Blacklion GC - Newsletter #2 May 2018

Blacklion Golf Club

Newsletter 2 May 2018

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K E E P I N G O U R M E M B E R S U P TO DAT E C A P TA I N S ’ WO R D S - C O U R S E C O R N E R - L A D I E S C O R N E R - R E S U LT S INTERCLUB COMPETITIONS - COMPETITIONS - HANDICAPS

Est. 1962

Blacklion Golf Club Newsletter #2

WE HAVE A COUPLE OF GAA SUPPORTING CLASSICS PLANNED ON BLACKLION GC. THE BELCOO GAA ON APRIL 21ST, KINAWLEY ON MAY 12TH, SHANNON GAELS ON SAT 26TH AND ON THE 16TH OF JUNE, WE SUPPORT THE ST. COLUMBAN’S BELCOO PRIMARY CLASSIC.

May - Captains’ Words.

APRIL REVIEW: Once again the weather has played havoc with our plans to start draining the course but this will be undertaken as soon as the conditions improve. Drainage stones as well as the sand for hollow-tining the greens has already arrived.

Then hollow-tining should be completed in the next week or two. Plans to tidy up the area to the left hand side of the 17th Tee box has been deferred to the back end of the year as we are now in the bird nesting season. The swallows have already put in an appearance around the sheds During the wet period significant repairs have been carried out to the fairway mower and Kubota tractor. Replacement cutting cylinders and groomers have also been purchased for the greens mower and these will be fitted after the sanded greens have settled in. Our appreciation goes to Greens Convenor Francis O’Reilly and Treasurer Kevin McElhatton who spent some considerable time sourcing the necessary parts at a fraction of the costs that we were quoted last January.

In house, the kitchen has been painted and deep cleaned in preparation of the annual inspection and again thanks to Dolores and Vice-Captain Michael McHugh and Liam McMorrow for their time and efforts.

During the winter period the greens staff have pressure washed the clubhouse surroundings and commenced painting around the clubhouse as well as cleaning up the car-park.

Despite the poor weather, there has been a good turn-out for club competitions but unfortunately we did not receive too many visitors over the Easter period. Hopefully this will improve with the weather!

The Fixtures booklet has now been completed and is available in the Men’s and Ladies locker rooms. Again thanks to our many loyal sponsors who have supported us through their contributions to the booklet.

Noel Melanaphy Club Captain 2018

Club News - Inter Club Competitions May sees the start of our inter-club competitions which are organised by 3 different bodies or associations. We have the GUI (Ulster Branch) run the Pierce Purcell Shield and Ulster Fourball Cup. The Tyrone and Fermanagh Golfing Association organise a number of competitions and for 2018 we have entered in the Farrow, Lawson, Conway and the O’Hare Cups and finally we entered the Cavan Monaghan Golfing Alliance run Shield competition every year.

GUI (Ulster Branch) AIG Pierce Purcell Shield: Captain - Jimmy Donovan.

This year the competition is run as a scotch foursome with each club nominating 5 pairs where the top 4 scores count. There are 8 qualifying events held throughout Ulster on 13th May and this year we will be playing in Letterkenny at 11.15am tee time start. For each pair the lowest handicap cannot have been less than 11 in the 2017 year and the combined handicap cannot have been less than 25.

Top 4 teams from 26 at each venue to qualify.

GUI (Ulster Branch) Ulster Fourball inter-club: Blacklion Captain - Pending This is an open draw involving over 90 clubs in Ulster. Each club nominates 5 pairs for match play with 1 point available for each match. In the event of a tie after 2 legs, the match will be determined on holes up. Each match is played on a home and away basis. This year we have missed the qualifier and go directly into the first round drawn against close neighbours Fintona. The first match is in Fintona at 1.00pm on Sunday 22nd April with the return home leg to be completed by 15th May. The lowest player in each pair cannot have been less than 15 in the 2017 year and the lowest combined handicap for the 2017 year cannot have been less than 34.

Tyrone and Fermanagh Golfing Association Farrow Trophy: Captain – Patsy McCorry.

This a mixed foursome competition played at a selected venue. This year the host is Aughnacloy Golf Club and the competition will be completed on Monday 28th May. Each team consists of 5 mixed pairs with best 4 scores to count. Max. combined handicap for each pair can be no more than 36 and no less than 19.

Tyrone and Fermanagh Golfing Association Lawson Cup: Captain – Darren Boyle.

This is a Fourball competition with 9 clubs entered this year with a current year handicap range of 12 to 17. Blacklion will be playing Strabane away and then at home in the quarter final with both matches to be completed by the end of June. Each team consists of 4 pairs and each match plays for 4 points with matches being played according to handicap order.

Tyrone and Fermanagh Golfing Association Conway Cup: Captain – Kevin McElhatton.

This is a Fourball competition with 9 clubs entered this year with a current handicap range 18 to 28.

Blacklion will be playing either Omagh or Newtownstewart away and then at home in the quarter final with both matches to be completed by the end of June. Each team consists of 4 pairs and each match plays for 4 points with matches being played according to handicap order.

Tyrone and Fermanagh Golfing Association O’Hare Cup: Captain – Gaby Fee. This is a Seniors Fourball competition with 8 clubs entered this year for players 55 or over with a current handicap range 18 to 24. Blacklion will be playing either Omagh or Newtownstewart away and then at home in the quarter final with both matches to be completed by the end of June. Each team consists of 4 pairs and each match plays for 4 points with matches being played according to handicap order.

Cavan/Monaghan Golfing Alliance Shield This is a fourball better-ball competition that is

played for by 12 clubs in the Cavan-Monaghan area. This is the first year that Slieve Russell will compete. The competition is played in 3 zones with 4 teams playing 3 matches home or away.

This year Blacklion will travel to Virginia for the first match to be played by 31st May. We are then at home to Belturbet before travelling to Nuremore for the final zone match. 4 teams to qualify for semi-final. Each team consists of 4 pairs and each match plays for 4 points with matches being played according to handicap order.

Belcoo GAA Classic - April 21st 2018 Winning Team with 94 pts Jo Maes - Jim Leonard - Niall McGovern - Gaby Fee

Course Corner …

By Francis O’Reilly, Course Convenor.

The challenges for a parkland course like Blacklion coming out of a long, wet and cold winter are plentiful.

“We will get a course ready, and we will get people out playing and we’ll try to get the greens renovation done early doors, but you are relying a little bit on soil temperatures to get the recovery.

Each year is different. Last year, we had a bit of a false dawn. We got out early, got the renovation done, and it was brilliant.

Then we had three weeks of completely freezing cold, dry weather and it just stumped us.

Blacklion sits on heavy clay soil and so while some other courses can dive headlong into their spring programmes earlier, we can still be waiting for our soil to dry out and the temperatures to rise well into the spring. All of which can cause delays.

For a course like ours, you are really waiting for soil temperatures to come up to double figures before you go and chuck fertiliser on. You want to get that

The Stimpmeter …

Device designed in 1935 by Edward S. Stimpson, used to measure the speed of a golf course putting surface by applying a known force to a golf ball and measuring the distance traveled in feet. Measured on a flat part of the green, the number of feet of roll measured indicates the stimp value. So 10 on the stimp is 10 feet of roll. USGA references are as follows: Slow - 4.5 ft - 1.4 m | Medium - 6.5 ft - 2.0 m | Fast - 8.5 ft - 2.6 m. For Tour events, stimp targets are always above 10.5 ft - 3.2 m

on, get everything going and push that growth. Then you can get out and start cutting, get your shaping done and your different types of grasses growing.

That probably won’t happen now until the end of April, so the season is already going. If you start to look at feeding in the middle of April you’ve then got two or three weeks until things really start kicking in.

What makes it even harder for our site is that we are north facing. We don’t get warmth, or see true growth, up until late May. That’s where we are actually feeling that the soil temperatures are high and we are getting growth daily and we are back into our cutting programme.

So the middle of May is probably when we’re looking at saying we’re in full cutting cycle and ready to go and prepare the course properly.”

All this should be an eye-opener for any golfers who turns up in April and wonders why the perfect course as seen on the TV isn’t what they see here.

Don’t worry, our greens staff are not sitting idle as they are getting necessary course work done and general tidying.

Blacklion GC Club house Summer Opening Hours Mon/Tue: Closed Wed: From 1 pm Thu: From 4 pm Fri: From 6 pm Sat/Sun: From 1 pm Bank Holiday Mondays: From 3 pm Can we urge you all to support our club house which is a crucial part of our social golf experience.

What would we be without it?

Upcoming Men’s Fixtures Apr 25, 28, 29 - April Monthly Medal May 5, 6, 7 - Neven Maguire Open May 9, 12, 13 - Stableford #4 Sat May 12 - Kinawley GAA Classic May 16, 19, 20 - May Monthly Medal May 23, 16, 27, 28 - Stableford #5 Sat May 26 - Shannon Gaels Classic May 29 - Farrow Cup

Ladies Corner ‌

By Vera Waters, Lady Captain.

The Blacklion Ladies got off to a flying start this year with their recent trip to Portugal.

Staying in the beautiful Salgados Palm Village the ladies enjoyed three rounds of golf in Salgados and the scenic Alamos and Morgado courses set into the valley near Portimao.

Shauna may have proved herself on the golf course, but Ger Creamer was definitely Queen of hearts, clubs and spades for that matter!

So much fun was had that the ladies are now considering making this a annual event.

Open Day The Ladies held their first open Day competition this year with visitors travelling from Enniskillen, Clogher Valley, Carrick-onShannon and Ballinamore. Lady Captain Vera Waters thanked the visitors for taking part and Gaby and Francis for looking after the course, she also went on to thank Dolores for the very tasty meals she provided and lastly thanked our sponsors Fletcher Golf for first prize and Cathy McCabe for the rest of the beautiful prizes.

Overall prize went to Shauna Fee with 39 pts followed closely behind by Geraldine McGrory.

Next Open day will be on Aug 18th and we hope to see everyone there.

Upcoming Ladies Fixtures Apr 26, 28, 29 - Shannon Cup, Medal 2 May 3 - Sweep, winner takes all May 5, 6 - Neven Maguire Open May 10, 13 - Club Comp Medal 3 May 12 - Kinawley Cup May 17, 19, 20 - The Sand Trap - Sf May 24, 26, 17 - Blacklion Cup - Medal 4 May 28 - Farrow Cup

Competition Corner …

Handicapping Corner …

By Peter Cumisky, Hon. Competition Secretary

By Kevin McPartland, Handicap Secretary

We’ve had some great turnout for the Spring League and Team 2 took the title, under the experienced guidance of captain Joe Keaney and with team members Kevin McPartlan, Michael McGuigan, Frank McCabe and the always performing Shauna Fee. Your support for the competitions is as always greatly appreciated.

From 2018, some new handicap rules have been introduced by the GUI. The basics are that the CONGU Club Handicap has been replaced by a new Category 5 and 6 for men allowing for a max. Hcp of 54.0. The upper limit for Cat 4 men will be 28.4. Cat 5 will go from 28.5 to 36.4 and then Cat 6 will commence at 28.5 and up to 54.0.

Results

March Monthly Medal 1. Kevin McPartland - 68 2. Kevin McPartlan - 68 3. Frank Collins - 70 Gross: Mark Connolly - 83

Stableford 3 1. Ronan McCabe - 37 pts.

2. Darren Boyle - 36 pts.

3. Stephen Garvey - 35 pts.

Golfer of the Year (from April 23) Overall: Jimmy Donovan Cat A: Ronan McCabe Cat B: Noel Melanaphy Cat C: Eamon Flynn

Supplementary Scores. The GUI have relaxed the rules to allow an unlimited number of score submissions per year and removal of the restriction of one per week apart from Cat 1 players.

The GUI have introduced the option of 9Hole Medal and Open Competitions. For Hcp purposes, 9 hole medal scores will be converted to Stableford.

For those of you interested in all of this, go to golfnet.ie or follow this link for more information.