After a busy December, the staff were finally out on Monday night for their Annual Christmas/Staff Party which, as always, comes with the yearly awards for each Department and the overall employee of the year award. All of the Oatlands Golf Club staff have done a great job throughout the year with plenty of new faces joining the teams in the bar, proshop and course in 2024, but the standouts for each department are below:

From the President’s Desk

Dear Members,

It is with mixed emotions that I inform you of the departure of our Clubhouse Manager, Karah Chapman, who has accepted a new role outside of Oatlands Golf Club. 

Karah has been an invaluable member of our team for just over six years.  During this time she has demonstrated exceptional dedication and leadership in various roles. Notably, in late 2023, she was recognized by the GMA for her outstanding contributions to the industry and was awarded a prestigious scholarship to further her professional development.

Karah has accepted the position of Assistant General Manager at Killara Golf Club, and we extend our best wishes to her as she embarks on this exciting new chapter in her career.

To provide context and avoid any speculation, I would like to clarify that Karah’s move follows the recent transition of our former General Manager to Killara Golf Club. Karah applied for Killara’s Assistant General Manager role in late November, and after a thorough selection process Killara GC considered Karah the strongest candidate.   However, the formal appointment was delayed following the resignation of Killara’s CEO, which occurred over the Christmas period. This information was shared with me by Sam Howe at the time of his resignation from OGC, and I made a specific request that Karah’s appointment be deferred while Sam was still with OGC, a request which Sam has honoured.

Karah has now formally accepted the offer from Killara Golf Club, and I have accepted her resignation from her position at OGC.

While we are saddened by her departure, we are deeply grateful for the contributions Karah has made to Oatlands over the years. We wish her every success in her future endeavours.

I would also like to take this opportunity to address any potential speculation regarding behind-the-scenes discussions. Please be assured that Karah’s decision to move on is entirely her own, and we respectfully ask that there be no conjecture regarding any possible connections with Sam Howe’s recent transition.

Thank you for your understanding and continued support.

Colin McRae

Club President

From the Course

Rainfall for the Week: 8.5mm,  Rainfall for 2025: 216mm, Dam: 90%,  Green Speed: 10feet

Club staff members had our very belated Christmas party and Yearly Awards evening this week, with the Course Team Member of the Year going to Ray Coy. Ray is our Mr Reliable on the course team, always putting his hand up for overtime shifts on weekends, and works through his lunch break most days of the week to get all the work done that is required. Congratulations Ray

The team has tackled the installation of the irrigation requirements for the new 19^th green this week, which has caused some disruption to the 8^th hole as expected. Fortunately, we didn’t break any existing irrigation pipes while installing the irrigation lines, with some initial exploratory digs locating the existing irrigation. The old 19^th green only had 4 sprinklers around it which were all full circle sprinklers. The new green has 7 sprinklers around it now, all part circle which means we have more control on where the irrigation is applied. The full circle sprinklers watered both the green and surrounds at the same time. Now we can water only the green or only the surrounds, depending on what is required. For instance, we might apply an insecticide or herbicide to the surrounds of the green and we don’t really want to put more water on the green. We now have this control with the new practice and 19^th greens.

We are also installing sprinkler heads in front of this new 19^th green, between the new ponds and the green. This area dries out very quickly in hot weather periods, so these sprinklers will be beneficial to keep this approach area in the condition required for eventual full time play.

The new seed on the practice green has germinated well and received its first fertiliser and insecticide application on Thursday. The covers are still on but should be removed late next week. The surrounds of this green have taken root very quickly, with certain parts to have their first mow on Friday.

Greens were dusted on Monday morning as part of our thatch management program on the greens, which backed up last week’s light scarifying of the putting surfaces. Tees were sprayed with a third application of fungicide this week to control a root disease called ERI, which is very common in couch turf on the Eastern suburb courses of Sydney. We saw similar symptoms in our tee pads last Autumn. These applications over the summer period when this disease is active will hopefully control the disease, so we don’t see the symptoms when the couch turf starts to slowdown in growth.

Our volunteers were on course Monday morning performing a bunker run in front of the competition players. Other tasks undertaken included drainage pit cleaning and trimming, sprinkler head trimming on fairways and tees, hand weeding of Crab Grass from tee pads, path edging, and electrical work including the installation of a new pump in the Spurway Fountain. Fairway divotting was performed on Thursday morning, and the roses were given their weekly trim on Wednesday. Thank you gentlemen for all your assistance this week. As always, it is very much appreciated by the course team.

Greens will be cut and rolled on Saturday and Sunday morning. I will be setting pins on Saturday morning and Garry will be setting them on Sunday morning.

Happy Golfing!

The Course Team.

Wine Specials Ahead of a Wine List Update

The Club’s Wine List is being updated over the coming month and as such, there are a number of wines currently on the list that are being run out.

With the Members Bar Account Credit expiring on 1st of April,  now is a great time to grab one of our wines before the new wine list becomes available.