This Enews Newsletter covers the following topics:
Volunteers Needed for Course Renovation – 26th and/or 27th August
Practice Facility Upgrade – Update
From the Course
Green Course – Wednesday Competition
Lost Balls – Maximum Search Time
Oatlands to Oberon Trip – Sunday 8th September
Oatlands Competitions: Male & Female Participation
Eric Apperly Shield
Major Events
Upcoming Events
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Volunteers Needed for Course Renovation – 26th and / or 27th August
Oatlands Golf Club has a fantastic group of volunteers that meet most Mondays to assist the Club with Course and Clubhouse work.
During our bi-annual renovations, the availability of volunteers is invaluable. As an example, due to the wet weather in April, the April renovation would have been significantly delayed and would have impacted the golfing fixtures had it not been for the 16 volunteers that were available to assist.
If you are available to assist with the August renovation, please advise the General Manager (Sam Howe) via email: gm@oatlandsgolf.com.au
The video below is an example of what was achieved by the volunteers in April.
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Practice Facility Upgrade – Update
Work on the putting and chipping greens has continued to progress well this week. With the co-ordinating of early morning deliveries of materials (sand and gravel for the sub base), this has enabled the contractors to work to the designated schedule. The gravel layer was shaped on Monday with the final shape presented to the Greens Committee on Monday afternoon. The subtle slopes (2 slight rises, and 2 flatter areas) throughout the green, will provide a good representation of the challenges presented on the 18 greens on the golf course and will provide members with the opportunity to practice and prepare for similar conditions that they will encounter on the course.
The sand layer is in the process of being spread across the gravel, and will mirror the finished levels of the gravel but will be 300mm higher. The 6 sprinklers have been installed around the green, plus 2 quick coupling valves (QCV’s) to allow staff to clean or hand water this green. Due to the size of this green, we have installed 2 quick coupling valves, as all our other greens only require one QCV on each green.
The video below gives an overview of the work that has taken place in the first three weeks, press the play symbol to view
(Week 2 starts at the 2 minute mark, week 3 starts at 4mins 30secs)
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From the Course
Rainfall for the Week: 0.0mm Rainfall for 2019: 555.5mm Dam: 85% Green Speed: 11.5 feet
Greens were fertilised on Tuesday morning to promote growth heading into renovations. This fertiliser needed to be watered in immediately, however, we had to stop this application around 10am and re-commence after 4pm due to recently introduced water restrictions.
Spraying for winter grass and kikuyu changed somewhat today, with half rates of Glysophate (Roundup) being used on our tee surrounds. This application won’t effect our couch in these areas as it is dormant at this time of year, and the frosty mornings so far this week will shut it down even more.
The Club had a demonstration of an autonomous fairway mower on Tuesday. This demonstration was attended by OGC staff and the Club President, along with Superintendents from other courses and playing fields. The demonstration produced mixed opinion with the technology not quite at the set and forget level, at this stage. The technology will continue to evolve and we will continue to monitor new innovations as they are introduced to the Golf Industry.
Our volunteers were on course Monday morning concentrating on painting the hand rails behind the Clubhouse, blowing debris from the fairways in front of the ladies competition and stick picking. Bill Tunks finished the structures to hold the covers up over our kiln dried sand. Thank you gentlemen for your assistance once again this week, and I look forward to seeing you all again on Monday!
This weekend we will be cutting greens on Saturday, and removing the dew from them on Sunday.
Enjoy the weekend!
The Course Team
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Green Course – Wednesday Competition
Members may have noticed that we now have green tee markers on all 18 holes located at the forward most position of each tee.
This initiative has been introduced to give members who might struggle with the longer golf course the opportunity to continue to enjoy their game.
Commencing Wednesday 4th September, participation from the green tees will be allowed in the main competition of the day (as opposed to a separate competition as is currently the case). The green tee will remain a separate competition on all other competition days. In the event that there is a major / trophy event on a Wednesday, eligibility for the major / trophy event will be from the tees outlined in the conditions of play (not from the green tees).
Any player participating from the green tees will have their Golf Australia handicap adjusted according to the slope of the green course.
The Ambrose event that is fixtured for Wednesday 29th August (directly after the greens renovation), will be held from the green tee to give all members an experience from these tees.
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Lost Balls – Maximum Search Time
Members are reminded that the changes to the Rules of Golf that came into effect on January 1st with regard to the time allowed to search for lost balls, changed the maximum time allowed from 5 minutes down to 3 minutes.
The Match Committee have received a number of informal complaints over the last month that this is not being adhered to by many players on the course. This change was made by the R&A to assist Clubs to manage Pace of Play and increase the overall enjoyment of golf for all participants. The 3 minute time is the maximum allowed, and it is up to the individual player to be mindful of and not exceed the timing allowed under the Rules.
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Oatlands to Oberon Trip – Sunday 8th September
The annual trip to Oberon is upon us once again and the Club would like to invite all members to take part in this trip to support our Buddy Club as part of the Golf NSW Buddy Club initiative.
As in previous years, we have organised a bus to transport those who would rather not drive. The details are outlined below with the cost of the bus transport shared between those who use it (likely to be approx. $40pp).
Departure from OGC: 7am
Arrival at Oberon: 9:30am
Shotgun Start: 10am
Lunch: 3pm
Departure: 5pm
Back at OGC: 7:30pm
Our hosts at Oberon are very excited to welcome us back having received a number of grants in the last year which have allowed them to improve the golf course and amenities.
Oberon is an interesting golf course and the members and camaraderie make the trip well worth the effort.
If you would like to take part in this event, please book online (timesheet listed 8th September and link below) or email the General Manager gm@oatlandsgolf.com.au.
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Oatlands Competitions: Male & Female Participation
Oatlands Golf Club has been at the forefront of gender equity in golf with the gender neutrality of the membership categories embraced more than virtually all other Golf Clubs.
All members are reminded that all competition fields at Oatlands are available for male and female play.
This means that the traditional ladies days of Monday and Thursday are available and welcoming of male member participation as are the traditional men’s days of Wednesday and Saturday’s of female participation.
Many of the Clubs Major Trophy events are based on gender eligibility (similar to the USPGA and USLPGA), however these days we will still have a competition of the day for both genders to take part in.
Oatlands GC prides itself on its inclusive culture and is committed to this remaining a key aspect of the Clubs identity, so if you are looking for an alternate day for competition play, please keep in mind that Oatlands GC has competition play available to all members on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday’s.
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Eric Apperly Shield
Last week our Eric Apperly Team travelled to NSW GC to play against NSW GC. We came away with a 6-0 defeat. The score line didn’t reflect our teams performance as all players tried their best in horrendous conditions. Besides two early defeats, we competed well with NSW GC. Two matches went to the 16th, one match went to the 17th and another match went to the 18th.
This is the end of the Eric Apperly season for 2019, after two years of experience, the team now know what standard they must meet to be consistent in this competition.
Thank you to all the members who came out to support us, it is much appreciated by the team!
Members may have noticed that we now have green tee markers on all 18 holes located at the forward most position of each tee.
Oatlands Golf Club has been at the forefront of gender equity in golf with the gender neutrality of the membership categories embraced more than virtually all other Golf Clubs.
