Introduction

After a break of a year the mens Captain Arthur Lambe has requested that the newsletter be reissued on a regular basis. The last issue was in December 2003 so here we go again

In this issue you can find humour, club activity updates, general golf trivia and other bits and pieces along a golfing theme.

Members Information	1	Non Conforming Drivers	3
Restaurant	1	Sponsorship	3
Rules Corner	2	Committee Roles -2005	3
Smart Cards	2	Club Teams	3
Charity Contributions	2	Club Ties	4
Winter League	2	20 Golfing Laws	4
Web Site	2	H/cap via mobiles	4
Golf Trivia	3	Rules Answers	4

Feedback

If there is anything you would like to see covered in future editions please let us know and we will do our best to meet your wishes – We will be around the club house or you can leave a note behind the bar marked for our attention.

This is your medium for getting information published so please use the opportunity.

Colm Burke & David Hainsworth

Members Information.

We will be making a big effort this year to update our database of membership details. We would like to gain as much relevant data about our members as possible so that we can provide the best possible service to you the members.

The first stage of this will be with the issuance of the requests for annual subs over the coming weeks. Each letter will have all the information we have available for each member. We would appreciate that this form be returned with your annual sub with whatever updates or corrections there may be. Areas we are particularly interested in are mobile numbers and email addresses. Both of these are important as we intend setting up a group text and email facility to notify members of competitions and events in the club.

The recently installed membership system allows us to retain a wide variety of information about our members which will be used to provide a more focused and quality service to everybody within the club. Your co-operation and input to these new developments will be most appreciated.

Restaurant – As many of you will know the club took back the operation of the Restaurant at the start of November. We have employed Gerard Foster as the Head Chef and he has started off with great enthusiasm for the role. The initial reaction has been very positive with some constructive suggestions being put forward which will be worked upon as we move forward. It is the intention of the club to provide a quality facility for all the members and their guests at times appropriate to everybody. As with every new venture there will be problems starting out but we hope that we will have the support of all the members as we develop this facility.

Rules Corner Taken from the GUI website so no arguments please ! Q1. In stroke play a player puts a strip of tape on the top of the club head to reduce glare – what is the penalty ? Q2. Two competitors playing in the same stroke play competition at different times on the same day caddie for each other and give advice. What is the ruling? Answers are at the bottom of page 4
			Smart Cards The smart cards have been in operation now for almost 6 months and have grown in popularity every week. Currently it can be used in the bar with a 5% discount and in the restaurant. There are plans in the offing to enable us to pay for our competition entry in this manner also and also, following some requests, allow us to put money aside to allow us to pay our annual subs. Keep an eye on the noticeboards for developments on these fronts over the coming weeks. We are also looking at a way around having to load credit on either bar or restaurant so that money can be taken from a central pool for use in either area
				Winter League The ever popular winter league runs again for January and early February. This year we have used our new technology to allow cards to be entered as they have been done during the summer months and this in turn will provide us with a quicker update on completion of play each weekend. Also for a trial this year we have allowed the playing of golf on Fridays to qualify for the competition. The take up and viability of this option will be reviewed as the competition continues. If you play on Friday you can’t play agin over the weekend. The format this year has changed slightly, primarily due to the technology available, which means that every week there will be 6 on each team counting towards the team score. This will mean that while teams can open up large leads they will just as easily be clawed back with a good team effort on any particular week. The finals will follow the format of previous years in that the semi final will be the top two teams in each group playing to accumulate the best possible score and then the top two teams playing a matchplay competion to determine the eventual winners. Team captains will require the support of as many players as possible every week with the new format.
On December 19^th there was an hour or so of Christmas song in the golf club. The evening was well attended and enjoyed by all. A point noted on the evening was that there were three generations of five different families in attendance in the McCusker, Higgins, Hainsworth, Davis and Lambe families .. the future is bright. Thanks to Dr. Larry Fullam and to all the singers for a lovely evening

	Non Conforming Drivers - The Golfing Union of Ireland will introduce a clause limiting the ‘spring-like’ effect of driving clubs to its Condition of Competition for all its leading National and Provincial Championships, effective from 1st January 2005. This follows similar action by The R&A, and the men’s three Home Unions in England, Scotland and Wales. For most club competitions and recreational play there will continue to be no limit on ‘spring-like’ effect until 1st January 2008 when the new rule will be introduced. For reference a list of the 307 drivers currently classified as non conforming is available on the noticeboards.

	Committee roles for 2005 Following the initial meetings of the committees the following people have been assigned the key roles for the year ahead. PRO Men Colm Burke Ladies Stephanie Gorman Competitions Men Phil Lyons Ladies Breda Conlon assisted by Carmel Fitzpatrick Handicaps Men Joe Bolton Ladies Margaret Watchorne Socials Dr. Larry Fullam & Noel McMahon Society & Green Fees Tom Hainsworth House Manager Paddy Egan Finance Committee Chair Brian Hutchinson Other roles will be allocated in the weeks ahead

	Would you like to submit a story, interesting fact or article for publication in the next issue ? Anything related to the club or golf in general will be considered and it will be good to get some additional help !