MONTHLY

NEWSLETTER

FROM SPALDING

PARK GOLF

this issue One Day At A Time P.01

Repair Your Divots P.02

Survey Results P.03

Hitting Into The Win P.04

One From The Rough P.05

Rule Of The Month P.06

Player Profiles P.08

Next Months Fixtures P.09

IS S UE

February

2013

10

OUR VISION

We are the premier golf,

entertainment and leisure club in WA, providing first class facilities

and services to our members and

our community

OUR MISSION

Through our reputation,

communication, education and dedication we

create opportunities to suit the lifestyle of people looking for quality sports

and leisure by providing more than

just great golf...

OUR VALUES

Trust & Integrity

Quality

Participation

Being Progressive

The Tee Times

On March 1st, 2013 Spalding Park Golf Club will play host to the "One Day At A Time" benefit concert for Sam Prunster. Sam Prunster is having the fight of h e r l i f e . Sam is a young woman with a pas-sion and zest for life. Telling and lis-tening to jokes is a favourite for Sam. You always know when Sam is around - great big bouts of laughter can be heard before you can see her - it is contagious. Sam radiates a ra-re energy and passion that is evi-dent in all aspects of her life. Over-coming adversity is nothing new for Sam, 12 months ago she was as-saulted on her way home from work. After recovering from this traumatic incident and getting back on track, another tragedy struck. On Thursday 6th December Sam complained of a severe migraine type headache accompanied with neck pain and stiffness. Sam is never one to give in, even when she does feel sick, so that night she went to play her beloved game of netball. Sam collapsed suddenly on the court. Her team mates reacted quickly and called an ambulance

where she was taken to the Emer-gency Department. The medical team determined she needed to be airlifted to Sir Charles Gardiner hos-p i t a l , P e r t h W A . Sam’s family came quickly to her bedside and they were told to ex-pect the worse, that she would most likely suffer major neurological defi-cits or even death. Sam has defied doctor’s worst case predictions. She is alive and fighting this with every-thing she’s got. Her survival is noth-ing less than a miracle. Following sometime in the Intensive Care Unit Sam has now been trans-ferred to a high dependency ward where her vital signs are being mon-itored and managed. Her progress has been very slow however the ba-by steps she has taken are momen-tous given the injuries sustained to her brain. Sam is by no means out of the woods yet. She has a long road ahead of her and will need the sup-port of friends as she learns to man-age with the severe damage inflict-ed to her brain. Sam’s journey is being lived, one day at a time…

One Day At A Time

One of the rare things that beginning and profes-sional golfers have in common is that they both take a chunk of grass out of the ground during their swings. That chunk of grass is what’s known in golf as a divot. But, there’s a big difference between the divots made by beginners and the divots made by professional golfers. The difference is timing. Divots can be made either before or after impact with the golf ball. The pros’ divots are always made after impact with the ball, signalling the proper de-scending action of iron and wedge shots. If you hit the ground before you hit the ball, you’re making the wrong kind of divot. In either case, whenever you create a divot on a golf course, it’s your job to fix it. Why Should I Fix Divots You shouldn’t need encouragement to fix your own divots, but just for the sake of knowing, there are legitimate reasons why golfers are expected to re-place the turf they take out of the golf course. Golf Etiquette is the way you behave on a golf course. It involves everything from raking sand bun-kers to staying quiet while other golfers hit their shots. Fixing your own divots and any other divots you happen to notice, time permitting, is part of proper golf etiquette. Golf Course Maintenance, do our greenkeeper and maintenance workers a huge favour by fixing your own divots. They volunteer a lot of their free time to keep those fairways green and clean, and doing your small part can make a huge impact on the success of the golf course. Empathy & Golf Karma, This sort of goes hand-in-hand with golf etiquette, but think of the divot you’ve made from another golfer’s point of view. There will be many instances where your perfect drive down the centre of the fairway ends up sitting in an unrepaired divot. It’s not fair, but the rule is

that you have to play the ball as it lies. Just think of the frustration you can save other golfers by repair-ing your divots, and don’t be surprised to see some good golf karma come your way. Fixing a Divot Now that you know what a divot is and why you should fix it, you need to know how to properly re-pair it. Replacing the Divot If you haven't any sand with you, your next best op-tion is simply to replace the divot you hit out of the ground. Here’s what you’ve got to do: 1. After hitting the divot out of the ground, pick up the removed divot. If you blasted it into more than one piece, try your best to collect most of it. 2. Place the removed piece of grass back into its original location (grassy side up, of course). Put it in the correct way, like a puzzle piece. Again, if your divot is in more than one piece, do your best to put as much of it back as possible. 3. Step on the newly, reapplied grass to set it firmly into the ground. Make it a Habit Fixing your divots isn’t a complicated task. It’s quick, easy, and helpful for everyone- it’s a real no-brainer. But you’re human, after all, and will proba-bly forget to fix a divot or two here and there. Do your best to make filling or replacing your divots a habit on every shot you take. The life of our golf course will be extended, and improved! Other golf-ers and greenkeepers will appreciate it, and you’ll feel good doing it. After fixing your divots, be on the look-out for that good golf karma!

Please Repair Your Divot’s

Survey Results

We ran a survey late last year and below is a summary of just some of the information gathered by those members who responded. Thankyou to all that responded.

45% have been playing golf for more than 20 years

76% are full fee paying members

56% are over 55

99% are satisfied with their overall golf experience

80% prefer playing Stableford

91% were satisfied with the fixturing

99% are satisfied with the booking system

51% do not play golf anywhere else

90% are satisfied with pace of play at Spalding Park

75% play golf all year round

93% are impressed with the communication

20% of members leave 30 minutes after playing

15% are concerned with the bunkers

11% are concerned about the rough

95% rat the course as a test of golf Good or Excellent

5 members are considering regularly using a cart in the next 12 months

74% have dined at the Golf Club

73% have recommended the meals to others

96% consider their membership is good value for money

76% use the website weekly or more frequently

Su

rvey R

esu

lts

For the past few weeks now we have all been playing in some extremely windy conditions. So what we have done is put together a few good tips to help con-trol your golf ball in the wind.

1. When on the tee box, tee the ball down an extra 1/4 to 1/2 inch and play the ball in the same position as normal. Widen your stance a little to pro-vide greater stability if the wind is blowing hard. Use your normal swing, if you try to hit the ball harder or tense up, you will create a bad swing on top of the wind conditions you are battling.

2. Take more club - Your normal "150" club probably isn't going to go that far when hitting into the wind. But down wind you could take a smaller club and get the same distance.

3. Swing easier - The harder you try and hit the golf ball the more spin you put on it. The more spin the more the wind affects the shot (when its breezy - hit it easy)

4. Take a wider stance - The wind can move you around and affect your bal-ance. To counteract that, widen your stance. This lowers your centre of gravity and helps to maintain a solid base into the ground.

5. Shorten your stroke - The longer your backstroke the more chance you have of over swinging and having balance problems. By keeping the back-stroke shorter you'll have more control.

6. Let the golf ball "ride the wind" - This one is a source of controversy. Some players like to try and "work" the ball into the wind, which straightens out the flight. But almost all great wind players let the ball ride the wind. If it's blowing right to left then they will hit a shot that goes in the direction of the wind.

7. Learn to use a knockdown shot with your irons. Position the ball 1 to 2 inches back in your stance. Swing the club back three fourths of the way

Hitting Into The Wind

Trish Thomas

Welcome to our newest members to Spalding Park Golf

Club

Holes In One

There were no Hole in One the

month of January.

FROM THE ROUGH

Golf Balls

A man got on the bus with both of his front trouser pockets full of golf balls and sat down next to a beautiful (you guessed it) blonde. The puzzled blonde kept looking at him and his bulging pockets. Finally, after many glances from her, he said, "It's golf balls. "The blonde continued to look at him for a very long time, thinking deeply about what he had said. After several minutes, not being able to contain her curiosity any longer,

she asked, …………………."Does it hurt as much as tennis elbow ?

Affair A married man was having an affair with his secretary. One day, their passions overcame them and they took off for her house, where they made passionate love all afternoon.

Exhausted they fell asleep, awakening around 8:00pm.

As the man threw on his clothes, he told the woman to take his shoes outside and rub them through the grass and dirt. Mystified, she nevertheless complied.

He slipped into his shoes and drove home.

"Where have you been?" demanded his wife.

"Darling, I can't lie to you. I've been having an affair with my secre-tary and we've been having sex all afternoon. I fell asleep and did-n't wake up until eight o'clock."

The wife glanced down at his shoes and said, "You liar! You've been playing golf!".

Riders

A foursome of elderly gentlemen went to the bar after a round of golf. At the bar, the new Club Pro asked them "How did your game go today?"

The first said he had a good round with 25 riders. The second said he did OK with 16 riders. The third said not too bad since I had 10 riders. The fourth was disappointed and said that he played badly and had only two riders.

The Pro was confounded by this term "rider" but not wanting to show his ignorance just smiled and wish them better golf the next time.

He then approached Jerry the bartender and asked "Can you tell me what does this term 'riders' mean?"

Jerry smiled and explained that a "rider" is when you have hit a shot long enough to take a ride on a golf cart.

Before making a stroke from anywhere on the course, the player may have the flag-stick attended, removed or held up to in-dictate the position of the hole.

If the flagstick is not attended, removed or held up before the player makes a stroke, it must not be attended, removed or held up during the stroke or while the player’s ball is in motion if doing so might influ-ence the movement of the ball.

Note 1: If the flagstick is in the hole and anyone stands near it while a stroke is be-ing made, he is deemed to be attending the flagstick.

Note 2: If, prior to the stroke, the flagstick is attended, removed or held up by any-one with the player’s knowledge and he makes no objection, the player is deemed to have authorised it.

Note 3: If anyone attends or holds up the flagstick while a stroke is being made, he is deemed to be attending the flagstick until

the ball comes to rest.

(Moving attended, removed or held-up flagstick while ball in motion – see Rule 24-1)

*PENALTY FOR BREACH OF RULE 17-1 or 17-2:

Match play – Loss of hole; Stroke play – Two strokes.

*In stroke play, if a breach of Rule 17-2 oc-curs and the competitor’s ball subsequent-ly strikes the flagstick, the person attend-ing or holding it or anything carried by him, the competitor incurs no penalty. The ball is played as it lies, except that if the stroke was made on the put-ting green, the stroke is cancelled and the ball must be replaced and replayed.

FAQs

Q. May a player putt with one hand while holding the flagstick with the other?

A. Yes, provided the flagstick has been re-moved from the hole and the ball does not strike it. If the ball were to strike the flag-stick, a breach of Rule 17-3 would occur.

Q. Can I ask for the flagstick to be at-tended if my ball lies off the putting green?

A. Yes. The flagstick may be removed, held up or attended regardless of where the player’s ball lies (Rule 17-1)

Golf Rule of the Month

17-1 - Flagstick Attended, Removed or

Held Up

The Captains Chat ……

One topic that has caused some on-going discus-sion around the club is the numbering of the nine’s.

The Board have accepted a Match Committee rec-ommendation that the matter be put to full finan-cial members and associates in the form of a refer-endum.

There will be just the one question on the paper and this will be worded to ask if the holes as cur-rently numbered meet with your approval. To be eligible to vote members and associates must be full financial members of the Club and voting will close on 31 March 2013.

The majority of responses regardless of the num-ber of valid papers returned would be binding on the Club and be implemented as soon as practical after 31 March.

The Club has appointed myself and President Dave as returning officers for the referendum.

By having this referendum all full and financial members of the Club will have a say in the matter and it is believed to be the fairest way to resolve the matter. It is also very cost effective as the ref-erendum question will be sent with our annual fees notice.

I can also announce that the club championships for members this year will be held in a slightly dif-ferent format.

The championships will be played over the 10, 17, 24 and 31 August - those who love stroke matches will be well pleased. A grade (0-9 handicappers) will play all four weeks of competition with all games counted whilst B (10-18), C (19-27) and D (28-36) grades will have to complete three of the four games to be in the running.

B, C and D grade players, if they play all four games, will have their worst round deleted mean-ing their best three rounds will count towards the

championship. The Match Committee decided to use this method as a means of encouraging all lower grade players to stick out the four weeks of competition – after all – four weeks of stroke can get some of us down a tad. This method also per-mits our members who work away the opportunity of playing in the championship.

A request – if any member would like to assist the Match Committee in the processing of cards after a game on Thursday or Saturday please contact me. A night on cards once a month is all I envisage you having to do and we will teach you the com-puter work needed to complete the task.

And finally – the Match Committee would like to acknowledge the effort made by competition win-ners who return to the club for presentations when they have had a good early round. This is a great mark of respect for our sponsors who make such a wonderful array of prizes available throughout the year. Keep up the good work –it is greatly appreci-ated.

Until next month – hit them straight.

Ron Hayward

PLAYER PROFILE

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DATE EVENT

Saturday 2nd February 2013 Stableford - Club Trophy

Sunday 3rd February 2013 Stableford - Club Trophy

Wednesday 6th February

2013 Summer Cup 3 - Westpac Bank

Thursday 7th February 2013 Stableford - Club Trophy

Saturday 9th February 2013 Mystery Stableford - Sun City Plumbing

Sunday 10th February 2013 Stableford - Club Trophy

Wednesday 13th February

2013 Summer Cup 4 - Westpac Bank

Thursday 14th February 2013 Stableford - Club Trophy

Saturday 16th February 2013 Abrolhos Landscaping & Gardening

Sunday 17th February 2013 Stableford - Club Trophy

Wednesday 20th February

2013 Summer Cup 5 - Westpac Bank

Thursday 21st February 2013 Stableford - Club Trophy

Saturday 23rd February 2013 Stroke - M/M - Lifespan Fitness Centre

Sunday 24th February 2013 Stableford - Club Trophy

Wednesday 27th February

2013 Summer Cup 6 - Westpac Bank

Thursday 28th February 2013 Stableford - Club Trophy

FEBRU

ARY FIX

TUR

ES