8th June 2023
News Archive
8th June 2023
The Sebel Mandurah Amateur Open 2023 – Conditions of Play and Mitournament Registration.
Please find below Conditions of Play for Mandurah Amateur Open 2023:
Please find below the link to view tournament through Mitournament:
https://www.mitournament.com:443/tournament/viewTournament?tournamentId=197403
7th June 2023
Women’s Metro Pennants for 2023
Division 3
Although there were only four pennant games to play in Division 3 this year the games were at some of the most prestigious courses in WA. Namely Cottesloe, Joondalup, Nedlands and WAGC, with a bye at Mandurah.
Consequently we met some very tough competition. A big thank you to the dedicated members of our team who were available every game and made the pennant season a priority. Sadly, despite the short season, we struggled each week to fill the seven places. After much coercing this resulted in six different people filling in over the four weeks, which is not quite the same as having 7 or 8 permanent, dedicated team members. However, thank you to these players and also a special thank you to Chris Ryan who filled in for us twice and took on the No. 1 position.
In our thankyous let’s not forget the 11 invaluable caddies, 6 of them being our husbands. And the 3 caddies who agreed to go reserve, even though they were hoping they didn’t have to play. Caddying is good fun and something our newer players should consider as it would greatly benefit their own game.
In terms of winning we didn’t have a good season. Our lowest player was a 14 handicapper, which wasn’t quite strong enough at no. 1 and 2 positions. Had we had the luxury of playing the team further down the order I think the result would have been very different. However, even though we were often outclassed it didn’t stop every player doing their utmost to win, and that’s all we can ask.
Age and health issues are having an impact on lady golfers wanting to play pennants. Going forward we need some of the newer up and coming players and some of the Outer Suburban Pennant players to step up and work on their games so they can confidently have a go at Metro pennants.
In all likelihood we will be relegated to Division 4 next year, which is a handicapped division, as opposed to being “off the stick”. The rules for using a motorised cart in that division do not require a specialist’s certificate, exemption letter etc. so I would expect this would make pennants more attractive to some players.
Playing pennants and representing your club is an honour and something to be proud of. Sure we have to get up early and travel, but we have the privilege of playing beautiful courses for free and the experience of being part of a pennant team.
In my endeavours to get players to fill in I discovered confidence is the biggest factor that is holding people back from “putting themselves on the line”. A lot of the “fears” people face in golf, for example getting out of bunkers, come down to purely the right technique. We have a good professional coach in Tappie and I would urge anyone who lacks confidence with different aspects of the game to face up to them and get it sorted, rather than avoiding the issue.
Last year I ran pre-season practice sessions for the Outer Suburban Pennant squad, with Tappie involved. Attendance and enthusiasm was very good and I believe beneficial. This year Karen Johnson continued with OSP pre-season practice, which again was very well received.
I ran the same practice sessions for the Metro Pennant players, who elected not to have professional coaching involved. Those that attended also gained benefit from them. But next year I would like to see a bigger squad involved from the beginning. The sessions are purely on practicing the short game. I personally believe Tappie should be involved to ensure you’re practicing the right, not the wrong, way.
Ladies we can and need to make MCC competitive again in women’s pennants and in my opinion the reason we are not competitive enough can generally be put down to the short game. This is due to the nature of our course, where putting is possible from almost everywhere and there’s always an out away from the bunkers. With kikuyu courses this is not the case and as a result our opposition players develop very good short games, whereas a lot of our players do not. The good news is that this is fixable and just a matter of time and effort. So to those amongst you who are interested in becoming good pennant players this is the time to start developing those skills.
Fran Harris, Ladies’ Metro Pennant Captain
31st May 2023
Winter Course Care – Wednesday 31 May 2023
Dear Members,
The cold and wet winter weather is on its way, some may say it is already here!
With the grass going dormant, the detrimental effects wear has on the course is significant with the main cause of this being traffic movement. All golfers impact on the condition of the course, both members and non-members and we currently have new signage arriving for all club hired golf carts to assist instructing non-members.
The reality is that over 80% of our winter rounds are played by members. Ensuring we, the members, adhere to the winter course protection policy will result in the course being presented in the best possible condition throughout the winter period, and of course, this is totally within our control.
There is the obvious common sense to ensue you avoid wet or worn areas and we request you to do this, but we ask you to adhere to the following:
- You may not take pull buggies within 3m of a green. The fringes are high traffic and delicate areas. Please protect them.
- All cart signs, ropes or blue lines must be adhered to.
- Carts may not be driven within 7m of a green and never between a greenside bunker and green.
- PRIVATE MEMBER OWNED CARTS- No more than two privately owned carts per group. Please share carts to ensure we reduce the amount of traffic on the course over the winter period.
These rules will be in effect from the 1st June 2023 until the completion of the Spring Course Renovation.
Please also ensure that general course care etiquette’s are followed. With dormant grass, pitch marks and divots will take longer to recover and therefore, it is imperative members repair these. If we want the course in fantastic condition please also repair any other pitch marks and divots you see on the course.
If there is any member where these regulations impact their ability to play (e.g. blue lines are too far away from the green making access difficult), then please make an appointment with our General Manager Grant to discuss so we can consider potential exemptions. Without an exemption we expect all members to adhere to the above regulations.
With all courtesies, it is in the best interest of all members if we also remind our playing partners to do the same.
Regards
Dean Stewart, Greens Chair
31 May 2023
31st May 2023
