Oatlands Enews – Friday 29th November 2019
Content
This Enews Newsletter covers the following topics:
- From the Course
- Irrigation System Damaged by Lightning – Monday 25th November
- Life Member John Bolster hits the first putt on our new Putting Green
- Ladies Presentation Night – Celebrating another successful year
- Jan Rankin and Linda Gyzen win the Killara Mother and Daughter Cup
- Pro Shop: Christmas Specials and Gift Ideas
- Oatlands Keep Cups – Pre-order in time for Christmas
- 60 Seconds with Dave – Putting
- Chipping Green: No Play Penalty Zone
- How to correctly repair a Pitchmark – Video
- World Handicapping System 2020 – New Course Ratings
- Christmas and New Year Holiday Trading
- Upcoming Events
From the Course
Rainfall for the Week: 5.0mm Rainfall for 2019: 787.5mm Dam: 55% Green Speed: 9ft
A few storms have passed by the course this week with very little rainfall. The cooler weather over the weekend certainly gave the greens and course staff a break, with the greens responding well. We were also able to turn the greens irrigation off over the weekend and allow soil profiles to dry out without causing any stress to the turf grass on the greens.
Greens were sprayed on Tuesday morning for leaf diseases which required watering in. To take advantage of the watering in process, we also sprayed green surrounds with insecticide for some Billbug activity which has be observed in the last week.
Rainfall, or lack thereof, is beginning to cause concern across the golf industry. Without some much needed rainfall, all fairway irrigation may need to be turned off in the coming weeks, in the meantime we are managing our water closely while maintaining the course in its current condition.
The putting and chipping greens opened on Wednesday, with both greens coping well with the first day’s use. The cutting height of this green is down to 4mm now, and we anticipate that the speed of this green will be very similar to the greens on course due to the fact that the putter and chipper are pure bent grass, as opposed to the bent and wintergrass mixture of our other greens.
Our volunteers were on course on Monday morning, raking bunkers before the ladies competition, blowing fairways, tidying up gardens on the 5th and 9th holes and the 6th creek line, clubhouse maintenance and stick picking. Thank you gentlemen for all your help once again this week!
Enjoy the weekend!
The Course Team.
Irrigation System Damaged by Lightning – Monday 25th November
Following a lightning strike on Monday afternoon, the course irrigation system has sustained significant damage and requires replacement, and as such, has eliminated automated control of irrigation to a number of holes on the course. The holes effected are 4,5,6,13,14,15.
The timeline on sourcing parts and getting the irrigation system back on line is 4-8 weeks which will obviously cause some complexity as we head in to a predicted hot and dry summer.
In the interim, course staff will be prioritising the manual watering of those greens and tees effected, however subject to rainfall, we may see some slight browning off of the fairways in question.
The Club will keep members updated on the progress of the irrigation restoration and we will cross our fingers for some rain to limit the impact this will have on the golf course.
Thank you for your understanding.
Life Member John Bolster hits the first putt on our New Putting Green
Life Member, John Bolster has opened the new putting green by being the first member to have a putt on the green on Tuesday afternoon prior to it being opened to all members and guests on Wednesday.
Below is a short (4mins) video of John’s putting and interview on his thoughts on the new addition to the Club’s facilities.
Ladies Presentation Night – Celebrating another Successful Year
The annual Ladies Presentation Night took place on Thursday with over 100 ladies in attendance to toast the winners of the annual major trophies and celebrate another successful year of golf and social activity for the Club female members.
A special thanks to the Ladies Committee for organising the event and in particular to Denny White and Kate Crawford who have put in over 10 hours each this week, putting up Christmas decorations and decorating the function room for the Presentation night.
Please see the photo below of the winners and the presentation of the room prepared by Kate and Denny.
Jan Rankin and Linda Gyzen win the Killara Mother and Daughter Cup
The Mother & Daughter Cup played at Killara GC on Monday 15th November has been running for 85 years, and this year was the 7th time that Jan and Linda had competed. Playing off of a combined handicap of 17 in the Canadian Foursomes Stableford, the ladies scored a fantastic 43 points to win the event.
The ladies played with a mother and daughter combination from Killara who had won the event 12 times previously with the mother still competing at 93 years of age. On this occasion though, they were no match for the evergreen Jan who after years of “pestering” Linda, finally got her to take up golf. With Linda now a single figure golfer, and multiple time Club Champion, and Jan going from strength t strength in her 80s, the pair promises to be a formidable team in this event for years to come.
Pro Shop: Christmas Specials and Gift Ideas
The Pro Shop at Oatlands GC has a number of pre-Christmas specials and gift ideas for family and friends (or yourself):
– All GPS & Rangefinders – 10% off
– All Golf Bags – 10% off
– Golf Shoes – Up to 40% off
– Men’s and Ladies Apparel – Up to 50% off
– MGI Electric Buggies and Clicgear collapsible buggies – Best prices in Australia
– Golf Lesson Gift Vouchers
Contact the friendly staff in the Pro Shop for more information or to purchase gift vouchers by phone or email which will be sent to you within 3-4 working days.
Oatlands Keep Cups: Pre-order in time for Christmas
Oatlands Golf Club is moving toward the elimination of single use plastics in the Clubhouse. To date, this has included the move from plastic to paper straws, with plastic plates used for sandwiches and Saturday BBQ’s, soon to replaced by recycled cardboard plates.
Following on from these initiatives, the Club has ordered a range of Keep Cups for tea and coffee.
These can be used by members and guests to save on the waste generated by takeaway cups with plastic lids. To incentify members to use these cups, the Club will be offering a 50 cent discount on all tea and coffee purchased in an Oatlands Keep Cup.
The Keep Cups will be on sale from the bar for $22.95 each and are scheduled to arrive the week of 9th December. The Club would like to offer members a pre-order discount of $3 per cup for orders placed prior to 6th December.
Pre-orders can be placed by completing the form below:
Keep Cup Pre-Order Form
60 Seconds with Dave – Putting
This week, 60 Seconds with Dave focuses on putting.
We hope you enjoy the video and it helps you out on the course.
If members would like to see any topics covered in 60 Seconds with Dave, please email him your ideas at golflessons@oatlandsgolf.com.au
Chipping Green: No Play Penalty Zone
With the opening of the new practice greens on Wednesday, the current area marked out of bounds when playing the 11th hole will be changed to a No Play Zone Penalty Area with the markings moved considerably closer to the chipping green than the current OOB. This Local Rule was agreed by the Match Committee after consultation with Golf NSW and its rules experts.
The Penalty Area will be marked with new red stakes with green tops and a red line painted between them. The OOB pegs will be re-installed along the roadway where they were previously. . An image of where the Penalty area marking is shown below.
The Local Rule in place for this area is provided below, refer to section (c) with regard to the 11th hole and chipping green:
2. Prohibited Areas of Play (No Play Zones)
(a) No Play Zones are identified by green stakes and are to be treated as an abnormal course condition. Relief must be taken under Rule 16.1b (see below).
For No Play Zones behind greens on 5, 8, 9, 12, and 18, relief must be taken within 2 club lengths of the nearest dropping stake under Rule 14.3.
Note: A dropping zone is a relief area. It is a circle of 2 club length radius with the Dropping Stake at the centre. The ball may be dropped nearer the hole than the stake, as long as it remains in the relief area.
Substitution of a ball is always allowed when taking relief.
(b) Ornamental Trees and Shrubs identified with stakes or guards, are No Play Zones in Abnormal Course Conditions. If a ball lies anywhere on the course except in a penalty area and the tree or stake interferes with the lie of ball, stance or area of intended swing, relief must be taken under Rule 16.1b (see below).
Rule 16.1b Relief for ball in general area
If a player’s ball is in the general area and there is interference by an abnormal course condition on the course, the player may take free relief by dropping the original ball or another ball in this relief area (see Rule 14.3):
Reference Point: The nearest point of complete relief in the general area.
Size of Relief Area Measured from Reference Point: One club-length, but with these limits:
Limits on Location of Relief Area:
Must be in the general area,
Must not be nearer the hole than the reference point, and
There must be complete relief from all interference by the abnormal course condition.
(c) The practice chipping green defined by red stakes with green tops and red lines is a No Play Zone in a Penalty Area. Penalty relief must be taken under Rule 17.1d. As an additional option, relief may be taken at the nearest dropping stake. If the ball lies in the general area and the NPZ interferes with stance or swing, free relief must be taken under Rule 16.1b.
How to Correctly Repair a Pitchmark – Video
Many members may have noticed three numbered pitchmarks on the nursery green in recent weeks. These pitchmarks were engineered to show members the correct way to repair a pitchmark via a short video. The results of correctly repairing a pitchmark as opposed to not repairing or incorrectly repairing are quite remarkable. Please watch the short video below for the methods used with the time lapse results at the end of the video.
World Handicapping System 2020 – New Course Ratings
The World Handicap System (WHS) is ready to be launched in January 2020 and will provide golfers with a unified and more inclusive handicapping system for the first time.
Though many countries are planning to adopt the new system in January, the system will go live in other parts of the world throughout the year to accommodate different implementation plans and variations in the golf calendar. Australia is one of the countries adopting the new system in January and Oatlands has nominated Tuesday 7th January for the Club’s update.
There will be a range of changes to the way handicaps are calculated that affect both G.A Handicap and Daily Handicap. These changes will be communicated to members via this Enews over the coming weeks.
The first change will be to the ratings of the golf course with the new ratings for the various tee blocks playable at Oatlands (taking effect 7th January 2020) listed below:
Men’s Tee Blocks
- Black
- No change to the scratch rating
- Increased the slope rating by 3, up from 124 to 127
- This is an indication that the higher handicap players are a little under-represented in the distribution of scores
- White
- No change to the scratch rating
- Increased the slope rating by 1, up from 123 to 124
- This is an indication that the higher handicap players are a little under-represented in the distribution of scores
- Green
- No change to the scratch rating
- Decreased slope rating by 2, down from 120 to 118 (due the shorter course with 18 green tees now in play).
Women
- Red
- Increase the scratch rating by 1, up from 74 to 75
- Leave the slope rating as is
- This is an indication that across the broad range of handicaps, the course is playing 1 stroke harder than it is currently rated
- Yellow
- No changes to either scratch or slope
Developed by the USGA and the R&A in close co-ordination with existing handicapping authorities, the WHS will provide all golfers with a consistent measure of playing ability, with handicaps calculated in the same way wherever they are in the world.
A key objective of the initiative was to develop a modern system, enabling as many golfers as possible to obtain and maintain a Handicap Index. Golfers will be able to transport their Handicap Index globally and compete or play a casual round with players from other regions on a fair basis. It will also indicate the score a golfer is reasonably capable of achieving the next time they go out to play.
Christmas and New Year Holiday Trading
With the Christmas and New Year period fast approaching, members are advised to check the website for daily competition and course activity. The only variation to normal course and clubhouse activities are listed below:
Wednesday 25th December 2019: Course and Clubhouse Closed
Wednesday 1st January 2020: Sandwich Hut Closed
Upcoming Events
The Club run regular Club events throughout the year. The following is a list of events available to members and their guests over the next 2 months.
Five after 5
These popular events are open to members and guests and are a great way to introduce friends and family to the course and Club in a relaxed environment. With spectacular prizes (tongue firmly in cheek), provided by host Rodney Walsh, the post golf atmosphere, buffet dinner and camaraderie are not to be missed. Bookings can be made online via the Club website or by phoning Reception.
Ham & Turkey Christmas Cheer
The 2019 Christmas Cheer Ham & Turkey days will be held on Wednesday 4th & Thursday 5th December. With almost 100 turkeys and hams to win over the two days, this is a great event to be part of leading into Christmas.
Wednesday 11th December – Christmas Buffet Bistro
Join your friends and fellow members for the early Oatland’s Christmas celebrations.
Bookings available via the club website.
