May 2020 Web Notes
Condolences were extended to:
Patricia O’Connor & Liam Doyle on the death of their brother Eamonn Doyle
Margaret Hopkins on the death of her sister and brother Roy Dickson
Ilona Madden on the death of her father-in-law Kevin Madden
Caitriona Fogarty on the death of her father Bill Fogarty, a past member.
An email received from the ILGU requested that the Ladies Committee discuss whether we wish to proceed with Singles Interclub Matches this year and fill in a survey. The Committee discussed the matter and agreed that we will not enter Interclub matchplay competitions this year.
There will be no GIG programme this year. There are 8 ladies registered for SIG. Their lessons will not take place until next year. These ladies can play casual golf this year and take part in SIG next year.
The main purpose of the Ladies meeting this month was to discuss the new measures that are being put in place by the CoM to facilitate Phase One of the easing of Covid 19 restrictions.
The Club is following the strict guidelines laid down by the ILGU/GUI and approved by the Government. It is important that everyone adheres to these guidelines as the Club might be instructed to close again if not. It is assumed that there will be extra Garda surveillance around Golf Clubs over the next few weeks. The Government guidelines state that only members within a 5km range can play golf. It will not be up to the Club to police this. It is unsure at the moment if those over 70 and cocooning may play golf.
Play will commence each day at 8am and the carpark will be closed each night at 9.30pm. Only casual play is allowed at this stage, in 3-balls, spaced 14 minutes apart. Everyone must enter their name on the timesheet to facilitate Contact Tracing if needed. Tom, Emma and Ivars will take it in turns to be Starter and check that people are on the timesheet.
Members are restricted to pre-booking three days during the week. This can be two mid-week bookings and one weekend booking or three mid-week bookings. The timesheets for the week will go live at 6pm the previous Thursday. If there is a free slot from 8am on a day, a member may book to play that day without impacting their ability to book three times within the week.
There will be 18-hole, 9-hole and 4-hole slots during the day with all play commencing on the 1st hole. Players are not allowed to jump from one hole to another. Rakes will not be used; players may use their club or shoes to smooth out the sand. A device has been fitted to flag poles to lift the ball out of the hole using putters rather than touching the flagpole.
An honesty box will be put out and it is hoped that members will put some money in each time they play – maybe a competition fee. The Club accepts that not everyone will be in a position to do this as some are experiencing financial difficulties at the moment.
Signs are being placed around the golf course perimeter to warn people that golf is resuming, and they are no longer welcome to walk around the course as they will be in danger of being hit.
Competitions will resume in Phase 2 of the easing of the restrictions which starts on Monday, 8th June. Members up to a distance of 20km will be able to take part then, however, there will still be a few members who must wait until the end of June before they can return. As a result, we will not run the Club Matchplay competitions until then, if at all.
We will reserve Competition lines as normal on Wednesdays, but any unused lines will be released to all members the night before the competition. This will force the issue of ladies not booking until the last moment.
The CoM are looking into phone apps to eliminate the need for scorecards and into the possibility of using a purse on the BRS system so payment is taken when you book your competition time, eliminating the need to handle cash.
It was agreed that the Competitions sub-committee will look at the value of prizes with the possibility of reducing the values. Many sponsors may not be in a position to continue with their sponsorship this year.
The major prize dates will have to be changed but we will have a better idea of what will happen throughout the summer in a few weeks’ time.
The new World Handicapping System is going ahead. The seminars were stopped during the Covid 19 restrictions, but a Zoom Seminar is planned for later in the week. If it goes well other Zoom seminars will take place.
Lady vice-Captain Ilona said there has been a good response to the photo video and Brendan hopes to have the finished video ready in a few days.
Ilona said that an email was sent by the Marketing sub-committee to all members re setting up a business directory on the website.
Lady President Ann said that some of the chocolate that was purchased for the Spring Leagues may be in danger of reaching their expiry dates. With this in mind she suggested that a few ladies put the prizes together and deliver them (within 5km) over the next week as a surprise to the ladies. Ann, Mary and Therese agreed to put the prizes together while Una, Maeve and Nora offered to deliver the prizes if they were available on the day. Mary said she would hold onto any prizes belonging to ladies outside of 5km.
