News Archive

West Gippsland Veteran Golfers Association

Enjoy a round of 18 holes each fortnight at all the stunning courses around West Gippsland, followed by lunch and great social experience.
To be a member of the West Gippsland Veteran Golfers Association Inc, a golfer must be 55 years or older and be a member of a West Gippsland Golf Club and have an Australian handicap.

Refreshments are available at each venue.

Partner clubs:  
Garfield Golf Club, Deep Creek Golf Club, Yallourn Golf Club, Morwell Golf Club, Moe Golf Club, Berwick Montuna Golf Club, Trafalgar Golf Club, Leongatha Golf Club, Traralgon Golf Club

To register please contact Peter Newton- Baarth54@gmail.com or 0438 062 245

2023 Event Schedule: 
Location Event/Details Date
Yallourn Stableford 08:30 Shotgun 16-Jan-23
Morwell Stableford 08:30 Shotgun 31-Jan-23
Leongatha 09:30 West vs South 13-Feb-23
Berwick Montuna Stableford 08:30 Shotgun 20-Feb-23
Garfield Stableford 08:30 Shotgun 06-Mar-23
Hamilton 4BBB Stroke Championship 20 & 21 March 20-Mar-23
Yallourn Eastern Zone Challenge 9:30 Shotgun 03-Apr-23
Trafalgar Stableford 08:30 Shotgun 17-Apr-23
Barham Country Championship May 8 & 9 08-May-23
Traralgon Stableford 09:00 Shotgun 15-May-23
Moe Championship A Stroke B & C Stableford- 09:00 Shotgun 11-Sep-23
TBA Teams Event Sept 18 & 19 18-Sep-23
Mirboo North 4BBB Stableford- 08:30 Shotgun Start 02-Oct-23
Drouin Stableford 08:30 Shotgun 16-Oct-23
Warragul State Championship Oct 23 & 24 23-Oct-23
Traralgon 9:30 West v East 06-Nov-23
Canberra AVGU Championship 13-Nov-23
Deep Creek Stableford 08:30 Shotgun & AGM 20-Nov-23
Warragul Stableford 08:30 Shotgun 11-Dec-23

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Captains Update

Match Play Finals

This Saturday sees the Finals of the Match Play.  Scratch and A Grade will play over 36 holes, while B & C Grade will play over 18 holes.  The matches consist of Scratch Matt Long v Ryan Hammond, A Grade Dermott Berkhout v Kevin Thorpe, B Grade Eddy Van Der Plight v Glenn Bayne and C Grade Michael Duddy v Rob Christie.

Drouin/Garfield Challenge

Last Saturday’s Drouin/Garfield Challenge was postponed due to hot weather.  A new date will be advised in the coming future.

Club Championships

Saturday 4^th of February will be the start of the Men’s Club Championship and will continue through the following 2 Saturday’s.  The Championships include Scratch & Handicap winners for A,B,C and D Grades as well as a Senior Championship for all members 55 years old and over and a Junior Championship for all members under 21 years old.  Grades for the Championships are as follows;

A Grade 9 or Lower

B Grade 10 – 15

C Grade 16 – 21

D Grade 22 or Higher

Master Medalist

Saturday 4^th of February also sees the playing of the Master Medalist for 2022.  All Monthly Medalists that are currently members are eligible for the Master Medal.  Members eligible are Ken Cooper, Lucas Green, Peter Morris, Duart Perrin, Chris Stoker, Kevin O’Brien, Tristan Ashby, Benny Wyatt, Rob Brew & Nick Rowe.

Leanne Bambridge Memorial Day

The Leanne Bambridge Memorial Day, scheduled for February 3^rd has been postponed.  We will inform members as soon as a new date is finalized.

Garfield Plate

We had three teams represent Drouin at the recent Garfield Plate.  Our team of Steve Henning, Banjo Vincent, Connor Jeffries and Mark Klaver finished runner up, 1 point behind eventual winners Churchill Monash.

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Thursday Seniors Competition is Back! 8am Rolling Start

Starting this Thursday the 19th of January the popular 9 hole over 55s competition is back, offering senior members a fun social 9 hole competition that can be enjoyed weekly.

Players are asked to arrive at 8am for a rolling start off two tees, the competition will have a weekly handicap worked out by taking shots off previous winners!

1st place- 3 balls (valued at $15) 

2nd place- 2 balls (valued at $10) 

3rd place- 1 ball (valued at $5) 

Bookings encouraged- Book using members portal online

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Captains Report- January 2023

Drouin Garfield Challenge

We are still looking for a few more players for the Drouin Garfield Challenge, which is being held at Garfield on Saturday 14^th February.  If interested please place your name on the list on the notice board or contact me directly.

 

Plates

There are some upcoming Plate days in January and February.  Thanks to all the members who have participated in these events, we are still looking for a few more players to field teams for these days.  Upcoming plates are:

January 15^th Mirboo North

January 22^nd Trafalgar

February 5^th Traralgon

February 5^th Woorayl

February 12^th Foster

 

Match Play Championships

Thanks to all the members who have played their Match Play rounds, a reminder that all Semi Final matches must be completed by January 20^th.  The Finals will be played on Saturday January 21^st, with Scratch & A Grade competing over 36 holes teeing off at 7:27 for the morning session and 12:06 for the afternoon.  B and C Grades will compete over 18 holes teeing of at 11:57.

 

Club Championships

The 2023 Men’s Club Championships will be contested over the first three Saturdays in February.  Grades for the Championships are as follows, A Grade 9 or lower, B Grade 10-15, C Grade 16-21 and D Grade 22 or higher.  Your daily handicap as of the first round of the Championships will determine the Grade in which you will play.  In addition to the Championships a daily stroke event will also be conducted on these 3 days with handicap and conditions the same as a normal daily event.

 

Master Medal

The playoff for the Master Medal will be held on Saturday 4^th February.  The field for this event consists of the 11 Monthly Medalist from 2022 which are; Ken Cooper, Ray Fish, Lucas Green, Peter Morris, Duart Perrin, Chris Stoker, Kevin O’Brien, Tristan Ashby, Benny Wyatt, Rob Brew & Nick Rowe.  The lowest net score from these players will win the 2022 Master Medalist.

 

MiScore

The first competition using the new MiScore system will be Wednesday’s Men’s Competition on January 11^th.  Members who haven’t downloaded the App may still use a card similar to the current one.  To enter this and future competitions, bookings must be made using the MiClub booking system.

Preferred Lies & Local Rules

Thanks to some warm and dry weather we have been able to remove the need for Preferred Lies.  With the introduction of the new scoring system, our local rules are now available on the MiScore App and can be easily accessed while playing out on the course.

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and I look forward to seeing you all out on the course.

 

Glenn Robinson

Captain

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December Course Report

Dear members

We finally saw some improvement in the weather conditions however considering it was December it was still far from normal conditions for this time of year. Temperatures remained well below average up until the Christmas period where it was only then when we finally reached 30 degrees. The past week has been much more consistent with little rain, very warm temperatures and my stress levels increasing to coincide with the sudden change of weather.  Getting hot weather between Christmas and the New year is always difficult as the public holidays see everyone away from the course for many days. Thankfully we got through it relatively unscathed and returning to more normal staff conditions is always welcome past the New Year break.

GREENS

Without a doubt the most positive outcome of the cooler weather prior to Christmas has been our ability to maintain the putting surfaces which up until December 22^nd had not required any irrigation at all. Only in the past week have we seen the sprinklers turned on regularly which ironically has me now pleading for rain. This has seen a small drop off in green speeds due to applying more water while additionally not cutting and/or rolling as frequently to relieve stress on the plant.

We were able to undertake a few cultural practices throughout the month but we were limited due to a number of golfing days taking precedence over our maintenance program which is always a juggling act through the busier times of the year and lots of golfers are on the course. It is my hope that we will be able to give the greens a dusting of sand and a verti cut within the first couple of weeks in January.

With the forecasted hot conditions the greens received a granular fertiliser application just prior to  Christmas to help with their heath and disease tolerance while also giving myself some piece of mind while the many public holidays took place. This also allowed me to focus more on applying the correct amounts of water (hand watering) during this period knowing the grass was getting the required nutrients over a more extended period.

My number one focus during the summer period is to produce healthy greens and so far we are on track. To see their current state after a week of dry and very hot conditions is really pleasing and we have them in a good place heading into the middle of summer.

FAIRWAYS/TEES/SURROUNDS

The current areas negatively affected are our santa ana surfaces which have yet to take off completely into their dense surface that we would normally see over the new year period. This by no means indicates they are in bad shape and they are still playing and performing really nicely, but compared to normal years they are yet to be at their typical best.

We have seen the emergence of poa (winter grass) into these surfaces due to the wetter/cooler conditions which typically would have died off by Christmas. Its my hope that it will be mostly gone by late January with the increase in temperatures to which we will then apply a pre-emergent to hopefully eradicate it once temperatures cool off. We also applied a fertiliser just before Christmas at a slightly higher rate than normal to try and give the grass a bit of help in developing the density we would hope for. With conditions now expected to improve I fully expect our fairways to be primed early into 2023.

On the flip side our cool season tees and surrounds benefited greatly from the wetter conditions up until Christmas however there has been a noticeable drop off in some of these areas in the past week as the temperature has spiked. The surrounds especially now becomes a juggling act to try and keep these areas healthy as they require more water than the greens need. Because the greens are always the number one priority the surrounds don’t get the required amount of water when conditions get hot which does see them suffer. Rainfall is certainly our friend at any time during this period of the year.

ROUGH

There have been few days over the past month where the rough mower and/or slasher have not been out on the course as we attempt to keep up with its rapid growth. Where our time was reduced on areas such as fairways and greens this past month it was quickly turned to this area of the course and keeping up has continued to be a real challenge. I can say that as of December 29^th we have most of the course now cut to a respectable height which is one less stress to worry about.

The course as a whole is now in great shape and January is typically the month where it’s at its very best. I hope you all have a great holiday period that’s filled with a few games of golf at Drouin and that the New Year brings more of the same.

Ryan Hammond

DG&CC Course Superintendent.

 

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