Oatlands Enews – Friday 24th March 2023
Content
This week’s Enews covers the following topics:
- From the Course
- Grooves and Greens – A Great Success!
- US Masters Breakfast – Monday 10th April 2023
- Sandwich Hut Closed on Friday 31st March
- Bar Tab and Visitor Vouchers – Expire 1st April 2023
- PING Fitting Day – 13th April 2023 – Limited Space Available
- Ladies Weekend Matchplay Events – Conditions of Play
- Pennant Update
- Recent Trophy Event Winners
- Upcoming Trophy Events
- Members Only Facebook Group – Join in the Fun
From the Course
Rainfall for the Week: 2.5mm, Rainfall for 2023: 363.5mm Dam: 100% Green Speed: 10feet
It certainly feels as though the warm weather last weekend was the final blast of summer, with some cooler mornings this week being very welcome. The Spring and Autumn seasons are usually the ideal times of the year for optimum growth on our putting greens. Soil temperatures in the high teens to low 20’s are ideal and will encourage root and leaf growth. This is why all Golf Clubs’ perform a renovation of their greens in these seasonal windows, to recover from summer or prepare for the summer ahead.
Our greens renovations are scheduled for Monday 17th April through to Wednesday 19th April, and we will be removing cores from the greens and backfilling these open core holes with fresh USGA specified sand. The hollow tines being used will remove a core plug to a depth of 125mm, so we are concentrating on renewing around 5% of the top growing medium with each renovation period. This week, the course team has needle tined all greens, which is aerating the green surfaces with a solid mini tine down to a depth of 225mm. This practice is performed monthly all year round, with the solid tine leaving behind small hollow channels in the soil profile which the turf’s roots grow down searching for nutrients and moisture. Having had these practices in place for the past 4 to 5 years, the root systems in our old greens have become much stronger and more dense, and explains why the turf doesn’t flick out as much anymore when repairing pitch marks.
The ball roll on the greens is still slightly bumpy following the needle tining, as the greens require another roll to level out the surfaces. The team will perform this additional roll on Friday morning, but with only one roller instead of two, as we are waiting on spare parts to repair the second roller.
The back right bunker at the 1st green has had its rejuvenation work performed this week, with just a small amount of sand required in the middle of this bunker to complete it. This now leaves only 5 bunkers to complete this seasons’ bunker program work. The team is able to finish one bunker per week, but the Easter weekend, renovation week and Anzac Day week will affect the progress of this work, as each of these week’s will have a day of work lost. The team will attempt to have the 1st fairway bunker completed by the Easter weekend, and then the next bunker will be the front right bunker on the 1st. When the team performs the work on the front right bunker, the 1st hole will have to be closed for safety reasons, as many balls have gone into that bunker this week while we have been working on the back right bunker.
Our volunteers were on course Monday morning, performing a bunker run before the competition, trimming hedges in the car park, replacing practice nets, clubhouse repair work and continuing work in the Protea garden between the 3rd green and 4th tee. Thank you gentlemen for another very productive morning!
We will be cutting greens on Saturday and only removing dew from the greens on Sunday.
Have a great weekend!
The Course Team
Grooves and Greens – A Great Success!!
OGC held it’s first Grooves and Greens outdoor music event on Friday 17th March, with over 150 members and guests enjoying a wonderful evening of good music and great friends.
The weather was absolutely perfect for the open air event, and the band (The QC Collective) played a great mix of easy listening classics and upbeat tunes that got many of those gathered on their feet.
The free event with the option of BYO or Club cooked BBQ, proved very popular and has provided a template for future events of this type.
Thank you to all the members and their guests who attended and helped make this new initiative a great success!
US Masters Breakfast and OGC Green Jacket – Monday 10th April 2023
To say OGC has not had a great run at its Masters Breakfast in recent years would be putting it mildly, with 2020 cruelled by Covid, 2021 thrown into disarray due to weather in the US, and 2022 affected by wet weather in Sydney.
Despite this, and with our bad luck behind us, every golfer is undoubtedly looking forward to the world’s most prestigious golf tournament, the OGC US Masters Breakfast and Stableford.
But seriously, the US Masters at Augusta Georgia is a tournament like no other and one that catches the imagination of golfers all over the world, and with the tension between the USPGA Tour and LIV at boiling point, and the Masters being one of the few tournaments that all of the world’s best players can compete, the 2023 Masters promises to be one for the ages.
The OGC Masters Breakfast will take place on Monday 10th April. The coverage will commence in the Clubhouse from 6am (hopefully with Aussie Cam Smith in the lead), breakfast served from 7:30am and a shotgun start after the completion of the Masters final round at approximately 9:30am.
The Club runs two events over the 18 holes:
- 18 hole single stableford for the OGC Green Jacket
- Two ball aggregate stableford with each player drawing a tournament player from the Masters and using their final round score to create an aggregate.
Bookings are available via the Club website or by contacting Reception or the Pro Shop.
MEMBERS AND GUESTS ARE WELCOME
Sandwich Hut Closed on Friday 31st March
Members are advised that the Sandwich Hut will be closed on Friday 31st March 2023, due to the hosting of an all day Corporate Golf Day.
The Bistro Menu will be available for service on this day as usual.
We thank you for your patience and understanding!
Bar Tab and Visitor Vouchers – Expire 1st April 2023
Members are reminded that their annual Bar Tab credit, and Visitor Vouchers (Visitor Vouchers allocated to Full Playing and 6-Day members only) will expire on 1st April 2023 at the commencement of the 2023-24 Membership year.
Bar Credit can be used for clubhouse and takeaway beverage purchases, along with attendance at Club dining events, such as The Bettington Nights.
Visitor Vouchers can be used to bring non-member guests during competition or social play with no green fee payable.
Members are encouraged to visit the “MEMBERS ACCOUNT” section of the Club website to confirm the status of their Bar Tab and Visitor Voucher accounts for 2022-23, and utilise the remaining credit on or before 31st March 2023.
PING Fitting Day – 13th April 2023 – Limited Space Available
The Club will be hosting a PING Fitting Day on Thursday 13th April 2023, with spaces limited to just 5 fitting sessions between 8am and 12pm.
- Driver or Fairway Wood – 30 Minutes
- Iron Fitting – 45 Minutes
- Full Set Fitting – 1 Hour
Bookings for the Fitting Day are available via the Club website or by contacting the Pro Shop.
Ladies Weekend Matchplay Events – Conditions of Play
Following the announcement of two new ladies trophy events last week (details copied below), the Ladies Committee have drafted Conditions of Play for each of the events which are available by clicking on the link below.
Click here for the Conditions of Play for each Event
The Ladies Committee is pleased to announce the introduction of two new trophy events for our lady members.
The two events will consist of one singles handicap knockout matchplay and one fourball handicap knockout matchplay.
The dates for each event are set out below:
Weekend Ladies Handicap Cup
- Sunday 16th April: Qualifying
- Sunday 23rd April: Quarter Finals
- Sunday 30th April: Semi Finals
- Sunday 7th May: Final
Weekend Ladies Fourball Knockout
- Sunday 28th May: Qualifying
- Sunday 4th June: Quarter Finals
- Sunday 18th June: Semi Finals
- Sunday 25th June: Final
Final conditions of play will be available closer to the beginning of each event, and the naming of the respective trophies will also be decided between now and the Annual Presentation Dinner.
We hope as many of our OGC ladies as possible, will take part in these events and ensure their ongoing viability and success.
Ladies Grade
The OGC Ladies were at The Lakes GC today (Friday 17th March) taking on Carnarvon GC in a match they needed a good result to be sure of avoiding relagation to Division 3. The match was a close one, however depite a narrow 3 matches to 2 loss, our side has avoided relegation and will remain in Division 2 for 2024. In Division 2, Cronulla GC were relagated and NSW GC were promoted from Division 3 to joi our ladies next year.
Recent Trophy Event Winners
The Men’s OGC Memorial Bowl was contested on Saturday 18th March. Junior Member Nicholas Radburn took out the trophy with a fine score of 40points from the black tees.
Upcoming Trophy Events
Men’s
- Saturday 25th March – NB Charlton 4Ball Matchplay Qualifying
- Saturday 1st April – NB Charlton Quarter Finals
- Monday 10th April – US Masters Breakfast and Golf
- Saturday 15th April – Club Medal
- Monday 17th April – Wednesday 19th April inclusive – Course Renovation and Closure
- Saturday 29th April – NB Charlton Semi Finals
Ladies
- Thursday 30th March – Grace Norris Trophy Rnd 3
- Thursday 6th April – Grace Norris Trophy Final
- Monday 10th April – US Masters Breakfast and Golf
- Monday 17th April – Wednesday 19th April inclusive – Course Renovation and Closure
Mixed
- Sunday 26th March – Husband and Wife Trophy
- Monday 10th April – US Masters Breakfast and Golf
- Monday 17th April – Wednesday 19th April inclusive – Course Renovation and Closure
Members Only Facebook Group – Join in the Fun
The engagement among the membership on our Members Only Facebook group has continued to grow in recent months with posts from members and staff happening daily.
So if you aren’t already part of our Members Only Facebook Group, join up now and join in the fun banter.
We now have over 370 members who have joined the group and hope to see this get closer to 700 in the next 12-months.
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/
