Hi Everyone
Once again a warm welcome to our new members;
9 Holes; Jenny Gaudion, Margreet De Vries, Michiel Van Boekhout, Pauline Hill, Ann Hampton, Richard Annand
Country Member; Kerry Muddle
18 Holes; Paul Tasker
Midweek; Kevin Crooks, Reuben Cole
And a very special welcome to Greg Dykzeul who has taken over as Manager of NBS Motueka from Howie Timms. We wish Howie all the best in his new role at Head Office and we thank him for his, and NBS's, fantastic support of our club over the years. We look forward to getting Greg on our course and introducing him to our members.
Firstly let's talk about the Left Handers Tournament. I know it denied our members playing in the mornings for four days, particularly our ladies, but the offset of that was that it was a very lucrative event for our club. Thanks to the over twenty volunteers who assisted, to our members who allowed us to use their carts and the work Nick and Ian did. We had nothing but rave reviews from the players both about the quality of the course and the organisation of the event. In fact a number of them commented that it was the best organised event they have played in. We were also responsible for collating the results. There was a huge prize list and Rex and I both heaved a sigh of relief when the prize giving went off without a hitch! In addition many players commented to me that they now understand why we were Club of the Year!
Prior to the event we had a conversation about our pins. As you know they were quite worn and leaning in the holes. Something that isn't great now that you can leave the pin in! We decided to replace them before the Lefthanders Tourny and we are very happy with them. We also re-powder coated the cups. You will notice that the pins are quite a bit heavier. So it is important that we do two things: Replace the pins gently back into the cups to avoid damage and movement of the cups. And secondly please be careful with the pins while they are out of the holes, leaning on them or dropping them on the greens could both result in damage to the greens.
Rob and Jenny are changing their catering arrangements slightly. They will do most hot food by order now. This only takes a few minutes and will substantially reduce their waste. It worked very well for the Lefthanders Tournament so just needs a slight adjustment by us all.
The nine holers group is working really well on Saturday mornings, another innovation for our club. I imagine there would be very few clubs in the country that have a combined start for men and lady Nine holers in the morning. Followed by a combined start at midday for 18 holers!
A gentle reminder that subs are due at the end of this month. If you want to pay by instalments we are happy to do that for you, the full payment just has to be paid by the end of our financial year (31 August)
Our Centennial committee has just completed a very successful Garage Sale. Thanks to all our members who donated goods. Our new Greenkeepers Shed came in very handy for a week or two as a storage unit! It turned into a very busy time but the committee was rewarded with funds raised in excess of $4,500. An amazing achievement!
I want to end with a nasty little story;
"Once upon a time in a country far far away lived a lot of little fish. A silly silly man bought some to New Zealand as he thought they would eat and eradicate mosquito larvae. He was not only silly but he was wrong. These little fish eat the food our native fish eat and, even worse than that, they eat their fins and eyes! They live mainly in the North Island but have now been found in the area between Riwaka and Nelson. Unfortunately they are in our pond on No 10 and also in our ditches. They originate from Mexico and are called Gambusia. A Marine Biologist from DOC has been on the course with us and we are planning a nasty surprise for the little buggers in the Summer"
If there is an upside to this story it is that they are a food source for our resident herons and we have just been visited by a Kotuku (White Heron) this last week which was very exciting. This whole situation is really interesting, not enough room to go into it all here, but have a chat with me if you would like to know more.
Finally, you will recall that I mentioned last month the fantastic job Kevin Armstrong has done with She (and He) loves Golf. Well this month he was rewarded with his first Hole in One. A sweetly hit 7 iron on number four. Kevin's first Hole in One after 50 years of playing our great game. What goes around comes around!
That's it for this month folks.
Enjoy your golf.
Cheers
Peter
