Oatlands Enews – Friday 1st April 2022
Content
This week’s Enews covers the following topics:
- Director Resignations – Matthew Seamons and James Coates
- The Wet Weather Disruption Continues
- From the Course
- Friday Happy Hour at OGC
- School Holiday Clinics with PGA Professional David Ecob
- Pennant Update
- Upcoming Trophy Events
- Recent Trophy Winners
- Upcoming Events
Director Resignations – Matthew Seamons and James Coates
The Club regrets to inform the membership that two of our Directors have stood down from the Board effective 1st April 2022.
The first, Matthew Seamons, has downgraded his membership to Non-playing while he undertakes treatment for carpal tunnel on both hands, and is unable to play golf for at least 6 months. Matthew has served on the Board for 7 years including 6 years as Club Captain and more recently as Vice-President. Matthew has made a tremendous contribution to the Club and Board in this time, and we wish him a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing him back on the golf course soon.
The second, James Coates, has resigned his membership of Oatlands GC, and is looking to join a Club closer to home on the North Shore. James has been on the Board for 6 years and has made an invaluable contribution, particularly in the areas of Match and Greens, the sub-committee on which he has served for the duration of his membership. He also Captained the Interclub team for 5 years. We wish James well in his future endeavors and look forward to seeing him back at OGC for the occasional game when time permits.
The Board resignation of Matthew and James leaves two casual Board vacancies. These will be filled as per the requirement of the Club’s Constitution in due course.
The Wet Weather Disruption Continues
The wet weather continues to cause significant disruption to the course and member access, with a total of 25 days of course closures from 22nd February to 1st April inclusive. Course staff have been able to move the Autumn greens renovation forward and will complete the aerating today, however, given the rain forecast, it is unlikely we will see the golf course open before Wednesday 6th April (see Course Update Video – 1st April, below). Even with a few days of clear weather, the current state of the soil profile will prevent machinery onto surfaces that require mowing prior to play being able to resume.
A decision on each day will be made as late as possible and will continue to be communicated via the website, and to all booked players for respective days via sms.
It normally takes a lot of rainfall to see the course become unavailable, and we have obviously had significant rain as noted in the Course Report below and regular video updates on our website and members only Facebook page by Course Superintendent, Dom Yates. In fact, as of yesterday (Thursday 31st March), we had received 1,032mm of rainfall for the first 3 months of the calendar year. When you compare this with total 2021 rainfall of 1,087mm and 30 year historical yearly average of 971mm, it is easy to see why the soil profile is so water-logged, and even the briefest shower can make the course unplayable. This is evident by the video below taken from the Club’s CCTV camera on the 18th green last Saturday 26th March, and shows that the green becomes unplayable from the first player in the group putting to the last (less than 2minutes).
This sustained weather disruption seems cruel given the Covid related disruption of the last two years, however, members can be assured that we are doing everything in our power to keep the course healthy to enable it to be playable at the earliest opportunity.
From the Course
Rainfall for the Week: 146.5mm, Rainfall for 2022: 1,032.0mm Dam: 100% Green Speed: Closed
The course received 48mm of rain on Tuesday night during a heavy storm making it impossible to mow any surfaces this week. The team has managed to mow tees on Thursday, but green surrounds, fairways and roughs are too wet to have the mowers going over them. Fortunately, the 13th, 14th, 15th and 17th fairways and roughs that were just starting to come out of regulation were sprayed again with growth regulator on Monday so the growth on these areas should be reduced, with all other fairways only due to come out of regulation next week.
The 48mm of rain that fell on Tuesday night came down in a very short time, and as such caused erosion damage to gravel pathways/ roads, with significant damage to our access road down to the main storage dam. The material that has washed away from this roadway has ended up in our dam, and an assessment at some point in the future will need to be performed to ensure our pumping infrastructure hasn’t been or will be affected by this debris. This roadway also needs to be repaired so that vehicular access can be made when maintenance on our pumps is required. But the right repairs need to be made, with a solid solution that won’t wash away into the dam again. This could be a costly repair as we’d have to consider concrete or bitumen as the replacement material.
As we’re aware through previous correspondence during the week, the team has started a modified greens renovations while the course is forced to close because of the wet conditions. The aeration of the greens has progressed with 4 greens being completed on Thursday with a heavy shower after lunch caused greens to flood up which brought a halt to proceedings while surfaces were underwater. These heavy showers continued for the rest of Thursday afternoon so we couldn’t continue with the aeration process. The team will continue this work today, weather permitting.
Volunteers were on the course on Monday morning, trimming hedges, edging pathways, hand weeding Parramatta Grass from the 8th flyover, water pipe repairs in the car park and clubhouse maintenance. Thank you gentlemen for your help and assistance again this week.
Enjoy the Weekend!
The Course Team.
Friday Happy Hour at OGC
Join us at the Club on Friday evenings between 4-6pm for Happy Hour. Every drinks purchase will get you a ticket into the draw for a bottle of wine!
School Holiday Clinics with PGA Professional David Ecob
Oatlands PGA Professional David Ecob will be running a two hour clinic during the upcoming school holidays for members and guests under the age of 18 years.
When – Wednesday 20th April
Time – 1:00pm to 3:00pm (2 hour clinic)
Cost – $50 per person
This clinic we will cover Putting, chipping, bunkers, mid iron shots and will be limited to the first 8 students.
Bookings can be made via the Oatlands online booking site our by contacting David at the Proshop or his mobile (0407 456 512).
Pennant Update
Men’s Major Pennant
Men’s Major Pennant Semi-final postponed due to recent wet weather. An update will be provided as soon as the fixture is re-scheduled.
Ladies Grade
The 2022 Ladies Grade Pennant has been abandoned due to the inability of venues to host scheduled matches. Our ladies were undefeated when the season was abandoned. Well done ladies!
Upcoming Trophy Events
Men’s
- A number of trophy events including the OGC Memorial Bowl and NB Charlton will need to be re-scheduled due to wet weather.
- With Easter and School Holidays almost upon us, these events will likely be scheduled from May onwards
- An update on the scheduled events will be communicated in due course
Ladies
- Thursday 14th April: Club Medal Round 3, GNSW Medal Round 3, Veterans Medal Round 3, Veterans Challenge Brooch
- Monday 9th May: Presidents Cup Matchplay Final – Linda Gyzen vs Amanda Walkerden
Mixed
- The Husband & Wife Trophy (postponed from 27th March) will be re-scheduled at the earliest opportunity after the Easter and the School Holidays.
Recent Trophy Winners
The wet weather has delayed the completion of any club trophy events for the last week.
