FROM THE PRO SHOP

Members and Associates have seen a couple of staff changes this year. Nudgee

Ladies Champion Mint Wangueeranusorn has come on board as a shop assistant. Mint

is very keen to pursue a career on golf and unfortunately due to some visa restrictions

was unable to start her traineeship this year. Hopefully this will happen in 2009.

Chris Chaplin has coached her from her early stages in golf and we are all looking

forward to following her progress in the world of golf.

She replaces Tim Brennan who has completed his traineeship. Tim will be still seen at

Nudgee practising and getting ready to tackle the golf circuit in 2008. Tim has been a

very capable and loyal employee and we wish him all the best for the future. The rest

of the staff (Chris Chaplin-Chris Keus- Gary Warburton- Sam Bowers and Nifty

Mullin) will continue in their current roles.

Golf Trips

I took a group of Nudgee members to Hawaii in July last year for 6 games of golf

which was a terrific golfing holiday. We stayed at the Pacific Beach Hotel which was

only 50 metres from Waikiki beach, very close to all the restaurants and reasonably

handy to the golf courses we played. It was a bit of an experience driving around

Honolulu but we managed to survive without any incidents but plenty of laughs.

There are plenty of courses on the Island of Oahu but we managed 6 very good

courses – Ko Olina, Turtle Bay, Luana Hills, Ko’olau, Royal Kunia and Coral Creek.

We played a number of competitions during the week with some good golf played by

the group. Craig Hitchens, Craig Philpot, Jeff Miller, Robert Sang and Bob Leach

(including 42 pts at Coral Creek) were the best performed players on the trip.

A couple of courses stood out in particular; the Arnold Palmer course at Turtle Bay

and also Ko’olau. Turtle Bay was just a beautiful design on the famous North Shore

of Oahu and Ko’olau – the Jurassic Park of Oahu set in the middle of the Island

amongst the jungle was a brutal test for everyone. After viewing the first hole it was

decided not to play off the black markers.

Turtle Bay Golf Club - Hawaii

We visited Pearl Harbour on our day off which was a great experience, did plenty of

shopping and enjoyed the may fine restaurants and watering holes Honolulu has to

offer. Errol Morzone, David Fox. Len Robertson, Tas Henry, Ralph Williams and

Gordon Wallace (Oxley) enjoyed the great week as well.

I also travelled to Vietnam last October for a senior’s tournament with Nudgee

members Ross Shields and Col Jenkinson. The Event was staged at the Ocean Dunes

course in Phan Thiet some 150 kilometres north of Ho Chi Min City.

It is a great format for the week with the pros playing a 54 hole stroke event and the

amateurs playing a 54 hole stableford, 18 hole stableford events and teams event with

the professionals.

Some of the caddies in the Vietnam Seniors Event

9

th Green Ocean Dunes - Vietnam

Everything including air fares, golf, meals, refreshments and transfers are included in

the package. The Nick Faldo designed course accompanied by the Novotel resort was

a great venue for the tournament and 120 Australians including 28 Professionals made

the journey.

These are events run by a company called Enjoy the hit and are proving very popular

with Australian professionals and there club members. I took 6 Nudgee members to

China last year so I am looking forward to more Nudgee members being involved in

2008. I will keep you posted on any up and coming events.

This year the event will be staged in Dalat in October so I am looking forward to this

year’s event and more Nudgee members being involved in this great golfing week.

We also travelled to Sydney in December to watch Craig Parry win the Australian

Open. We played 5 games of golf at some of Sydney’s best courses including St.

Michaels, Killara, Concord, New South Wales and the new Macquarie Links. All

courses were first class with Concord and New South Wales the pick of them.

Some good golf was played by the group with John Seeman, Barry Short, Ross

Shields and Peter Daley in good form. The round of the week was played by Glen

Sales who fired a 71 at New South Wales which was a fine score on the day. Glen

was thrilled with his score and also taking some dollars off Shane Ryan.

5th

Hole NSW Golf Club

The recent golf trip was to New Zealand (North Island) where we played in Hastings

at the good courses of Napier and Bridge Pa and the World renowned Cape

Kidnappers. We also managed to sample some of the fine Hawke’s Bay wines.

Craggy Range Winery

We headed north to Lake Taupo to play the fabulous Wairakei and the new Jack

Nicklaus course at Kinloch. Our final stop was at The Lakes Resort at Pauanui (about

90 minutes east of Auckland). We played in the Senior Pro- Am at this wonderful

venue.

It was a great 9 days of golf and the twenty that went on the trip enjoyed the great

courses and hospitality we received during our visit.

Some good golf was played by the group on these very testing courses. Jeff Miller,

Ross Shields, Neil King, Jim Kelly and Jim Crook all played well during the week.

On the tee at Bridge PA – John Downs, Bob Milne, Tas Henry and Jeff Miller

John Downs and Errol Morzone – 1

st Tee Cape Kidnappers

Latest Products

As always we are continually getting the latest products into the store. Ping,

Callaway, Footjoy, Cobra and Wilson all have new models out at the moment, and

other brands have lowered their prices as well.

Ping has just released their G10 range of clubs. These come in drivers, fairway

metals, hybrids, irons and accessories. We have demo models in all of these items,

with a large range of demo drivers available. We also have a full set of G10 irons that

can be taken out on the course for use. The Rapture range of clubs is still available

and is proving to be very popular.

Cobra is bringing out a new range of irons – a new S9, FP and UF. For the better

player the Pro CB and the MB (as used by Ogilvy) while Titleist have released the

AP 1 (as used by Adam Scott) AP2 and the ZB and ZM blades. A new range of Cobra

woods will be available very soon. Demos will be available as soon as they arrive.

We have plenty of the new Taylor Made range of Drivers in stock. The Burner in TP,

Standard and Draw and also the R7 G.C.B. – all available in Ladies and Gents. I also

have good stocks of the Cleveland Hi-Bore XLS Drivers also.

Callaway has also just released their new Hyper X range of drivers. These are full

titanium woods that partner the FT range of drivers. As always we have demos in

these models available.

Footjoy have its new range of footwear available with a pretty extensive range of

men’s and ladies shoes. We do have good stocks at the moment although we are able

to get most models that you would like within 5-10 working days if we don’t already

have it in stock. These are the shoes as worn by over 60% of the players on the US

Tour.

Keep in mind that with the strength of the Aussie dollar, our prices are starting to

lower as the impact filters through from our suppliers to us. We have been doing a lot

of club fitting at the moment – it really is the best way to judge the club that best suits

your game and swing. Gary, Chris Chaplin, Chris Keus and I are available to help

you decide which is the best club for you. Fittings are available from Tuesday to

Sunday on the range. Talk to one of us about an appointment.