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This week’s Enews covers the following topics:

• From the Course
• August Renovation / Course Closure
• Minjee Lee’s Major Triumph
• Brad Hooper Hole In One – Monday 26th July
• Ladies Concord Interclub 2021 Cancelled
• Membership – Change in Category Limits
• Takeaway / Drive Through, Greek Night – Saturday 7th August
• One Litre Takeaway Beer Bottles are Back
• Upcoming Trophy Events

From the Course

Rainfall for the Week: 1.0mm,  Rainfall for 2021: 671mm   Dam: 100%   Green Speed: 10.5 feet

After the windy weekend, the course staff spent the best part of Monday blowing and vacuuming debris from fairways, tees, bunkers, and green surrounds. Fortunately, no big limbs came down from any of our trees this time.

In preparation for the summer months ahead, the team has been checking sprinkler heads around greens to ensure that they sit level with the turf surface. If a sprinkler sits too low below the surface level, the grass can interfere with the throw/trajectory of the sprinkler which will lead to areas on greens not getting the desired amount of irrigation, which isn’t ideal. Once again, the apprentices have been involved with this work, with plenty of extra skills and knowledge being gained over the week.

In a short time, the course has gone from being very wet in areas just 2 weeks ago, to the team having to set up our sumi-hose in areas that are really drying out. This soaker hose applies approximately 5mm of irrigation per hour in a concentrated area, so the water does soak into the soil profile. So far, we have soaked areas on the 1^st and 13^th fairways, but we will monitor all other areas of the course and irrigate as required.

The turfing of the 17^th mound is 2 or 3 weeks away as the turf at the farm isn’t quite ready for cultivation yet. The floods back in February affected all turf farms in the Hawkesbury region with any turf that survived the flood having been used/sold. The recovery or regrowth of the turf is slower over the winter months, just like our playing surfaces and our home lawns. In the meantime, we will ensure that this area is ready for turfing by ensuring the finished shape is correct, and we will also install a small drainage line at the green end of the work to ensure no water is collected during any heavy rainfall event.

Sand has been added to the 1^st fairway bunker and the 9^th greenside bunker this week, and the plate compactor has been used to consolidate the bases in these two bunkers plus bunkers on the 10^th and 14^th holes.

No volunteers this week due to the increased COVID lockdown measures.

Have great weekend everyone!

The Course Team

August Course Renovation / Course Closure

Following the last two renovations in August 2020 and April 2021, the Greens Committee has been undertaking a thorough review of the renovation process.  Subsequently,  the upcoming renovation and course closure timing will be adjusted from the previous Sunday PM – Tuesday inclusive and will now be Monday – Wednesday inclusive.

In recent years, the Club has prioritised turf / greens health through a commitment of a robust twice annual renovation process and regular spot renovations (needle tine and dusting). This commitment has proven to be very effective, with the quality and health of our ageing greens the benchmark in the local area. This is particularly pleasing given the course has seen almost 100k rounds of golf since the beginning of April 2020.

The upcoming August renovation will conducted over the following dates. The course and all practice facilities will be closed during these times;

• Monday 16th August
• Tuesday 17th August
• Wednesday 18th August

The change of schedule will not only allow for the greens to be renovated at a less urgent speed (reducing the risk that the heavy machinery used damages the surfaces and increases recovery times), it also allows for a broader area of the course to be addressed. These areas will include but are not limited too:

• Tree maintenance
• Greens collars
• Fairway aeration

These are essential maintenance items to keep the golf course at a standard members expect and it becomes increasingly difficult to perform with the increased golf being played. Despite the current lockdown restrictions reducing the capacity on the course, it has actually reduced the maintenance windows for the course team with virtually all available groups being booked from 7am – 3pm everyday.

The current Covid situation and lockdown restrictions has impacted our ability to utilise volunteers for renovation. As such, there will not be a general call for volunteer assistance for the upcoming renovations.

Minjee Lee’s Major Triumph

Members who follow professional golf would no doubt be aware that Australia’s Minjee Lee recently won her first Major Championship at the Evian Championship in France.

What you might not know is that Minjee has a connection to Oatlands Golf Club through the NSW Ladies Open that the Club previously hosted. In 2013, when Minjee was just 17 years of age, she was the leading amateur at the Ladies NSW Open at OGC, one of her first professional events.

Since then, Minjee has gone on to win over US$7.8M, is the highest ranked Australian woman in the world – golf ranking at no. 7 and is still only 25 years of age.

Minjee becomes just the fourth Australian woman to win a major, after Karrie Webb, Jan Stephenson and Hannah Green – the 2019 Women’s PGA Champion who she is partnered with at the Tokyo Olympics.

Brad Hooper Hole In One – Monday 26th July

Current Men’s Club Champion Brad Hooper recorded his first ever Hole in One on the 18th hole at OGC on Monday, 26th July.

Congratulations Brad!

Ladies Concord Interclub 2021 – Cancelled

The Bi-Annual home and away Ladies Interclub with Concord GC, scheduled for Friday 6th August at Concord, has been been cancelled for 2021 due to the current Covid restrictions in place.

We look forward to picking up this rivalry with our friends at Concord in 2022.

Membership – Change in Category Limits

While Covid has taken its toll on golf course access due to the current lockdown restrictions, it continues to be a positive for membership at OGC with our Full Membership (7 Day access)  and 6 Day membership now full again with growing waitlists.

Once the lockdown restrictions are eased and we are able to again play in groups of 4 with normal capacity, the Membership Committee has resolved to make an adjustment to the overall membership category mix. This will see the overall playing membership limit remain unchanged at 1,050 playing members, however the 6 Day category limit will be increased from 180 to 200 while the Lifestyle category limit will be decreased from 370 to 350.

The Full (7 Day) category limit will remain unchanged at 500.

These changes have been made following a review of course capacity (during normal operation) and with the potential to increase the competition field capacity on Monday’s, Wednesday’s, Thursday’s and Sunday’s if required.

Saturday competition fields are at maximum capacity and have seen us able to accommodate play without players missing out on waitlists with the current Full membership cap at 500 however with no scope to increase capacity on a Saturday, this cap will not be increased.

This change is extremely positive for the Club and continues the momentum of the last 2 years toward a more stable and sustainable membership model. It is also a common view expressed by the membership during the March / April workshop groups.

Given the current Covid restrictions forcing golf to be played in groups of two, effective immediately, a hold has been placed on all new memberships until the restrictions are eased, with new applicants able to apply and hold their spot by paying the relevant joining fee however not being able to play until normal operation resumes. 

Takeaway / Drive Through, Greek Night – Saturday 7th August

The support of the Clubs members for last weeks Drive Through Christmas in July and Saturday Texas Rib night has been unbelievable with 130+ and 100+ booked respectively.

Continuing on with this style of food service, we are offering a Drive Through Greek feast on Saturday 7th August..

Details are outlined below with booking available through the Club website.

One Litre Takeaway Beers are Back

Starting Saturday 24th July, the one litre growler takeaway beer bottles are back on the menu at our Takeaway Cafe.

All beers will be charged at $12 per litre.