest of the lot and had to bend down to be at the samelevel of the others so they could rub noses.Gisborne NZ has a population of over 30,000 people and is a very attractive fishing port, withlots of portside restaurants, these we frequented by us for breakfast and dinner on most days.

The girls: Adele, Melissa, Karen, Marie, Marlene, Connie, Maureen, Leigh7Not pictured: Pauline Morant, Marianne Stoettrup, Paul Treloar, Judy and Allan Trimble whoall extended their stay and visited some more of the Island.A special thank you must go to Rob Riordan for bringing the idea together and Mike Leahy formanaging all the travel arrangements.All in all we had a wonderful time together and we look forward to doing something similaragain in the future.Ron Albany.

Important Announcement to All Members8The Gisbome Golf Club has been successful in tendering for a Golf Tournament to be held at our club on thefollowing dates:Thursday 28th February, Friday 29th February and Saturday 1 st.March [3 days inclusive]The tournament is a National competition of the Croatian Social clubs and is known as AusCro. The organizingcommittee of AusCro was approached by and considered a number of Golf Clubs in Melbourne but in the endselected Gisbome.The reasons for our tendering for this event are;1. The event will attract a maximum number of 132 players [maximum determined by us] playing over the 3 days.2. We expect that the green fees and bar should generate in excess of $15,000 of net profit to the club.3. We further expect that the green fees and bar takings will be noticeably increased leading up to the tournamentas up to 80 players come from Melbourne and will be preparing for the event on our course.4. We hope to be able to promote our club for new membership and also expose it for other Corporate and socialevents which we may be able to attract as a result of this event.With this event and our other scheduled events in 2008 [Pro-Am, Corporate Challenge and Social GroupChampionship] we hope to generate in excess of $50,000 in net revenue in the ensuing year.We are however, totally focused on causing minimal possible disruption to our members during such events.To this end we have arranged that the AusCro group will have a shot gun start on all three days. They will tee offat 8.00 am.Our members will have the use of the course in the afternoons. We have arranged for the following membercompetitions;- Thursday 28th Feb -Shot Gun Start at 2.00 p.m.- Saturday 1st March- Shotgun Start at 2-00 pm ( maximum number 132 players.)Arrangements are being made at nearby Clubs for Members who can only play in the morning on this Saturday,please let Di or Gareth know ASAP if you wish to take up this option as spots are limited.Sunday 2nd March has been cleared for a full day member competition with 2 shotgun starts,one at 8-00 am and one at 1-00 pm.Once again we are very mindful of our responsibilities to you, the Members and it is with this in mind that we aredoing our best to generate revenue from outside while constantly improving our Club for our Members andkeeping our subs. at the modest level.Everything possible has been done to ensure our Members will have access to our course, and the shotgun startsshould ensure a great atmosphere in the clubhouse. We thank you for your understanding and look forward to aterrific weekend.

Gisborne Golf Club Newsletter9Club Sponsors 2008Gold:Horvat Financial Advisors – 9337 2233, Member Rudi HorvatGisborne Hardware Mitre 10 – 5428 2335, Member Graham & Steve PatersonHasselbo – A Gisborne Retreat – 5428 2084, Members Paul Treloar & MarianneSteottrupGisborne Stump Cutting – 5428 3202, Member Kevin KeatingSamsung Communications Centre Melbourne – 0417 617 817, Member Simon UttingAccurate Plumbing – 0419 523 050, Member Shaun RamsayMacedon Ranges Freight Services – 5428 2237, Member Michael MonaghanHole in One Plastering - 0410 663 266, Members Jamie Gordon and Dean RobbinsSilver:. Hyde’s Quality Dry Cleaners – 5428 2318, Member Matthew Hyde• Filters Service Victoria – 0409 239 607, Member Vaughn Cashmore• Aldridge Homes - 0417 566 418, Member Steve Giles• Splits 4 You (Split Systems) – 0419 671 825, Member David Baker• Dished and Flanged Ends – 9338 9533, Member Chris Isherwood• Blackwood Studios – 9687 2345, Member James Vlahogiannis• Sunbury Coaches – 9744 1177, Member Doug Nyman• McKibbin’s Transport – 5424 8412, Member Richard McKibbin• Total Business Technology – 0412 992 465, Member Ian Jones• RAMKAN Electrical Services – 0400 107 745, Member Jason Ramsay• CityWide Business Machines – 0419 894 763, Member Frank Music• BJ Morrison Construction – 0408 507 822, Member Bernie Morrison• Harris Maintenance and Consulting (Data & Cabling) – 0413 159 306,Member Dale Evans• O’Flynn Plastering – 9337 9948, Member Maurice O’Flynn1055 MT ALEXANDER ROADESSENDON 30309375 2677essendon@harveyworld.com.auwww.harveyworld.com.au