Oatlands Golf Club Enews – Friday 11th September 2020
Content
This week’s Enews covers the following topics:
- Director Nominations 2020-21
- QPC&C Renew Tiger Tee Challenge Naming Rights Sponsorship
- Covid Update – Friday 4th September
- Getting Started Programme – October 2020
- Care for the Course – UNBELIEVABLE!!!
- Thank a Superintendent Day – Wednesday 23rd September
- JDP Membership Category Temporarily Closed
- Spring Time Visitor to the Course
- Upcoming Clubhouse Events
Director Nominations 2020-21
With the Club’s AGM scheduled for Wednesday 14th October and Director Nominations closing on Friday 16th September, the Club would like to advise the membership of the nominations received to date which are as follows;
President – George Isaac
Vice President – William (Bill) Mitchell
Captain – Matthew Seamons
Vice Captain – Colin McRae
Treasurer – Tony Groth
Director – Colin Skelton
Director – James Coates
Director – Mark Clout
Director – Amanda Walkerden
Current Directors Rodney Walsh and Linda Gyzen have indicated their intention to not stand for re-election for the 2020-21 year ahead.
QPC&C Renew Tiger Tee Challenge Naming Rights Sponsorship
QPC&C has recently renewed their Naming Rights Sponsorship of the Club’s popular Tiger Tee Challenge.
This is an outstanding commitment to the event and the Club from QPC&C and the Board would like to thank QPC&C and their company Director and OGC member, Tony Sassine for this ongoing support.
QPC&C specialise in Construction Cost Planning and Project Management, a business model that sets them apart from traditional Quantity Surveyors.
With over 35 years of experience QPC&C specialises in Depreciation Schedules, Council Cost Reports, Feasibility Studies, Bank Funding Reports and Construction Project Management.
QPC&C has been a long time supporter of the Club over the years and is located within Oatlands.
For more information on QPC&C, please visit their website by clicking on the link below.
Click here for the QPC&C website.
Oatlands run approximately 25 – 35 QPC&C Tiger Tee Challenge events per year which are open to members and guests and sees the golf setup at its most difficult with golfers rewarded for scoring 36 points or more with a dozen Titleist ProV1 golf balls, along with the regular prize winners and ball rundown.
Bookings can be made through the Club’s website timesheets.
Covid Update – Friday 4th September
Following on from the evening of Friday 4th September when a guest of a member who later tested positive for Covid-19 attended the Club’s German Dinner, the Club has undertaken all protocols required in-conjunction with and at the direction of NSW Health, including closing the Clubhouse on Tuesday 8th September.
NSW Health are in the process of working through their contact tracing protocols however, have advised that all members, guests and staff who were in attendance at the event (and in the function room for the majority of the time) will be required to self-isolate for 14 days from 4th September up to and including the 18th September.
Please note, any subsequent contact with members, guests and staff who were in attendance at the event does not require any individual action with the standing requirement for all Australians to get tested if they show any flu like signs or symptoms still in place.
On a more positive note, all the members and guests that were seated at the table with the case have all returned negative tests which hopefully will play out to be no transmission to anyone in attendance on that evening.
One of the results of the need for isolation is that the Club will be without 8 of it’s 12 bar staff until Saturday 19th September. Contingency planning for this is underway and it is expected that disruption to service will be minimal. We do however, ask for your patience and understanding over the next 10 days.
Members are reminded of the need to maintain social distancing and good hygiene practices at all times.
If members have any questions then please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Sincerely,
Sam Howe
General Manager
Oatlands Golf Club
Getting Started Programme – October 2020
The Clubs popular Getting Started Programme will continue in October 2020.
These 8 week programmes are a great way to introduce family and friends to the game of golf and the culture and camaraderie of Oatlands Golf Club.
The October – November Programme will be conducted on Thursday and Sunday’s with dates and times are listed below:
Three programmes available:
Thursday 11:00am – 12:00pm: Starting Thursday 15th October, 8 week programme.
Sunday 9:30am – 10:30am: Starting Sunday 18th October, 8 week programme
Cost for the programme is:
$240 for 8 weeks
Includes Morning or Afternoon Tea post clinic in the Members Bar
Participants who join the Club membership, during or at the completion of the programme, will receive a credit equal to the programme cost against the first year of membership if joining in the 6 or 7 day membership category.
For more information please contact the Pro Shop or Reception!
From the Course
Rainfall for the Week: 17.0mm Rainfall for 2020: 984.5mm Dam: 95% Green Speed: Renovations
Our spring renovations have been completed now, with the final few fairways being fertilised last Friday and this week the aerating of fairway surrounds and roughs being finished off just in time for the rainfall on Wednesday.
Playing surfaces are recovering well with greens back down to 4mm cutting height this week, and fairways also receiving their first cut this week since renovations were performed to them only 2 weeks ago. The soil temperatures in our greens are still a little low at the moment, but a few warm nights in a row will raise these temperatures and growth on our greens will increase as a result.
With our playing surfaces recovering well, we have made a start on our bunker rejuvenation program. We have made the 4th and 5th holes the starting point for this program, with a construction contractor on site Monday and Tuesday shelling out the six bunkers on these two holes. Everything has been removed from these bunkers (sand, old linings, drainage, surrounding turf etc.) and the steepness of the top vertical face has been reduced to make the task of maintaining turf of these faces easier. The next step is to trim the edges of the bunker lip by hand with shovels to ensure the desired shape is achieved. We will also ensure that the height of the faces is reduced back to the original height, as they’ve increased over time from players hitting their shots and splashing sand out with the ball each time. Mr Peet probably to blame the most for this!
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We are installing a new turf species around the edges of the bunkers, with Shade Tuff Zoysia being the chosen species. Zoysia is becoming a popular choice on golf courses lately, having been used in America and Asia for some time now. This species looks identical to couch but is slow growing, drought tolerant and this particular species holds its colour well in the cooler months.
We will be laying the turf around the edges of each bunker first, and then start the work inside the bunker by covering the entire area with 2 different cloth linings. A bidim cloth is used on the base and in the drainage lines, while Bunker Mat is used on the faces as it holds the sand in place on these inclined surfaces. We line the bunker with these cloths to stop the clay contaminating the sand. We will work on the 4th hole bunkers next week with turf being laid on Monday morning.
We were also able to remove the dead Conifer trees behind the 10th green this week with the help of the volunteers. The stumps of these trees will be ground down with a decision on their replacement to be made in time.
Our volunteers were back on course Monday morning, raking bunkers before the member’s competition, pathways edged, the wall at the 2nd tee was pressure washed, clubhouse maintenance and as mentioned above the volunteers also assisted with the conifer tree clean up. Thank you gentlemen for your ongoing support and assistance each week!
Have a good weekend!
The Course Team
Care for the Course – UNBELIEVABLE!!!
The photo below was taken on the 4th hole the week after renovation. The divots (at least 8) were filled in by the photographer, not the negligent inconsiderate golfer who made them!
If anyone saw this occur, please report it to Management or a member of the Match Committee so that further action can be taken.
Thank a Superintendent Day
Wednesday 23rd September is “Thank a Superintendent Day”. Our Course Super Dom Yates is an incredible asset to Oatlands Golf Club both in regard to his knowledge, work ethic, and passion for Oatlands Golf Club.
Over the last 12 months Dom has had to deal with a summer of drought, a February storm that destroyed our bunkers, the complexity of managing a team in an environment of Covid risk and course traffic at record levels and 50% above historical average for 6 months now.
We encourage all members to write in and express their appreciation of not only Dom Yates but his incredible team of dedicated staff.
JDP Membership Category Temporarily Closed
Following discussion between the Club’s PGA Professionals, the Membership Committee and Board, the Club has decided to temporarily close the JDP membership category pending until further notice due to the influx of members and increasing participation.
Since the beginning of 2020 the Club has increased the number of JDP sessions per week from 5 to 10, all of which are fully booked and often have waitlists.
In-conjunction with the temporary closure of the membership category (currently at a record high of 120 members), sessions will revert back to a maximum of one session attendance per week per member, with additional sessions only available to be booked at short notice and subject to availability.
Any new enquiries for JDP membership are being placed on a waitlist and will be reviewed monthly via the Club’s Membership Committee.
This is a positive result for the Club and the large number of junior members who are actively participating in the JDP sessions will contribute to a positive membership position into the future.
The Board and Membership Committee are reviewing all categories of membership against the current record levels of participation over the last 4-6 months. It is expected that this will result in the reinstatement of a Joining Fee in the not too distant future along with the possibility for adjusting the competition and social play limits of the Lifestyle membership category, so if you have any friends or family considering joining the Club as 6 or 7 day members, now is the right time.
Spring Time Visitor
The photos below were taken on the course on Saturday, 5th September.
It’s easy to forget that in our metropolitan environment the green space we occupy and care for is teaming with wildlife.
Upcoming Member and Guests Events
The Club has a range of Member Events planned for the month ahead that we hope you will join us for and bring along friends and family;
September – October Bistro on Bettington
Friday 16th October – Korean BBQ Night (filling fast)
