1st August 2010.
Best of luck to Captain Hugh for his forthcoming Captain’s Prize. The presence of large numbers of Members surrounding the green and on the Clubhouse balcony as the winner comes down the 18th adds tremendously to the excitement of the final round. Hugh would love to see as many of the Men as possible there at the close on Saturday 4th September.
Congratulations to Phil Whelan who won Lady Captain Sheena’s magnificent prize to add to the Centenary Medal she won earlier. Congratulations also to Lady Captain Sheena on her wonderful win in the Irish Senior Women’s Close in Tullamore at the end of June. Sheena was also a member of the Irish Team that beat Scotland recently in the Mary McKenna Trophy.
Welcome to David Kearney who took over as Club Professional in early July with a reputation as one of Ireland’s leading golf coaches. We wish him a long and successful career in Grange.

GOLF MATTERS

There have been a number of changes to the Diary – see box below for a full list.

Please note the following arrangements for Hugh’s Captain’s Prize:

• First round – Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th August
• Second round – Saturday 4th September 
• Timesheet will go live at 7pm on Monday 16th August
• Timesheet will not be available for Juniors and eligible Juveniles until 7pm on Monday 23rd August
• Timesheet for Captain’s Prize to Seniors will go live at 7.30pm on Monday 16th August
• Eligibility condition: only 7 Day Members of more than one year’s standing and with 3 qualifying cards from 1st June 2009 are eligible to win the Captain’s Prize 
• Programme for Captain’s Prize available in Clubhouse and on website

The Captains Prize for Pavilion Members is scheduled for Sunday 5th September. The Time-sheet has been reserved from 11 – 12. Pavilion Members are encouraged to book their time as early as possible so we can judge if we need additional time.
 

A Centenary Exchange has been arranged with Dun Laoghaire – a mixed event taking place on Sunday 15th August – check the timesheet for available spaces.
 

Against the background of prolonged hot and dry weather in June the overall quality of the golf course continues to be at a high standard and has been complimented by both Members and Visitors. This is a tribute to the effective working of the course management plan. Nutrition, growth regulator treatments, aeration, top dressing and judicious use of the irrigation system has meant that turfgrass growth and development has been sustained. Further details of the course management plan are given at the end of this edition.
 

CENTENARY CHAT
Centenary Art & Photographic Exhibition - a further reminder to all our Artists, Photographers, Sculptors etc. to get into action to be ready to exhibit during our Centenary Art Exhibition week which opens on Sat. 23rd October.
 

NEWS FROM THE GENERAL MANAGER
Text Messaging: After numerous reminders to sign up to the new free service from 3 Mobile, the General Committee has decided that all texts from 1st July will go out under this free service. If you are not getting texts from Grange, it is probably because you have not yet signed up. To do so text GRAN to 51444.

AROUND THE COMMITTEES
Membership Survey

• Earlier in the year it was announced that the committee of Grange Golf Club would like to conduct an in-depth survey of its membership. For the month of August, Grange will conduct this survey hoping to get some real feedback on our club and to make improvements wherever possible. Your participation is vital for success and every member is urged to spread the word about completing a form.
• The survey will profile each member in terms of membership activity and focus on the keys areas of the club and course. It should take no longer than 10 minutes to complete and forms are easily available through the website, whilst hard copies will be available throughout the clubhouse and Pro-shop.
• By completing and returning the survey to the office by the 31st August 2010 you will be entered in a draw to win one of three complimentary fourballs at Grange Golf Club - so don’t delay- fill in and return the form!

JUNIORS & JUVENILES CORNER

• July has been a busy month for coaching. David Kearney has met and coached a large number of the Juvenile golfers who joined the Club in 2008, 2009 and 2010. Those who joined during these years and who have not yet availed of the coaching should contact Helen Buckley on 2956692 or 086 2093442 for possible inclusion in August.
• ILGU coaching and assessment for Under 13's at Bray GC on Tuesday 17th August (time to be confirmed). It is hoped to organise a group of Under 13 girls to participate.
• As always the Red Robin group is lively, thriving and hopefully having fun and enjoying golf. Thanks are due to Orla Smyth and Aoifean Mc Kinney for their invaluable help.

UPCOMING EVENTS
Golf:

• Friday 6th & Saturday 7th (morning) August– Leinster Mid-Am
• Thursday 12th August – Sisters Competition
• Friday 13th August – Dublin Boys
• Sunday 15th August – Centenary Exchange with Dun Laoghaire
• Saturday 21st & Sunday 22nd (Morning) August – Leinster Senior Cup Finals.
• Sunday 26th September – Mother & Daughter.

Juveniles

• Sunday 1st August - Interclub Centenary Juvenile Team Competition between Grange, Newlands and Dun Laoghaire in Dun Laoghaire with dinner and prize-giving following the golf. There will be 60 Juveniles taking part - 20 from each club. Good luck to all those participating.
• Friday 6th August - Elm Park Trophy - Girls team of 3 x U16 yrs; Boys team of 4 x U15 yrs. Venue: Dun Laoghaire.
• Wednesday 11th August - August Medal for Juveniles.
• Thursday 12th August - Dick Walsh Trophy: Team consists of 2 girls and 6 boys. Away match to Edmondstown.
• Thursday 12th August - Elm Park Trophy – Venue: Newlands.
• Saturday 21st August - Dick Walsh Trophy - Home match against Edmondstown,
• Monday 23rd August - Centenary Captains' Prizes to the Juveniles. Timesheet opens Monday 16th August. Book online.

FROM THE PRO-SHOP
Dear Member,

Many thanks for all your good wishes and support over my first few weeks at Grange. It has been great to meet you all and even try to help some of you improve your games.

We set out in early July to do 4 things;
1. Meet and greet the members and put faces to names.
2. Provide an efficient service in the shop along with the basics - drinks, balls, etc.
3. Service the members’ needs with regards to lessons and general instruction. This has gone well with the exception of the Vice-Captain’s swing which I may need to take the knife to this winter.
4. Create an atmosphere for the Juveniles where they can come and learn the basics of golf and start the process of enjoying this great game. This has been helped greatly by Helen Buckley and her team’s great energy and enthusiasm.

Jim Geraghty has joined us as shop manager and brings with him a wealth of experience in the golf retail sector. If he does not have it in the shop, he will get it and at a price you like. Jim is a fully qualified PGA Professional and achieved the highest marks and distinctions in his training.

I look forward to seeing you soon at the club and in the meantime happy golfing.

David

DIARY CHANGES
Changes of dates for Ladies’ competitions

• 7th September – Captain Hugh’s Prize to the Ladies – Strokes 
• 14th September – Hamper v. Par
• 21st September – Trustee’s Prize to the Ladies – Stableford
• 5th October – Medal – Strokes

Changes for Sundays in October:

• 3rd October – Juvenile Singles (also final day of Ryder Cup)
• 10th October – Juvenile Team Event & Prize Presentation
• 17th October – Early Birds
• 24th October – Free (Bank Holiday weekend) 
• 31st October – Artisans Centenary Match

Sunday 22nd August – Full Members Competition - Timesheet 12 noon to 4pm – 18 Holes Singles Stableford

SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT PLAN FOR GRANGE GOLF COURSE
The concept of sustainable management of golf courses has been encouraged by the R&A in order to develop more environmentally sustainable methods of enhancing course quality. This sustainable approach was adopted by Grange Golf Club with the objectives of continuing to improve course quality while reducing inputs, particularly, of chemicals and obtaining greater efficiencies in course maintenance practices.
Initially, the focus was on the greens which are the most intensively managed areas of the golf course and, therefore, the most expensive to maintain. The objectives were to improve and sustain the performance of the greens throughout the year and to reduce the need for fungicides to control disease outbreaks. The approach was:
(i) lower nutrient inputs to provide minimal but balanced nutrition to achieve consistent turfgrass growth
(ii) carry out regular aeration treatments to improve root development
(iii) apply frequent light top dressings to improve the putting surface
(iv) overseed with a fine creeping bentgrass to increase the speed of the greens and to reduce disease development
(v) implement a disease prevention programme consisting of increasing the disease resistance of the greens with specific additions to the liquid nutrient solution applied to the greens.

The results achieved include consistent performance of the greens throughout the year with green speed averaging 9-10.5 feet on the stimpmeter and much lower incidence of disease with a halving of the fungicide applications. Further improvements in the quality and performance of the greens are continuing to be developed.
Following on from the success with the greens the sustainable management programme was extended to the other areas of the golf course, namely, tees, fairways, approaches and green surrounds. Here, the objective was to improve the quality of these areas and make the maintenance programme more efficient. During the active growing season these areas need to be cut at least 3 times per week; this is expensive in terms of labour and machinery costs. With the regular application of a growth regulator to reduce vertical grass growth the cutting regime has been reduced to a maximum of 2 times per week with savings in labour and machinery running cost coupled and with increased quality of the treated areas.
Two other initiations were (a) development of deep rough areas and (b) recycling of grass clippings and other materials. The deep rough is intended as islands for encouragement of local flora and fauna and is being managed with the objective of producing thin and wispy rough dominated by fine fescue grasses.
Recycling of grass clippings, leaves and other organic material has commenced at defined sites around the golf course with the intention of using this material on the golf course.
Dr Michael J Foxe, July 19, 2010.