Max Jericho is only 13 and already has dropped his handicap to 36. At the time of writing he has just carded 43 points and won the Aussie Day Ambrose, so I think the handicap will come down quickly. Max began golf when he was about 4 years old, swinging a club in the back yard. He loves nearly all sports and has to choose between tennis and golf and football and golf.
The day he scored 43 points he nearly aced the 6th hole leaving the ball 4 cm from the cup (behind the hole). He did get the birdie and funily enough his dad birdied the hole as well. Could that be one for the Barmera record books?
Max represented our club at the 2018 SAPSASA Golf Championships at the Patawalonga course in Adelaide. It poured with rain and Max got the worst of the wind that day and just missed the final. He has just started high school and hopes to make the District team again.
 ​

Max at our club and below he is representing the Riverland at the SAPSASA Day at the Patawalonga Course.

As you all know, no-one put their hand up for the captaincy at the AGM in December, so after some consideration and against my better judgement, as I have a big year ahead of me at work, I’ll continue on as Captain. However, I will not be alone. It has also been decided, and at my request, we now have a captain’s committee to help me when I can’t be there. This will comprise of Trevor Hansen, Brian Finn, Steve Brown, Tyson Swanbury (for Pennants) and myself. Other club committee members have also put their hands up to help at times as well.
I’ve been working on the coming year’s program and once again, it’s a very busy year. Similar to previous years, but with a few minor changes. Hopefully the program will be out in the next couple of weeks so you can all plan your lives around playing golf at this great club. Speaking of which, how good is the course looking at the moment, despite all this heat, Dave and his awesome band of volunteers have been doing an exceptional job. I believe the 4th green is about to have a much needed makeover/upgrade which should be good and ready for the open in June. The new grassy mounds are covering well and the new double row sprinklers are doing their job with those fairways being much improved. There are still a couple of fairways needing new sprinklers, but that will happen at a later date.
The summer comps are well under way, as they should be at this time. At the time of writing this, the 4th round of the three summer comps are about to begin. I can tell you that at this stage Brian Finn and Twisty Martin are leading the way in the Summer Cup-stroke. Brian Finn is leading, followed by Gary Denton and Steve Brown in the Gavin Kelly memorial Trophy-Stableford. Chris O’Loughlin then Phil Ashton are in front for the John Thomas Memorial Trophy-Par. Some people who have only played twice in each of the comps have very good scores but need to qualify with a 3rd game and could well be in running to beat the current leaders who are only in those positions because they’ve already played 3 rounds of their respective comps. So, bring it on and don’t let the weather put you off. Surprisingly, we’ve had better than expected numbers out on particularly hot days.
Remember when it is hot out there, hydrate with plenty of water first, then beer, and more importantly, keep an eye on each other.
Most of the trophy donors are back on board with some still to get back to me, but I’m sure they will. If not, I’ll let you know of any changes. Please support those businesses that support us. Despite some of you who say it’s not about the prizes, I say, it’s a nice little thing to have and it makes it worthwhile when you have a good day out. How boring would it be if you only received a cheap arse ball each week? The businesses like to support us because they get a bit of advertising for the price of a prize, and I know they like it when some of us say thanks for the prize or just thanks for supporting our golf club. Thanks to the individual members who are donating a prize as well. It shows a great internal support for the club. All the prize donors are mentioned in the front of the program, so for the rest of, please take the time out to say thanks to those individuals.                       
If any of you fellas would like to encourage the ladies by donating a prize for a day during their winter program, please give me a call and we’ll include it in the program.
 
That’ll do for now, I’ve waffled lots and probably forgotten lots. Remember to bring your friends along to our major events and some of us need to show support for our reciprocal clubs for their events.
 
Cheers for now
Gaz