March 2022
Foreword from our Chairperson
Welcome to the first Virginia Golf Club Newsletter of 2022. We will publish these regularly through the year with a view to giving all members updates on developments on and off the Golf Course. All of us in the Management Committee are available always should anyone need information or wish to raise any queries.
We wish you well for a happy and enjoyable year in Virginia Golf Club and look forward to doing what we can to help everyone enjoy their membership.
Peadar Gill
Course update
We have had to endure poor weather conditions at times over the past few months but we’re hoping the worst is now over. Our greenkeepers have been very busy spraying the greens as the damp weather has led to disease on some of them. Please note the pesticides and chemical fertilizers used on the greens are dangerous and caution is required. A sign will always be displayed when spraying is in progress or has just been completed. Tine forking of the greens is planned for Monday 21st, March, weather permitting. That will mean closing the course for 3 days to allow the work to be completed. Repairs have been carried out to the bunker at the 7th green. Fencing repairs have also been carried out.
Course closures have been necessary on from time to time. We want to take this opportunity to thank you all for patience on such occasions. If in doubt, it’s always a good idea to check the website announcement bar before setting off to play.
Following some concerns raised by the greenkeepers, we asked the arborist who did the original survey of our trees back in 2019 to do a further survey. Overall, he was happy with the work done but did suggest we do further pruning of the 3 big oak trees behind the 6th green. This will mean engaging the services of a tree surgeon once more and will be arranged at an appropriate time.
Following much discussion and analysis, we will revise the Indices on the Men’s course in Virginia. Some holes were playing significantly harder/easier to their index of difficulty. Following an in-depth review of the results over the past couple of years the indices have been revised and will be rolled out shortly. The tee-markers will be updated with the new indices ASAP. The Ladies review did not indicate any necessity for change in their indices.
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Captains’ drive-in
For the first time in 3 years, we will hold the traditional Captains’ drive in this year. It is scheduled for April 10th. This is a major event in the golfing calendar and a large attendance is expected. Emily and Arthur are working on the detail. We are delighted to announce that Emer Cremin and Aaron Tynan will be our 2022 junior captains. We wish them both the best of luck and believe they will be excellent ambassadors for the club.
Clubhouse
Much work has been done on the clubhouse in recent years. Primarily, it has been done by members and we are grateful to all. Peter Callaghan has been prominent and is busy again, mostly improving the appearance of the men’s room. The supporting posts on the outside are in particularly poor condition as is the fascia. We hope to replace and/or repair both over the coming weeks.
Membership
At this point, we have 19 new male members. We welcome them hugely and hope they will remain with us for many years. Many of you have now paid your 2022 membership fees and we thank you for that. For those who haven’t yet paid, we hope you can do so this month. We want everyone to be part of our plans for 2022 and what promises to be an exciting year of golf. We hope to see the return of social activities which haven’t been possible for the past 2 years. Please email vgctreasurer2@gmail.com if you have any questions relating to membership or payment.
Club booklet
Michael Callaghan is currently working on the club booklet. It is almost ready to go to print. This booklet is useful reading for all of us but particularly useful for new members. It will include important contact details, information relating to golf structures and apps etc. The booklet itself is sponsored by O’Donoghue’s Pharmacy. We will let you know when it is ready for collection. The 2022 membership stickers will be available at the same time.
Rules night
A rules night has been arranged for the Show Centre on Friday 8th April at 7pm. The night will be hosted by 2 rules officials from the Ulster Branch and it will be a shared session with Crover Golf Club. The rules of golf have been simplified in recent years, but they could never be described as simple. We encourage as many as possible to attend. We shouldn’t depend on playing partners to know the rules. There is an onus on all of us.
Minding our course
Nothing seems to get as much comment from golfers as unrepaired pitch marks. Yet, it is quite clear that some people simply don’t bother. The greens are our pride and joy and should be protected. You can purchase a pitch mark repairer for a few Euro. No more pulling out a tee peg, please. It can do more harm than good. Just as annoying is to see big chunks of sod left lying around on the fairways and a big gap where the sod should be. Can we resolve to put that right for the benefit of all of us. There are NO excuses.
And there’s more
Following the arrival of a new defibrillator, Paddy McHugh provided training for a group of 8 members on Wednesday 2nd March. The Cardia first responder and AED training was sponsored by Compliplus Ltd.
A new practise driving bay has been erected and we are grateful to Stephen Smith and others for their efforts in making this happen.
The cleaning area has been moved permanently to the area just inside the fence. We have plans to instal a grid to tidy things up.
New signs have been erected at the parking spots reserved for the Captains and the President.
The President’s prize this year will be a mixed event.
Committee members are actively pursuing sponsorship with local businesses. A full list of 2022 sponsors will be displayed on the website and prominently at the clubhouse. We encourage you to support our sponsors where possible.
We will schedule the resumption of our Annual Golf Classic in 2022 which will be held over the June Bank Holiday weekend. This proved to be a very popular event in the past and promises a good weekend of fun, all while raising much needed funds for the Club.
New scorecards will be available soon. This includes changes in the course indices for the men. The new cards have been sponsored by BD Flood. Work will be carried out on the headstones to reflect the index changes.
The vice captains are currently looking at options for purchase of new club gear and we will let you know the result of that soon.
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Spring league
The ladies’ spring league is coming to a conclusion. A total of 7 teams have participated with 43 players in total. It’s going right to wire with many teams in with a chance of winning. 18-hole competitions will resume from Saturday 19th March.
Get Into Golf
Enthusiasm for and interest in the GIG programme is continuing and already a number of ladies have their names down for the 2022 classes. Great credit is due to all the ladies who have given up their valuable time to make this such a success at Virginia Golf Club over the last number of years. This year’s lessons are scheduled to begin on Monday 4th April and will run for 8 weeks. Currently, there are more than 20 expressions of interest.
Spring League
The men have been unfortunate to lose 2 weekends due to bad weather. However, there are now 3 counting weeks with a possible 4 more to be played. It’s still all to play for. At this point, Team Kelly lead by 11 from Team Rock. That could all change of course with the best 5 weekly scores only to count. The turnouts have been huge even on some very cold wet days with 94 playing on week one and 93 on week two.
Monaghan/Cavan Alliance
Our hope is that the Alliance will resume normal activities this year, but it has yet to be confirmed. We hope to have positive news very soon. A meeting of the clubs involved is scheduled for next week.
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Please feel free to chat to us any time, we are very happy to hear your views and suggestions.