Date posted: 8 March 2019, 2:33pm
Welcome to Issue No. 2 of our quarterly newsletter.
Contents
- A look back at our Captains' Drive-In on Sunday 3rd March
- Cathy McGovern is hosting an evening on using the website on 14th March at 7.30pm
- Peter Bennett is looking for your help in updating the names of members who appear in our photo archive. He also includes some tips on Website use.
- Valerie O'Rourke writes about a memorial lunch in honour of Harry Robinson and the presentation of a memorial bench.
- Mobile phone masts
- Paddy May is on the course updating members on our greens, new bunker on the 1st and our winter programme.
- We have "minutes from the archive" which are direct quotes from a bygone era.
- Leo's lesson on Pitching includes a video instruction.
- Darina Heavey updates our membership on the success of the Transition Year Golf Competition
- Radisson Week
- There is information on the introduction of Golfsure for members in 2020
- Irish Restaurant Award 2019.
..........and finally we have a caption competition which we hope will engage.
Niall Keyes
Secretary Manager
Captains' Drive in
Captains Miriam McCullagh and Brendan Barrett didn't let the weather bother them on their Drive in day last Sunday. Hundreds turned out to see them drive off from the comfort of the Clubhouse due to the inclement weather. A wonderful meal followed with over 160 members, family and friends dining. We wish them both the very best for their year to come.
Our Website
Website Information Evening
The Communications Committee is organising a “a whistle stop tour” of the KGC website. We will demonstrate how you can use it e.g. to make tee time bookings, access smart card account details, access photo archives, find the latest news and much more. A quick talk on the use of WhatsApp groups by the club and the new Guidelines will also be given. If you use a device like an iphone, ipad or laptop and you have specific queries about using the KGC website or our WhatsApp groups on it, do bring it along. At the end of the presentation, we will do one-on-one assistance and help where we can; please charge your device before you arrive and bring along your KGC passwords.. This event will take place o Thursday 14th March at 7.30pm.
Photographs
Do you know how many photographs are on our website? There are two volumes. The History Books (which is a digital version of the Books in the lobby) and the Photo Archive. You’ll find both under The Club on the main menu bar. The digital version of the History Books contains 4,170 photographs, and the Photo Archive contains 12,186 photographs and 11 videos. This is a total of 16,356 photographs and 11 videos.
The Photo Archive is divided into years and specific events, e.g. 2007 > Paddy O’Boyle’s Retirement Party. It also contains a Search tool. Using Search, you can locate specific photographs. Search is fast and should return results within a few seconds. (The History Books don’t yet contain a Search function.)
So, let’s suppose you’re looking for photographs of our new captains, Miriam and Brendan. Type the following into the Search box:
miriam and mccullagh and brendan and barrett
No need to use capitals. But you must separate each search word with “and”. And the more search words you enter the more accurate the search.
Seven photos will pop up, all containing Miriam and Brendan.
Slideshows
Clicking on one of the images will generate a slide show, consisting of the 7 photos. Once the slideshow starts it will play on a continuous loop until stopped.
You can create a slideshow from any of the albums. So, suppose you select: 2018 > 180225 – 25 Feb 2018 Captains’ Drive-In and click on any of the photographs. It will create a slideshow consisting to 206 photographs.
Over the dark winter evenings, why not experiment with Search and enjoy.
We need a little help!
Search works on the captions attached to the photos. A caption might read: “Miriam McCullagh and Brendan Barrett”. If there’s no caption, Search has nothing to work on, and won’t find the photograph. Unfortunately, approximately, 50% of the photographs in the Archive have missing or partial captions.
If you would like to help (and we really do need your help) identifying individuals in photographs and assigning names, please contact either:
- Mags
- Peter Bennett
- Paraic Lavelle
- Julie Savage
You’ll be assigned a specific album to work on. Nothing too large. Maybe 15 or 20 photographs. All you need is a computer screen to view the photographs and a pencil and paper to write down the names. Just skip those that you don’t recognise.
Directory of Members and Committees
The Membership Committee! What do they do? Who’s on the Finance Committee? We’ve upgraded two areas of the website, where you can find the answers.
Under the Club on the main menu, the responsibilities of the various committee are listed.
If you select Directory of Members, you will see an entry for the Council and the Committees.
Peter Bennett
KGC Webmaster
Harry Robinson
On the 3rd February 2019 a bench next to the putting green was officially ‘Launched’ in honour of Harry and Margaret Robinson. Good friends and relatives turned out to celebrate the occasion, a bracing cold wind did not deter these hardy folks!
Our parents spent many a happy hour in their company golfing, socializing and suchlike. Margaret even winning the Open Invitation Week sponsored by Remy Martin (Sean Pigot) with her son-in-law Pat Smyth. They thoroughly enjoyed their respective captaincies and Harry was also very honoured to have held office in the roles of club President and Trustee.
We remember, as children, helping our parents prepare fancy dress costumes for the New Year’s Eve ball or listening to mum relate the dramatic endeavours of the Ladies Dinner, highly entertaining and it’s still going on.
Good old Killiney Golf Club, Harry and Margaret loved it and we do too. May it continue and give even more pleasure to all.
Valerie O’Rourke
Mobile Phone Mast
Over the next few days you may notice some works on the mobile phone masts on the left of the first fairway.
The Council received notice in December from ["Three Ireland"] that due to their merger with O2 they wished to decommission one of their masts.
The Council have been negotiating with Three but as the mast in question is relatively weak in terms of technology the decision has been made to remove it completely.
Three will be honouring their contract and the Club will receive income up to the December of this year.
The Council have engaged with a company that specialises in the operation of mobile phone masts and their potential users and will seek to create additional income if possible.
Course Notes
What a difference a year makes. We have just had our mildest winter in years with temperatures in February hitting the mid teens. This time last year we were in the middle of the ‘beast from the east’.
Unfortunately, the warm weather, along with the high humidity, is perfect for disease to get hold on our greens. Added to this, was the loss of some of the contact fungicides due to new regulations. Our agronomist visited in January and was happy with what he saw but was warning that, even with best practice, it is going to be virtually impossible to be disease free all the time.
We have carried out the double coring and scarifying of our greens in January. This is the fourth year that we have done this and means that there will be no more disruption to our greens until January next year. Once spring comes all the current work will be rewarded with good surfaces for the playing season. The overseeding will be done earlier with a new machine that causes very little disruption to the surface.
Pitch marks!!
This is another disease that affects our greens and is completely manmade. It is beyond me why golfers do not repair their pitch marks, a trait that is not only confined to Killiney, but is a problem all over the world. I feel that if everybody repaired one pitch mark on arriving at a green, even if not theirs, the problem would be solved but alas that is not how it is. So, with this in mind we have decided to do a take on ‘sponsor a green’ and have attached a green to everybody according to the first letter of their surname. The list is on the notice board opposite the men’s locker room. The idea is that, on the green you are attached to, you would make an extra effort to repair multiple pitch marks. This does not excuse you from repairing your mark on other greens. REPAIR YOUR PITCHMARKS and leave the course the way you would like to find it.
OK my rant over back to the course.
Our fairways are being vertidrained and sanded currently. The Bunker on the first has the sports bond done and will have sand in this week. The men’s thirteenth tee in being levelled and re-sodded. Some of the more observant of you will have noticed the filling in of the bunker behind the ninth green along the extension to the back of the men’s third tee. The tee approaches to the sixth are being upgraded so we can play from this tee all year round going forward. The sodded areas left of the ninth have taken well and are now in play.
Bunker on 1st Green
Over the last few months we have being looking at changing the hole indices to reflect more closely how the course plays. The ladies indices synchronised well with the hole difficulty but the men’s were a different story. All will be revealed before we return to our summer tees. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all involved but especially our Vice Captain Brendan Seaver who has done trojan work. I look forward to the discussions on the 19th hole!!!
Finally, a reminder to everyone that if a ball is hit over our boundaries and into a residential area it is imperative that it is reported to the office at the earliest opportunity. The areas most at risk for this are right of 2nd/11th, left of 6th/15th, left of Practice area along with any ball entering the car park.
Happy Golfing,
Paddy May
Course Convenor
Mintues from the Archive
1907 - I suggest a barometer- one of the kind that could not be tapped to death. If it were placed in an accessible position it might save a wetting in doubtful cases.
Leo's Lessons
Pitch shot
This a shot that typically spends more time in the air instead of rolling along the ground, normally from 30 - 80 yards from the pin. A Chip Shot on the other hand spends very little time in the air and runs a lot when it lands. We need to know what shot we are attempting, as the set up and swing type for a chip shot versus a pitch shot are quite different. So be sure of what shot you are actually attempting before you take your set up!!! You can see my chipping tip back on the main page!
Set up for a pitch
Remember you want the ball to get into the air quite quickly in a pitch shot, so we make sure the ball is centred in our stance. I often see a big flaw in something as simple as finding the centre of your stance so make sure the centre of your stance means the ball is located between your HEELS not your TOES!! This sounds simple but because most people stand open (aim left) when playing a pitch this will bring the ball position forward if positioned between the toes. If you are someone who stands open to your pitch shot I would suggest you use your STERNUM (centre of chest) to locate the ball beneath, because directly under your sternum is the lowest point of your swing arc which means you will bottom out at the base of the ball each time. This should be the case for any short iron shot you play so you hit down on your irons at impact (VIP).
The next thing we do in our set up is narrow our stance to about half the width of our normal stance. The worst thing you can do for a pitch shot is stand very wide as this restricts leg movement and turn which can cause duff's and blades! It is common to have a little more weight on your front foot (foot closest to target) at address to increase your chances of a clean contact, as leaning forward will also move your sternum forward (over/past the ball) which is a positive thing.
Finally, people often ask should you go down the grip?? Well that's entirely up to you, but remember whatever you choose you must always do the same thing each time, because shortening the club will decrease distance and so will affect your ability to control how far the ball flies if you keep changing!!
Pitch swing
There are 3 main swing points to note when hitting your pitch shot,
Hinge your wrists early in the back swing (try to create an L shape between your club and forearm by hinging your wrist 90 degrees).
Swing at a slower rhythm and a rhythm that you can easily repeat and so control the backswing.
Make sure you turn to face your target at the finish. DON'T KEEP YOUR HEAD DOWN!!!!!
To view Leo's Video Lessons please click here
Transition Year Golf
Our Killiney Juniors, who are currently in Transition Year in school, are very busy each month since last September. They are involved in a Transition Year Golf competition which was originally set up by Dun Laoghaire GC (they donated the TY Cup). Killiney are the current holders having won the 2017/2018 season!
This year the Killiney team, include both boys and girls, is being led by Caroline McNamara Finlay and she is having a great run in the competition so far. Caroline is doing super work getting the TY Students to take part and we are in the lead again this year!
The Clubs participating this year are Dun Laoghaire, Delgany, Greystones, Powerscourt and Killiney and this gives our juniors terrific opportunity to engage in competitive golf each month during the winter months. We get points for turning up, so all TY players are welcome!
So, the Leader board after round 3
Killiney 32
Delgany 30
Greystones 26
Powerscourt 20
DLGC
Their next outing is in Greystones - Date in March to be confirmed.
Delgany on the 11th April Tee Time 9-10.
The Final will be held in Killiney on Monday the 20th May Tee time9-10;
Radisson Week
The Mixed Foursomes in Killiney Golf Club is the longest running Foursomes Competition in Ireland, the first being held 49 years ago in 1970.
So roll on 2020 so we can celebrate our 50 years.
It is again this year for the fourth year running very generously sponsored by St Helens Radisson Blu Hotel.
It is open to mixed pairs from all Clubs, the maximum combined handicap allowed is 34. If your combined is in excess of that you will be cut to 34.
64 pairs play for 32 places on the opening day and so on during the week.
The final is held on the Friday followed by a Gala Dinner and entertainment.
For Killiney Members there is a qualifying day on Sunday April 14th and only for those that are unavailable on that day due to Playing, Managing or Caddying for Killiney elsewhere there is a special qualifying day on Wednesday afternoon April 10th.
The 7 top scoring pairs qualify to play in the Radisson Week and we then have a reserve list.
On the last day after the Finalists go out at 3pm we have a Consolation Competition for those who were unlucky not to progress during the week. In a change this year we are going to invite any pairings that are on our reserve list that did not get a time slot on the Sunday to play in the Consolation Competition.
I am delighted to say the invitations and entry forms only went out last week and we already have 36 confirmed entries. A fantastic response, that proves how very popular this Competition has continued to be over the years.
Now is the time to save the dates in your diary, to organise a partner for the qualifiers and put together a table for the Gala Dinner. There is casual dining in the Bar all week so remember to come up and join in the great atmosphere in the Club each evening.
Michael P Purcell
Golfsure Insurance
Applications are now being accepted to join or renew the Golfsure insurance policy which comes into effect on the 1st April 2019.
The price of the product is €25 and is really excellent value.
Please note that, following a decision of Council at their recent monthly meeting, Golfsure will be included in all playing members subscription invoices in 2020.
If you wish to avail of the policy, for the period 1st April 2019 to 31st March 2020, please pay in one of the following ways:
- Bank Transfer, please use your name or member number so we can identify your payment.
- Cheque payable to Killiney Golf Club
- Cash to Mags in the Office
- Debit Card through Bar or Call Mags in the office
Check this out
Caption Competition
This Issues Caption Competition is of Robbie the Rat. The winner will recieve a voucher for Sunday Lunch for two with House wine. Entries to secretary@killineygolfclub.ie
Mark Clarke
Congratulations to Mark Clarke and his team for being nominated for the Irish Restaurant Awards for 2019. This is the third year in succession and fingers crossed that Mark can go even further in the competition this year.
