Content

This week’s Enews covers the following topics:

• Membership – Change in Category Limits
• Membership – New Applications Deferred until Lockdown Restrictions Eased
• From the Course
• Covid Lockdown Booking Restrictions
• Takeaway / Drive Through Texas Rib Night – Saturday 31^st July
• One Litre Takeaway Beer Bottles are Back
• Prostate Cancer Information Night – Postponed until Further Notice
• Upcoming Trophy Events

Membership – Change in Category Limits

While Covid has taken its toll on golf course access due to the current lockdown restrictions, it continues to be a positive for membership at OGC with our Full Membership (7 Day access)  and 6 Day membership now full again with growing waitlists.

Once the lockdown restrictions are eased and we are able to again play in groups of 4 with normal capacity, the Membership Committee have resolved to make an adjustment to the overall membership category mix. This will see the overall playing membership limit remain unchanged at 1,050 playing members, however the 6 Day category limit will be increased from 180 to 200 while the Lifestyle category limit will be decreased from 370 to 350.

The Full (7 Day) category limit will remain unchanged at 500.

These changes have been made following a review of course capacity (during normal operation) and with the potential to increase the competition field capacity on Monday’s, Wednesday’s, Thursday’s and Sunday’s if required.

Saturday competition fields are at maximum capacity and have seen us able to accommodate play without players missing out on waitlists with the current Full membership cap at 500 however with no scope to increase capacity on a Saturday, this cap will not be increased.

This change is extremely positive for the Club and continues the momentum of the last 2 years toward a more stable and sustainable membership model. It is also a common view expressed by the membership during the March / April workshop groups.

Given the current Covid restrictions forcing golf to be played in groups of two, effective immediately, a hold has been placed on all new memberships until the restrictions are eased, with new applicants able to apply and hold their spot by paying the relevant joining fee however not being able to play until normal operation resumes. This will be covered in more detail in the next Enews item.

Membership – New Applications Deferred until Lockdown Restrictions are Eased 

As mentioned in the previous Enews item, the Membership Committee has resolved to adjust the membership category mix within the existing overall playing membership cap of 1,050 members.

What this means is that from 21st July, the Club’s membership does have limited capacity as follows:

While capacity exists in the 6 Day and Lifestyle categories, the Club is deferring any new applications until such time as the current restrictions are eased and we are once again able to play in groups of 4 with our normal course capacity regained.

During this time, we will continue to take new applications (secured by the payment of the appropriate joining fee) however these new members will be unable to utilise the Club’s facilities (including the golf course) until the restrictions are lifted.

Members may be wondering why the Club would be communicating this at this time given the current restrictions. The reasoning is this, the strength of any Golf Club, particularly Oatlands GC, is its members, and the way to continue to strengthen the membership is by encouraging existing members to bring in friends and family that already have a connection to the Club. Therefore, we believe, it is essential to communicate the current membership position and remaining capacity to our existing membership to ensure you have first priority in bringing in new members whom you already know, and also to give those members thinking about upgrading the chance to do so before the respective categories are full.

It is a very difficult and complex time for our members and for the Club as a whole, however, with a view to the lockdown being lifted in the not too distant future, we are continuing to make decisions on behalf of the membership that are in the best interests of the Club for the medium to long-term.

If you have any questions, please forward them to General Manager, Sam Howe, at gm@oatlandsgolf.com.au.  

New applications and transfer requests should be submitted to Kathy Bright at administration@oatlandsgolf.com.au. 

From the Course

Rainfall for the Week: 1.5mm,  Rainfall for 2021: 670mm   Dam: 100%   Green Speed: 11 feet

A busy week on the course for the team with progress on many projects. The soil bin and rubbish bin boxes at the men’s 12^th tee have been replaced, changing the existing boxes so that they are now separated like all the other tees on the course. There are other boxes around the course that are starting to deteriorate in condition, so the team will start working their way through repairing them. 

A combination of colour pigment and an iron-based fertiliser has been applied to all tee pads and collars this week for aesthetics and to attract as much warmth from any sunlight as possible. This was performed to all fairways last week, but the colour is darker on the tees as we have applied the product through a hose applicator instead of the nozzles on the spray cart. Our apprentices have been involved with these applications, getting them trained up on the use of these different spray applicators on fairways and tees where a minor mistake isn’t going to be so critical before they start spraying our greens.

We have continued to work on the mound along the right-hand side of the 17^th fairway this week with the final shape just about complete. We have also used some of this material from the 8^th flyover to fill in low areas on the 17^th flyover so that the trip over this area in a golf cart is a lot smoother. This has used up all the stockpiled material that was on the 8^th flyover now, and this area has been levelled out and finished off with our Ventrac machine.

The blowers and vacuum have been busy all week tidying up debris from last Friday afternoon and Saturday. This is a never-ending task for staff at times but necessary for course presentation standards. The fallen branches on the 8^th fairway and the 12^th green surrounds were also cut and cleaned up earlier in the week. Greens were fertilised this week as part of preparations for our upcoming Spring greens renovations. We also managed to verti drain one fairway this week, with the 14^th being completed on Thursday. 

No volunteers this week due to the increased COVID lockdown measures.

Have great weekend everyone!

The Course Team

Covid Lockdown Booking Restrictions

Message from Club General Manager, Sam Howe.

I would like to thank the 95% of members who are doing the right thing and only booking games of golf within the limits implemented by the Match Committee.

These limits and restrictions are as follows;

• Maximum of 3 games per week (Monday to Sunday)
• Maximum of 1 game per weekend (included in the 3 games per week)
• Only members living within the Parramatta Council LGA or 10km radius from the golf club are eligible to play
• Being on a waitlist counts as a booking. Do not put your name on a waitlist if you have already secured bookings. If you have no bookings, do not put your name on more than 3 waitlists.
• You may book into a vacant spot on the day of play – Not before. This would not count toward your weekly 3 game limit.

Unfortunately, with 95% of members doing the right thing, this leaves 5% of members trying to take advantage of the system.

Our web based booking system does not contain the functionality to manage these conditions automatically.  As such, managing and removing bookings that are in excess of the limits outlined above is a very time consuming, manual process.

Our software provider has been fantastic in providing additional reports to help assess bookings and waitlist bookings, but the actioning of information contained in these reports still requires significant manual adjustment and communication to affected members.

To give some context, this process is taking upwards of 20 hours a week and involves the following;

• Running a report on members who have booked more than 3 games / week (Monday – Sunday)
• Individually checking each members 4 or more bookings to see which (if any) bookings have been made on the day of play (which the Match Committee has permitted to facilitate as much golf as possible)
• Running a report on members who have booked more than 1 game / weekend
• Individually checking each member with two weekend bookings to see which (if any) bookings have been made on the day of play (an allowance made by the Match Committee to facilitate as much golf as possible)
• Running a report on waitlist reservations and checking it against those members that already have 3 games booked (Mon-Sun) and / or 1 game booked on the weekend and then individually deleting those waitlist bookings that would produce games in excess of the limits  
• Checking the list of members who live outside the Parramatta LGA or 10km radius and deleting and communicating those bookings
• Communicating every action taken to each individual member via email (because despite the blatant disregard of the rules by a very small group of members, I will stand by the need to act with integrity and communicate as clearly and openly as possible to all members).

At the time of writing this email, the Premier has just announced further lockdown restrictions on LGAs that will undoubtedly impact more of our members and increase the management complexity of the current booking system.

A DEDICATED EMAIL OUTLINING ANY CHANGES FROM TODAY’S ANNOUNCMENTS WILL BE SENT SEPARATELY TODAY.

So I am writing this to implore all members to please do the right thing and give all of your fellow members a fair chance to play a game of golf or two each week while we all do our best to get through this difficult lockdown.

The process of keeping up with the implementation of the Club’s booking rules is nearing the point where it will be necessary to suspend the booking rights of those members who aren’t playing fair.

I implore those members (and it is members across all categories, cultural and language backgrounds, and competition and social timesheets) to start following the rules that have been implemented to provide balanced access to those of us fortunate to reside within the LGA / 10kms and still entitled to play golf.

Sincerely,

Sam Howe
General Manager
Oatlands Golf Club

Takeaway / Drive Through Texas Rib Night – Saturday 31st July

On the back of our popular Drive Through Christmas in July on Saturday which has over 130 orders, our new Head Chef, Andrew Yang is offering a Texas BBQ Rib night on Saturday 31st July.

Details are outlined below with booking available through the Club website.

MENU:

BUFFALO WINGS IN HOT AND STICKY SAUCE WITH RANCH DIPS

ST LOUIS SMOKY PORK RIBS

HALF A RACK, SLOW COOKED IN SMOKY BBQ SAUCE

SIDES

GRILLED CORN ON COBS

CHEESY BAKED POATATO

BETTINGTON SLAW

BREAD AND BUTTER

DESSERT

FUDGY CHOCOLATE BROWNIE

ADD $18 UPGRADE TO A FULL RACK OF RIBS

One Litre Takeaway Beers are Back

Starting Saturday 24th July, the one litre growler takeaway beer bottles are back on the menu at our Takeaway Cafe.

All beers will be charged at $12 per litre.

Prostate Cancer Information Night – Postponed until Further Notice

We regrettably have to postpone this evening from the planned Wednesday 21st July and until further notice due to the current Covid restrictions.

We will advise the 25-30 members that registered individually and advise the broader membership of a re-scheduled date when the Clubhouse can re-open.