I N S I D E T H I S

I S S U E :

Captain’s

Report

2

Course

Superintendent's

Report

3

Lady President’s

Report

4

Vale Mick DeVries 5

Bunker Bulletin Board 5

Calendar 7

Race Track Rail/

AGM Review

8

Advertising 9

Club House Up-

dates/Sponsors

10

S P E C I A L

P O I N T S O F

I N T E R E S T :

Friday Night Bistro

Continues every Fri-

day Night.

Congratulations

Men’s West Gipp-

sland Country Teams

Racetrack Running

Rail explained

October 2015

Hooks & Slices

P R E S I D E N T ’ S R E P O R T

Hello Members,

Recently we held our

A.G.M (see notes else-

where in this issue).

We welcome onto

committee as Treas-

urer, Hayden Smart.

Hayden is a C.P.A

with 12 years experi-

ence being a Director

of his Accounting firm

Robertson Wouters

based in Pakenham.

Unfortunately we fell

short of filling all

committee positions.

We are still therefore

without a Vice-

President, a Secretary

and two committee

positions. This makes

life very difficult for

those on committee,

increasing their work-

load considerably.

Having said this, I ask

you all to give due

consideration, when in

some cases because

of this, some matters

may seem to be not

receiving attention or

they are slow in hap-

pening.

Should anyone be

thinking of maybe of-

fering their services in

any of these vacant

positions, I am happy

to discuss them with

you in private.

Nominations are now

open for the sub com-

mittees. They are:

House and Marketing;

Course/Match Com-

mittee; Finance. The

sub-committees are

vital to the smooth

operation of the club.

Nomination forms are

posted on the notice

board. Your nomina-

tion for these sub-

committees would be

most welcome. Nomi-

nations close at 5 p.m

Wed. Oct 28th. Nomi-

nees will be contacted

following that closing

date.

The land sale issue is

ongoing. We, via our

Administrator, and the

Baw Baw Shire will be

represented again

when V.C.A.T. revisits

this matter on Feb 1st,

2016. The matter was

postponed at the first

hearing. I will update

you all again if any-

thing new transpires

in the meantime.

In closing, sadly we

recently lost two stal-

warts of the club. Mick

deVries, a tireless

worker and member

back in the 60's and

70's passed away.

And, recently, George

Nicholson, a past

President, for 4 years

from 1989 to 1992

and again in 1996. In

all George was a com-

mittee member on

different occasions for

approximately 13 yrs.

Both gentlemen were

highly respected and

contributed tirelessly

to our club. On behalf

of the committee and

all members, our con-

dolences go out to

their respective fami-

lies.

Good golfing

Tom Carroll

Our Men’s Pennant

scratch one team have

pulled off an inspira-

tional win in the final

over arch nemesis

Morwell. After what

they would call, by

their own admission,

a fairly slow and in-

different home &

away season, it was

great to see the team

of Ryan Hammond,

Matt Long, Leon

Cook, Mike Santo,

Ryan Radford, Shane

Pallant & courageous

leader Mark Allen

perform when it

counted most. The

proof was definitely

in the pudding or

more rightly ‘the three

peat burger’, so much

tastier than the two

peat.

With weather starting

to warm up, we really

need all members

throwing out an

open invitation to

friends of other

clubs to come along

and experience

DGCC hospitality

both on the course

and in the club

house. Green reno-

vations have been

completed and will

ensure all aspects of

the course are in top

condition by the end

of the month.

FILL A DIVOT –

with the weather

warming it also

sounds the start of

our couch fairways

coming out of hiber-

nation, so I call on

all members to

empty their sand

buckets as often as

possible to cover

divots & small bare

patches on our fair-

way.

Last but certainly

not least a big thank

you to our event

sponsors over the

recent times: Jack-

son’s View, Ian

Archer Financial

Services, Shane

Dwyer (club legend),

John Fielden – DJF

Developments, The

Thorpe Family and

welcome on board as

a new sponsor for

2015 Big Spoon Lit-

tle Spoon restaurant.

Captain Kev

C A P T A I N ’ S R E P O R T

Page 2 H O O K S & S L I C E S

‘The matter of interference by an

Immovable obstruction (the Race Track rail)

can only be considered as relevant if it

interferes with your swing or stance.’

Congratulations goes out to Drouin mem-

bers Mark Allen, Leon Cook and Ryan

Hammond who were part of the successful country week team at Royal Melbourne.

West Gippsland went the entire week unde-feated in a dominant display, capping off

their first victory in 17 years! Ryan was also selected in the Victorian country team that will compete against

South Australia next month, marking off a great day for the Drouin boys.

This is the 21st time that West Gippsland have been successful and puts them back where they belong as the number 1 golf

district in the state. Well done guys

The weather is turning

and grass is starting to

grow! After a long wet

and colder than average

winter we are finally

turning the corner with

the odd warm day start-

ing to get the grass mov-

ing and giving the couch

a nice deep colour.

Over the past months we

have been busy with

renovating greens, grind-

ing away stumps, spin-

ning out the racetrack

drain and continuing the

modifications of the 3rd

crossing.

During renovations this

year we received 16mm

during the main days and

a day of 38mm the fol-

lowing week. These two

rain events have put us

back slightly but the

bounce back from the

renovation is still evi-

dent. We did a slightly

different renovation than

previous jobs with this

season involving solid

tining (no core removed)

and vert cutting -3mm up

to 4 runs depending on

which green we were

working on. The verti

cutting resulted in 3 and

half large trailer loads of

thatch being removed.

The stump grinding that

we conducted during the

weeks of the 14th resulted

in us grinding away 90%

+ of the stumps that have

accumulated over the

years. This is an ongoing

practise I plan to con-

tinue yearly from now on

resulting in less stumps

to remove each year and

reduced time of the un-

sightly look of a large

number of stumps dotted

around the course. A

couple of the older

stumps (LHS 16 and

RHS 11 for example) we

have left as they create a

nice feature with the

native grasses growing

around them to partly

obscure them.

Spinning of the racetrack

drain was conducted for

the first time in a number

of years last month with

some pleasing results.

After discussions with

the Race Club a few ar-

eas of the drain will be

covered in as it currently

does not serve any drain-

age purposes for the golf

course or the race track.

Patience with this is nec-

essary as we continue

talks with the Race Club.

The continuing work

around the 3rd tee/hole

crossing is continuing on

slowly as material be-

come available and

weather permits. The

Race Club have brought

in an excavator to re-

move the track materials

on the 3rd, 9th and 6th

crossing and replace

with top soil for us to

turf over. The the 3rd tee

area is excavated and

there will be a short pe-

riod of mess in between

the topsoil being com-

pacted and the turf being

laid. The plan for the

race track itself will be to

lay Kikuyu from some of

our rough areas (ie: 11th

LHS) these areas will be

deemed GUR if need be

and decided by the Club

Captain.

We also received word

back that we were suc-

cessful in receiving a

Grant from Drouin Fam-

ily Hotel. This is the 2nd

year in a row we have

received this and we

thank Naomi, Simon and

the rest of the team at the

Family Hotel. This year

we received funds to-

wards a trencher that will

be used to install irriga-

tion lines, prune en-

croaching tree roots

(LHS of 6th fairway is a

great example of the

damages tree roots can

cause to our main play-

ing surfaces) and dig

trenches for us to lay

drainage pipe in. The

drainage is a key reason

to get this machine and

means we can complete

these projects in house.

Our focus in the next few

years should be funding

as much drainage as we

can physically lay. An

example of how much

work is needed is the 11th

fairway. I have measured

up and quoted for drain-

age to begin from around

the 150m marker on 11

and drain all the way to

the green with the main

line to run on a 45 degree

angle to the RHS 12

creek. This worked out

to be 1.3km of drainage.

Anyone with any con-

tacts for Slotted pipe,

100mm Ag pipe or drain-

age rock suppliers please

find the time to get in

C O U R S E S U P E R I N T E N D E N T ’ S R E P O R T

Page 3 H O O K S & S L I C E S

contact with me. Any

savings we can gener-

ate will result in larger

areas being drained

which will mean more

chance of golf all year

round and golf carts!

The weather patterns

for the past year at

DGCC has not been to

kind to us with rainfall

being up 100mm from

the end of the Septem-

ber last year (YTD

(22/9): 622mm, End

of September 2014:

522mm).

We were basically

tracking one month

ahead of last year’s

rainfall. With all

things considered I

believe the course has

come out of winter

extremely well com-

pared to previous

years.

To take into compari-

son Garfield Golf

Club’s YTD was

516mm. That is

106mm less then we

have received. It

shows that we are in a

little rain belt and

regularly receive more

rain than our sur-

rounding neighbours.

Thanks

Matt Heeps

Page 4 H O O K S & S L I C E S

LADY PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Following the Annual Gen-

eral Meeting of the Lady

Members the Match com-

mittee has been an-

nounced. They are as fol-

lows:-. Glenda Warren

(Captain), Sue Hatfield

(Vice Captain), Kay

Feaver, Leanne Pollard,

Judy Dixon and Sharon

Rippon. Thank you to

these ladies for their com-

mitment to the Drouin

Golf Club. It is great to

see some new faces ac-

cepting positions.

The Ladies have been un-

fortunate of late trying to

get golf played of a Tues-

day has been very difficult

due to weather condi-

tions, hopefully from now

on this improves.

The first week of Septem-

ber a group of Lady Mem-

bers ventured to Cobram

for some warmer weather.

The company was good,

the weather was good,

the golf was interesting.

Congratulations to Mea-

gan Ford for being our

star golfer and winning

the prize donated by Co-

bram-Baroga Sports Club.

Thanks to the ladies who

made the trip, for the fun,

friendship and camarade-

rie and we are looking for-

ward to what the trip next

year may bring.

All Gippsland Champion-

ships on 7th & 8th Sep-

tember were played at

Maffra, thanks to the la-

dies who played repre-

senting Drouin. It is good

to be seen at these

events.

The Women’s Golf West

Gippsland Doris Page

Event was held at Drouin

on Monday 12th October

which saw many district

players coming to support

the WGWG fund raiser for

the Country Week Teams

expenses. An enjoyable

day was held by all.

Thanks to the ladies who

donated trophies over the

last few weeks they will

be named in our next re-

port.

The Ladies annual Gym-

khana will be held on the

26th of October and we

look forward to a good

field to vie for the lovely

roses donated by Drouin

Nursery. Any Lady who

does not have a partner

let Sue Hatfield know and

she will try to pair you up

with another golfer.

Peggy Hocking & Glenda

Warren

Page 5 H O O K S & S L I C E S

VALE MICK DeVRIES

The Club has lost a true

stalwart with the passing

of Mick DeVries. He was

one of a group of deter-

mined individuals who

physically created our golf

course.

The Club was formed in

1902 but had gone into

recess for the war years. It

wasn’t until 1955 that

Drouin people said they

wanted their golf club

back. In Matthew Bennett

Park, they had the advan-

tage at least of a perma-

nent home even if parts

were a wilderness. This

was in contrast to the early

days of the Club when it

enjoyed a nomadic exis-

tence. Golf was played

wherever a farmer could

spare the land. At one

stage we ended up at

Gerry Butler’s father’s farm

at Brandy Creek.

When Mick joined in 1958,

12 holes had been created

with sandscrape greens.

Most of the holes were

within the confines of the

racetrack but a start had

been made on developing

what we now know as the

back nine. Then in 1962,

after a hot weekend, grass

greens were sown for 14

holes. Grass may have

been sown but weeds are

what we got. Eventually the

grass took and then in

1963 the task was com-

pleted with the addition of

another four holes. The

trees had been cleared,

the yabby holes had been

filled in and the tree roots

removed. We had a proper

golf course - sort of.

Mick was part of this early

work and the development

that was to follow. He dug

the dam on the 3rd. Before

this it was a par five with

an unusual feature: an

OOB within the course.

Melbourne rules officials

were horrified but it pre-

vented the big hitters tak-

ing short cuts. With the

dam the hole became a

par four and some would

say the prettiest on the

course. The dam gave

shape to the hole, provided

water storage and also

helped lower the water ta-

ble. The last mentioned

should not be underesti-

mated: our course is lo-

cated on a swamp.

When he wasn’t making

dams he was cutting down

unsafe trees and digging

drains. Both were neces-

sary but when brother, Pe-

ter, was captain, caused

endless controversy.

In 1968 Mick really came

to the fore. The back nine

was closed when the Gas

and Fuel attempted to con-

struct a gas line during one

of our wettest winters.

Hugh Mapleson, Club Sec-

retary at the time, says it

best: “Much of our employ-

ees’ time was taken up

with an ignorant crew of

loafers who passed as pipe

technicians.” After the con-

tractor’s heavy machinery

was hopelessly bogged the

Club called in Mick, “who

accomplished in three

days something these

characters had been trying

for about a month.”

What is really significant

about this is that like Jack

Cuthbertson he continued

to forget to send us the

bill. What does this say?

He was doing what others

have done: creating a golf

club.

In the end though he was a

golfer and maybe this is

the most important. He en-

joyed the usual success

and anguish of us hackers

but he was always good

company.

That’s not a bad legacy.

George Shand

Page 6 H O O K S & S L I C E S

BUNKER BULLETIN BOAR D

Announcing the “Kickback Program”

Every time a DGCC member books a holiday/flight from Flight Centre Warragul, the total amount of that booking goes in an account and a percentage of that is donated back to the club.

So, when booking any holidays, please consider using our generous sponsor, Flight Centre Warragul. You’ll find their business cards in the holder near the back door.

MONTHLY MEDAL DRAW Jackpots this month with $100 up for grabs!

Don’t forget on Monthly Medal Saturdays, buy a drink from the bar after your round and go

in the draw to win $50.

F R I D A Y W O R K I N G B E E

There is a regular working bee

every Friday morning. Volunteers

usually do general raking of the

course, picking up fallen branches,

weeding, pruning, etc. on direction

from Matt Heeps. Meeting at the

work shed behind the clubhouse by

8:30 am. There is a list posted on

the notice board of the day’s jobs if

our friendly Volunteer Co-ordinator,

Vin Bibby isn’t around.

First things first, though, you must

sign in the volunteer book. This is

for insurance coverage. The club

supplies all tools like rakes and

shovels. Some bring their own se-

cateurs. Tea break is at 10:00 am

in the staff room and a sausage

sizzle lunch is at 12:30. Everyone

donates $1 for the cost of snags

and bread.

You don’t need any special skills

but the willingness to get some

work done on the course. It can be

extremely rewarding and an oppor-

tunity to enjoy great camaraderie

with your fellow members.

Page 7 H O O K S & S L I C E S

C AL E ND AR OCTOBER 2015 NOVEMBER 2015

Weekly events, unless otherwise indicated above: Mondays Stableford 9 or 18 Holes (M & L) Wednesdays Stableford (M) Thursdays 9 Hole Stableford (M & L)

Members are encouraged to invite guests from other clubs to play with them in competitions

Satur-day

3 Monthly Medal Stroke (M) Sponsored by Clark First National Stroke (L)

Sunday 4 DAYLIGHT SAVING STARTS 4BBB Medley Stroke Guests welcome

Tuesday 6 Stroke – Medal Sponsor: Shirley Campbell –Smith, Pat Alexander & Jan Stone Count putts Captains Trophy – Top 8 to qualify for Match Play Sponsor: Glenda Warren

Satur-day

10 Stableford (M & L) Robbins Family Trophy

Tuesday 13 Anthony Bambridge 4BBB Stableford: Sponsors: Anthony & Leanne Bambridge

Friday 16 Clark First National and Drouin Community Bank Gala Day (M & L) Shotgun Start

Satur-day

17 Stableford Pairs Aggregate (M) Stableford (L)

Tuesday 20 Stableford

Satur-day

24 Stableford (M & L) Guests welcome

Tuesday 27 Gymkhana Day 4BBB Stableford Sponsor: Peter Collier, Drouin Nursery Entry form, shot gun start 9.00am

Friday 30 Victorian Primary School Golf – Qualifying Round

Satur-day

31 Stableford (M & L)

Tuesday 3 Melbourne Cup Day – Open Stableford (M & L) - Guests welcome

Saturday 7 Monthly Medal Stroke (M) Sponsored by Steve Thomson Bricklaying Drougal Cup at Drouin Sponsor: Shirley Campbell-Smith

Tuesday 10 Stroke Sponsor: Drouin Amcal Chemist Star Medal Play Off Sponsor: Jill Greenland Top 8 Qualifiers for Summer Match Play A

and B Last Day for Annual Competitions and Eclec-

Saturday 14 Par (M & L)

Sunday 15 Gerry Butler Plate Teams Stableford (M) Shotgun start at 11am Enter in Pro Shop prior to day.

Sponsor Laurie Moore

Tuesday 17 Personal Guest Day – 4BBB Stableford 9.00 Shotgun start

Friday 20 Clark First National and Drouin Community

Bank Gala Day (M & L) Shotgun Start

Saturday 21 Stableford (M & L)

Sunday 22 Canadian Foursomes Stroke (M & L)

Tuesday 24 Stableford –1st round Downtowner Cup

Saturday 28 Stableford (M & L)

H O O K S & S L I C E S Page 8

RACE TRACK RUNNING RAIL — ENSURE YOU’RE PLAYING WITHIN THE RULES Many Members raise the issue of obtaining relief from the race track running rail, mainly affecting shots on holes 3, 9, 10, 16, 17 and 18. The matter of interference by an immovable obstruction (the Race Track rail) can only be considered as relevant if it in-terferes with your swing or stance. A player cannot obtain relief from the Race Track rail through the use of an unneces-sarily abnormal stance, swing or direction of play. Thus there will be occasions where you are obliged to play the ball as it lies. Once it has been agreed with your marker that you are entitled to obtain relief from the Race Track rail you must determine your “nearest point of relief”. To determine your nearest point of relief take the Club you would normally use, as if the Race Track rail did not exist. Simulate your

shot to determine where you would stand so as not to have interference from the Railing. The point on the ground where the club head sits when you take your stance becomes the “nearest point of relief”. You must then drop your ball within one club length of this point and the ball must first strike a part of the course that is not nearer the hole and can roll up to two club lengths away from where it first strikes that part of the course. The ball cannot come to rest closer to the hole. This means that from where your ball origi-nally lay, i.e. when interfer-ence occurred because of the railing, your ball could end up three club lengths away. That your ball may come to rest in the drain has no signifi-cance whatsoever. The drain is simply a part of the course and if a player has hit his ball into

the drain, then the only relief possible, without a penalty, is if the Race Track rail interferes as described above or if there is casual water in the drain (see Decision by R & A 33-8/36). Finally, if you believe you might be in danger from your ball hitting the running rail you are entitled under a local rule to take relief. You can do this by way of drop-ping your ball back from the running rail, on a line that keeps the spot where the ball originally landed between the spot the ball is eventually dropped and the flag, but not nearer the hole.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING REVIEW

I put up two motions for considera-tion at the Annual General meeting on Monday, . The first motion concerned moving to a Board of Directors. The motion was rescinded after discussion and with the commitment from the Com-mittee of Management to begin the lengthy and complicated process and report back to the members at a Special General Meeting in March, 2016. It was my intention to begin the discussion and process but I am happy with the outcome as it is a complicated process which needs to be done correctly. The second motion concerned how the money from the sale of our land

is treated. That motion went through but not unanimously. Again, the discussion was enlight-ening and perhaps the motion will need to be re-visited when we know how much money the land sale will bring. Tom Carroll updated the members on the state of the sale of the land. At this point, due to the Concerned Fairway Drive Residents action against the Baw Baw Shire by tak-ing them to VCAT, all interested parties have put their offers on hold awaiting the VCAT decision. As Tom has said in his report, that takes place on February 1st. This was very disappointing to all the members attending the meeting.

Further information revealed that even if a sale went through right away, the club would not realize the full amount of the sale of the land right away. That could take years and years, depending on the devel-oper and the deal. So don’t start spending it just yet! The usual number of members at-tended. It was disappointing as they are represent only a small per-centage of the overall membership. May I just say if members complain about club issues, perhaps it’s time for them to get involved and put ‘their money where their mouth is’. Apathy doesn’t get the job done. Wendy Hitchins

H O O K S & S L I C E S Page 9

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H O O K S & S L I C E S Page 10

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