Hello Boys

 The following is not an agenda item for the AGM , nor is it meant to be a discussion paper.

 A few people have approached me regarding the status of the Club, which is I suggest going through a state of flux. In particular there has been a sentiment expressed that the golf that is played on Wednesdays is how the DAGS used to be.

 With Ged retiring due to ill health, Oggie giving it away because of the tyranny of distance and the fact he felt his values were at odd with those of the club, Ash moving back to NSW, Maurie and Milky having their issues and the members from South of the River believing that the DAGS is now a Northern Club only, it may be time to reflect.

 It has been suggested to me that the “old” DAGS is no longer and the Club has lost its way.  It has been suggested that the Founding Fathers should take a greater role in the way things are run so that there may be a return to the way things were.

 While I can’t speak for Andy, Charlie and Clive, my belief is that life moves on and to try and go back isn’t realistic or practical.

Plus we are now a lot older than we once were!

 If you will bear with me, I may be a bit indulgent and make a few comments/observations, as well as reflect on what the DAGS has been.

 Firstly, the DAGS was never meant to be a ‘proper’ golf club.  The reason that Pickles and Brad moved away from Lakelands was that in such an environment there were too many rules and regulations, restrictions and people taking themselves way too seriously.

 Unfortunately in recent times it seems like we have been going down that slippery slope.

 Whether it be on the course where you can’t let someone pick up a ball that’s on the lip of a hole, having to play of back markers (the reason we have ambrose at Sun City was the course was too hard to enjoy), make allowances for things that aren’t necessary in the Rules of Golf or off the course where we have to legislate for buying or not buying drinks, argue about trophies, keep increasing fees for no apparent benefit and where some members not only don’t like each other but are openly hostile, those things didn’t happen in the “olden days”.

 Common sense and having a good time where humour was the bottom line was the basic premise for the way the Club evolved.

 And evolution is what happened.  We didn’t sit down a make a set of rules – things happened.

 For the record, a few of us were playing golf on Saturdays in different groups.  We decided it would be fun to formalise the group and call it the DAGS, with our own unique handicapping system that saw huge weekly fluctuations depending on the score.

 Booking involved 3-4 people (including females)  on the telephone in an office ringing a golf club to try and get 2-3 consecutive groups

 We then decided to have a Club Championship.

 Then Fintan joined the group.  He came from Sun City where he had been the Captain and other than Willy, was the first ‘real’ golfer we had.

It was Fintan who brought structure to the fun with the introduction of the Mystery 9 and the different formats for the competitions.

It was Fint who suggested that members buy a trophy on or around their birthday  so the Club didn’t have to pay out weekly.

The trophy concept was designed to be recognition for the winner of the day – it wasn’t meant to be a competition  as to who spends the most or something that sent people broke.

The Captain’s Cup was a competition introduced to encourage people to play on a given day not for any other reason.

 It was Clive who suggested and encouraged the Bali trip in 1988 which put in train the overseas/interstate trips which are now a regular event.  In fact to some extent these tours have taken over from the Mystery 9s wherein the partners of Members get to know each other and form friendships.

It was decided that these tours would occur every 4 years so that we could raise funds (100 Club) and allow people time to save up so that the trip was affordable to all members not just those who were well placed financially.

 The Ireland trip in 2002 is a perfect example of something that was years in the planning.  There’s not many clubs can boast that the tour bus driver was so taken that he came to Australia and donated a trophy!!

 Unfortunately in later years, the overseas experience became such that the cost became prohibitive to some members.  The tours saw the involvement of non-members and became more frequent thus watering down the concept of DAGS on Tour.  That doesn’t mean these tours shouldn’t happen or that they aren’t fun etc. – it is just the way it is.

 From 1989 we then had the SW tours which were relatively cheap and really good value.  We played really good courses and played very hard for a week.  Many legendary stories have come from those tours and our relationship with the Albany Golf Club became very special.

Most of us are too old to do that now and as such the recent Margaret River tour (with partners) was a pretty good variation on that theme.

 We have seen members come and go over the years, unfortunately including some guys who have passed away.  Not everyone is best mates but we have always seemed to be able to get along. 

Let’s not lose that for goodness sake.

 So in my long winded way, I think what I am trying to say to those who have asked me to speak up – the past is gone and we need to accept that.

However, if I read the wider mood around the place (and I could be wrong) there is a general feeling we need to chill, relax and be a little bit more flexible.

 We don’t need rules for everything or things set in stone because at an AGM there was vote that might not relate to changed circumstances. For example while not everyone wants to play on a Sunday, given there are no south of the river courses available on Saturdays,  it may be for the greater good we do entertain the idea of Sunday golf for a couple of months of the year – particularly given that some people travel a heck of a way to Carramar during the year.

 Nothing lasts forever,  but it would be sad to see what has been a great ride come to an unseemly end.

 Cheers Lads

Rupe

2022

Mole left us in May, doing what he loved best (after golf?): travelling and photography

Gold Coast Tour
  Hope Island, Royal Pines, The Glades, Lakelands

2023

Kalgoorlie long weekend 

Albany tour - first one for a while

OJ has taken to writing his name on the flags as "JoK" .... a new Irish member or a tribute to  Johnny O'Keefe

Tampo decided to put his name as "Jumbo" on a flag ... it could have been his writing

For the first time since two grades were introduced (1996) Andy is in A grade ... on a handicap of 25 - the handicap had to come out to meet him - only lasted a week though

The Founding Fathers end up (at least) a hole ahead of the second group in FF  month. They'll be no more talk of slow play thank-you very much

Clive picks up Joe's ball while he's still looking for it ... could happen to anyone (and did  -  see next item below)

Steve hits a ball towards an adjacent fairway. They can't find it, so Wilbur, seeing a ball in the middle of that fairway picks it up and says " Here, have this one". Brad, who has just hit the potential long drive is less than impressed when he can't find his ball ... which Steve is now using 

Chris joins the club - he's starting on a handicap of 2 so he might be a bit good for us

Oggy joins us as a guest at Marri Park on scratch (the lowest handicap of anyone  who's played with us). Unfortunately he got worst nett with 21 points so possibly the handicap was a bit low

Docker leaves us

Vietnam Tour (Mark 3)
. Ba Na Hills, Vinpearl, Montgomerie Links, BRG Da Nang
. Golden Bridge and Ba Na Hills (French) Village
. Mishaps in the shower (Tony - "money box") and at the pool  (Lou - with a falling coconut)
. 212 balls lost for the week including 85 on the final day

Carramar strikes again: Ged, Prickles, Erin & Andy have a total of 439 shots between them at Carramar. In the process Erin has a Grand Slam (Ladies, Windy and Quin) on the 9th. A week later (first round of the Championship)  Linds  has 71 on the front nine (3 stableford points) but comes good with a 51 on the back; meanwhile OJ has 51 on the front and 37 on the back. The week after Linds has 136 (65/71) - part of a nett 208 for 2 rounds in the Championship - must be a record

During FF month at Carramar:

• Charlie hit a long drive that Joe knew he couldn’t reach

• Joe said he wasn’t going to bother but changed his mind seeing it was the last drive of the day and he had been encouraged to do so by a facetious Andy who said he might win the long drive.

• Joe hit a nice drive to the left

• Unfortunately, there was a tree on that side which his ball struck full on

• It ricocheted backwards well behind the Ladies

• Andy was sympathetic (not), he was unable to hit off because he was incapacitated by laughter.

In a separate incident on a pick up without penalty round, Tampo had a jug for a Quin

I got home about 4pm Monday. I drove into my garage and closed the garage door ( 99% of the time I leave it open because im going straight back out ) with the intention of changing from my work boots to my joggers to take the dogs for a walk at Carine Open Space.

Or as I call it “The horsey park” because of the horses that are there. I pulled up with the engine running and put it into park ( obviously I didn’t ) and then put the hand brake on ( obviously I didn’t ) got out of the car

to take something off the back seat to make room for the dogs and change my shoes.  When I got to about the middle of the front of my car ( thank christ I didnt go around the back of the car ) I get that feeling of “ shit something weird is happening”

I look around and my car is going backwards down the drive way and rips through the garage door and peels it out like peeling a piece of sunburnt skin off your back!  The door lands on the outside part of the driveway in one full piece!! A bit dented as you will see by the photos

that i will send through.

But wait theres more.  The car is now looking like its going to go straight down the driveway of the house across the road ( luckily there were no cars or people walking down our street at the time. So no injurries to any one ) Im thinking structural damage to the house. my car is going to be F……

like my garage door! But when the front wheels of my car came off the my driveway the car veered to the left, as you are looking down my drive, and smashed into the back of my neighbours car that was parked to the side of their driveway. AND! Pushed their car forward into the garden bed which drops down about two feet. Which ha to be pulled out by a flat bed tow truck and taken away!

Not Finished yet.  Im going to say that the impact of my car hitting their car has put my car into drive and it has jumped forward and ran into the Power pole thats on my side of the road!  And Im  thinking snapped pole and power lines down! Great !  But luckily ( a loosely used word in this instance ) my car didnt hit it with much force it only travelled the width of the street..

So their car is mess! My door is a mess! And there is not a scratch on mine!!!  The ladders on my roof rack took out the door and the car was going to quick for it to fall back onto it. And my tow bar did all the damage to the neighbours car!

You can probably imagine the sort of language that was blurting out of my mouth

I have to say RAC Insurance were fantastic. They had a guy here within the hour who pulled apart the garage door and straightned the panels and secured them back in the track to give us security and keep the dogs safe.  Mind you Ive now taken the remote control for the door off my key ring. Wont be needing that for a while!

Seriously it was like some one was filming a scene for a movie