| | 4 FEBRUARY 2021 | ISSUE 8
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THE GOOD LIFE
| | On the Course | Off the Course | | |  |
Dear Member,
PACE OF PLAY
One of the single biggest challenges that all clubs face is pace of play. Therefore, we will be embarking on a campaign to share tips and suggestions on how you can improve your pace of play. This is especially relevant as we have seen a big increase in the number of rounds on our courses in recent months and, as you know, the Club is still operating with a far smaller team compared to before. Therefore, we will be rolling out a series of new initiatives to improve on the golf experience, but we also ask for members to assist, especially when it comes to pace of play.
First and foremost, it is important to understand that the rule of golf for pace of play is to keep up with the fourball directly in front of you, NOT BEHIND YOU. It is also possible that you are playing faster than expected or slower than expected, which is why the Club created a pace of play schedule. This schedule was designed to inform members of their position at certain times and helps the marshals judge if you are in fact slow or not. But this is where it gets tricky. The pace of play is a guideline and at no point in time does it take preference over the rule of golf, being that you must keep up with the fourball in front of you.
Players and a marshal cannot use pace of play as the rule if you are clearly not keeping up with the fourball in front of you. The pace of play schedule also serves another purpose and it is an important one. We are fortunate to have two courses, of varying difficulty, and therefore you cannot expect to play the same time on Bushwillow as you do on Firethorn.
Below is the recommended pace of play sheets for both Bushwillow and Firethorn. As per the pace of play sheets, Firethorn takes nine minutes longer to complete than Bushwillow and the main reasons are as follow:
• Firethorn is longer in yardage than Bushwillow.
• Difference in course rating between the courses does make Firethorn more challenging.
• Greater distance between green to tee box on Firethorn than there is on Bushwillow – for example 2nd green distance to the 3rd tee box.
The use of pace of play schedules and the assistance of marshals are all tools to help create a great golf experience for all, but at the end of the day the responsibility lies with each and every golfer to adhere to the rules of the game.
Happy golfing,
Francois
We always encourage communication between our members and the Club. If you have any comments or questions, please don’t hesitate to either contact our CEO, Francois Swart at ceo@randpark.co.za or our Club Captain, Derek McGowan at captainslog@randpark.co.za.
As we welcome new members and their families to Randpark, we must also say goodbye to 20 members during the month of January, who unfortunately resigned.
ONLINE BOOKING PLATFORMS
(Website & Randpark App)
On Sunday, a scheduled update was done by ClubHouse Online (this is our service provider for online bookings). You would have noticed that we experienced some downtime yesterday – these issues have now been resolved. Please note that there have also been a few changes since this update:
• You will be logged out of the system if you have not performed any activity for an hour. As soon as you click anything in the site that gets information from the servers, the timeout will be extended for another 60 minutes. It is important to note that moving your mouse will not reset the timer. Action must be taken within Clubhouse Online.
• You will have to put your password in every time for the website - similar to other websites that contain financial, personal and confidential information, it is an industry standard best practice to log users out after a period of inactivity. It is important to note that your browser will most likely be able to save your credentials and automatically enter them for you for your convenience.
Every browser manages passwords in a different way. To help you, here are links that will show you how to manage passwords in three of the most popular web browsers.
Google Chrome
Safari
Firefox
• You will also have to enter your password into the app on your phone every time - entering your password is a standard practice for apps that contain financial, personal and confidential information. It is our goal to make sure that your information is as secure as possible. Often, your browser will check your credentials and automatically enter them for you for your convenience.
• How can you reset your password? There is a “forgot password” link available on the login screen that a member can use to reset their password. It will send them an email containing a link that takes them through the process.
• You are not getting your password reset email - in some cases, members forget what email address they used to register for the site. It is sometimes not the same email that they gave to the Club to put on file.
• What will happen to push notifications if the member’s app is signed out automatically - push notifications will continue to be received by the app as long as the user did not specifically sign out intentionally.
RUNNERS AND WALKERS ON THE COURSES
We are seeing more and more people on the courses during golf and at some point, we will have an incident. Therefore, the following will be implemented and a daily report will be submitted by security on interaction with runners/walkers.
1. All communication platforms will show the times that you are allowed to walk/run on the course. Any person outside of these times will be removed from the course, without a discussion, as they are at risk.
Access to the use of the track:
Winter (May to end Aug) - Before: 07:00 am and after 17:00 pm
Summer (Sept to end April) - Before: 06:30 am and after 17:45 pm
2. Run Zone hosts two organised runs on a Tuesday and Thursday. Click here for more information.
3. All runners must go through a screening process and receive a sticker and have their membership card on hand. If a runner/walker does not have a sticker or members’ card, they will be escorted off the course immediately.
Walking/running on the course is a great privilege as the Club offers a safe, outdoor environment, but this requires everyone to adhere to the rules.
Rain, rain stay away you are messing up with my golf today … we had continuous rain for over a week with very little sunshine. The forecast does look promising going into the weekend and we can only hope that the end is near. As it currently stands, carts on the courses will only be allowed if a player can present a medical certificate; we will notify our members on a daily basis with regards to the use of golf carts over the weekend.
We have noted that our morning tee off times on the weekend have been very popular and we only have limited slots available to accommodate our members. To try and accommodate more players in the morning, we will be opening the 06h22 and 08h38 tee off times on Saturday mornings. The afternoon field will only start from 11h30 onwards. Members must be aware that this might cause the front of the field to catch up with the back of the morning field after they have turned. The golf team will ensure the pace of play is followed at all times to ensure our members have an enjoyable round.
Just a reminder that Firethorn will be closed next Monday – Wednesday due to hollow-tining.
Our driving range has also been heavily affected by the rain over the last week. The range is currently very wet and this does make ball collection very difficult. The cleaning process of the balls also takes a little bit longer due to the mud that is collected on the balls. Balls will be soaked in disinfected water, after the soaking the balls will be washed with our ball washer and then allocated for use. Our team, from time to time, will only issue 50 ball buckets to ensure all members are supplied with balls to enjoy the facility. The team will do their best at all times to assist our members, but please understand that current conditions make it very difficult. We appreciate your patience and if you do wait a few minutes, why not enjoy a hot cup of coffee or cold beverage in our Range Café.
LONGEST DRIVE COMPETITION
With new technology, there is always a chance that unexpected glitches can rear their ugly little heads. That is exactly what happened with the Longest Drive Competition – Ladies. On Monday we announced that Caitlyn Lombard was the winner, but that was not correct.
The winner of the Longest Drive - Ladies is Zethu Myeki - 246m. Congratulations Zethu!
RULE OF THE WEEK
Adjusted scores for handicap purposes: Rule 3 of the R&A and USGA World Handicapping System
Principle of the Rule: A score for handicap purposes should not be overly influenced by one or two bad hole scores that are not reflective of a player’s demonstrated ability. In addition, incomplete scores and/or scores where a player did not hole out on every hole can provide reasonable evidence of the player’s ability and can be used for handicap purposes. Rule 3 covers the circumstances where scores may be acceptable and how these hole scores should be adjusted.
This week we’ll be focusing on the correct adjusted score that should be submitted for handicapping purposes. Over the last couple of years, there has been a few changes to the system on the correct way of scoring. Under Rule 3 in the R&A and USGA World Handicapping System it is very easily explained under 3.1b, and reads as follow:
3.1b after a Handicap Index Has Been Established
For a player with an established Handicap Index, the maximum score for each hole played is limited to a net double bogey, calculated as follows:
(*or minus any handicap stroke(s) that a plus handicap player gives back on that hole.)
• A net double bogey is equal to the lowest score on a hole for which the player would achieve zero Stableford points.
• There is no limit to the number of holes in a round where a net double bogey adjustment may be applied.
• If, in the Terms of the Competition (see Rule 7.2a) or the handicap allowances, there are any restrictions on the number of strokes received; this restricted Playing Handicap should only be used for the purpose of the competition, for example to determine the: | | o Finishing positions and prize winners, and
o Number of strokes given or received for different formats of play. |
The player’s full, unrestricted Course Handicap should be used for all applications of net double bogey adjustments. For this procedure the Course Handicap is rounded to the nearest whole number (see Rule 6.1a/b).
• Where a Course Handicap is calculated at more than 54 and a player receives four or more strokes on a hole, the maximum hole score is par + 5 for handicap purposes.
• Adjusting a hole score to a net double bogey can be done either: | | o Automatically, when hole-by-hole score entry is used, or
o By the player, when submitting gross score for the round. |
Join us on Friday, 12th February for the first Odyssey sponsored Putting Competition of the year. The format is a Round Robin, Individual Knockout with the winner receiving a sponsored prize. The top two players of each event will get to battle it out in the final event in December. You can enter with Greg and Bax in the Golf Shop. See you on the putting green.
Cool overcast and rainy conditions have persisted this week. The courses are extremely wet and although we only received 48mm over the last seven days, things are just not drying out. A big problem in these wet conditions is cart traffic. Wet soil compacts far more easily from wheel traffic, but far worse is where the traffic congregates. Randpark has always been very generous allowing carts on the course when it really is too wet. A lot of damage can be negated by responsible driving of the carts like avoiding fast turns, keeping away from obviously wet areas and not aiming for mud patches. The pictures here are from the previous weekend and these areas are going to take time to recover. A lot of this could be avoided through being more caring and considerate about the golf course.
VALENTINE’S DAY
We’ve planned the perfect oh-so-romantic VALENTINE'S DAY for you, with amazing options to choose from:
An unforgettable BREAKFAST experience outside on our Terrace from 07:30 – 12:30:
Harvest Breakfast
OR
V-Day Breakfast
A delectable FOUR-COURSE VALENTINE'S LUNCH/DINNER to celebrate the most romantic day of the year.
You have a choice of either having your meal outside on our Terrace from 13:00 – 19:00.
Or as a romantic meal at home (home meals will be available for collection from 12:00).
Pre-paid bookings are essential.
Contact Leanne on 011 215 8600 or clubevents@randpark.co.za
Bookings close Friday, 12 February at 2pm
Click here for more menu information
THE RANGE PLUS SO MUCH MORE …
You might think the range is only about working on that grip, adding 10 metres to your driving distance or honing in that short game - but think again!
The pro golfer, the newbie, the “I’ve only ever tried golf once” person and everyone in between can now visit the range and try Inrange+, a unique golf experience that merges the real driving range with entertaining golf games. There are four different games you can play against friends or family and at the end, the winner will be crowned. It is also perfect for team building.
You can get up to four people per bay, so invite a few friends/colleagues down to the range and have a bit of a golf party. Inrange+ is an experience for every person, not just golfers. Come play!
Contact Leanne on 011 215 8600 or clubevents@randpark.co.za – she has some fun package available for you.
Have a great weekend
Stay Safe, Healthy & Happy!
The Randpark Team
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