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June 2023

Captains Desk

From your Club Captain, Men's Captain and Women's Captain...

Our Irrigation Project understandably dictates our course / competition status for the next few months. Update email on 8 June 2023 from Greens Committee outlined potential for GA course to return briefly. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case with Holes 4 & 5 still closed. (see Greens Committee news below). But that will not deter our annual Club Championships proceeding with full fields evident in the Fixture. Match Committee & our Pro have conferred and opened up a couple of extra flights to accommodate those who were not quick enough to book. We have listened to player feedback and also introduced using the 10th as Tee Off for the Back 9. Course will play out as 8 / 10 hole split with MiScore listing the correct scorecard Holes as per Temp Irrigation Course 1 that we have been using. We ask that players be patient upon crossing over from the Front 9 to the 10th (temp Hole 9) as there may be delays. Protocol still remains that group with allotted Tee time have right of way over players crossing over early. Play well! Hopefully your name will get a mention in the July CourseSide achiever's column! Regardless - have FUN!

Conditions of Play available on the website here.

There have been some fantastic members achievements this month . As much as we try to be across all the great things happening at our course and for members, things may happen that we are unaware of, so please remember to get photos and provide detail to captain@darwingolfclub.com.au for inclusion in this newsletter. No photos, but big 'Shout Out' to our victorious DGC members who played in the Palmerston Open last week. CONGRATULATONS!

Ladies Gross winner: Skye Lampton Ladies Nett winner: Val Moon

Junior Girls Nett winner: Allegra DiSomma Boys Nett winner: Rhys Trembath (dual DGC /PGC member)

+ Another great long weekend of golf courtesy of Brendan Cunningham sponsoring the BTC Shootout

Winners :

Day 1 - Craig Curby & Domenic Miraglia Day 2 - Joe Kelly & Matt Cameron Day 3 - Shane Crowley & Kurt Watts

A number of hole in ones were achieved since May's newsletter, which is a fantastic honour to hold. Thank you to Tim Mackenzie from Elders for sponsoring. It is a timely reminder that the Elders Jackpot does not apply to our temporary holes or internal group competitions. We encourage everyone to view the full Hole in One Terms and Conditions on our members website (must be logged in and in the members home section), under Documents. The Jackpot is currently $300.

Great news in the President's broadcast last week that the DGC competition prize money will be increased as of 1 July 2023. Normal competitions will go from $55 to $80 and Monthly Medal from $75 to $100. Pro Pin will increase from $75 to $125.

Social golf bookings have currently been removed from online booking sheet and members and visitors will need to call the Pro Shop for these bookings. This is due to the Irrigation crew often requiring to close a hole or two during social play, and we cannot guarantee a consistent 9 holes or full 18 holes. The Pro Shop is able to ensure this is communicated for social bookings before they come down to play, so that there is some understanding before arriving at the course.

May the golf gods be with you all for the Club Championships and we look forward to seeing some fantastic results!

Around the Greens

From your Director of Greens and Course Superintendent...

The course is looking great as it changes from the Wet season to the Dry and the areas off the fairways start to dry out. This will be the last time we have such extremes of conditions as next season's change, we will be utilising the new irrigation system to minimise the severity of some of the dryer areas of the course. Thank you to the PT team for their tireless effort to keep the course looking in such great condition after enduring a disease on the greens followed by major failures in the course's existing irrigation system. A special mention to Todd for the great work he did on repairing the leak in the middle of hole 14 and having this back in play so quickly and looking great.

There was unfortunately a hold up in getting the necessary parts to finish holes 4 and 5 by the Club Championships which means that our Temporary Course 1 that we are playing now, will remain in place till after the Club Champs. The contractors will then be moving to hole 6 and 7. This will be a long transition from playing hole 5 then making your way to hole 8 so please be considerate of the contractors when moving around these holes and fellow golfers. At this stage the contractors are moving along with the project as planned and still working to have the new system in place by the end of October. The committee has worked extremely hard to ensure that the members have a full 18-hole course available to play during this time and we appreciate everyone's patience during this project as it will benefit the course for decades to come.

As the repairs continue on the greens can we please ask that members minimise how much they are walking over areas that are growing back in, these are vulnerable areas and the less traffic on them the better to heal.

Superintendents Course Report

Now the dry season is officially here, all roughs have slowly turned, and irrigation is in full swing. How quickly things turn! We have had 5 major irrigation repairs to existing system this month in which I have had to shut down the whole course water wise due to pump errors , as there are no isolation valves in system which causes a problem every time there's an issue .With the new system there will be sections I can isolate if there is an issue. Our greens have come back nicely after the ERI(Ectotrophic root infecting) disease ,we are plugging out areas weekly to fill in any turf loss .I had a microbiology test done by the lab recently and it came back very low in microbial activity, probably after a flushing wet season, so I have embraced a root enhancing microbial spray program, we will be applying beneficial fungi /microbes every 3 weeks and drenching in,( so please be patient if irrigation is on at any given time ) for the dry season to strengthen our profile prior to the wet to eliminate or minimizing the chance of attracting any ERI diseases .With a full golfing calendar over next few months our focus is consistency on green speed, I will endeavour to run green speeds at 10- 11 stimped pending plant health, club champs this week and course prep has been great with some nice definition from course proper to roughs, good luck to all participants . The irrigation crew are making good progress with all mains in 4/5 and laterals in on Hole 4. This is a massive project and a credit to the club on making the decision to go to the next level. Word is we will install a capillary concrete bunker drainage system on the 8th this coming season when this hole is shut down for irrigation works, similar to 14 which worked a treat last wet. Fairways have all been sprayed with herbicide for crow's foot weed and primo growth retardant for a tight sword and precision ball lie. We will go in with mini tynes solid after club champs and roll, this will give greens some much needed aeration after constant cutting and rolling over last month, this will not have an effect on the putting surface at all. Spot spraying and manual hand weeding of a hybrid crows foot in greens is continual also. Here's to some great golf and hoping you are all enjoying the lovely playing conditions.

Happy golfing!

Damon Quigley Course Superintendent DGC

Members Achievements

Congratulations to all the members who made the trip to Katherine Open in May and had some great results, in particular:

Skye Lampton - Women's Champion and A Grade Gross winner
Sian France - Overall Women's Nett winner (plus B Grade Gross & Nett winner)

With a field of 26 Ladies, 17 of them were DGC members! The Men's field was 57 with 9 of them DGC members. Check out the full results and pictures on the Katherine Golf Club Facebook page.

The inaugural Kerri Crowley Memorial Day was held on Sunday 28 May 2023 as a 4BBB competition to encourage intergenerational participation. 
Congratulations to winners Carol Gorst and her son Leigh Mauger with a
great round of 44 points, presented with the trophy by Shane Crowley. 

Congratulations to Rose Aldridge for getting a hole in one on temporary hole 14S during NTSWGA competition on Tuesday 23 May 2023. Rose wins the $100 DGC prize.

Congratulations to Cairns Golf Club visitor Peter Coates who got a hole in one on hole 11 on Saturday 27 May 2023. Peter takes home the $1,200 Elders Jackpot prize.

Rules Education

Out of Bounds posts

Out of Bounds posts, identified by white posts with black top, are defined as Boundary Objects in accordance with the R&A Rules.

This means that they are to be treated as immovable objects, even if they are movable, and free relief is not allowed.

This means...

You do not get free relief from OOB posts. The only markers/posts you are allowed free relief from at DGC are listed below, in accordance with our local rule that defines them as immovable obstructions (note this is not the same at all courses so check local rules)

Distance markers (white, blue and red posts) for lie of the ball, swing or stance interference only
Penalty area markers (red and yellow) for lie of the ball, swing and stance interference only if your ball is not in the penalty area. If your ball is in the penalty area, which includes any part of the ball touching the outside line of the markers at ground level, the local rule does not apply and you only have the penalty area relief options.

You cannot remove the post to play your ball or you will receive the General Penalty (2 strokes) in accordance with Rule 8.1a. There is one saving grace... If you do happen to remove an Out of Bounds post there is no penalty if before making the stroke you restore the post to its original position. If the post cannot be restored to its original position, you will receive the General Penalty (2 strokes) in accordance with Rule 8.1c

Amy Griesbach
Golf Australia Rules Official - Level 2

RULES EDUCATION

If you are interested in learning more about the rules of golf, follow GolfRules Questions on Facebook, Instagram or YouTube.

Led by David Blake (Blakey) who is well known in the industry and is based in Australia. The content has some great videos and podcasts to help break down and explain the complexity of the rules.

Upcoming Events

17 - 18 & 24 - 25 June 2023 * Club Championships* Sponsored by Airnorth
14 July 2023 * Survivor Golf Event
28 - 30 July 2023 * Hahn Superdry Darwin Open * Sponsored by Lion Nathan
24 - 27 August 2023 * NT Classic * Golf Australia event

Darwin Golf Club: Links Road, Marrara, NT 0812
T: +61 8 8927 1322
W: www.darwingolfclub.com.au