NEWS UPDATE TO MEMBERS - April 2020 - Clontarf Golf Club

NEWS UPDATE TO MEMBERS – April 2020

A Message form our President, Tommy Cooke: Dear Members, staff and friends, we are in unprecedented times
in the Clontarf Golf and Bowling Club and also in our personal lives. This Coronavirus / Covid-19 pandemic has
affected all aspects of society including our Club and has placed demands on us never experienced before. In order
to lessen the impact on the Club, the Management Committee has been working tirelessly on our behalf to alleviate
the damage and to safeguard our Members and staff. This has necessitated long hours of discussion and taking
hard decisions to maintain the viability of our course, bowling green and clubhouse.

The impact of the latest measures, announced on Friday 27 th March have been assessed and whatever can be
done, while abiding by the restrictions, is being done. The GUI and ILGU have received clarification from the
Government that golf course maintenance may be considered to be an essential service which cannot be performed
at home and can therefore continue during this period of restricted movement. Accordingly, essential maintenance
on the course and bowling green will continue to be carried out while abiding by stringent working practices to
ensure the health and safety of greenkeeping staff. As such, we will put in place the minimum amount of
maintenance necessary to keep the course and bowling green viable until the return to normal. Our daytime security
is being covered on a rotating basis by Pat and Darragh and the nighttime by Val, Tommy and Noel. Some
administration staff are currently unavailable due to restrictions and illness but hopefully they will be returning to
work shortly. We wish them well. Our thoughts are with all our staff, with Eamon and Kevin in the Pro Shop,
and with Laurent and Ann, our new caterers, who had to close pending the ending of this pandemic.

We extend a sincere thank you to our General Manager, Pat, and the administration, security and
course staff, who, albeit on reduced hours, are continuing to work with great dedication for the
Club. If any Member has an important need to contact the General Manager, he/she can do so by
sending an email to manager@clontarfgolfclub.ie.

There are still many challenges ahead for us all but, with a spirit of community and togetherness, I am confident
that, when this crisis ends, we will emerge in good shape and be able to continue to enjoy our beautiful Club once
again. In these times, some of our Members, friends or neighbours are in self isolation and may be alone. If you
can spare a few minutes to phone them for a chat and check if they are ok, I’m sure they will appreciate it. In the
meantime, stay safe and healthy.

Coronavirus / Covid-19: Members will be aware from various emails issued by the General Manager, that the
Clubhouse, golf course, practice facilities, bowling pavilion and bowling green are now closed until Sunday,
19th April 2020 at least. This is in keeping with the measures announced by the Taoiseach on Monday 23rd March
and the recommendations from the GUI and the ILGU. Members should stay away from the Club until further notice.

The Management Committee had put a minimum roster of staffing in place to ensure service, security and essential
maintenance. All work is being carried out in strict accordance with Government guidelines on physical / social
distancing. This is a very fluid situation with new developments taking place almost daily. Emails providing further
information will be issued to Members as necessary and as matters evolve. Please abide fully with all
the official guidelines and help prevent the spread of this virus.

SMILE by Spike Milligan:
      Smiling is infectious; you catch it like the flu.
      When someone smiled at me today, I started smiling too.
      I walked around the corner and someone saw me grin.
      When he smiled, I realised I had passed it on to him.
      I thought about the smile and then realised its worth.
      A single smile like mine could travel around the earth.
      So if you feel a smile begin, don’t leave it undetected.
      Start an epidemic and get the world infected.

Men’s Club: Congratulations to the winners of the few competitions that did take place in March:
   • Singles on Sunday 1st – Michael Sheridan (15) 37 pts (15 holes)
   • Singles on Saturday 7th – Fergus Fitzpatrick (28) 41 pts (18 holes)
   • Robinson Cup singles qualifier on Sunday 8th – Leading qualifier Brendan McKenna (17) net 66
   • Singles on Sunday 8th – Tony Stanley (10) net 66
   • Fourball on Sunday 15th – Eamonn Ryan (13) & Pat Mullins (20) 45 pts

Midweekers: Winners of the 12-hole competitions played in March were:
   • Captain, Brian Leech’s prize on Wednesday 4th - Pat O’Hanlon (25) 33 pts
   • 2-man rumble on Wednesday 11th – Peter Bergin (8) & Ray Bergin (17) 33 pts (L3)

Ladies’ Club: Congratulations to the winners of the few competitions that did take place in March:
   • Singles v par on Monday 2nd - Cl1, Nuala Brett (25) level & Cl2, Kathleen Fagan (32) level (15 holes)
   • Singles on Thursday 5th – Cl1 Noelle Walls (22) 27 pts (L5) & Cl2 Bernadette Maguire (34) 30 pts (15 holes)
   • Singles on Monday 9th - Kathleen Sheridan (21) 17 pts (L6) (9 holes)
   • Singles on Thursday 12th – Rena Walshe (22) 23 pts (15 holes) & Ann Keevey (21) 19 pts (9 holes)

Mixed Golf: Congratulations to the winners of the 4-person team event on Saturday 14th March - Derek D’Arcy (7),
Bobby Doyle (11), Dave Corcoran (13) & Gerry Cleary (15) 93 pts.

Junior Golf: The Junior Boys/Girls AGM and the Junior
Captains’ Drive-In was held on Sunday 8th March at 2.30pm.
A packed West Wing heard a review of the past year; thanked
the outgoing Junior Captains, Olivia Stafford and Dean
Russell; and welcomed the Junior Captains for 2020 – Robin
Fitzpatrick and Conor Sheridan.

The weather held up and following two impressive drives, our
Junior Captains led a 9-hole competition for the Juniors. The
boys competition was won by Patrick Dunne and the girls
competition was won by Robin Fitzpatrick. The Junior
Convenors would like to express their appreciation to the Club
President, Captains and Vice-Captains for their support and        The Junior Girls’ Captain    The Junior Boys’ Captain
                                                                          for 2020,                    for 2020,
contributions on the day. Until the golf season resumes, stay
                                                                      Robin Fitzpatrick            Conor Sheridan
safe and observe all the guidelines.

Bowling Club: Unfortunately, it was necessary to postpone the Unfurling of the Flag, marking the opening of the
Bowling Season for 2020. Hopefully, it can be rescheduled when life gets back to normal.

The bowling leagues, cups and Club competitions have either been postponed or cancelled and the Bowling
Committee has decided to cancel the Clontarf Pairs Open Tournament for 2020.

Fauna and Flora at The Clontarf Golf and Bowling Club
        Black-Headed Gull            Resident along all Irish coasts, with significant numbers arriving from the
    Larus ridibundus (Sléibhín)      continent in winter. It breeds in small numbers on islands in larger lakes
                                     in western Ireland. Adults have red legs, and in summer plumage, a dark
                                     brown hood on the head; in the winter, the hood is absent and is replaced
                                     by a dark spot behind the eye.

                                        Black-headed gulls are sociable, quarrelsome, noisy birds, usually seen
                                        in small groups or flocks, often gathering into larger parties where there
                                        is plenty of food, or when they are roosting.

                                        Diet consists of worms, fish, carrion and insects especially in arable fields.
                                        They will also exploit domestic and fisheries waste. They can be observed
                                        “dancing” on the grass to encourage worms to surface.

 Resident along all Irish coasts, a large gull, which in adult plumage                      Herring Gull
 (illustrated) has light grey upperwings, showing black tips with white              Larus argentatus (Faoileán
 'mirrors' (white at the very tips surrounded by black); the rest of the                      scadán)
 plumage is white. The legs are pink at all ages. Herring Gulls have four
 age groups and attain adult plumage after three years when they moult
 into adult winter plumage. Both predator and scavenger, they often feed
 on the coast and follow fishing boats and use landfill sites.

 They breed in colonies around the coast of Ireland and increasingly on city
 rooftops. The biggest colony in Ireland is on Lambay island with over 1,800
 nests.

 They regularly use the golf course for feeding and roosting. They are
 generally referred to as “Seagulls” and are blamed for harassing people
 for food but they have simply learned this behaviour from those who
 actively feed them.

Many thanks to Gerry Power for submitting the above article

Some light relief: During my physical examination, my doctor
asked me about my physical activity level. I described a typical
day.

“Well yesterday afternoon, I took a five hour walk of about 7 miles
through some pretty rough terrain. I waited along the edge of a
lake. I pushed my way through brambles. I got sand in my shoes
and my eyes. I avoided standing on a snake. I climbed several
rocky hills. I took a few ‘leaks’ behind some big trees. The mental
stress of it all left me shattered. At the end of the exercise, I drank
8 beers.”

Inspired by the story, the doctor said, “you must be one hell of an
outdoors man”. “No” I replied, “I'm just a rubbish golfer.”

Snooker: Congratulations to the members of the Clontarf snooker team that won the North Dublin Snooker League
(a competition between members of six north Dublin Golf Clubs) for the second year in a row. They thereby qualified
to play St. Anne’s in the semi-final of the Cup but this competition has been deferred indefinitely and, unfortunately,
may not be played at all this year because of the Coronavirus.

Maintenance of planted areas by volunteers: Obviously, and with great regret, the work of the volunteer group
is on hold due to the Coronavirus outbreak. However, the members of the group are honing their gardening skills
at home so that, when eventually things return to normal, they will all be fit and able to work twice as hard. They
will be bursting at the seams to assist Darragh and his team, doing work around the course that they, the greens
staff, will not have the time to do but which is still important. Let’s hope that time is not too far away.

Recipes from our Caterers: Our caterers Laurent and Ann Creusevaut (DLA Catering Limited) have very kindly
provided the following menus that Members might like to try. Good luck and enjoy !

CREAM OF CHICKEN SOUP for 4 people
   Ingredients                                      •   450 gr skinless chicken breast chopped
   • 1 onion chopped                                •   1 leek trimmed washed and sliced
   • 600 ml chicken stock                           •   1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
   • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme               •   175 ml cream
   • Salt and pepper                                •   3 tablespoons of butter

1. Melt the butter in a large sauce pan over a medium heat, Add the onion and cook, stirring until slightly softened.
   Add the leek and cook for a further 5 minutes stirring. Add the chicken, stock, and herbs. Season with salt and
   pepper. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 25 minutes until the chicken is tender and cooked
   though. Remove from heat and cool down for 10 minutes.
2. Transfer the soup to a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. Return soup to the pan in a low heat
   for 5 minutes.
3. Stir in the cream and cook for a further 2 minutes.

Recipes from our Caterers (continued):
FISHERMAN’s PIE serves 6
    Ingredients                                     •   900 gr white fish fillet skinned
    • 150 ml dry white wine                         •   175 gr cooked prawns or any other fish or seafood
    • Butter for greasing                           •   1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley, tarragon or dill
    • 175 gr small mushrooms                        •   40 gr plain flour
    • 100 gr butter                                 •   900 gr of potatoes
    • 125 gr double cream                           •   Salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven at 180ͦ c / gas mark 4. Butter a baking dish.
2. Fold the fish fillet in half and place in the dish. Season well. Add the wine and herbs.
3. Cover with tin foil and bake for 15 minutes until the fish starts to flake. Strain off the liquid and reserve for the
   sauce. Increase the oven to 220 ͦ c / gas mark 7.
4. Sauté the mushrooms in a frying pan with 15 gr of the butter and spoon over the fish. Scatter over the prawns.
5. Heat 55 gr of the butter in a saucepan and stir the flour. Cook for a few minutes without browning, remove from
   the heat. Then add the reserved cooking liquid gradually, stirring well between each addition.
6. Return to the heat and gently bring to the boil stirring constantly. Add the cream and season to taste with the
   salt and pepper. Pour over the fish and smooth the surface.
7. Cook the potatoes in boiling salted water for 15-20 minutes. Drain well and mash with a potato masher until
   smooth. Season and add remaining butter, stirring until melted.
8. Pile the potato onto the fish and sauce and bake for 15 minutes until golden brown.

A few brain teasers: Try these. The answers are on the final page.
1) A driver notches up 15,951 miles on his milometer and realises that this number is palindromic reading the
    same backwards as forwards. He feels pleased to have noticed such a rare occurrence and is thus doubly
    surprised when two hours later another palindromic number appears. What new palindromic number did he
    notice and how fast was he driving during those two hours?
2) What is the next letter in this series? O,T,T,F,F,S,S.,
3) The following words share a common feature What is it? Calmness, Canopy, Deft, First, Sighing, Stun.
4) What is very unusual about the following words? Bough, Cough, Dough, Rough, Through

Rules of Golf: Before the Clubhouse was closed due to the Coronavirus, there was a discussion amongst a group
of Members as to a player’s options if he/she hit a ball out of bounds or could not find it in an area where he/she
thought it should be. Some felt that a ball could be dropped, under a penalty of two strokes, in the vicinity of where
the original ball went out of bounds or was thought to have landed. This is not correct.

The misunderstanding may be because there is provision in the Official Guide to the Rules of Golf for a
Model Local Rule (E-5) which provides for an "Alternative to Stroke and Distance for a Lost Ball or a Ball Out of
Bounds". However, both the GUI and the ILGU were not in favour of this Local Rule being adopted by Golf Clubs
in Ireland and none have done so.

What to do when your ball is lost or has gone out of bounds
If after playing a stroke your ball cannot be found or if you are satisfied that it has gone out of bounds, then under
Rule 18.2b you must take stroke-and-distance relief by adding one penalty stroke and playing another ball from
where the previous stroke was made (see Rule 14.6 for procedure to be followed depending on the area of the
course where the previous stroke was made).

For example, if you drive your ball from the 14th tee box and you believe that it has gone out of bounds to the right
of the 14th fairway, you must then play another ball from the place where the previous stroke was made i.e. from
the 14th tee box. This second drive from the 14th tee box becomes your third stroke for that hole viz. your original
drive which sent your ball out of bounds is your first stroke, the one stroke penalty that must be added under Rule
18.2b is your second stroke and your drive from the 14th tee box with another ball is your third stroke.

If you play a provisional ball from the 14 th tee box and you subsequently find that the original ball you drove from
that tee box is out of bounds, then your provisional ball becomes the ball in play and this stroke becomes your third
stroke for the play of that hole. If by some good fortune you find that your original ball is not out of bounds, then
the shot with the provisional ball is discarded, no penalties apply, and your next shot with the original ball will be
your second shot at that hole – provided always that you announced clearly to your fellow players that you
were going to play a provisional ball. It is not enough for you only to say that you are “playing another ball” or
are “playing again”. You must use the word “provisional” or otherwise clearly indicate that you are playing the ball
provisionally under Rule 18.3. If you do not make the correct announcement and subsequently find the original ball
in play, you must disregard it and continue with the second ball and you will be playing your fourth shot with it.

A Handicap of 150 yards - Littlehampton, April 1924: Harry Rountree, an artist and scratch amateur golfer,
played the better ball of two British Open Champions, George Duncan and Ted Ray. Rountree received ‘150 yards
taken in such quantities and at such points as he preferred’.

The wording was important. Rountree understood golf courses very well - his water colour drawings of famous
courses had appeared in golf magazines - and he knew the value of the wording. He exploited his advantage
sensibly and beat the professionals by 6 and 5. He had used only 50 yards and two feet of his handicap.

At the very first hole, Rountree used three inches to take his ball out of a bad lie and a yard to hold a putt. He was
one up and still had almost 149 yards to play with. At the 187-yard 6th hole, Rountree drove to within 25 yards of
the green. When Ted Ray holed his chip shot for a two, Rountree simply used 25 yards of his handicap for a one.
It was a real psychological blow.

The artist found he could use a few inches to improve his lie, a few yards to take the ball out of a bunker and a few
feet to turn a layup into a brilliant putt. Only on rare occasions did he hold out, for all putts from 6 yards downward
he took as a matter of course. He lifted his ball at two holes but his net score for the other 11 was one under an
average of threes. It was exasperating for the professionals.

After the novel match, Ted Ray declared that he could win every championship in the world if he was conceded a
handicap of one yard. If nothing else, this highlights the number of times a few inches makes all the difference in
a game of golf.

What’s Up?: Satellite viewing is available every day at sunset subject to clear skies. There are approximately
30,000 satellites in orbit at altitudes up to 250 miles and many can be seen clearly crossing the sky. Serious
satellite watchers can refer to NASA’s SkyWatch or Spaceweather.com or N2YO.com for accurate satellite
information such as identification, trajectory and time above Dublin.

Some upcoming sightings over Dublin of the International Space Station (ISS) are as follows:
   • Wednesday 1st April at 9.33pm and 13 degrees above West.
   • Thursday 2nd April at 8.47pm and 22 degrees above WSW.
   • Friday 3rd April at 9.36pm and 10 degrees above WSW.
   • Saturday 4th April at 8.49pm and 13 degrees above WSW.

The ISS weighs 520 tons and measures 356 ft across and 290 ft long and has almost an acre of solar panels
attached. It maintains an orbit at an altitude 400 kms and circles the earth roughly every 90 minutes. Preparations
are under way to launch SOYUZ MS16 to the ISS on Thursday 9th April.

Venus - this planet continues to dominate night skies. For several days it crosses the “ Seven Sisters “ (Pleiades)
star cluster. It might be possible with the aid of binoculars to see that its shape is not round and is best looked at
just after sunset.

On the morning of Wednesday 15th April, both Jupiter and Saturn will lie just above the last quarter moon, low in
the south east (between 5.00am and 6.00am). Jupiter is over ten times brighter than Saturn and so it is easily seen
as a naked eye object above the moon at twilight. Jupiter is 760 million kms away, Saturn is 1,504 million kms away
and the moon is 400,000kms from earth. The full moon on Wednesday 8th April will be a ”Supermoon” and the
closest moon of the year.

Roughly 4.1kms across, Asteroid 1998 OR2 (roughly the size of Tory Island) will pass earth at a distance of 6
million kms.

A near earth object, about the size of a washing machine, has been gravitationally captured in Earth’s orbit like a
tiny moon, 300,000kms from earth. It will be flung out of earth’s orbit this month and will return to the influence of
the Sun’s gravity.

The Lyrid meteor shower (from comet thatcher) will show 10 to 20 meteors at peak early morning on Wednesday
22nd April.

Many thanks to John Lambert, Men’s Tournament Secretary, for submitting the above article saying that “the
above might be of interest to ‘bored out of their tree’ Members“.

Answers to brain teasers:
1) The next palindromic number after 15,951 is 16,061 so he must have traveled 110 miles giving him an average
   speed of 55 mph.
2) The next letter in the series is E. The series is One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight.
3) Three letters in each word are in their normal alphabetical order, e.g. lmn, nop, def, rst, gh and stu.
4) They all end in O-U-G-H and none of them rhyme.

And finally, figure out these. They’re easy so no clues or answers provided.

Ok, in case you’re struggling, the clue to the first one is “by way of example” and for the second one “it should be
obvious to everyone”.

                   Happy Easter
    Enjoy it in so far as you can in these difficult days.
 Indulge yourself and eat as much chocolate as you like!