Date posted: 12 February 2018, 12:15pm

Dear Fellow Members,

It has been brought to my attention and I'm sure many of you have noticed that fresh divots are being taken from some of our tees that are currently out of play. At this time of year due to weather conditions and poor growth divot repair takes months to fully recover. Where mats are present it is mandatory to play from the mats and no play practice or otherwise is allowed from the tees.

Our greenkeeping staff work tirelessly in presenting the course in the best possible shape so we can enjoy our pastime. As members we can help by following a few simple rules. These are not rules of golf but are covered under the etiquettes section in the rule book. Like all good etiquette or manners these 'rules' are mostly common sense especially if one strives to leave the course as one would like to find it.

Repair your pitch marks

If everyone strived to repair one pitch mark on entering a green even if not their own there wouldn't be any. Please click on this link to show how to repair a pitch mark.

Repair your divots

There is nothing more frustrating then to hit a good drive and find your ball sitting in someone else's divot. If you take an intact sod, please replace as this will achieve the quickest recovery. If your divot fragments, please use the sand mix provided. Please click on the following link to show recommended best practice in repairing a divot. 

Rake the bunker

Very few of us are happy to be in a bunker. However, to find yourself in a footprint or against a lump of sand from it being poorly raked makes the shot impossible. Click on the following link to show the correct way to rake a bunker. 

Regarding our new bunkers it is going to take some time for the sand to compact so when raking these try not to dig deep into sand and just smooth the surface. This will speed up the compaction process and make for more consistent playing conditions.

Finally, Killiney Golf club rules do not permit practice on our course. As a concession the rules allow if you are playing alone to play 2 balls but other than from the tee these should not be played from the same position on every shot. On this note when one is taking a practice swing before ones shot it is not necessary to take a divot and should be avoided.

All of the above is something that every golfer knows but unfortunately few seem to carry out.

Please read the above carefully, checking out the links, and as we enter a new season of golf let's all make a new year's resolution to REPAIR OUR PITCHMARKS, REPLACE OUR DIVOTS, RAKE OUR BUNKERS.

Thank you for your time in reading this.

Paddy May Course Convener