Not such a fantastic day weather-wise, but hopefully you are all finding plenty of things to occupy your time whilst the golf course is closed??
Our rain gauge has overflowed, and our tanks are 'full to busting'!
LET THIS RAIN STOP PLEASE!!
A few of us have been lucky enough to actually play golf this week - not at Bowral, but at Goulburn and Royal Canberra.
On Monday 3rd May, 8 women travelled from Bowral to compete in the CSGA Veteran's Event at Goulburn. We were greeted by beautiful blue skies and, of course, the amazing morning tea!
Unfortunately, we didn't bring home any prizes, but all of us had a great day of competitive golf and camaraderie. Thank you Goulburn GC and the CSGA for organising a great event.
Our next foray down the Hume and Federal Highways was to Royal Canberra Golf Club yesterday, where we competed in the final round of the CSGA Plate pennants.
The clouds parted just after Goulburn, and we played in lovely sunshine for most of the day.
As always, the girls showed great spirit and competiveness with all the matches being very close. Yowani were the winners on the day - 3/2. A big thank you to our Pennant Captain, Virginia, for orgainising us so well!
The team was Virginia Wozniak, Leonie Poulton, Annie Geddes, Barb Clayton and Suzannne Ayre.
We did have a bit of drama yesterday, when one of our team mates 'came a cropper' on the 23rd Hole (Yarralumla Course). Barb and her opponent, Betty, were having a close match, when, after putting out on the 23rd green, Barb slid awkwardly down the slope and hurt her knee. RCGC looked after her very well and, by all accounts, she will be back on the golf course very soon.
The only results that I have this week is on Saturday 1st May.
Saturday 1st May - Stroke. Winner with a great 78 nett was Maggie McKenzie. A very close R/U was Wendy Burke with 79 Nett.
A very interesting article came through from GNSW yesterday - see below. We have been trying for a couple of years to change the word "Ladies" to "Women" and, I believe, Bowral Golf Club is certainly on the front foot in this.
Comment: Time to ditch the 'L' word
by Martin Blake
The 'ladies' reference is profoundly outdated. Photo: Getty
Language is important. And golf is no different in this.
Across the game one of the big aspirational pushes in recent times has been the desire to get more women and girls playing. If it’s successful, it has the potential for huge upside for the game.
But we keep using antiquated language and that slows us down.
Why, for instance, would we call it ‘ladies’ golf? Why do we refer to the ‘ladies’ tees’ and the 'ladies' locker room?
Surely it should be women’s golf and women’s tees and women’s locker rooms and women’s competition …
Is it really so hard to modernise the way you speak and communicate?
So, what exactly is wrong with ladies? We know that it’s used colloquially, and often. “What’s happening tonight, ladies?” No problem with that, the same as we might say: “Are you gentlemen up for golf tomorrow?”
But in its formal sense, lady refers to the wife of a nobleman such as a knight of the realm, or a woman of high moral standing.
If you want to call women’s golf ladies’ golf, then you should be referring to men’s golf as gentlemen’s golf. And nobody’s going there.
Fortunately, there is a little movement to change this, and it started with the women’s golf tour in Australia, formerly known as the ALPG (Australian Ladies Professional Golf) but now enshrined as the WPGA Tour (Women’s Professional Golfers’ Association Tour).
It’s an excellent change, but the biggest tour in the world of women’s golf, the LPGA, has not done what it should do (although the tour’s event in Singapore last week was the HSBC Women’s World Championship). Nor has the Ladies European Tour made the change that it should make.
There are branding issues at play here, because the LPGA, for instance, is one of the top women’s sports leagues in the world. But the ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open dropped the ladies reference a couple of decades ago.
At club level, hardly any have made this change. ‘Ladies’ is everywhere you look, although one Melbourne facility, Cardinia Beaconhills Golf Links, did remove the word a few years ago. Ladies is out. Women is in. Associates is long gone.
Well done to that organisation for helping to drag us into the 21st century.
At the WPGA Tour, the change only came after “robust” discussions, but Karen Lunn, the chief executive, is happy that it happened.
“Ladies and gentlemen are dated terms,” said Lunn. “We are women. The word women represents everything about our members – they’re independent and successful. “It was looking at all the other sports. We felt Australia’s led the way in many of these things where the ‘W’ replaces the ‘L’. It represents a new generation of strong independent women and that’s what we wanted to represent in our organisation. “For young girls and business women getting into the game, they don’t want to be referred to as ladies. The older generation probably don’t care, and that’s probably why there hasn’t been much change, because the committees and the people making the decision are from the older generation. But we have to change with the times.”
Let’s hope many more follow the WPGA Tour’s lead, because you just have to wonder how the 16-year-old pennant player whom a club attracts feels about this? Would she see herself as a lady?
Worse, the ladies reference speaks to privilege, which is the last thing golf ought to be projecting right now as it battles to hold ground in a competitive sporting environment.
“It (women) is less dated,” said Chyloe Kurdas, Golf Australia’s Female Engagement Senior Manager. “If we want our sport to reflect the current and the future, why would we use a word that’s quite old-fashioned?”
Other sports are already on to this. The AFLW, the NRLW, the WBBL and the W-League are examples where they won't go near the 'L' word. Golf is lagging behind.
This might seem like a small issue. It won’t change the world in five minutes.
But to me, it feels quite important in the bigger scheme of things.
At the very least, let’s have a think about it.
WHITTAKER'S WINNERS!
- Harris Farm Market - It’s really hard to find better quality speciality products than HFM. If I’m stuck for dinner I love their fresh pork & veal mince with their PastaVera sauce which comes in several different varieties. It’s in a jar in the refrigerated section near the fresh egg pasta which is the only way to go. Don’t forget some fresh Parmesan.
- Harris Farm Market – While you are there grab some Julianne’s Kitchen pate. All varieties are so delicious.
- Harris Farm Market – On the way to the check-out pick up some plain Crostoli. They are in the centre aisle opposite the bakery. Try and stop at one.
Bon Aperitif!
Jane
WHAT'S COMING UP?
This depends on whether the course is open or not ..... BUT LET'S BE POSITIVE!
Tuesday 11th May - Canadian Foursomes - see below for Format.

canadian_foursomes_toc_2021.pdf |

Saturday 15th May - Stableford
Tuesday 18th May - Teams of 3 - Stableford, 3 scores to count. Please note this event has been changed from 1,2,3 countdown due to MiClub system.
Thursday 20th May - Bowral Open Championships - see sheet in locker room.
Saturday 22nd May - Stableford.
Please check the online calendar as there have been a couple of changes due to wet weather. For example, the VWGA Country Championships will now be played on Thursday 10th June.
NOTE FROM KEVIN KENNY ...
Member's balances on their accounts will be unavailable for a while on Wednesday 12th next week while we get them out of our current system and into MiMembership to then turn on the integration.
ANNIVERSARY DINNER
Last Saturday night, we celebrated the success of our CHAMPIONS - MEN AND WOMEN! (Please see Captain's Blog for photos of Men's Champion and other winners).
It was so lovely to see the women 'FROCKED UP' AND LOOKING A MILLION DOLLARS ..... THE MEN WEREN'T TOO SHABBY EITHER!!
BOWRAL WOMEN'S CHAMPION - VIRGINIA WOZNIAK
R/U - ANNIE GEDDES
DIV 2 CHAMPION - JAN FERGUSON
R/U - JENNY OGG
DIV 3 CHAMPION - CAROLE TURPIE
R/U - JANE WHITTAKER
FOURSOMES CHAMPIONS - CAROL WARNER AND PAM BARKER
R/U - VIRGINIA WOZNIAK AND SUZANNE AYRE
DIV 2 - JAN FERGUSON AND DI LINDSAY
R/U - WENDY BURKE AND ROBBIE MCGINNES
DIV 3 - ROSEMARY DOWNING AND CAROLE TURPIE
R/U - SONYA BLEAKLEY AND JANE KILMISTER
MIXED FOURSOMES CHAMPIONS - BARB CLAYTON AND ALEC DIETSCH
THE MEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP WAS WON BY JOHN MULHOLLAND
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE WINNERS!!
Don't forget, you can always email me if you have a question or concern.
Hopefully see you on Tuesday.
Annie Geddes
Women's Captain