Dear Members,
Welcome to the Club Captain’s February Newsletter.
Junior Golf
Steve and TJ have commenced the 2022 Cadet’s Program on Fridays at 4.00pm
If you would like to register a junior please contact the Pro-Shop for further information. Note: IT’S FREE!
Thanks to both for their dedication in promoting junior golf at Mount Coolum.
Pace of play
We have had some feedback regarding slow play. Please keep in mind that a round with four players should take approx 4 hours. More importantly NEVER BE MORE THAN ONE HOLE BEHIND THE GROUP AHEAD.
Below are some tips from Golf Australia:
- Pace of Play – A round of golf is meant to be played at a prompt pace. (Rule 5.6b.). Each player should recognize that his or her pace of play is likely to affect how long it will take other players to play their rounds, including both those in the player’s own group and those in following groups.
- Ready Golf – Move to your ball always (if it’s safe to do so) and be ready to play when it is your turn – do not stand by each player’s ball while they play their shot before you. When it’s your turn to play, have your selected club in your hand or have that putt read. Except in match play, don’t always wait on others – if sensible and agreeable to your partners, play away.
- Turn to Play. A player is allowed a maximum of 40 seconds from arriving at their ball to choose a club and decide their shot. You should usually be able to play more quickly than that and are encouraged to do so in 20 seconds or less.
- Be Aware – One’s place on the golf course is immediately behind the players in front, not in front of the players behind.
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- If your group is holding up a group behind, move on briskly or call them through. It is your group’s responsibility to keep up with the group in front.
- If you have lost a clear hole to the group in front and are delaying the group behind you should stand aside and invite the group behind to play through.
- If your group has not lost a clear hole, but it is apparent that the group behind can play faster, you should invite the faster moving group to overtake you.
- Pick Up – If you have used up your quota of shots or can’t improve on your partners score, pick up and move on!
- Lost Balls – If there is a possibility of your ball being lost or out of bounds, play a provisional ball before moving off. Always have a spare ball in your pocket.
Course
Thanks to Todd and the boys the course is looking great. The last two weeks have seen scarifying, coring and light sanding of our greens, with further work to be done next week. Todd is very mindful of the Club Championships coming up, and is working towards having the greens at their best for the first round.
Todd is continuing to treat the Blue Couch on our fairways. Most of these areas are playable but the Committee/Todd are monitoring a couple of areas that may need to be ringed as GUR.
The sixth green and surrounds have had some minor works done to facilitate water runoff. This will help to advance the growth of grass on the bare areas.
Golf Results
February Monthly Medal winners
Ladies.
- Mid-Week A Grade: Jan Porter
- Mid-Week B Grade: Louina Robertson
- Mid-Week C Grade: Kay Chandler
- Saturday: Kim Cummins
Men
- Mid week: Jeff Osborne.
- Saturday A grade: Barry Bowditch.
- Saturday B grade: John Flutter.
- Saturday C grade: Gary Roberts.
Congratulations to all of our February Medallists.
Rules
Not submitting your score card after a round or not entering your score on a hole during a stroke round?
The various GOLF Link score status options and their associated handicap implications are as follows:
“Normal Score” This is an ‘Actual Score’ which is to be considered when determining a player’s Live Scores.
No Score – Not Approved” (NSNA)
A GA Handicap may lose its full status in the event that a player should accrue five or more entries with a status of ‘No Score – Not Approved’ in their most recent 20 Actual Scores (i.e. their list of Live Scores). Such a GA Handicap will be known as a “Provisional GA Handicap”. NSNA rounds are denoted with a red dot on your handicap report.
No Score – Approved” (NSA)
This entry appears in the player’s handicap record however the player is not considered to have returned a score. This is NOT an Actual Score and is to be discounted when determining a player’s Live Scores.
“Non-Standard Entry” (NSE)
This would result from a player not completing every hole (noting a pick-up in MiScore or at the kiosk) in a stroke round. As all rounds are handicapped on the basis of Stableford scores, rounds of this nature are handicapped, and will count in you 20 most recent scores.
What to do: If you are forced to withdraw during the round, or do not complete a hole in stroke, please contact the Club as to the reasons. The Club Administrator will make a determination accordingly. Please note that if you simply forget to hand in your card, or do not “CONFIRM” your score at the kiosk, the round will simply be recorded as NSNA.
Lost Ball
For example, let’s assume you have carved your tee shot into some bushes and the ball is lost – you would have to play the tee shot again and this would be your third shot.
The next thing to look at is what to do if you think your ball might be lost but aren’t sure. It happens all the time – you have hit an errant tee shot and are unsure whether you’ll ever see your ball again. In this situation it always makes sense to play a provisional ball.
Tell those playing with you that this is what you are doing and ideally use a ball that can be distinctly identified as different to your first (this identification is not a requirement under the Rules, however).
If your first ball is lost, you can carry on playing the provisional without having to go back to where you played the previous shot from and delay play.
You can carry on playing the provisional ball until you reach the area where you believe the original ball to be.
Under the rules of golf you have three minutes to search for your ball.
The three minutes start when you reach the area where you believe the ball is situated. As soon as the three minutes is up, the ball is lost under the rules if you are unable to find it.
Contrary to what some golfers believe, the rules of golf do not allow you to declare your ball lost. If you have hit your ball into a particularly bad spot, you may decide not to look for it but your opponent or playing companions may still look for it and stumble across it.
If they do, you will have to deal with it from where it is found – however bad! Of course, you could always play another ball from where the original bad shot was taken without declaring it a provisional ball.
In this situation, the second ball automatically becomes the one in play, but beware – if your original ball had taken an unseen ricochet into a favourable spot, you would not be able to play it.
Upcoming events
7 Day Skips Mount Coolum Masters: This new event will be played on Monday 11th April – coinciding with the final round of the US Masters from Augusta. The format of the day is as follows:
- 6:00am – Clubhouse opens, watch the final round of The Masters on the big screens
- 7:00am – Cooked breakfast, with coffee and juice
- approx. 8:45am (after the Masters is finished) Medley Single Stableford – the Mount Coolum Masters
Play well and stay safe
Paul Radnell – Club Captain