Oatlands Enews – Friday 12th February 2021

Published on 12th February 2021 in E-News, Guests

Content

This week’s Enews covers the following topics:

Club Strategic Planning – Member Workshop Group Sessions
2021 Golf Programme
Covid Update – 12th February 2021
From the Course
Monday and Thursday Competition Timesheets
Kiosk Terminal Bookings – Wednesday and Saturday
Denlo VW Scramble – Tuesday, 23rd February 2021
Resches back due to Popular Demand
Major Pennant Update
Oatlands Takeaway Meals – Updated 11th February 2021
Upcoming Events

Club Strategic Planning – Member Workshop Group Sessions

In Mid 2019, the Club’s Board and Management commenced the development process of the Club’s next 5 year Strategic Plan. This process included a number of facilitated Board strategy sessions, a members survey, and the development of the 8 key Strategic Pillars that require planning and action over the 5 years of the Strategic Plan.

Unfortunately, the Covid pandemic forced the postponement to the planning process with the previous 12 months fluctuating from great uncertainty (Clubhouse and Course closure), to increased confidence (a full membership and 50% growth in golf participation).

With 2020 behind us, the immediate future looks positive and more stable, however the shadow of Covid is still present and economics head winds are still ahead for us all.

Despite this, the Board and Management are committed to continuing the planning process to ensure the medium to long-term security of the Club.

With this in mind, the next step is to engage with our membership to ensure the Strategic Planning outcomes to date are in line with member expectation and utilise the wisdom and experience of our membership to guide the next stages of Strategic Planning development.

Therefore, the Club will be holding a series of Member Workshop group sessions in March to engage our members in this planning process. The Workshop dates are listed below and all playing members are invited to take part (more dates can be added if required). Each Workshop session will run for approximately 90 minutes and have 12-16 members in each group.

Mon 22/3: 6pm – 7:30pm
Tues 23/3: 6pm – 7:30pm
Wed 24/3: 6pm – 7:30pm
Thurs 25/3: 6pm – 7:30pm
Sat 27/3: 2pm – 3:30pm
Sat 27/3: 5pm – 6:30pm
Mon 29/3: 6pm – 7:30pm
Tues 30/3: 6pm – 7:30pm

To register to take part in the Workshop sessions, please complete the form below.

2021 Golf Programme

Since the beginning of Covid, putting together a reliable programme has been difficult with constant changes throughout 2020 meaning the programme was adjusted monthly and delaying the finalisation of the 2021 programme. We apologise for the delays experienced.

The 2021 programme is now complete and is available in PDF format for members to download. This PDF can be downloaded from the link below and under the Club Documents tab on the Club website.

The Programme PDF currently includes the fixtures only however will be updated over the coming weeks to include the pre-fixture Club Notices and Conditions.

2021 OGC Golf Programme_V3

Covid Update – 12th February 2021

With the recent run in NSW of zero cases of community Covid transmission, NSW Health has made some minor changes to the Public Health Order restrictions on Hospitality venues which impact the Club and these came into effect yesterday:

Front line hospitality staff are no longer required to wear masks
Venue capacity has increased from one person per 4sqm to one person per 2sqm.

The second of these means the restriction on the number in our Clubhouse, and particularly our function room, has doubled. Members should be aware that while the capacity has doubled in the function room from 93 to 186, the Club will be working to a common sense capacity based on function type. For example, seated restaurant nights will not exceed 120 people to ensure that social distancing requirements are not just met to the letter of the law but also to the comfort of our members and guests.

From the Course

Rainfall for the Week: 2.0mm, Rainfall for 2021: 85.5mm Dam: 90% Green Speed: 9.5 feet

The team has made a start on our pre-emergent spray program on fairways and roughs for winter weeds, focusing on the control of Winter Grass (Poa Annua). This is the ideal time for this pre-emergent herbicide application, as we are trying to create a barrier across the top layer of soil that will stop any weeds from germinating. All tee complexes were sprayed last week, with a post emergent herbicide added to the tank mix to control any existing weeds that were in these areas.

The 7^th fairway was verti drained this week to aerate the soil profile and allow root development. This particular fairway surface always struggles and thins out during the winter months, therefore this practice will improve the root system which in turn will make the turf coverage stronger and thicker, and prepare the playing surface on this fairway in the best possible condition to get through the winter months.

The verti-draining of all the fairways will be performed over the next month or so, as it is beneficial for the overall health of our fairways. An organic top dressing material will also be applied to known thin areas on fairways after they are verti-drained, in an effort to improve growth on these areas.

Our greens remain in a healthy condition, with the putting green being needle tyned this week. Our regular fertiliser and growth regulator applications have been applied this week to keep these surfaces in good condition.

Our bunker rejuvenation program starts again on Tuesday 16th February, and will include green side bunkers on the 3^rd, 7^th and 15^th holes. We will be following the same process as the 4^th and 5^th bunkers, but learning from these bunkers to improve the length of time it took to complete these initial bunkers. We will need to take one of these holes out of play from time to time for staff safety and job efficiency, with the 19^th coming into play on these occasions, however we will maintain an 18 hole course at all times and avoid major event days wherever possible.

New turf has been laid on a prepared area on the 10^th flyover this week, with some additional leftover turf being laid on the end of the 7^th tee pathway. This turf on the end of the 7^th pathway will be covered in the green plastic mesh to protect it from traffic wear.

Our volunteers had a week off from their voluntary duties so they could play in our Annual Volunteer Golf day. This was a 4 man ambrose event with teams picked so that an even spread of talent is shared between the groups. All participants had a great day with plenty of sledging along the way. An enjoyable lunch followed the golf, with the prizes handed out to the winners. Thank you to all that attended and I hope you all had a great day on the course.

Good Golfing!

The Course Team

Monday and Thursday Competition Timesheets

Due to the recent increase in demand for competition tee times on a Monday and Thursday, which have made access to tee times traditionally enjoyed by our lady members difficult to book, the Match Committee has decided to make the following changes to the Monday and Thursday competition timesheets, effective from Monday 22^nd February (timesheet that opens at 4:30pm Sunday 14^th February):

6 and 7 Day Lady Members will get access to book competition times for the AM field on both the 1^st and 12th tees, 8 days in advance at 4:30pm.
All other members eligible for competition bookings will get access to these times at 4:30pm, 7 days in advance.
Booking access for the PM times on Monday and Thursday will remain unchanged and become available to all eligible members, 8day in advance at 4:30pm.
Monday and Thursday competitions will become members only, no visitor / guest bookings other than by approval of the Match Committee or General Manager.

It is important to explain to the membership why this decision has been made, which on the surface does appear like a backward step with regard to equality.

In March 2019, the Human Rights Commission of Australia and Golf Australia produced a reports titled:

The Guidelines for the Promotion of equal Opportunity for Women and Girls in Golf

This 42 page report covers a range of equal opportunity initiatives to provide female golfers equal opportunity that they traditionally have not had access to in golf, among these initiatives are provisions to provide priority access to female golfers, as the minority group (OGC membership is 77% male and 23% female), to ensure that the ultimate objective of equality is achievable. As such, the reports allows for the following action to be taken by Club’s which has resulted in the priority access of 24hrs being granted for 6 & 7 day female playing members;

Priority may be given when substantive equality has not yet been reached and the Club wants to encourage more women to participate.
Clubs can promote equal opportunity through allocating a large block of timeslots on a specific day exclusively to women of girls to address the historical disadvantage experienced by women and girls in golf.

Oatlands Golf Club continue to be committed to being an industry leader with regard to equality and believe this initiative is a proactive step toward the continued growth of a strong female membership at the Club.

These changes will continue to be reviewed by the Match Committee with further changes made if deemed necessary.

If you have any questions, please direct them to the Club General Manager, Sam Howe.

Kiosk Terminal Bookings – Wednesday and Saturday

With the overnight change on hospitality venue capacity to one person per 2sqm, the Club is now able to re-introduce the Kiosk Terminal booking system for Wednesday and Saturday competition times.

The-configuration of timesheet templates is currently underway and will be followed by necessary testing.

The Club will advise members of the re-introduction date in next Friday’s Enews.

Denlo Volkswagen Scramble – Tuesday 23rd February (limited space available)

Oatlands Golf Club and Denlo Volkswagen Parramatta are pleased to announce that the Club will be hosting another Volkswagen Scramble event on Tuesday 23rd Feburary.

Following the success of our events in March and November 2020, Denlo Volkswagen Parramatta has generously agreed to sponsor the upcoming event to include the following for entrants;

Pre-game breakfast and coffee
On course beverage
Post game two course lunch and beverage
Additional prizes

The value of this sponsorship is in excess of $10,000 and will make this one of the biggest scramble events in NSW.

Entry to the event is via the link below with entry fee ($40pp) payable upon registration and going to the PGA of Australia who run the National event. All entrants will receive 6 Callaway golf balls.

Two teams from this Scramble event will progress to the regional final to be held later in the year and join the OGC qualifiers from the November 2020 event.

Spaces are limited to 128 players so book early to avoid disappointment.

Click the link below to regsiter;

https://www.golfgenius.com/pages/7049009249015317849

Event Details:

Oatlands Golf Club – At least one member per team

Date: Tuesday, February 23, 2021

Tee Time: 8.00 AM Shotgun Start

Entry Fee: $40.00 per person

Inclusions:

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

Registrations Close: Monday, February 22, 2021 at 12:00 PM

Resches is Back due to Popular Demand

Resches tap beer was recently removed from the Club bar in favour of Cider as Resches was our slowest moving tap beer.

Due to popular demand, the iconic beer has been put back on this week.

We trust this will bring a smile to faces of members who called for its return.

Major Pennant Update

What an awesome round in the pennant’s competition at Oatlands last Sunday!

We took on The Lakes which are such a strong team with 4 former professionals in their side.

The Oatlands boys put up an awesome show against such strong opposition, unfortunately though, we were beaten 4.5 / 2.5.

This result does not reflect the fight the boys put up, with 3 of the games going to the 18^th. It honestly could had gone our way. It was great golf to watch.

Charlie Kim who took on their number one from the prior week played sensational golf to beat his opponent. Will Reece who just keeps going from strength to strength, was too good for his opponent (who was a massive hitter and nearly drove the 7^thhole), but Will stuck with him & won.

Our Team Captain Sean Porter was two down with two to play. But leading the way as a great captain, he drained a birdie putt on the 18^th to get us the half. Nathan Wareham played No.1 and was playing a future NSW state squad player. Again, a fantastic performance by Nathan to stay with this guy & only just got beaten on the 18^th.

Grant Lomas got off to a slow start but came home like a freight train. 5 down 5 to play, he never gave up and rallied to have a put on the 18th to halve his match which only narrowly missed. An amazing fightback!

The whole team just were fantastic & did Oatlands proud!

To the caddies and supporters …. Thank you! We as a team cannot do without you!

The Lakes players all complimented the course on how great it is looking. With their team manager saying he has never seen it look better! A massive compliment to Dom and his great staff who were out there at 5am on Sunday morning preparing the course.

And of course, the catering was great as always!

This week we take on Lakeside away at 11.30am and will be another good show of golf I’m sure!

Thanking you!

Ken Doolan

Team Manager