Vietnam Golf & Country Club – Ho Chi Minh City

Song Be Golf Club – Ho Chi Minh City

Delat Palace Golf Club – Delat

Novotel Ocean Dunes Golf Club – Phan Thiet

Sealinks Golf Club – Phan Thiet

Phoenix Golf and Country Club – Hanoi

Chi Linh Star Golf and Country Club – Hanoi

King Island Golf Club – Hanoi

There were approximately 60 of us in the group which included non golfers who were also well accommodated for with them having the opportunity of sightseeing while others were playing golf.

This tour included a daily competition for both men  & ladies as well as overall winners as well.

We are proud to advise we were able to come home winners with Peter coming from behind on the last day to take out first place by 2 shots / points and I was able to make up 3 shots to finish equal 2^nd.

Each time we played golf we were using motorized carts (sorry Shannon – not 1 battery operated buggy was to be seen) and each player had their own caddy.  Although sometimes we found the language a barrier the caddies definitely knew how to read the greens to sink that all important putt.

Apart from the golf we also experienced the highlights & low lights of Vietnam which obviously made us appreciate that we do live in a lucky country.  Something that stood out clearly was their transport or should I say lack of – basically they relied on the push bikes for transporting goods. One day we even saw a cow being transported.  As you know over here we have peak hour traffic – in Vietnam it is known as “stuck hour”. Some days you may not move at all for say 15minutes.

Back to the local scene – Muree Ladies Golf recently conducted their annual championships – congratulations to all winners

Recently some of the golfers travelled to the warmer parts of the state and played in tournaments on the North Coast.  No results to hand but have heard some players did play well below their current handicap. Congratulations to all

For now

Good health & good golfing

Wendel

Where do you start. On our electric golf buggy, we have used a couple of different types mainly as we try to stay local with a lot of our parts.

The best option we have come up with is using the sonneschein 20 and 28 amp/h batteries. Yes they are expensive but the quality is well worth the extra outlay.

With our ST10 Electric golf buggy, there is an extra surcharge to update the buggy to Sonnenschein. The ST30 is standard with the 28 amp/h Sonnenschein battery.

The battery comes with a 12 month warranty compare to most with only 6 months. We have also made our battery trays suit a couple of different size batteries.

We also sell batteries go to the following link for prices.

http://www.emggolf.com.au/icon.php

The buggy assembles and disassembles in moments with a maximum weight of the heaviest component 6 kilos.  St30 is great for minimum boot space.

The club has a number of full time grounds keepers who are always planting and tending the landscape. The club is financially supported by a number of high profile businesses in Newcastle. The club has a big function room and bar with bistro. It was great to sit back and relax with a few cold ones and some hot potato wedges after the days golfing.

The change to the base model includes a standard on/off remote control unit similar to the ones used for garage door openers or to disable security systems. It works as an override to the existing built in on off switch of the buggy. The remote is a simple keyring type control with two soft touch buttons.

Range was around 20m, once it exceeds this range the buggy will continue on its course, some care is required to ensure that it is not accidentally driven into a dam.

A few aspects which I would think worthy of revision if it ever reaches the production buggies are:

• a failsafe trip system so that if it gets out of range it automatically stops
• the aerial lead on the handle would be better incorporated into the chasis somehow. Perhaps it could be run down the inside of the handle tube though I’m not sure how that would affect the performance of the remote and its range.
• i found myself fishing around in my pocket for the remote often. After a while I attached it to my keychain and that made it easier however the positioning might be quicker to use as a wristband or as Shannon pointed out it works well when clipped to the belt guide on the top of ones pants.

Something cool we tried out which probably you wouldn’t do to a production buggy. We found that the buggies would drive quite well with us standing on the frame and motor housing. There wasn’t enough torque to go up much of a gradient but on the flat it moved along well. We’d already done 10 holes by that stage and there was plenty of power available. The golf buggies aren’t realy designed to carry a passenger but Shannon and Anthony make these buggies very strong and durable.

Home town of Newcastle Australia; Shannon grew up playing Rugby League representing the hunter region, Newcastle rep side and Lakes United President Cup in his junior years.

At the age of 20, Shannon moved into Rallying with current Australian Ford works driver Michael Guest. Throughout the years of competing at the top level Shannon has worked for Team Mitsubishi Ralli/Art Australia, building production cars for overseas customers.

Shannon competed in the Round Australia Trial in 1995 as a mechanic; a rally which covered 18500km’s in 20 days in which the team finished 2nd to the Holden factory team after leading the event for 8 days before some minor setbacks slowed their progress. The Holden team consisted of Peter Brock, Ed Ordinsky and Ross Dunkerton. This was his start to bigger and better things moving into circuit racing in production cars and also competing in the Bathurst 500 and 3 Bathurst 1000 races in V8 supercars, with The Race Centre team owned by Rod Salmon.

As all good things come to an end, Shannon now resides back in Newcastle building a business with a long term goal, (EMG GOLF) whilst still keeping a keen interest in Motorsport.

Building Electric Golf Buggies was never on the agenda but is now a big part of his life. Now in business for over 4 years Shannon has watched EMG grow at a consistent rate; probably not as fast as he would like. With so many other manufacturers producing Electric Golf Buggies, EMG are always developing their products to keep up with the bigger Australian companies.

Shannon’s comments:
Building an Electric Golf Buggy to be reliable, sturdy and unique really wasn’t that hard. We started out building buggies for another manufacturer which now is retired from production. This gave myself and Anthony the bug to pursue even further the possibilities to build a buggy that would one day be a market leader.

Rick MacLean has been unbelievable towards EMG obviously with his whole life involved with golf and being a retailer of all the brands of electric golf buggies and golfing accessories. Rick has added the golfing personal touch, so that golfers could relate to our product as a electric golf buggy not a race car.

During this time I have also reduced my handicap by 2 strokes. I have experienced the outstanding performance of the EMG buggy over the last 2 years and still have the same confidence in the buggy I am using. This allows me to spend more time on my next shot rather than my buggy negotiating the course. These games have been played on several courses in the Newcastle / Hunter Valley and can confidently advise that my EMG Buggy has been very reliable negotiating the hills and hollows of these courses at all times. At times I have had to run to catch up to the speed and power of the EMG buggy even up hills.

Because the buggy is light weight and easy to unfold I am also able to be on the course for a few practice holes in a short time after “a hard day at the office”. The reliability of my buggy has been measured against many other brands on different courses and I can honestly say it has powered past then even up hills at a standing start.

It is also comforting to know that the Sales Reps of EMG are still keen to follow up the performance of their older buggies in the market as I have been contacted several times over the last 2 years to check on the performance of the buggy.

I still have no hesitation in recommending EMG Buggies to every golfer and am sure all will enjoy the same reliability.

Wendel Musson

EMG will be supporting local competitions in 2008.

Some of the events EMG will play an active part in:
Lakes United Newcastle Rugby League Club fundraiser
Newcastle Panel Beater Association Fundraiser
Kyzac Powder Coating Customer Golf Day

We already have interest from some of the Woman’s Golf Associations and we are also interested in supporting other golfing associations.

If you are a Golf Association or have an event coming up, we can provide demonstrations of our buggies on your golf day.
If you can help us, EMG can help you!!! Please email Shannon Jeffries on Shannon@emggolf.com.au

All areas of golf are covered; with a bunker for chipping practise, artificial and turf for putting practise, practise mats and two seperate, grass tee off areas.
The pro shop has the full range of EMG Electric Golf Buggies, new batteries and buggy components.
A full range of golfing accessories including the top brands are available, complete with a full fitting service and repairs on your golf equipment.

Rick MacLean; AAA rated PGA golf professional has clinics for groups, one on one, chipping and putting courses. The clinics cater to all golfing types, from beginner to the most experienced.
Why not visit Newcastle Golf Practice Centre today “the perfect place to practise
Astra St, Shortland: Phone: (02) 4951 2692