Oatlands Enews – Friday 1st March 2019
Content
This E-news covers the following topics:
- From the Course
- Volunteer Update
- Ladies Update
- Staff Profile – Peter Foley (Golf Operations Supervisor)
- Oatlands’ Social Media – Engage with your Club
- Member Feedback Survey
- Club Events
- Competition Update
- Representative Teams
- Rules Update – Prohibited Play Zones
- Pro Shop News – Upcoming Demo / Fitting Days
From the Course
Rainfall for the week: 14.5mm Rainfall for 2019: 159mm Dam: 90% Green Speed 9.0 feet
The team has managed to complete minor renovations to the front 11 tees this week, and the results of the fertiliser application to the back 7 tees last week starting to be seen with a nice green tinge evident. The height of cut on tees has been raised from 9mm to 12mm to allow tee pads to thicken up before the colder weather stops growth on these surfaces.
The main section of the 17th fairway where bare areas are present, has been aerated and re-turfing will proceed over the coming week, starting on Monday.
Soil testing on greens has been taking place with pleasing results. Samples tested almost all fell into the ideal range for pH, nutrient content and sodium levels. The results of these tests have compared very favourably to historical records from 5 years ago and this is a major contributing factor into the state of the greens at the moment. The challenge is to now maintain these ideal levels into the future.
The overhanging branch on the 16th fairway has been removed. This did result in some minor damage to the turf below, however the ropes and posts on the fairway have now been removed.
All areas of the course have been cut this week, with fairways being cut twice to produce a better surface.
Enjoy the weekend!
The Course Team
Volunteer Update
The volunteers were on course again on Monday with 8 volunteers checking bunkers before the ladies competition, blowing fairways, and performing routine repairs to our practice nets. Thank you to all volunteers for your contribution this week! New volunteers are encouraged to join in on Monday’s from 7am – 11am, followed by a complimentary lunch supplied by the Club.
Ladies Update
Pennant Hills Interclub 2019
Our annual Interclub match against Pennant Hills GC is being played on Monday 25th March at Oatlands. The timesheet is now open on the website (click here to book) so please sign up in pairs. The format of the day is Canadian Foursomes with a shotgun start at 8am followed by lunch. This will also be a Club Shirt Day.
Presidents Cup
The final of the Presidents Cup will be played on Thursday between Kathy Lim and Paula Skelton, both ladies have had solid wins to get to the final. Paula is the defending champion who is keen to win again this year, however Kathy will be a tough opponent who wants the trophy for herself. We are looking forward to a great match and wish both players the best of luck!
On behalf of the Ladies Committee
Staff Profile – Peter Foley (Golf Operations Supervisor)
Peter started work at Oatlands Golf Club on the 1st January this year. He is a self-confessed golfing tragic having grown up playing golf at Windsor and Richmond and getting down to a scratch handicap at the age of 18 yrs.
After giving serious consideration to starting a PGA traineeship at Windsor Golf Club Peter remained as an amateur golfer and has been working in both hospitality (Castle Hill RSL Sydney Casino) and golf retail (Golf Mart) prior to commencing his role at Oatlands.
Peter is still a member at Richmond GC however his young family (two boys aged 11yrs & 4yrs) have restricted his time on the golf course.
Peter has expert level product knowledge in all areas of golf and particularly with regard to club-fitting where he stays up to date by subscribing to all the latest product release videos on YouTube and ensuring regular attendance at product launches. Peter has considerable experience with regard to launch monitor technology and the modern day process of club-fitting and loves to talk all things golf.
Oatlands’ Social Media – Engage with your Club
The response to the Club’s two social media platforms this week has been fantastic with over 3,000 interactions with Club posts. Unfortunately the incentive to get members posting their own content didn’t produce any photos however there have been quite a few members engaging with the various Club posts on a regular basis. As such, the winner of the complimentary guest round for this week is Anita Collins. Anita commented, shared or liked our content on almost 10 occasions this week which has a significant positive effect on increasing our presence to the wider social media community. Congratulations Anita and thanks for your ongoing engagement with our Facebook and Instagram pages.
This week, the Club will once again be offering a complimentary guest voucher for the best post by a member.
To visit the Oatlands Facebook page, click the link below and “LIKE” our page and post your own photos / comments to be eligible for the weekly prize.
https://www.facebook.com/Oatlands-Golf-Club-236194513071789/
To post a photo to our Instagram channel, please add the handle @oatlandsgolfclub
For those members new to Facebook and Instagram or have absolutely no idea what I am talking about, please feel free to drop in to the General Manager’s office for a quick rundown on how this all works.
Member Feedback Survey
The Board and Management would like to thank all members who completed last week’s short survey on What You Love and What Would You Like to See Improved at your Club.
The feedback provided in these short surveys is invaluable in assisting the Club to work in a direction that most closely meets the needs of the Membership.
An overview of the results from last week’s survey is listed below including some upcoming action that members will see in response to the feedback:
| What You Love about OGC? | Action |
| The overwhelming responses on this topic were the camaraderie and friendship amongst the membership along with consistent overall presentation of the golf course. | Focus the Club’s future membership attraction and retention initiatives on the welcoming culture that is the cornerstone of Oatlands Golf Club along with the quality of golf course provided by our hard working and talented Course team. |
| What Would You Like to See Improved? | Action |
|
There was a range of responses to this question all of which will be considered and addressed in the short to medium term. Some of the more common responses (in no particular order) were:
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A short Member satisfaction survey by department (Admin, Bar, Catering, Events, and Pro Shop), will take pace in the next weekly E-news communication.
Club Events – The Week in Review
The Clubs’ annual Battle of the Sexes event took place on Sunday 24th February.
In a closely contested event, the Ladies team prevailed over the men’s team 5 matches to 4 to claim bragging rights for the year ahead. The inset picture shows Club President, George Isaac graciously presenting the trophy to the Ladies Team Captain for the day, Paula Skelton. Well done Ladies!
The Club hosted another successful Bistro on Bettington event on Wednesday 27th February, with over 60 members and guests in attendance. The highlight of the evening (at least for the new GM at his first Bistro on Bettington event), was the Belgian Chocolate Semifreddo, Chocolate Sponge, White Chocolate Crumb, and Raspberry Sorbet, pictured below.
The Bistro on Bettington event will take place on Saturday 9th March and members are encouraged to come along for another night of great food and friendship. These events are open to members and guests.
Click here for the Bistro on Bettington Saturday 9th March booking timesheet.
11 HOLE COMPETITION – EXTENSION OF TRIAL: MARCH – JUNE 2019
Held on a Sunday, this is an ideal competition for time poor members or member new to competition play looking for a low pressure introduction to competition play.
Time-sheets will open as per the regular Sunday schedule and we hope to see members take advantage of this new initiative, more tee times will be added if required.
For any question please see a member of the Pro Shop staff.
Friday 8th March: St. Hallett Open Day – Score 36pts or more and win a dozen Titleist ProV1 Golf Balls
Saturday 9th March: Bistro on Bettington
Monday 18th March: Course and Clubhouse Closed for Renovation
Tuesday 19th March: Course and Clubhouse Closed for Renovation
Friday 22nd March: Surf & Turf Buffet
Wednesday 27th March: Bistro on Bettington
Competition Update
Saturday 23rd February
Captain’s Cup: Eric Elim
A Grade: Stephen Doherty
B Grade: Colin Skelton
C Grade: Eric Elim
D Grade: Jesse Kim
Scratch: Scott Tarrant
Ladies: Linda Bestford
Thursday 28th February
A Grade: Narelle Anderson
B Grade: Joy Hawksley
C Grade: Pauline Fallance
9 Hole: Joan Devenish-Meares
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Ladies Grade Pennant
Grade Pennant starts their season today with the first match being played at Bayview GC against Wakehurst GC, we wish the following Grade players the best of luck:
Linda Gyzen
Debbie Jepson
Paula Skelton
Leonie Guthrie
Amy Kim
Monday 4th March is a shotgun start 4 person team event. We are making this one of our “club shirt” days, so we ask all ladies to please wear their club shirt. This will also be our first Slice Day for the year, so we would like to see as many ladies as possible join our field and enjoy a great day at golf. Please sign up online (click here to book) and if you haven’t got a team, we will find one for you.
Major Pennant
Last Sunday Oatlands took on an in-form Stonecutters Ridge team. It was a great morning for golf & the matches certainly did not disappoint.
Again, as with the previous week against Monash there was not much between the teams with the Oatlands boys just going down 4-3.
There were some great matches with Nathan Anning hanging in there to win on the 18th. Our captain Nick Murdoch leading from the front and winning his match and Joe El-Badawi, who was put in at number 3 also coming away with an impressive win.
The level of golf in our pennants division this year is extremely high. With 3-4 players from both Stonecutters & Monash vying to turn professional. So, for Oatlands to take both these teams to such a close finish is an absolute credit to the Oatlands Boys.
We take on Stonecutters at home this Sunday, so any support and/or available caddies would be greatly appreciated as you are going to see some great golf!
Rules Update
Prohibited Areas of Play (No Play Zones) – To replace Designated and Non-designated Garden signs
As of 15th March designated and and non-designated garden signage will be removed with Green Stakes in play to determine whether relief is available.
With regard to Prohibited Areas of Play behind greens on 5, 8, 9, 12, and 18, members are directed to refer to the Local Rule on the back of the scorecard.
Pro Shop News – Upcoming Fitting / Demo Days
The Pro Shop are hosting a number of fittings days throughout March with some of the leading Club manufacturers. These include:
Thursday 28th March: Mizuno – Click here to book
Friday 29th March: Titleist – Click here to book