Content

This week’s Enews covers the following topics:

• Timesheets and Booking Rules – Easing of Current Restrictions
• Two People per Cart allowed from 1st July 2020
• From the Course
• Care for the Course Video – Please Watch
• NB Charlton 4 Ball Knockout Qualifying
• Mens Foursomes Championships
• Foundation Day/s Postponed until Further Notice
• Report Balls that go Out of Bounds
• 2020 Ball Prize Credit Expires on 30^th June
• Weekend Trophy Event Schedule
• MiScore App – Available to all Members to Trial
• Upcoming Events

Timesheets and Booking Rules – Easing of Current Restrictions

The Match Committee met on Monday 15th June to discuss the current timesheet configuration and booking rules that have been implemented in response to the Covid-19 restrictions.

Now that the NSW Department of Health restrictions have been eased somewhat, the Match Committee have reviewed our timesheet setup and booking rules and adjusted the setup accordingly. Please note, all aspects of the Club operation are being reviewed on a regular basis and in response to Health Department restrictions still in effect, the high demand on the golf course, and the shorter daylight hours through winter. The changes listed below will take effect from 1st July 2020.

The current one tee and two tee configurations will remain

• Wednesday & Saturday – Two Tee Start
• All other days – One Tee Start
• Shotgun starts are currently prohibited

Tee Time Intervals

No change to the current setups;

• Groups of 3s at 7mins
• Groups of 4s at 8mins (with some adjustment built in for capacity)

Competition

• Competition every day except Tuesday (previously every day)
• Tuesday Social play all day
• Tiger Tee Challenge on Friday’s
• Monday, Thursday competitions 7am to 11:30am
• Monday, Thursday social play 11:38am onward
• Friday competition 7am – 12pm
• Friday social 12:08pm onward
• Saturday two tee start plus two tee social after crossover
• Sunday competition 6:30am or first light – 12:30pm
• Sunday social 12:38pm onward

Visitors

• Visitors will be allowed Monday – Friday for competition and social play
• No visitors on weekends due to the high demand for tee times

Timesheet Configuration and Opening

• All timesheets will open 8 days in advance at 4:30pm (competition and social, we are continuing to review this)
• Limited access membership categories are able to book for social times 8 days in advance at 4:30pm (the same time as Full playing membership categories) however the first 3 tee times of social play each day will be for full playing categories only until 7 days in advance at 7pm.
• Lifestyle members are unable to book for competition times until 7 days in advance at 7pm.

Two People per Cart allowed from 1st July 2020

The Club have been advised by Golf NSW that the NSW Department of Sport has provided guidance that “Clubs should prepare for allowing two people to share a golf cart from 1st July 2020”.

Golf NSW are lobbying to have this change made sooner however at this stage the Club will be allowing members to share golf carts as of 1st July.

This is a result of the next phase of the Federal Governments road to recovery which states that individuals are free to choose if they prefer to social distance (in some circumstances) rather than being forced to do so. Members who would prefer to ride in a cart by themselves should inform the Pro Shop when making a cart booking.

As of 1st July the cost to hire carts will revert to pre-Covid pricing.  

From the Course

Rainfall for the Week: 15.0mm Rainfall for 2020: 758mm   Dam: 100%   Green Speed: 10.0 feet

This week the team has been able to apply a mixture of iron, nitrogen and colour pigment to all fairways to define these playing surfaces to our rough lines. There will also be a small increase in growth from the nitrogen part of this application, but only minimal due to the decrease in soil temperatures as we are now in winter.

Moisture levels in all of our playing surfaces are very high and with very little drying weather (sunny and windy); it doesn’t take a lot of rainfall to make conditions conducive to damage from golf cart traffic. The recent verti draining of fairways has helped moisture movement down through the soil profile, which dries surfaces out quicker than normal. The team will continue to verti drain fairway surfaces next week and throughout the winter months which will provide the best platform to take advantage of ideal growing conditions during Spring and early Summer.

All greens were needle tined this week to provide compaction relief from rolling practices, improve moisture and water infiltration, and provide aeration to our greens root zones. The needle tyning was completed on Tuesday with very little disruption to members play, and very little disruption to our putting surfaces.

All greens and surrounds were sprayed for Argentine Stem Weevil on Thursday morning to control population  numbers. It’s very unusual to see this pest at this time of year, but they are present and they are attracting a large number or ‘a murder of crows’ down at the 15^th green most mornings. I’m sure that the members that have lost a golf ball on the 15^th would like to murder a few of the crows, but hopefully now that we have taken a food source away from them in this area of the course, they might fly off and annoy golfers at another course instead.

The blowers and vacuum have been busy all week trying to keep on top of the leaf debris. This should start to settle down now as most of our deciduous trees have lost most of their leaves. Roughs were also mown this week to assist with the debris clean up by mulching the leaves and tidying up the grass in these areas.

The volunteers were at the club this week but focussed on finishing the painting of the bar in the clubhouse. This mammoth task is almost completed now, so thank you gentlemen for all your time and effort.

Have good weekend  

The Course Team

Care for the Course Video – Please Watch

NB Charlton 4 Ball Knockout Qualifying

One of the Clubs premier men’s trophy events will commence tomorrow after being postponed from earlier in the year due to Covid-19 preventing 4 Ball events from being played.

The event will see the top 16 pairs qualify for knockout handicap matchplay played on Saturday’s over the next month and half.

Men’s Foursomes Championship

The annual Men’s Foursomes Championships will be held on Saturday 11th July after being postponed from earlier in the year due to Covid-19.

The event will be played with special conditions of play that allow golf balls to be swapped during the play of a hole to stop the sharing of golf balls and any germ transmission.

We hope you can play in this premier Club event which is always well contested and in 2019 was won by Club Captain Matt Seamons and playing partner Janaka Wilmaratne in a playoff from fellow Director James Coates and partner Luke Mason.

Foundation Day/s – Postponed until Further Notice

The mens and ladies Foundation Day events scheduled for July have been postponed due to Covid-19 and the Club not being able to host the events in the spirit with which they are meant.

As such, once Covid-19 restrictions have eased further to allow shotgun starts and larger number in the clubhouse we will try and re-schedule the events, potentially into a single joint event.

Apologies for the inconvenience.

Please Report Balls that Go Out of Bounds

Members are asked to please report any incidents of golf balls clearly going out of bounds to the extent that the ball may have struck any one of the following;

• Bettington Road
• The residents adjacent to the 6th hole
• Oatlands House

In the event that a golf ball does strike one of these areas and causes damage, each individual member has insurance coverage as part of their affiliation fees with Golf Australia that mean there is no liability for damage caused. However, this is contingent on the incident being reported. So if you think you might have hit a ball into any of these areas, please report the shot to the Pro Shop or Reception including the date and time the shot occurred.

We thank you for your assistance.

2020 Ball Prize Credit – Expires 30th June 2020

Most long-standing members would be aware that the ball prize credit accumulated through competition play up to 31st April expires at the end of the Club’s Financial year on 30th June.

The Ball Prize Credit is available for use in the Pro Shop for merchandise purchases. With the new range of winter apparel in stock and some great clearance sales on summer apparel, it is a great time to use up your credit before it expires.

Members can check the credit they have via the Club website or by speaking to one of the Pro Shop staff.

Weekend Trophy Event Schedule

Now that play is back in groups of 4, we are able to re-schedule the postponed weekend trophy events, while not as difficult as an AFL or NRL re-schedule, it is surprisingly complicated to fit things in once time is lost due to the number of events the Club holds. With our Major Pennant team now playing a home and away semi-final against Penrith in August, this could potentially decimate our Foursomes Championship fields.

Below is the weekend trophy event schedule up to the course renovation / closure on Sunday 23rd August;

• Saturday 20th June: Qualifying Round NB Charlton 4Ball Knockout – Top 16 pairs
• Saturday 27th June: Governor’s Cup
• Saturday 4th July: Foundation Day – TBC
• Saturday 4th July: NB Charlton 4Ball Knockout Round of 16 Matchplay
• Saturday 11th July: Foursomes Championship 36 holes
• Sunday 12th July: WE Tunks Father & Son Trophy
• Saturday 18th July: Legacy Cup
• Saturday 18th July: NB Charlton 4Ball Knockout Quarter Final Matchplay
• Sunday 19th July: Qualifying Round WS Targett Mixed Fourball Knockout – Top 8 pairs
• Saturday 25th July: NB Charlton 4Ball Knockout Semi Final Matchplay
• Sunday 26th July: WS Targett Quarter Final Matchplay
• Saturday 1st August: Kingswood Cup
• Saturday 1st August: NB Charlton Final
• Sunday 2nd August: WS Targett Semi Final Matchplay
• Saturday 8th August: Winter Medal Round
• Sunday 9th August: Mixed Foursomes Championship 36 holes
• Saturday 15th August: Presidents Cup
• Sunday 16th August: WS Targett Final Matchplay
• Sunday 16th August: Major Pennant Division 2 Semi-Final at OGC
• Saturday 22nd August: HP Evans Singles Knockout Qualifying Round – Top 16
• Sunday 23rd August: Major Pennant Division 2 Semi-Final at Penrith
• Sunday 23rd August (PM) – Wednesday 26th August: Renovations / Course Closed

MiScore App – Available to all Members to Trial

MiClub have offered Clubs’ a free trial of their MiScore App which members are encouraged to trial and provide feedback on its functionality and convenience.

The MiScore App allows golfers to complete scorecards on their mobile device and can be loaded onto your device by searching MiScore App from the Apple or Android store and selecting the icon displayed below.

Once loaded simply open the app and follow the prompts. The App acts exactly like a scorecard with all of Oatlands’ hole lengths, pars, indexes and local rules built in and provision to sign the card at the completion of play (note: under current restrictions signing of the scorecard is prohibited).

Note, just like a physical scorecard when using the MiScore App you are filling in the scorecard of another player as the marker.

If you have any questions or would like to go over the app with a member of staff please see the Pro Shop staff or General Manager.