A very busy week for the course team with the public holiday Monday and a couple of staff members away on some well deserved annual leave, thus reducing the hours course staff have to prepare the course.

Course staff were greeted to a messy golf course Tuesday morning after a very windy Monday night. Constant winds made course preparation a frustrating task with leaf debris falling and being blown into areas that had already been cleared. The course team have done their very best this week to present the course for the Club Championships, despite the aforementioned factors coming into play.

The majority of playing surfaces are in very good condition with fairways requiring to be cut twice a week. Tees have started to show signs of life after recent coring and fertilising and are beginning to green up nicely as the consistent warmer weather (particularly overnight temps), promotes growth.

Greens are very healthy with some overcast and cooler days balancing out the occasional hot day, meaning very little to no irrigation has been required on these surfaces, therefore producing greens that will continue to firm up and be rolling nicely for this weekend’s Club Championships.

Turf that was laid on the collars at the 4^th 7^th 14^th &17^th has taken to root and has been cut to playing height. These areas were re-turfed last year however the turf had been affected by prolonged rain and wasn’t as healthy coming out of the turf nursery as in other areas.

The spraying of fairways and roughs with pre-emergent herbicide and residual insecticide will continue next week if conditions remain favourable. The remaining holes to be sprayed are holes that we wanted to see an improvement of the grass coverage before applying the pre-emergent herbicide, so that the herbicide didn’t slow any of the recovery of the thin areas.

The blue lines will remain on holes 7,8,11,13&14 for the Club Championships and allow for preferred lies in some of the areas that are yet to pop coming out of winter. Good luck to everyone on the weekend!

Greens will be cut and rolled Saturday morning and cut Sunday morning with pin positions and setup to replicate Thursday in-line with the multi-day format of the Ladies Club Championship, as per Golf Australia Guidelines.

Happy Golfing!

The Course Team.

Nomination for Life Membership, Joe Wahbe – Message from OGC Volunteers

The message below has been written on behalf of the Club’s Monday Volunteer brigade in support of Joe Wahbe’s nomination for Life Membership which is being put to members at the upcoming AGM on 23rd October. 

Dear Members,

The Oatlands volunteers would like to extend our heartfelt congratulations to Joe Wahbe on his nomination for Life Membership. While Joe is an essential part of our Monday brigade, his contributions to Oatlands go far beyond that single day.

Many may not fully appreciate the extent of his impact. Joe is the first to respond to the various challenges facing our aging clubhouse, tackling countless tasks each month—too many to list, in fact. Over the years, he has addressed hundreds of issues, demonstrating his unwavering dedication.

The volunteers fully support and endorse Joe’s nomination, and encourage everyone to support it at the upcoming AGM. He truly deserves this recognition for his exceptional service to our Club.

Best regards,

The Oatlands Volunteers

Men’s Club Championships

The matchplay round of 16 for the Men’s Club Championships commences on Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th October.

There has been a few changes to the various draws since the final qualifying round on Saturday 28th September with player availability, however we now have 16 determined players in each grade ready to battle it out for the premier Men’s Trophies at OGC.

Saturday 12th will see the 18-hole matches in The Plate, Middle Marker and Long Marker grades, while Sunday 13th October will see 36-hole matches in the Open Championship grade.

Members are encouraged to get along and support their fellow members in their pursuit of the 2025 Championship trophies.

Click here for the draws and matches for all Championships grades.

Ladies Club Championships

The 2024 Ladies Club Championship commenced on Thursday 10th October. This year’s event features a new format designed to encourage greater participation in line with Golf Australia Guidelines and the Women in Golf Charter, whereby participants can nominate to contest the event on a Thursday or Sunday.

The top 10 scores in each grade from the first round of Thursday 10th October (note: Link Updated 14/10 to Include Sunday Qualifiers) are available by CLICKING HERE and will have the scores from the Sunday nominated players added once they play their first round on Sunday 13th October.

The second round of qualifying will take place on Thursday 17th October (Sunday 20th October for the Sunday nominated players) and will see the top 8 from each grade qualify for the matchplay component that will eventually determine the 2024 Club Champions.

A full list of event dates are outlined below;

• Round One Qualifying: Thursday 10^th October or Sunday 13^th October
• Round Two Qualifying: Thursday 17^th October or Sunday 20^th October
• Matchplay Quarter-finals: Thursday 24^th October or Sunday 27^th October
• Matchplay Semi-Finals: Thursday 31^st October or Sunday 3^rd November
• Matchplay Finals: Thursday 7^th November or Sunday 10^th November

We wish all competitors the best of luck for the premier event on the Ladies golfing programme!