September 2010

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PURDIS NEWS

NEW YEAR’S EVE

at

Ipswich Golf Club

(Dancing to the live band ‘Serendipity’)

Tickets on sale from Saturday 4 September

Men’s inter-club matches back on track

After a very shaky start to the season the men’s teams have recorded some excellent wins in recent friendly club matches.

The first win of the year was achieved at home against the Gog Magog GC on 28^th June and another home win followed against the Chigwell GC on 9^th July. With renewed confidence the teams travelled to Southwold on 29^th July where we won by 3 matches to 2 and two days later a visit to Royal Norwich was rewarded with a win by 3½ matches to 1½.

So it’s all looking good for local Derby, the Queensland Cup against Rushmere, with the first leg taking place at Rushmere on 4^th September.

Beaumont Trophy

On Monday 16th August Ipswich Golf Club played Seckford Golf Club in the semi finals of the above competition which was played at Felixstowe G.C.  The match, which was four ball better ball, Hambro scoring, was closely contested.  Ipswich were the eventual winners by 3.

The final will be played on 9th September at Bungay, tee off time 11am, when Ipswich will play Brett Vale.  The team would very much appreciate members coming and supporting them on this first final for the Beaumont Trophy.

Ladies’ News

Congratulations to Sarah Howe for winning the Ladies’ Championship for the third time in a row with an impressive score of 153 for 36 holes.  Helen Bray was 2^nd and Vicki Hunt 3^rd, both with a score of 157. 

The Mattheson Salver for the best nett score over 36 holes was won by Judy Varndell with a nett score of 147. 

The Gamble Trophy was won by Barbara Godbold with a nett score of 72.  Kay Anderson was second with a nett 73 and Joyce Sanders 3^rd with a nett 75.

The Stearn and Haskell teams will be playing their semi-final matches against Felixstowe at Aldeburgh on Monday 6 September.  Please come and support!

Juniors’ News

No doubt you will have seen groups of youngsters out having lessons with Ryan this month.   Our Beginners' Coaching Programme attracted over 30 children aged from 6 upwards.   An enjoyable time was had by all – Ryan taught them basic golf skills, plus some fun competitions with chocolate bar prizes.   Some of the children have joined the club as Junior Members and we will continue encouraging them over the next months with more coaching and play.

Our Juniors have been very active taking part in national, county and club events – here is just a small selection:

Heidi Baek, Sarah Howe and Charlotte Double played in the English Girls' Championship at Seacroft Golf Club.   Heidi finished 4th.   She also played in the England team in the Girls' Home Internationals at Bangor, N.I., and won all her matches.   Then followed the British Girls at Royal Belfast – Heidi made the cut but was beaten in the 2^nd round of the match play at the 2^nd extra hole and the British Ladies at Tenby where she also made the cut.   Sarah played in the English Ladies' Championship at Whittington Heath just missing the cut.   Charlotte Double won the handicap prize at the East Anglian Ladies Championship.

Sarah won the Ipswich Ladies 36 hole strokeplay championship for the 3^rd successive year.

Josh Cottrell continues the summer in fine form.   After his victories in the Silver Frigate and Silver Barrel, he won the Junior Strokeplay Championship (Edmonds Cup) at Ipswich, was 3^rd in the SGU Boys Championship – the winner was Mark Fosker with new Ipswich member Chris Vince coming 2^nd.  Josh beat Mark in the finals of the SGU Boys Matchplay.   Josh has played for Suffolk Men's 2nds winning all his matches.   Josh, Mark and Chris have played for Suffolk Boys.

We had an excellent entry of 64 from 23 clubs for our Junior Open.   The winner of the Charles Gadd Putter was James Hodgkinson with 44 points.   Josh Cottrell won the scratch prize with a gross 37 points.  

The Stanley Trophy was won by new member, Will Pearce, with 41 pts on a very windy afternoon.

The Juniors took on the Ladies Section playing greensomes resulting in a win to the Juniors by 3 ½ - ½ .   The ½ point was won by the Ladies' Captain and the Junior Organiser!

In the high handicap match at Bramford Golf Centre, our team won 3 – 0.  

Next Junior events

September 5^that 12.00 noon – President's Mashie on 18 hole, and 9 hole competition on 9 hole course.

September 19^th– Ryan's Sunday morning coaching - £5

1. 00 – 11.00 a.m.      Under 11s                   
2. 00 – 12.00             12+

Please ring Ryan on 724017 to book a place

Sunday, October 3^rd– Bryett Trophy (Adult/Junior)

If you need a partner, speak to Sheila or Ryan

Congratulations to Jon Mann

Congratulations to Jon Mann who has made the United Kingdom national final of the Audi UK Quattro Cup Golf Final.

Upcoming Social Events:

Sat 16^th  Oct:Annual Ball-tickets sold out, but keep in touch with Kate for ‘returns’

Sat 30^th  October:Quiz Night.

Fri 12^th Nov:Men’s Stag/Prize Giving Dinner – Speaker, Peter Over .

Fri 26^th Nov:Rules Evening Part II –Mike Rees

Sun 12^th Dec:Christmas Carols Evening & Professionals Draw

Fri 31^st Dec:New Years Eve Party - tickets on sale Sat 4 Sept at noon in clubhouse

How well do you know the rules?

Rule 28 – Ball Unplayable

Even the world’s best golfers use this one on a regular basis and in the league table of rulings that are produced after each Open Championship, the unplayable ball Rule always sits on top. It’s really a Rule with which we should all be familiar.

Who decides whether the ball is unplayable?

You are the sole judge of whether your ball is unplayable. What might be a playable ball for Tiger Woods may not be for the rest of us and we can make our own determination as to whether we want to ‘have a go’ at the ball or take relief under the unplayable ball Rule. You can deem your ball unplayable anywhere on the course, except when it lies in a water hazard, where the water hazard Rule applies if you want to take relief.  If you do decide that your ball is unplayable, you have three options, and they all come with a penalty of one stroke.

So what are the options?

Option one:  You can go back to where you last played and play again from there. So, if you hit your second shot from the fairway into a large bush and decide you can’t play it, you can go back and drop a ball at the spot where you played from on the fairway and you would then be playing your fourth shot. If your last shot was played from the teeing ground, you can play a ball from anywhere within the teeing ground, and the ball may be teed.

Option two:  You can drop a ball back on a line that keeps that spot directly between the hole and the spot on which the ball is dropped, using the spot where the ball lies unplayable as your reference. There is no limit to how far back on that line a ball can be dropped, so you can look for a good lie somewhere on that line or drop a ball at your favoured distance.

Option 3:  The third option is dropping a ball within two club-lengths of the spot where the ball lay. The measurement can be made to either side of the ball or behind the ball, but the ball cannot be dropped nearer to the hole than the point where the ball lay.

Is there anything else that needs to be considered or borne in mind?

There are a few ‘extras’ that impact upon the ruling process. If your ball is unplayable in a bunker, for example, all three options above are available, but, if you are going back on a line or using two club-lengths, the ball must be dropped in the bunker.

A ball that is dropped can roll up to two club-lengths from the spot on which it was dropped, even if this takes you off the line on which the ball was dropped or outside the two club-length area. If a dropped ball rolls nearer the hole than the unplayable spot, it has to be re-dropped.

On the down-side, it is possible that when you drop a ball under this Rule it will roll back into an unplayable lie and you might have to take another unplayable drop, incurring another penalty stroke.

On the plus-side, however, you can clean your ball when using the unplayable ball Rule, or you can substitute another ball if you wish!

HEATHER – IT’S BLOOMING MARVELLOUS!

This is the time of year is when heathland golf courses can look their most scenic – it is heather flowering season. The recent rain here at Ipswich has not only greened up the golf course but has also helped the heather.  After a couple of bad years due to dry conditions and attacks by the heather beetle, there is a fantastic display this year, especially on holes like the 3^rd, 6^th, and 17^th.  If you look closely at the heather, it can be seen that there are in fact two different species – Common Heather (or Ling) Calluna vulgaris and Bell Heather Erica cinerea.

The Common Heather can be seen all over the site, producing masses of small cup-shaped flowers ranging in colour from light purple right through to white (although the white plants are very rare here, with only a few at the 17^th being known at the moment).  The foliage can also vary, being bright green or even bluish green in some cases. The main flowering period is in August and September, and on warm sunny days it can be seen to be alive with insects, especially bees and solitary wasps, many species of which are entirely dependent on the heather.

The other species, Bell Heather, is much scarcer. It prefers to grow in slightly drier areas, and hence on the golf course it can be found on bunker banks and mounds e.g. on the 6^th and 9^th holes. It can grow in with the Common Heather but as it has sparser foliage it tends to be out-competed, except in the drier spots. The flowers are different from Common Heather in that they are larger, bell-shaped and are deep purple in colour and do not really vary in shade. The foliage too is different, with the leaves being very thin and thread-like so it looks a bit like a fir tree. The flowering period too is different from Ling, as Bell Heather can start to flower in June and goes right through until October.

After flowering, masses of small dust-like seeds are produced by both species, which are then shed over the autumn and winter. This is the time when we cut the heather tops and collect them for seeding areas we want to return to Heather.  The seed can lie dormant in the soil for at least 50 years, waiting for the right conditions to grow again.  This is in fact an adaptation to how it used to live in the natural environment before the arrival of man. The seeds would wait until there was a forest fire or a tree fall in the extensive woodlands that used to cover the UK.  With the extra light (and, in the case of fire, extra nutrients) the seed would germinate and the heather would grow until it was out-competed by new trees. This is why we spend time each year at the golf course removing the young trees from the heather areas to stop them becoming woodland again.

Heather used to have many uses historically including fuel for fires, fodder for farm animals, thatching, broom-making, beer brewing and honey production. Only the last two are still quite prevalent today, with heather honey well-known for its excellent flavour, and the heather beer brewed in Scotland (using the flowering shoots as well as hops).

Another species to watch out for this month is the Common Buzzard.  Several members have reported a sighting of this species at the 14^th hole, and I too have seen one in that area. They are pretty unmistakable, being a large brown bird with broad wings and a pale underside. Their main foods are rabbits and earthworms, both of which are numerous on the site. This is a bird species that has increased greatly in numbers in Suffolk in recent years after being very rare, having spread across the UK from its strongholds in the west. I suspect that buzzards have nested in the woods to the left of the 14^th and I believe that they will become a much more common sight over the course in the next few years.

                                                                  Neil Sherman