Mens Captain's Report

Welcome to the September newsletter. The days are getting longer giving our members more opportunity to play our great course. With the recent warm weather the course had dried out considerably but there are still some damaged areas caused by vehicular traffic.

The club is regularly updating its Covid requirements. It is important that all members and visitors read these updates on our website. Members will have noted that new ball retrievers have been purchased and installed for each hole.

The major course renovations are set down for Monday 26^th and Tuesday 27^th October. This will be completed after our Men's and Ladies Club Championship as well as the Men's Foresomes.

The Men's Club Championships are due to be held in October. The event will run over four consecutive Saturdays. The Ladies Club Championships are scheduled for the 6^th, 8^th,13^th and 15^th October. Please check Members book regarding eligibility to play.

The grades for each division have been set. To be eligible for any grade you must have a handicap between the range. A member's handicap on the first day of the championship is the same for the whole four rounds. A member's handicap is not their GA but the handicap based on course and slope with their GA. For example;a player with a GA of 12.4 may be in mens' B grade as the course for the championship will be the black course and their handicap will be over 13. Prizes for the Club Championships will be provided by the club and we will not be requiring a nomination fee for members.

I wish all players every success in the forthcoming championships. The mens match play in stoke and handicap is now at the semi final stages. Good luck to all players. Just a reminder that all matches in the handicap section must use the club match play index. There is a scorecard with this on it and the pro shop will print as required.

The Encourage Shield is progressing and some of our very junior members are getting their first representative experience.

Members will have noticed some major changes around the course

1 The rebuilding of the rear of the 9^th green

2 The removal of path from the 6^th fairway to the 14^th tee

3 The removal of some of "Ayres Rock"

4 The sanding of the 5^th and 17^th Greens

The removal of soil from Ayres rock is to be used for future work on the 6^th fairway/7^th tee. Plans are in place to beautify this area. There are also plans for a screen on the 7^th tee .

The installation of a protective fence on the 13^th tee is proceeding. To protect all players you must stand behind the screen when players are teeing off from the 12^th tee. Remember it is for your own protection.

The match Committee has given instruction to the Greens Committee to identify all gardens on the course. Basically all gardens will have a white stake with a green top. In the interim until this project is completed any area bounded by timber or a border is a garden. Any other areas until staked will form part of the general area of the course. It is hoped to have this project completed before the club championships. All bushes/shrubs behind the 2^nd green will have the stakes removed. The rule of golf will apply entitling players for relief if the bush/shrub is under two club lengths in height . Members should note that long handled putters are not to be used for this purpose.

I have had considerable discussions with members regarding the area on the 9^th fairway and the drop peg. I would remind members that the area bounded by the white pegs is a compulsory drop zone and not a garden or GUR. The nearest point of relief does not apply. Any person landing in this area is entitled for free relief to the drop zone. If a player lands in the penalty area then the normal rules of golf apply.

Members will have noted that the special grassed areas on the 15^th fairway and near the 17^th green now have a timber edge and are now defined as gardens. Members should note that the nearest point of relief is not the bunker as you are not permitted to drop in a penalty area.

Members are advised of the concern that carts are causing additional damage to the course. Members are reminded to stay on the designated paths, avoid wet areas and remain behind the blue line near greens. Where there is no blue line members are not to use their carts within 10 metres of the greens.

When on the course members are reminded of the following

All Social play is off the yellow markers. Members please do not practice off the plates or the blue, white or red teeing areas. When practicising please remember to take a bucket and fill your divots.

Please repair all divots on the greens
Please take a sand bucket
Please rake the bunkers and leave the rakes in the middle of the bunkers
Please keep up with the group in front
Please stick to the ready golf principles
Please do not drive carts in areas where they are prohibited. Please stay on the designated paths and outside the blue lines.

Graham Chee

Mens Captain

Ladies Captain's Report

2020 has been a challenging year from an organisational point of view, but as of now we've managed to complete a number of our programmed events.

The Stableford Brooch results are in together with the Singles Knockouts. It was a Captain & President's win in this event. Sheena Asken won 1^st Division & Liz Robinson won 2^nd Division. Congratulations to Sharon Anderson & Lesley Gregory who were the worthy runners up.

We are on track to complete the last 2 Medal rounds in September & the Shootout is progressing well, with the last round to be played at the end of this month & the final scheduled for Tuesday the 20^th of October prior to the AGM.

Grandmas Day was played on the 18^th of August & was a great success. We had 75 players and Helen Stuart won the Grandmas trophy and the Great Grandmas trophy was won by Linda Rogers.

Pro Shop Day was held on the 25^th of August and it threw up its usual challenges particularly for those playing off the black tees. Despite this, good scores were posted by the winners.

Fay Bailey - 1^st Division - 71 nett

Anne Burke - 2^st Division - 71 nett

Maria McGann - 3^rd Division - 71 nett

Our thanks to the Pro Shop for donation the division winner trophies.

Unfortunately during the event Lynn Puiatti had a bad fall on the 4^th hole & dislocated her elbow. We wish her a speedy recovery. Presentation after pro Shop Day afforded an opportunity to hand out some trophies and share some club news.

Our Club Championships are still on track for the 6^th, 8^th, 13^th & 15^th of October. Please be sure to nominate for this event.

Some of you may have noticed that our tee times have changed slightly on a Tuesday. We have been allocated 88 timeslots from 8am until 9.10 off both the 1^st & 10^th tees.

A reminder that as per the COP:

Lady Members must nominate in the specially allocated timeslots to be included in the Ladies Competition.

The annual CCWGA tournament which was scheduled for the 9^th & 10^th of November has unfortunately been cancelled, another Covid 19 casualty. In lieu of this & as a way of giving something back, the CCWGA would like each club to schedule a special event at their clubs during that week if possible. The CCWGA will donate a cash amount & a number of trophies to sponsor the day. Our committee will choose and confirm the date in the near future.

The Ladies Committee has been asked to encourage the use of the MiClub App which many any of you are already doing. Please remember to fill in the Birdie & Gobbler sheets & place them in the appropriate box so that we can record the eclectics for our Continuous Competitions.

Graham Chee and the match committee have been busy out on the course defining which areas are garden & which areas are defined as an integral part of the course. In future all gardens will be clearly marked by a white stake with a green top.

Course renovations are scheduled for the 26^th & 27^th of October as per the Programme book.

It is wonderful to see over 70 Ladies turning out on Tuesdays and over 50 on most Thursdays, I hope this trend continues as the weather warms up.

Sheena Asken
Ladies Captain

F-Troop Report

For the month of August 2020 we had mainly good weather with the exception of one washout day when the course was closed.

We have been averaging 12/13 volunteers every week which has been a great help.

Projects worked on this month were the all important rubbish and loose timber pick up around the course; tree maintenance, pathway edges at the 2nd tee; hedge maintenance including hedges at the 18th and 10th; firewood preparation for next year’s firewood supplies; removal of weed from the dams; garden weeding and tidying up; cleaning of the bush toilets; tidy up around the clubhouse and BBQ area; tidy up of pathways to the 1st and 10th tees including the wedding garden and practice nets; removal of seeding Aloe Vera plants at the 2nd & 3rd gardens; maintenance to F-Troop containers; trimming of the Lomandra Grasess.

We are always looking for more volunteers so if you have some spare time on Monday mornings to help out with our projects we would be happy to see you.The F-Troopers meet at the Green Keepers Shed at 7.00 am and work through until 10.00 am after which we have morning tea supplied.

Please contact either:

Peter Martin : 0437 325 207
Jan Martin: 0400 430 088

Superintendent's Report

August brought with it 210mm of rain. All the rain arrived in 3 days.

So far in September we have had none.

· August 2020............57mm Rainfall (Average 81mm)

· September 2019.......... 119mm Rainfall (Average 55mm)

The soil Temperature is 15 degrees.

The greens are currently getting cut at 3mm.

The growing season for us has started. We just recently verti-drained the greens with 8mm solid tines 100mm deep, to allow oxygen and water to enter the root zone. We also added calcium, Magnesium and organics while the greens were open. The greens have had their first application of growth retardant applied (Primo) to help with the green speed. A silicane product has also been applied to help with the green's health as well as green speed. The green's speed will start to decline as the weather warms up due to growth and the fact, we need to start to apply water to the greens daily to keep them alive. The 5^th, 17^th, back of the 9^th and the spare green were top-dressed.

A full renovation of the greens will be done after the club champs in November.

The tees have been renovated. All 18 tees received coring with a 12mm solid tine going 100mm deep. The tees then received calcium and fertiliser to try and get some early growth and colour. Monthly fertiliser applications will follow. The tee's also have been sprayed with a herbicide to kill broadleaf weeds as well as a herbicide to prevent crab grass from germinating in the summer.

The fairways and green's surrounds have also had an application of herbicide applied to kill broad leaf weeds.

David Nicholls
Course Superintendent

News From the Pro Shop

In accordance with current regulations, we have had to cancel our Open Amateur and Senior Open events. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Although this year's events have had to be tweaked, we are still faring well, and are lucky to still be open!

We appreciate all the golfers that have been utilizing the MiScore App. For those of you yet to try it, you simply download the app in the Google Play or App Store, login using the same details that you book in your golf, search Gosford Golf Club, and then you are ready to start scoring. When using it for a comp round, you will need to have at least 1 playing partner registered in the comp with you. You then select any of your playing partners and then you are able to start scoring for yourself. Make sure at the end of the round to only send through your score.

BARGAINS!!

Srixon Soft Feel boxes are $28 each or 2 for $50. Both Men's & Ladies golf balls are on sale.

Clothing racks out the front are all 33% off.

Ladies clothing is 40% off older stock only.

Ex Demo Sale

With the release of the new PING G425, that means all ex demo PING clubs are now on sale.

The lowest price you will find on quality PING clubs.

We also have the superseded Titleist demos for sale.

Grab a bargain while there's still stock left!

Golf Blog for Injury Prevention

Focus on Flexibility and Play Better Golf

By Russell Tuckerman, Physiotherapist

You may remember our last blog from the August newsletter where we gave you some information about warming up correctly and why you need to warm up to prevent injury and to just play better golf.

Have you ever sat slumped all day, jumped in your car driven to golf and tried to swing- it just feels terrible? This is because your ligaments around the small joints in your spine (the ones that move to allow you to swing) are a bit stuck and stiff. When the joints are "stuck" or "stiff" they don't move through their normal range and your movement is blocked, especially your ability to rotate. Over time this builds up ( as you know if you are over 50), you just don't move as well as you used to and you feel stiff. You just can't rotate your upper body chest area like you used to, so unfortunately you compensate with other parts of your body like your shoulders, hips and knees and your golf swing deteriorates.

Does this sound familiar??

A lot of ageing golfers put their reduced distance off the tee down to reduced strength.

Sure, we do become weaker as we age BUT the lack of thoracic rotation and flexibility means we can't generate the rotational forces we require due to lack of range. That is the turn of our shoulders against the turn of our hips which is needed to generate force. Having good thoracic rotation also relies on good core stability and balance. We find people who don't stabilise well around their lower back, tummy and hips tend to overuse their upper back muscles to help stability. I call this "chest gripping" and is a compensation strategy for poor core stability. Unfortunately, chest gripping stiffens your ability to rotate your upper back or thoracic spine as it limits your ability to rotate your back as it also "locks" your ribs.

Rib mobility is a very important factor with thoracic mobility, and we tend to lose rib mobility with poor posture and poor core stability. Remember how stiff you feel after sitting on a lounge for a Netflix show and how hard it is to get moving for your first few steps. A tip for stiff rib mobility is breathing, as breathing will stretch your rib joints and muscles and allows greater flexibility.

The other area of flexibility we need to consider are your hips. Tight hip flexors and hip rotators will prevent your ability to set up well and prevent the turn you need, to finish your shot on your front leg . Hip tightness also stops you achieving a good set up posture and limits your ability to squat down to your tee or ball. Unfortunately, if you can't squat well you will curve your back which makes your back stiff and can put stress on your lumbar discs.

So, what should I do to improve my flexibility?

Re watch the warmup video about Rotational Exercises and practice them.
https://youtu.be/QL4ZtOJuSVs
Use Deep Breathing to open your chest and ribs. It will also help you to relax and take tension out of your body.
Get advice on how to improve your core stability and posture (we will be covering this in later blogs)
Stretch your hips especially hip flexors and deep hip rotators (under your glutes)
Improve your balance especially your ability to shift from one leg to another and stand on one leg without over tensing your upper back.
https://youtu.be/07iUQGXQm5g

I hope these few tips can help you with your flexibility and improve your golf.

Let us know if you need more advice so we can organise an appointment and don't forget the $10 discount for Gosford Golf Club Members.

To make an appointment please ring us on 43 237499

See you on the golf course

Cheers

Russ Tuckerman
Principal Physio
East Gosford Physiotherapy

Members Newsletter

Mens Captain's Report

Ladies Captain's Report

F-Troop Report

Superintendent's Report

News From the Pro Shop

BARGAINS!!

Ex Demo Sale

We also have the superseded Titleist demos for sale.

Grab a bargain while there's still stock left!

Golf Blog for Injury Prevention

News from the Club House

Bistro

Members Newsletter

Mens Captain's Report

Ladies Captain's Report

F-Troop Report

Superintendent's Report

News From the Pro Shop

BARGAINS!!

Ex Demo Sale

We also have the superseded Titleist demos for sale. Grab a bargain while there's still stock left!

Golf Blog for Injury Prevention

News from the Club House

Bistro

We also have the superseded Titleist demos for sale.

Grab a bargain while there's still stock left!