Oatlands Enews – Friday 16th October 2020

Published on 16th October 2020 in E-News, Guests

Content

This week’s Enews covers the following topics:

Membership Joining Fees, Membership Cap Limits, Limit on Lifestyle Member
Club Championship 2020 – Men’s and Ladies
Guest / Visitor Fee Increase – Effective 1^st November 2020
Oatlands Ladies Win Lexus Cup for the 4^th Time in 5 years
Volkswagen Scramble – Tuesday 24^th November 2020
From the Course
Ladies Volunteers Morning – Tuesday 27^th October
Late Cancellation of Bookings – Give your Fellow Members a Chance
Social Play Tees – Tees of the Day
60 Seconds with Dave – Alignment
Taldumande Charity Golf Day
Pennant Update
Ladies Upcoming Events
Upcoming Clubhouse Events

Membership Joining Fees, Membership Cap Limits, Limit on Lifestyle Member Rounds

The significant increase in golf participation and membership, as a result of Covid-19, has seen resurgence in golf participation and membership reminiscent of the mid 1980’s when Greg Norman was at his peak.

The growth in participation at Oatlands has seen more than 6,000 rounds of golf a month for 6 straight months and as we head into the warmer, longer days, we are on track for over 80,000 rounds this calendar year (up from an average of 45,000), which is not a sustainable for the golf course, or in line with member expectation of a private golf club.

This increased participation has seen a consistent increase in our already strong membership applications across all membership categories. While this growth in golf has been one of the few silver linings out of the global pandemic, it has bought with it some challenges, with access to competition and social tee times limited due to the high demand, and increased wear and tear on the course.

With the trends in golf set to continue, the Board of Directors have decided that the time is right to re-introduce Joining Fees for new members, set Cap Limits on the number of members in each Playing Membership category, and limit the number of total rounds included with Lifestyle membership.

As such, the Board of Directors announce the following changes to the Membership structure;

Cap Limits on Playing Memberships by Category, effective immediately;

In setting the initial formal Cap Limits, the Board has been mindful that Oatlands has traditionally been a Club at which Members have a good opportunity to access competition golf as they choose. The Membership Committee has, for many years, used 500 Saturday players as a benchmark which facilitates such access. All initial Cap Limits may of course be reviewed, but it is unlikely that the Saturday Playing Members cap can be increased. Another key factor in setting Cap Limits has been the need to ensure a membership fee base that will allow our course to be maintained to a high standard. The Board has set the following initial Playing Membership Cap Limits:

Saturday Playing Members (including Full, Intermediate and Junior): 500

6 Day Members: 180

Lifestyle Members: 370 (As of 15th October, the Lifestyle category is full)

Joining Fees to commence 28^th February 2021, or earlier if the above Membership Cap Limits are reached;

Full playing $2,500
6 Day $2,000
Intermediates $1,000
Lifestyle $1,500
Juniors Nil

The Board and Management believe that most, if not all, membership categories will reach their capacity prior to 28^th February 2021, at which time, any member wishing to upgrade their membership and new member applications, would be placed on a waitlist. Existing members wishing to transfer will be prioritized over new member applications.

Any member of less than 3 years wishing to upgrade their membership, once the Joining Fee has commenced, will be required to pay the difference in the Joining Fee for their existing category and the Joining Fee for the category to which they want to upgrade. Members who have held a Playing Membership for 3 years or more will not be required to pay the difference in the Joining Fees.

Rounds Cap Limit for Lifestyle Members;

Commencing 1^st April 2021, Lifestyle Members will be entitled to a maximum of 120 rounds per membership year, of which a maximum of 12 can be competition rounds.

Based on analysis of the round data for the last 2 years, it is expected that this will impact 40-50 Lifestyle Members.

Once the 120 round limit has been reached, further play will require an upgrade in membership category, which will be subject to availability, and the payment of difference in the Joining Fee based on the criteria outlined (as noted, no fee is payable if the Member has held a playing Membership for 3 years or more).

The Board and Management of Oatlands Golf Club believe these initiatives are a positive step forward for the Club. They will provide the Club with the opportunity of significantly reducing the turnover of members and strengthening the membership base, that will allow the Club to grow and prosper into the future. That will benefit the membership as a whole.

If you have any questions or wish to transfer to a different membership category prior to the implementation of Joining Fees, please contact the Club’s General Manager, Sam Howe, or Membership Co-ordinator, Kathy Bright.

Club Championship 2020 – Mens and Ladies

The Men’s and Ladies Club Championship Medal qualifying for Championship matchplay were both completed during the last week with the Men’s Championship matchplay in 4 grades to commence this weekend and the Ladies Championship matchplay on Thursday.

The draws for both Men’s and Ladies Championships are available by clicking on the links below.

Click here for the Mens Club Championship Matchplay Draw – All Divisions

Click here for the Ladies Club Championship Matchplay Draw – Division 1

Click here for the Ladies Club Championship Matchplay Draw – Division 2

Click here for the Ladies Club Championship Matchplay Draw – Division 3

Good luck to all competitors!

Guest / Visitor Green Fee Increase – Effective 1st November 2020

Members are advised that the Guest / Visitor Green Fee will increase on 1st November 2020 from $55 per person to $65 per person.

With the increase in demand for tee times at our Club, the ongoing quality of the golf course, and membership nearing capacity, the Board feels that this is an appropriate increase and representative of members expectations.

Oatlands Ladies Win the Lexus Cup for the 4th time in 5 years

Last Sunday, 15 of us travelled to Twin Creeks to play in the final of the 2020 Ladies Lexus Encore Cup. This event is played between Oatlands, Pennant Hills and Castle Hill, we play stableford in groups of three, one lady from each club. All the scores are added up to get the overall winner, our wonderful Oatlands ladies once again came out on top beating Pennant Hills by 1 point with Castle Hill coming in a close third.

Amanda Walkerden was runner up on the day (losing on a countback) with 38 points and Jin Kim was lucky enough to have her named pulled out of a hat to win the major prize of a luxury all expenses paid trip to a resort in Mooloolaba (when the borders open).

This is the 5th year this event has been played with Oatlands winning 4 times!

Congratulations to all the ladies!

Amanda Walkerden – Lady Captain

Volkswagen Scramble – Tuesday 24th November 2020

Oatlands Golf Club will once again be holding a Volkswagen Scramble for members and guests on Tuesday 24th November.

The PGA run event sees teams of 4 compete in a 4 person ambrose with winning teams qualifying for the regional final where they are joined by one of the Clubs PGA professionals for the chance to make the national final.

Last year, the Club winning team, playing with David Ecob in the regional final at Riverside Oaks, narrowly missed qualification for the national final by a single shot.

We are hoping this years winner will go one better.

This mixed event is great fun and is open to members and guests, with each team requiring at least one member to be eligible for qualification.

Entry for the event and the 8am shotgun start is via the PGA’s event link below;

https://www.golfgenius.com/pages/6716583794175919315

Entry Fee:

Members: $40.00 per person

Visitors: $70.00 per person

This event is an invitational event, where there must be at least 1 Oatlands Golf Club member per team. If your team fails to meet this requirement, Oatlands Golf Club has the right to refuse entry.

Inclusions:

6 x Callaway golf balls per person
A chance to share in over $1,700 of prizes
Exclusive partner offers

Registrations Close: Monday, November 23, 2020 at 12:00 PM

From the Course

Rainfall for the Week: 0.0mm Rainfall for 2020: 1,001.5mm Dam: 90% Green Speed: 10 feet

We have finished coring the front 11 tees this week with fertiliser also being applied to these tee complexes. The colour in the back 7 tees has certainly improved after the fertiliser application they received 2 weeks ago, and we expect the same to happen to the front 11 tees. Our tees have been worn back to dirt in areas during the winter months due to the excessively high rounds of golf throughout this COVID period. Now that we are experiencing some warmer weather, and the renovations that we have just performed, the grass cover on the tee pads will start to improve.

We have continued working on the bunkers down at the 5^th green this week. The back right bunker has had all the cloth lining installed and sand is being added on Friday. The turf around the bunkers on the 5^th has gone yellow in colour on the vertical faces of these bunkers. It is very difficult to keep the moisture correct on such as vertical surface. As this turf starts to take root, this dis-colouring should change back to the desired green colour.

We have performed a fairway surrounds cut this week which is cut at a height in between our fairway and rough height. This is an introduction to rough from the fairway, but not as penalising as rough.

A windy week has resulted in plenty of leaf debris throughout the course, with the blowers and vacuum being used most days to tidy up the course as best we can.

Volunteers were on course Monday morning, raking bunkers before the competition, cleaning the mats in the practice nets, edging pathways, vacuuming debris, and painting the handrail along the 5^th pathway. As always, thank you gentlemen for all your efforts each Monday, it is much appreciated!

Have good weekend!

The Course Team

Ladies Volunteer Morning – Tuesday 27th October

Our Lady Members are encouraged to join our recently formed band of enthusiastic gardening volunteers on Tuesday 27th October from 8am – 10am.

For those interested in assisting, a sign up sheet is located in the Ladies Locker Room or you can email the Ladies Committee on ladies@oatlandsgolf.com.au

We recommend you bring your own gardening gloves, if you have them, as these can be in short supply subject to the number of volunteers who attend.

Late Cancellations – Please give your Fellow Members a Chance

The Match committed respectfully ask all members to please cancel their competition and social bookings as soon as possible so as to give other members a chance to book.

In the last few weeks, the Club’s Saturday competition in particular has been fully booked up until Friday afternoon, only to see 20-30 spaces available on the day.

All timesheet bookings get sent a booking reminder email 3 days prior to the day of play so all members should be aware of their bookings, even if booked by another member.

We are experiencing unprecedented demand for tee times at the moment and ask that all members please make the effort to remove their name from timesheets at the earliest possible time if you are unable to play.

Social Play Tees – Tees of the Day

The Match Committee recently announced that on days where the Black tees were in play, social play needed to be from the Green Tees.

Following a review of this, and with many members unaccustomed to playing the green tees and even to their location on some holes, it has been agreed that social play will be allowed from the tees of the day, including the black tees.

Members are reminded that social play on the 12th hole is prohibited from any tee except the forward most tee. This rule is in place to limit the risk of balls going on to Bettington Road.

60 Seconds with Dave – Alignment

This week, Dave Ecob gives an explanation on alignment and the use of a simple but effective teaching aid.

To book a lesson or wedge fitting session with Dave or any of our PGA Professionals, please contact the Pro Shop.

Taldumande Youth Services Charity Day

Taldumande Youth Services support homeless children and young people aged 12-25. With Covid stopping them from holding their major fundraiser, they will be holding a Fundraising golf day on November 6 here at Oatlands. It will be a great way to entertain clients, reward staff or just play a game with friends, all for a good cause and all fully tax deductible. For more information or to book, contact Matt Hankin from Taldumande on 0417256627 or email matt@taldumande.org.au.

Pennant Update

Super Senior Pennant

The Super Senior Pennant Team had a good win over Asquith at Monash yesterday 4.5 to 3.5 .

Asquith is one of the leading teams in the division.

The results were as follows;

Brian Watt won 3/2
Mike Carlin won 4/3
Tony Armitage won 2 up
Rob Palin won 2 up
Rod Bowyer Square
Richard Grice and Mike McFarland lost on the 18th.

Many thanks go to Tony Armitage and Mike Carlin for filling in on the day.

Encourage Shield

The 2020 Encourage Shield commenced on 11th October with our first game of the season fielding 6 debutantes playing against Muirfield at “Fortress” Oatlands.

All players on both sides showed great sportsmanship and loved the matchplay format.

First off was Christian Fong who got off to a flyer and was 7 up after 9 holes. He closed out his match convincingly 8 and 7.

Nicholas Chen was next up and came up against their junior Matchplay champion. Nicholas was 8 down at one stage and dug deep to get this back to 4 down and lost 5 and 4. A great comeback from Nicholas!

Thomas Reicher (our cricket superstar) was next in to bat and played extremely well for a dominant 3 and 1 win.

Jia You our pocket rocket had a great tussle with her opponent and showed maturity beyond her years, closing out her match 3 and 2

Tyler Mitchell was our number 2 and played very well and showed great sportsmanship and just fell short losing 3 and 2.

Last but not least, our captain for the day, Rylan Prasad showed his experience and class beating his opponent 3 and 1.

A great start to the season winning 4-2!

Our next match is this Sunday at North Ryde at 12pm against Pennant Hills.

Ladies Upcoming Events

The Ladies General Meeting will be held Monday 2/11/20 after the morning competition, at approximately 1-1.30pm. Please stay around to be part of this and if anyone would like to be a part of next year’s committee, let one of the current committee members know.
Book early for Melbourne Cup Tuesday 3/11/20 – $70/head with maximum of 90 people.
Ladies Club Championship finals are on Thursday 5/11/20. Grades B and C will compete over 18 holes and A Grade will compete over 36 holes. It would be great to have a cheer squad cheering the ladies onto the 18^th and into the Clubhouse with drinks and nibbles on offer, so stick around!
Closing Day is Thursday 12/11/20. It will be a shotgun start with a Xmas theme and will include a number of fun events.
Ladies Presentation Night is Thursday 26/11/20 at 6pm for 6.30pm – $65/head all inclusive. Covid restrictions will see us enjoying drinks and hors d’oeuvres sitting in the Spike Bar on arrival, followed by a sit-down dinner in the function room.
Tuesday 27/10/20 is the next ladies gardening morning from 8am – 10am. Bring your gloves and any favourite tools.

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;