Greetings all,

FIREWOOD GANG

It is with regret that our "Firewood Gang” will be closing down their operations, this has come about from a need to comply with Work Safe legislation and the risks involved in operating high risk machinery. Whitford Park Golf Club had a Work Safe incident involving a woodsplitter, which had some fairly onerous and expensive consequences for their Club. Our Firewood Gang and The Board felt that the risks of continuing our operation were too high and in this respect a mutual decision was made to close down. Our club has for many years profited from a group of volunteers ( some not even club members) who have diligently and selflessly, most Wednesday mornings, forgone their own day to day lives to raise funds for the club. Those funds have been substantial and have formed an integral part of machinery purchases and course projects. Some of the club members who have been involved with this crew are absolute club "legends" and for what they have contributed to our club, we cannot thank them enough - Noel Copestake & Don Waugh to name two who are no longer with us, our gratitude is immense and in the very near future the club will be recognize what the current crew have contributed by honoring them in an official capacity, Many thanks to you all.......... but all is not lost, as the current crew would like to continue the camaraderie they have formed, they will be turning their attention to general course maintenance under the guidance of our course superintendent and their input will be noticed by all our members with hedges pathways etc given a little TLC and enable our greens staff to concentrate on direct course work, many thanks to you all!!!!

12^th HOLE

We have reached an agreement that the bunker on the 12th will be re shaped matching the contour of the slope in front of the green, which will allow for a shallow face and make it more playable while remaining a course hazard (re 2003), the ground leading up to the bunker and surrounds will be converted into couch grass as per the rest of our converted fairways, also an asphalt cart path from the 12th to the 13th Tee will be constructed taking away the rutted grass path which was only re sodded a few months ago. This will be a Club Project and will incorporate what the "Lady Vets" have started with the toilet block. As this is our signature hole, we have deemed this work to be a club project and would like input from all playing sections, a sub committee comprising Bruce Partridge, Noeline Dynes, Lindy Bryant, John Laing, and Ian McCullum has been formed and will report back to the Players Committee, this group have been tasked with working with Chris Posa to achieve the re construction of this iconic hole that most members have asked for, so it shall be done and all things being equal should be operational by this Christmas with minimal disruption to your daily games. There will be time when the tee blocks may have to be moved and G.U.R implemented, but hopefully all members give us the space to make your round more enjoyable!

GENERAL BUSINESS

Due to a very good problem to have – (ie lots of new men members wanting to play on Saturday) - we will be implementing a 2 Tee Trial commencing Saturday 16 June to accommodate more players over the winter months and enable some of our members who can only play Saturdays, the opportunity to complete their rounds in reasonable light and enjoy the after match function and prize giving! This is only a trial and please give it a chance as we are trying to be pro active in making Saturday golf enjoyable for all players without lighting constraints. Your help in achieving a positive outcome is important so please let’s give it a chance as the alternative is a little more draconian. As with most plans that look good on paper, until we try we will not know, but to not try is a retrograde step.

The Local "preferred lie" and subsequent club length place on your own mown fairway will continue until the Spring growth kicks in, this will enable the oversowing etc time to establish and give us a strong base through the dry summer months.

Repair your pitch marks PLEASE!!!  and while wanting to use much stronger terminology in this paragraph, I will keep it seemly, while due to other factors our greens are not looking in the best of shape, it would be nice if you cannot find your own pitch mark I am positive you will find óne or two others to repair, think of others, and while tossing about negatives about our greens are your prerogative, the amount of rain and softness of them and with the amount of rounds played on a weekly basis player help is required, this is a basic club member requirement.

Practicing on course...... It is club policy that 2 x balls alone are permitted to be in play, especially playing into greens, (as per above) on at least 4 occasions lately I have witnessed club members hitting pitch shots with 6 to 8 balls into already overworked soft greens, please be a little more considerate and desist and abide by club policy!

Carts will from this point forward be restricted from driving around the sides and between the green and the bunker on the 12^th. This is a Health and Safety issue. Our Course Superintendent will rope off the "no go " areas, carts will be permitted to be driven around the base of the hole and parked at the back of the green (at least 2 meters from the green surrounds). Members are asked from there to walk forward, to the green. I am positive that within a short time the lies on the slopes of the hole will improve sufficiently enabling positive shots to be played, once again your assistance is necessary to improve general course conditions!

In closing, what we are attempting to achieve, through positive decisions, is general course improvements that will enable you all to enjoy your golfing experience. Being a golf club member, we need to take ownership of issues we can control, and self police slow play and general mistreatment of our course as we as are all in this together and moving forward is way better than going backwards! Slow play is something that we can all own and monitor. If we all adopt Ready Golf and move efficiently around the course, we will enjoy our experience and avoid the stress and conflict that is caused by slow play. If you have a good look at your scorecard, you will see that times are noted on the card. These times tell you when you should be playing each hole based on your start time. It is unrealistic to expect the proshop to employ a policeman, so please accept some responsibility for your own game.

Many thanks and hopefully you react in a positive manner to the implementation of a few basics. I am positive you will see the course improve, I would also like to thank the passionate employees that the club is fortunate to have, and the work that they do, as I can guarantee that they only want what is best for you as members and a happy positive place to work is so much better than the alternative, so lets us all move forward with a smile on our faces and a good swing in the bag!!

Hello from the Greenkeeping Team! 

Greens have been verti-drained, dimple seeded, sanded and fertilized. We had great strike with the seed after seven days and with the fertilizer kicking in on the 14^th May, we are starting to get some good density. The plan for the next month is to seed the 2^nd & 6^th again and go over any large areas that need additional seed. I will look to turf out the back of the 6^th green due to poor recovery and its location at the entrance way.

TEES:

We are looking to put the old sand buckets out on the par 3 tees as with the cooler months approaching we will be getting less recovery from divots and wear. Sand Divoting is a great example of a task that we could engage with the members to not only take the time to fill in their divot, but another divot on the tee. With the members engaging in this it would free up to six hours of labour per week where we could invest that time into other areas of the course ie moving/topping up sand in bunkers, plugging greens with Pure Distinction seed

FAIRWAYS:

BUNKERS:

ROUGH:

To avoid foot traffic damage to the turf, morning play may be delayed if there is a frost. The Course Status will be updated on the website notifying the time when the course is expected to re-open.

• The Members Directory - provides access to phone numbers & email address. You can also invite a player for a round and add them to your "friends"list.
• Event Calendar - an online calendar of all competitions and events for the year.
• Competition Results - find out who won the competition of the day - maybe you had to leave before prizegiving - you can still find out who was top of the pops.
• Members Documents - Our Constitution, Handbook, Financial Reports are all located here for you interest
• Handicapping - Your Handicap information is located here - no need to login to NZ Golf website, it's all here in on our site.
• News & Events - a record of all the member emails that have been sent out, the latest news and information.
• Book a Round - your one stop shop for booking a game here or at any other NZ Golf Course.

• Sun 3rd June 3:30 - 4:30 Driving Clinic $25
• Sun 17th June 1:00 - 2:00 Short Game Clinic $25
• Sun 24th June 1:00 - 2:00 Putting Clinic $25