Oatlands Enews – Friday 25th November 2022

Published on 24th November 2022 in E-News, Guests

Content

This week’s Enews covers the following topics:

2023 Golfing Programme
Christmas Gift Ideas from the OGC Pro Shop
From the Course
Captain’s Corner – Local Rules Change / Clarity of Local Rules
Christmas Cheer Ham and Turkey Day’s
Tony Karam, 9 years of age and making Birdies
President vs Captain 4BBB Stableford, Saturday 10th December
Call Up on Par 3s
School Holiday Clinics with Max Dakic
Join Our Members Only Facebook Group
Pennant Update
Upcoming Trophy Events
Recent Trophy Winners

2023 Golfing Programme

The 2023 Golfing Programme has been completed and approved at the November Match Committee meeting.

We are in the process of loading the programme into the website and will publish a softcopy to the website and via this Enews over the coming weeks.

We look forward (and pray for) a year without the recent disruptions of Covid restrictions and prolonged weather.

From the Course

Rainfall for the Week: 2.0mm, Rainfall for 2022: 2005.0mm Dam: 95% Green Speed: 10.5 feet

A disrupted week to say the least, with the winds from the weekend hanging around on Monday and Tuesday forcing planned chemical applications to greens and surrounds to be delayed. The course was also littered with leaf debris but lucky we didn’t lose any large limbs.

Our tree contractors were on site all day Tuesday to delimb the large dead tree on the left hand side of the 16^th fairway. A 40 tonne crane was used to lower the limbs down as carefully as possible, so that all the hollows could be checked for any baby wildlife. We were able to collect 4 baby Cockatoo’s and 5 baby Corella’s from these hollows. These babies were taken by the tree contractors, as one of the contractors partners is a veterinary nurse, she will nurse them until they are ready to be released into the wild, with a strong possibility that this will take place on the course.

Tees have been renovated this week with hollow coring of all pads completed. The cores were smashed up with a steel drag mat and all tees will be fertilised by the weekend. The warm weather over the weekend will be timely and hopefully awaken these couch surfaces. Collars and aprons will receive the same treatment early next week.

The course team did a great job to have the bunkers cleaned out and ready for play on Wednesday morning after the strong winds filled most of the bunkers with leaf debris. The blowers and vacuum have also been busy on the course Thursday and Friday, clearing as much leaf debris as possible from the fairways and roughs.

Sydney Water has been working on the water mains behind the 8th and 9th greens and have provided the club a temporary feed during their works. Unfortunately, this feed is shared and therefore the pressure has been unpredictable and on occasion deficient. This inconsistency is usually first seen in the course bathroom amenities. When noticed, we have options for reducing our demand elsewhere and improving pressure to the amenities, however, if members notice that water supply is poor, please advise a member of staff so we can take action. Sydney Water have indicted their work will be ongoing for another two-weeks.

Our volunteers were on course Monday morning raking bunkers before the competition, trimming fairway sprinkler heads, cleaning and trimming drainage pits, checking and repairing the practice nets, edging concrete paths, and trimming the hedge at the rear of the 11^th men’s tee. Thank you gentlemen for your assistance on the course once again this week!

Have a great weekend!

The Course Team

Christmas Gift Ideas from the OGC Pro Shop

Captain’s Corner – Local Rule Change / Clarity of Local Rule

It has come to the Match Committee’s attention that the wording in the Local Rules, under Local Rule 2, Prohibited Areas of Play, could be misinterpreted, regarding relief from the garden on the side and the back of the 12^th hole.

The wording of the Local Rule suggests that you must be in the garden to obtain relief, however this is not entirely correct. The sandstone border of the garden, could be deemed an immoveable obstruction, from which you may receive relief.

However, to ensure there is a simple application of the Local Rule, it is deemed that the sandstone wall forms part of the garden.

Therefore, if your ball is in the garden, or the sandstone border interferes with your stance or swing, relief must be taken by going to the dropping stake.

While I appreciate that this may already be the interpretation by many players, this minor change is to ensure that the rule is applied equally.

The Local Rules in MiScore has been changed to reflect this clarity, and paper scorecards will be updated as soon as possible.

Please see the attached video which may assist with clarity.

There are a small number of changes to rules commencing on the 1^st January 2023, and these will be communicated over the coming weeks.

Colin McRae

Captain

Christmas Cheer Ham and Turkey Day’s

OGC will be holding its annual Christmas Cheer golfing events on Wednesday 30th November, Thursday 1st December and Sunday 4th December 2022.

These popular events are always held in the lead up to Christmas and see the normal prizes of vouchers and ball comp replaced with legs of ham and turkey’s.

The Conditions of Play for this year’s Christmas Cheer series is listed below along with the prize structure. Members are reminded that for the Wednesday and Thursday events, players must be present at the presentation to receive their prize, which are handed out on the day, with separate prize allocations and presentations for AM and PM shotgun start fields.

Wednesday 30th November – 7am & 12:30pm shotgun

18 holes – Stableford – White & Yellow tees

		Maximum handicap
Open to	Members Guests	Men – 54 Ladies – 54
		Prizes – Winner	Runner-up
Competitions / Grades	Morning Field · Division 1 · Division 2 · Scratch Afternoon Field · Division 1 · Division 2 · Scratch	½ Ham & Turkey ½ Ham & Turkey ½ Ham ½ Ham & Turkey ½ Ham & Turkey ½ Ham	½ Ham ½ Ham ½ Ham ½ Ham
Additional Prizes Nearest the Pin 18th	Morning Field · Div 1 Handicap 1-18 · Div 2 Handicap 19 & over Afternoon Field · Div 1 Handicap 1-18 · Div 2 Handicap 19 & over	½ Ham ½ Ham ½ Ham ½ Ham
Ties	Decided by count back: last 9 holes, last 6, last 3, then hole by hole from 18^th
		Green Fee	Competition Fee
Fees	Member Guest	Nil Free	$25 $25

ADDITIONAL CONDITIONS

The morning and afternoon fields are separate competitions. Prizes will be presented on conclusion of each competition.
In the spirit of Christmas, a player may win only one prize on the day, the prize awarded will be the highest in value.
Turkeys will be awarded to players in descending individual score order (after allocation of competition prizes) until the prize pool is exhausted.
No balls are awarded on this day.
Players must be in attendance at presentation in order to receive a prize.

Thursday 1st December – 8am Shotgun

18 holes – Stableford – Yellow tees

		Daily Handicap
Open to	Lady Members with a current GA handicap	+ to 54
Format	18 hole Stableford
Winner	Divisional Prizes for best Nett scores
		Prizes – Winner
Divisions	Winner in each Division Runner Up in each Division Ball Run Down Nearest the Pins	½ Ham & Turkey ½ Ham Turkeys ½ Hams
Ties	Winners determined by countback
Competition Fees		Competition Fees to be determined by General Manager

ADDITIONAL CONDITIONS

The event will be a shotgun start
In the spirit of Christmas, a player may win only one prize on the day, the prize awarded will be the highest in value.
Players must be present at the time of the presentation to receive their prize. If a player has left, the prize goes to the next best score

Sunday 4th December – Standard Tee Times

18 holes – White & Yellow tees

		Maximum handicap
Open to	Male Members & Guests Female Members & Guests	54 54
		Prizes – Winner
Competitions / Grades	Medley 2BBB Male Individual Female Individual	½ Ham/player ½ Ham ½ Ham
Additional Prizes Nearest the Pin	Male – nearest the pin (18^th) Female – nearest the pin (5^th)	½ Ham ½ Ham
Ties	Decided by count back last 9 holes, last 6, last 3, then hole by hole from 18th
		Green Fee	Competition Fee
Fees	Member Guest	Nil Free	$13 $13

ADDITIONAL CONDITIONS:

There is only one Super Pin and it runs for the whole day.
In the spirit of Christmas a player may win only one prize on the day, the prize awarded will be the highest in value.
The competition fee enters the player into the male or female individual event, plus the appropriate 2BBB event with their nominated partner. A mixed team contains 1 male and 1 female player. A member/member team contains either all male (Whether Member or Guest) or all female players (Whether Member or Guest).

Tony Karam, 9 years of age and making Birdies

As a PGA member who didn’t quite make it on tour, I often wonder if it is possible for top level golf to continue to improve. PGA Tour golfers regularly shoot 72 hole scores of 20 or more under par, and you wonder how much better can it get.

Then a young fellow aged 9 years of age, (he is not alone at OGC), steps up on the 18th hole playing with his Dad and his mates, and calmly hits it to a few feet and holes the putt, and it is like seeing the future unfold before your eyes (if anyone wants to see what the fearlessness of youth looks like on the golf course, watch how firm he holes the very tricky putt).

I started golf at 15 years of age, it was rare in the 80’s and 90’s that anyone joined a Club younger than 12 years, and to see Tony Karam achieve this feat (undoubtedly just the beginning of bigger things to come), makes you realise that the best golf ever played is yet to come.

Great work Tony, keep it up!

Sam Howe

General Manager

President vs Captain 4BBB Stableford, Saturday 10th December

This event has been run for many years, and with the proximity to Christmas, is seen as a wind down to Christmas and for everyone to enjoy the day. As far as the President and Captain are concerned, a win in this event provides that person with bragging rights for the next twelve months, so is certainly an event worth winning!

When booking in, please note that the first two names on the booking sheet will be part of the President’s team, and the last two names on the booking sheet will be part of the Captain’s team.

Please choose carefully.

Below are the conditions of play for the day.

Presidents v Captains Team Match

Before hitting off, each 4BBB pair is entered in either the Presidents or the Captains team and will play a 4BBB Stableford match against their playing opponents.
Each winning 4BBB pair will be allocated 1 point for their team or ½ point for a halved match, the winning team will be the team with the most points.
In the event of tied team scores, the result will be determined by a sudden death-putting contest between the President and Captain.
This is a novelty event and is not to be handicapped.

George and I look forward to seeing you all on the day.

Col McRae

Captain

Call up on Par 3s

Members are reminded that to assist with Pace of Play, the Match Committee recommends calling up the groups behind on all par 3’s when it is safe to do so.

When calling up, players on the green should move to a safe distance behind the green and then wave to the group behind to play.

Groups waiting on par 3 tees should be ready and waiting to receive the call up.

Calling up assists the flow of play by reducing the chance of congestion on the tee of the par 3 being played and that of the following hole.

Thank you for your assistance with this important pace of play initiative.

School Holiday Clinics with Max Dakic

Max Dakic will be running a School Holiday Clinic for our Junior Members and friends (you don’t have to be a member to join the class).

Dates are as follows:

Tuesday 10^thJanuary – 10:00 am to 11:30 am (Full Swing)
Wednesday 11^th January – 10:00 am to 11:30 am (Short Game)
Thursday 12^th January – 10:00 am to 11:30 am (Putting)

Food & Drink will be provided after each clinic.

The total cost will be $90 for each participant for all three clinics.

Bookings can be made through the Member’s website or by contacting the Proshop.

Join Our Members Only Facebook Group

The Club’s members only Facebook Group is a fantastic way for members and staff to engage with each other.

We now have almost 350 members who have joined the group and we would love to see that grow to include all of our members.

Importantly, members are advised that this social media platform will not be used for the Club to communicate critical information, that will remain via the Enews, website and direct email however, it is a place that members and the Club can post interesting Club and golf related items to compliment this Enews.

To join the Members Only Facebook Group please click on the link below and then click on the “JOIN GROUP” button. You will be asked a few questions to verify you are a member and then approved by the group administrator shortly thereafter.

www.facebook.com/groups/870087546972166/

Pennant Update

Encourage Shield

The venue for the Encourage Shield Semi-final on Sunday 27th November has been announced, with our side playing Moore Park at Campbelltown GC at 12:48pm.

We hope as many members as possible can make it out to the Semi-Final and support our talented up and coming juniors.

We have a tight knit group of players who enjoy representing Oatlands and giving it their all.

Team List below: