My spies have been out in the rain and have informed me of a marvellous occurrence in the comp today .
Three players had only one putt between them on the 14th hole despite the rain.
Oliver Staggs, playing first, hits a brilliant approach shot to be only 1/3 metre from the flag. Norm Bampton then chips-in from 10 metres off the green for his par. Not to be outdone Garry Harman replies with a chip-in of his own from 8 metres off the green. To complete the set Oliver then putts his ball into the hole.
1 putt between 3 players – not bad in the awful weather conditions on the day.
By the way well done to the 30 brave players who risked pneumonia to play today. Thats the spirit!
As along term member I find it very annoying that the course is being set up to attract social players that won’t show up if it rains anyway. My yearly membership and comp. fee’s amount to approximately $2000. How much does the average social player contribute? All that is going to happen is the loss of more members if this action is ongoing.
Thaks Bruce for your opinion which is always well received.
Some facts; over 50% of rounds played at Jamberoo are social rounds; the course has not been set up for social players (despite rumours spread by an employee of the club) but for the 75% of male and lady members whose handicap is over 24 who find the course too hard due to the depth of the rough and extreme narrowness of some fairways.
The green-keeper has prepared the course according to his interpretation of a decision made by the Board. There are some sections, like the front and side of the 3rd green, and some of the area between the 16th and 17th fairways that I personally disagree with, but I am prepared to give them a go. Overall I don’t think the changes are that drastic.
Lets give them a chance and see if patronage increases. If we can encourage members to play more often then that would be a benefit to all members. If it doesn’t change anything, then it is only grass and it will grow back again!
Bruce, you have been a keen and concerned member over a long period of time and of course we take what you say very seriously. I wish all of our members played 100 comp games a year like yourself as this would definitely help finances. I hope you find the 2016 programme of events encourages participation from members with more individual stablefords which seem to be our members game of choice. As for the course, yes the fairways are a little wider and the rough has been cut slightly lower and this will definitely need to be monitored to see if it has the desired effect on player participation. I am in discussions at the moment on slight modifications that will perhaps make the course fair on the average golfer but still challenging for the A grade player.
Point taken, I hope that the changes do help.