All Members
The Course
Hope all of you are playing good golf and enjoying the improving quality of the course. Talking to Course Superintendent, he is conscious of the Greens being a little uneven at the present and is taking steps to smooth these out. You will have noticed a light coating of sand has been applied and more frequent rolling of the green is occurring. He had also fertilised the Greens which with the warm weather with us for a while yet will see the Greens quickly improve. He also spoke to me about some disease which had gotten into the 10th fairway which he has sprayed and the team are working hard to bring back. Unfortunately, this happens on occasions and when it does it takes time to repair the damaged areas. I ask you to be patient as the repair work continues.
Facebook
We recently had cause to remove some posting/commentary on the Club’s closed Facebook page. The site has 248 members and we want any commentary posted to be respectful and in good spirit. Before you consider writing a comment, think whether if it was about you, you would be OK with it. If you think it would cause you some offence or embarrassment, don’t write it. The site provides a really valuable communication channel for us but if people’s comments lack respect, we will block them from using the site.
Summary from the Committee meeting on 11 February
From the President…
Richard Oliver and Di Carlos met with CEO and CFO Ainslie on 4 February with the following topics discussed:
- Website – provided a short update on the work done and the changes made. Also updated on the Content Change Process.
- Sponsorship – this is still a work in progress. There is a likely hood we will sell a small number of signs. Simon considers this reflective of the current business environment.
- Water Remediation Plan – Both Simon and Stephen were supportive of a plan for the future being prepared.
- Jolly Joker – Raffles are recommencing in the club proper and they are happy for us to talk with Nathan Kelly (Ainslie Operations Manager) regarding the recommencement of Jolly Joker activities.
- Juniors – Money has been agreed for Murray to purchase the new Juniors equipment. The equipment has been ordered.
- Capital Works / Course Improvement program – We talked through the early thinking on some of the possible proposals for 2021.
- Guidance Statements – Adrian Andreatta reported on the currency of the statements and any that need revision. Adrian noted that some Guidance statements require updating a task which will be shared within the Committee. A further update will be provided at the next meeting.
- Member numbers are – 658 in Feb 21. The number of full members together with Lifestyle member who area able to play in the Saturday competitions as at 27 January is 490. We talked with Ainslie about a general cap of 700 and a cap to the 7-day playing group of 500. Ainslie is considering and would like to seek some comparisons with other clubs which, we have agreed to provide.
From the Treasurer…
- Our end of January bank statement shows a balance of $102,675.77. With outstanding amounts yet to be processed our bank balance should be closer to $94,000.
From the Captains…
- Monthly Medal – Wet weather has caused postponement of this month’s Monthly Medal to this Saturday the 13 Members badge draw will be on the same day as well.
- Local rule change – The local rule concerning the GUR on the course has been updated to the following:
- “All marked GUR areas are Abnormal Course conditions and relief MAY be taken under rule 16.1b” therefore relief is no longer compulsory within the white line marked areas. This was due to the fact that some patchy fairways would not allow a fair drop because of the size of the GUR markings.
- Pennants – The DGA Pennants season has commenced. We are hosting 2 Men’s and 1 Women’s pennant matches this month. It does restrict the number of afternoon time slots available for our members.
- Upcoming Events – Yellow Course Eclectic starts this month. 4 rounds over the year entry are $10 and entry forms have been printed and available outside the Golfsec office. Entries will be open until the start of round two, can committee members please push the entry into this competition.
- Sunday Medley – It has been decided by the Match Committee and discussions with the Women’s Committee that we will trial a Medley only on Sunday’s effective from 1 March. This will be monitored over a few months to see what percentage of the prize money is won by women. If the prizes won by women drops significantly, we may revert back to separate competitions.
Grounds and Greens….
- State of the Greens – The Greens committee and Greens staff are fully aware of recent observations about the presentation of our greens through the 2020/21 Summer. It has been an unusual season, with heavy rainfall as well as bursts of intense heat and drying winds. We have erred on the side of caution at this time of year and as a result the greens have been unfortunately, heavy and slow.
- 15th/16th Mound: As previously explained at the AGM, this project has been extremely frustrating and disappointing. We have the fill in the car park ready to go, and are in the process of collecting quotes to transfer into location. This work will be undertaken soon on days when the course is quieter.
Matters discussed in General Business not covered in other papers/reports
- Course Marshalling – A short paper was considered outlining proposed Committee involvement in undertaking weekend marshalling activities. After some discussion the proposal was not supported for a variety of reasons. It was however agreed that efforts should be made to reinforce Pace of Play expectations and care for the course. It was also decided that the current course signs noting “expected” times be removed – as they are providing an “out” to groups who are well behind but still playing within these advertised time-frames.
- 25–year History update and planning for 25–year Anniversary dinner/event – Work will be done on planning a substantial event to celebrate the 25-year birthday. Members to be kept informed.
- Pro-shop prizes – This item was discussed in response to a recent Facebook post asking about transparency to members Pro-shop accounts. Information was provided to members in Splash outlining the current processes for seeing what members have in their accounts. Murray has also been in contact with MiClub to determine how the accounts can be safely “exposed” to members. This is a work in progress.
- Women’s Tee Times – Women’s Captain prepared a short paper requesting a small number of tee times be blocked out (back nine weekends) exclusively for Women to encourage new women members to play their early game in the club with other female members. This was supported by the Committee as a trial.
Next meeting – 11 March 2021
Richard Oliver/President