Shoretalk: Friday 8th December 2017

Members’ Corner:

Hole-in-One: Congratulations to Prasanna Gulasekharam for his hole-in-one on the 22nd hole on

Wednesday 29th November 2017. This helped him to shoot an excellent Gross 77 for 39

Stableford points. Well done Prasanna. Also congratulations to Jonathan Carter for his Hole-in-

One on the 22nd Hole on Sunday 3rd December 2017.

Dad’s Army: As you’re aware, the NSGC Dad’s Army have been out on the course again, working

their magic on the 8th Hole.

We thought you’d like to see some before and after photos, just to show what a difference they

are making to our course:

Before Before

After After

The team are always looking for new recruits, so if you have some spare time and would like to

be part of “the army”, please contact “General” Alex Sharp on 021 221 0628. He looks forward to

hearing from you.

Shootout Trophy Winner: Congratulations to Earl Hart who won the Life

Member’s Trophy Shootout on Sunday 3rd December

2017. Here is Earl receiving the impressive trophy from

our Men’s Club Captain, Graeme Storey.

LAST CALL! After the first very successful round, the

second NSGC 2 for 9 Golf, kindly and proudly

sponsored by ILG (Insurance and Lending Group), is to

be held on Monday 11th December 2017. Here are the

details of the competition

We had 32 players for the first round, which was fantastic. All had a great time and we’re hoping

that they will be back for the 2nd round and some more members/visitors will also want to try

this new, fun format. To book your place for Monday 11th December 2017, please e-mail

Richard in Golf Operations as soon as possible: richard@nsgc.co.nz. We look forward to seeing

you on Monday 11th December 2017 for NSGC 2 for 9 kindly and proudly sponsored by ILG

(Insurance and Lending Group)

Pitch marks: Please repair them – as a courtesy to other

golfers/members of the club and in order to keep our

course in excellent condition.

Picture recently taken during a Twilight round of golf.

RYDER CUP SPECIAL OFFER FOR NORTH SHORE MEMBERS:

PaR nz Golfing Holidays is offering any North Shore GC member a FREE PAIR OF ADIDAS GOLF

SHOES OR TAYLORMADE PUTTER if they book a Ryder Cup Package by Sunday 31st December

2017. The 2018 Ryder Cup will be hosted by Le Golf National GC in Paris, France on 27th – 30th

September 2018. After the Ryder Cup, PaR nz Golfing Holidays will host a luxury 5-star 13 day

golf tour of Northern France visiting many WW1 and WW2 sites in Brittany and Normandy, along

the way playing golf on spectacular French coastal courses. We return to Paris to play two golf

masterpieces – Fontainebleau, in Versailles and our finale round at Le Golf National, the Ryder

Cup’s Albatross course. FOR FULL TOUR PACKAGES ENQUIRE: kim@parnz.co.nz or 021 373 502

NEW TOURNAMENT – 2018 BAY OF ISLANDS 4-COURSE CLASSIC

Have you ticked Kauri Cliffs off your Bucket List yet? Yes, you can play on

one of the world’s best golf courses ranked #49. PaR nz Golfing Holidays

will host our first annual Bay of Islands 4-Course Classic from Monday 28th

May – Friday 1st June 2018. The four courses include Kauri Cliffs, Bay of Islands, Waitangi and

Whangaroa. For the programme, 4 rounds will be played over 5 days with a rest day to enjoy the

local tourist activities around Paihia, Russell and Kerikeri. Men and women of all ages, are

welcome to enter. Full entry $470.00pp. ENTER HERE: https://2018boi4course.eventdesq.com/

Christmas generosity: On behalf of the club, we would like to thank all the members who have

given so generously to our Salvation Army appeal – for those less fortunate than ourselves.

Debbie (our Office Manager) will be taking all the gifts to the Salvation Army tomorrow. Thank

you once again for your generosity – the gifts will definitely put a smile on all the kids’ faces.

Forthcoming Golf Events:

FINAL CALL – VERY FEW SPACES LEFT AVAILABLE! Christmas

Twilight on Tuesday 12th December 2018. Very reasonable

entry fees of $6.00 for members and $25.00 for visitors – so

why not invite some of your friends along to join in the fun. The

tee booking for the event is open via Dot Golf.

Men:

Men’s Pennant trials: For those members who would like to be

considered to represent the club in the Nobilo, Rangitoto, Sunderland or

Kaipara Pennant teams in 2018, we are holding trials on Sunday 17th

December 2017 and Sunday 21st January 2018. The entry sheet/expression

of interest is on the notice board in the Men’s Locker Room. Please add your name to the list.

Mixed: FINAL CALL! Mixed Closing Day. Saturday 16th

December 2017. Shotgun start at 12.30pm. Ambrose in

teams of 8. We have spaces for one or two individual players

only. There is also a slight change of format, which will help

speed up play on the day. Full instructions will be given to

players before tee off. Happy Hour from 11.30am. Sausage

sizzle and beers provided downstairs, in front of the putting greens.

From the Course:

General Course Condition

What the Heat Can Do to Grass:

The heat is on and the battle to keep everything alive is certainly at the forefront of our work

at the moment.

We have been fortunate that there have been no drying winds to accompany the intense

sunlight that we have been experiencing for the past two weeks. On Monday of this week, the

intense sunlight during the day was enough to bleach the tips of a grass species that is renowned

for being a hardy tough turf. Temperatures are in the mid to high 20’s and will continue for

quite some time yet.

The tips of carpet grass have been bleached from intense sunlight

If the sunlight is strong enough to do this to such a hardy grass species, you can imagine

what it is capable of doing to all our other surfaces.

The saviour for most of our playable surfaces is that we spend a great deal from our

allocated budget to try and avoid such natural damage and where this photo was taken, the

area receives none of that. Yet with everything we are trying to do we are faced with difficult

situations trying to keep the unmanageable alive.

Fairways drying out due to poor irrigation coverage or thatch issues

Depth of thatch

Tony Jonas

Golf Course Superintendent

From our Caterer:

We are taking orders for whole and half Christmas hams that can be picked up any time before

12.00pm on Sunday 24th December 2017.

Prices are $80.00 for a half ham and $150.00 for a whole Ham.

Very good quality hams, dressed and ready for warming in your oven.

Please could you make a note that we will not be open on Monday’s from Monday 18th

December 2017 - re-opening on Monday’s from Monday 15th January 2018.

Peggy Thomas Newman

Café Forte

Rules Questions of the week: A fun Christmas rules scenario to get your head around!

What is Terry and Pete’s score for the hole? (Stroke play)

While at the first tee, before either player makes a stroke to begin their round, Terry asks Pete

what club he is going to use. Pete replies “three wood”. Terry then selects a driver from his bag

and makes a stroke. His ball comes to rest in the fairway. Pete then makes his first stroke from

the teeing ground and his ball is headed toward a lateral water hazard surrounded by extreme

rough. Unsure if he will be able to find his ball, Pete announces that he will play a provisional

ball. He hits the provisional ball towards the same area as the original and proceeds from the

teeing ground to begin his search.

Meanwhile, as Terry is preparing to make his next stroke from the fairway, he sets the club down

behind the ball, accidentally causing it to move. The ball rolls into a nearby divot. Unsure of

where to play his next shot from, he decides to play the ball as it lies in the divot. It heads

toward an area of rough near the green. Terry is uncertain about where his ball came to

rest. Intending to play a provisional, ball he drops another ball (Ball B) without announcing it as a

provisional ball. He plays Ball B onto the green.

Pete finds both his original ball and the provisional ball in shallow water inside the margin of the

water hazard. He picks up both balls and then decides to take relief from the hazard by dropping

a ball within two club-lengths of where the original ball last crossed the margin of the water

hazard. His next stroke comes to rest short of the green.

Terry finds his original ball (Ball A) in the rough but wishes to continue with Ball B. Uncertain of

the proper procedure, he decides to play both balls. He one-putts Ball B first and then takes two

strokes to hole Ball A. Pete then chips his ball onto the green, but in doing so, his club strikes the

ball twice. He removes the flagstick and places it on the fringe. His putt is offline and strikes the

flagstick. He then holes the ball with his next stroke from where it was stopped by the flagstick.

Answer: In Red

Terry = 7 strokes. Pete = 9 strokes

While at the first tee, before either player makes a stroke to begin their round, Terry asks Pete

what club he is going to use. Pete replies “three wood”. Since neither player had started their

round there is no penalty. Asking and giving such advice during a round is a breach of Rule 8.

And now on to the playing of the hole. There is a lot to keep track of, so we will go through the

hole player by player, rather than stroke by stroke.

Terry then selects a driver from his bag and makes a stroke. Terry lies 1. His ball comes to rest in

the fairway. As Terry is preparing to make his next stroke from the fairway, he sets the club down

behind the ball, accidentally causing it to move and roll into a nearby divot. Terry incurs one

penalty stroke for causing his ball to move other than by a stroke and he now lies two. Unsure of

where to play his next shot from, he decides to play the ball as it lies in the divot. Terry was

required to replace the moved ball on the original spot. By failing to replace the ball, Terry has

played from a wrong place which cost him a second penalty stroke in addition to the stroke made

from the divot. Terry now lies four. The shot from the divot heads toward an area of rough near

the green. Terry is uncertain about where his ball came to rest. Intending to play a provisional

ball, he drops another ball (Ball B) without announcing it as a provisional ball. He plays Ball B

onto the green. By failing to declare Ball B as a provisional, Terry has put another ball into play

under the penalty of stroke and distance and his original ball (Ball A) is lost and no longer in

play. Terry now lies six, with Ball B being the ball in play. Any further strokes with Ball A would

be strokes at a wrong ball. Terry finds his original ball (Ball A) in the rough but wishes to

continue with Ball B. Uncertain of the proper procedure, he decides to play both balls. Only in

stroke play can a player who is unsure of the proper procedure complete the hole with two balls.

The Rule will then decide which ball the player must score with. He one-putts Ball B first and

then takes two strokes to hole Ball A. When a player decides to invoke Rule 3-3 by playing two

balls, the order in which the balls are played is at the player’s option. Additionally, the proper

procedure is for the player to declare which ball he wishes to count before making a stroke at

either ball. Terry’s Ball B is holed in 7 strokes. As Terry had invoked Rule 3-3, he incurs no penalty

from playing a wrong ball (Ball A).

Pete then makes his first stroke from the teeing ground and his ball is headed toward a lateral

water hazard surrounded by extreme rough. Unsure if he will be able to find his ball, Pete

announces that he will play a provisional ball. Pete is allowed to play a provisional ball in this

circumstance because he believes his ball may be lost in the rough outside of the lateral water

hazard. If the only place that a ball could be lost is inside of a water hazard, a player is not

permitted to play a provisional ball. He hits the provisional ball into the same area as the original

and proceeds from the teeing ground to begin his search. Pete lies 1 with the original ball, but if

the provisional ball becomes the ball in play, he will lie three. Pete finds his original ball and the

provisional ball in shallow water inside the margin of the water hazard. He picks up both balls

and then decides to take relief from the hazard by dropping a ball within two club-lengths of

where the original ball last crossed the margin of the water hazard. Because Pete’s original ball

was neither lost outside of a water hazard or out of bounds, it remains the ball in play and the

provisional ball must be abandoned. This would also be true if his original ball had not been

found, but it was known or virtually certain that the ball was inside the hazard. The relief from

the hazard cost him one penalty stroke. Pete lies two after the drop. His next stroke comes to

rest short of the green. Pete now lies 3. Pete then chips his ball onto the green, but in doing so,

his club strikes the ball twice. In addition to the stroke made, Pete must add one penalty stroke

for his club striking the ball more than once during a stroke. Pete now lies 5. He removes the

flagstick and places it on the fringe. His putt is offline and strikes the flagstick. Pete incurs a two-

stroke penalty for his ball striking a removed flagstick plus the stroke made. He must play the

ball from where it was stopped. Pete now lies 8. He then holes the ball with his next stroke from

where it was stopped by the flagstick. Pete’s score for the hole is a 9.

Golf quote of the week: “Golf is a hard game to figure. One day you'll go out and slice it and

shank it, hit into all the traps and miss every green. The next day you go out and for no reason at

all you really stink!”