Chip Shots - March 2021

President’s Message – John Bowman

The club is getting back to some resemblance of normal and it is so pleasing to see so many members enjoying the club’s facilities and company of others post a game of golf. We continue to trade positively on the back of amazing support from visitors traveling to the region in droves. But Covid-19 is still very problematic, shown by the sudden 5-day lock down, grinding our club to a screaming stop. We continue to have a number of Covid-19 restrictions in place including patron caps, attendance record keeping and the ongoing restrictions on shared equipment (flags, rakes etc.). We continue to take advice from Golf Australia, Community Clubs Victoria and DHHS on this and we accept this can be challenging to members when we see other clubs not following the same guidelines.

Our focus, as we now move into Covid-normal is to the business at hand and continued improvement of our club for the enjoyment of members. The Board along with Senior Management continue to plot out a strong future for the club. We are looking at a number of items including some that had been put on hold due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

The club has committed to the upgrade of the irrigation pumps at a cost of $120K, now some 25 years old and that have been quite problematic in the last 2 years. The funds generated to date from the Water Levy will help fund this major project and the reintroduction of the water levy on the 1^st April will see the club focus on continued improvements to our water storage and irrigation systems.

2021 Strategic Planning Session

The Board and Senior Management have commenced the strategic planning process with several workshops to date. The process will also include a member’s survey and forum.

Members are encouraged to offer their own insights and feedback through a members forum to be held at the club on Thursday 8^th April at 7pm. This will help the Board in finalizing its future strategies, a document that will be made available to all golfing members when complete.

View Room

It is great to see members & guests alike enjoying the new facilities. Currently the club continues to open this space on all the major golf days unless a function is booked, encouraging members to enjoy a post-game beverage and snack. As we continue to develop our Function’s market, the View Room may be unavailable, but the club continues to give a commitment to members that a space in the club will be allocated for use after golf. Please also note that the View Room is not a direct extension of the Bistro and is only open for Bistro meals on busy nights and when not being used for post golf or functions.

Beverage Price Rise and Members Discount

From 1^st April there will be an increase on most alcoholic beverages due to the Government alcohol excise increase in February this year. We would also like to announce on a positive note that this price increase will have little impact on the golfing members pocket when they produce their members card as we move to a two level discount structure where golfing members will receive a 10% discount up from 5% and Ultimate (Social Members) will stay at the 5% discount. This 10% discount for golfing members applies for both non discounted food and beverage.

Please remember that the only way you will receive the 10% discount is by producing your members card at the start of your order.

Captains Report – Alan Sweeney

Senior Social Golf - Last Friday I played nine holes with the over 55’s group (Senior Social). I am sure most members would be aware that the over 55’s have been getting together once a month for the last six years. The senior social event was the idea of Ron Peacock and fully endorsed by the then Captain Peter Hahn. Although the numbers may have dropped over the years it is still a great way to meet members and it is a great social morning and the prizes are great. The next event will be on Friday 9^th April with a Shotgun Start at 9:30am.

Competition Fees – The golf committee has conducted a review of the competition fees, something that has not occurred since 2016. From the 1^st April 2021 all 18-hole competition fees will be set at the same being $9 plus the $1 water levy.

The distribution of competition fees in prize vouchers is determined by the average number of players in each competition, hence the great numbers in a competition, the greater the prize allocation. The breakdown of the $10 fee is made up of the following, $3.34 to vouchers, $3.35 club revenue, $1.50 ball comp, $.91 water levy and $.91 GST.

This will now see the Thursday competition have an increase in prize allocations based on the increased competition fee.

Listed below are the amended voucher allocations for our major competitions

Men’s Tuesday and Saturday Singles Competitions

4 divisions (Handicap separation remains the same)

Women’s Saturday Singles Competition

1 Division

Women’s Wednesday Singles Comp

3 Divisions (Handicap separation remains the same)

Men’s Thursday Singles Comp

4 Divisions (A +5 – 10/ B 11 – 15/ C 16 – 20/ D 21 – 36)

Women’s Thursday Singles Comp

1 Division

The Sunday competition and Thursday 11 hole competition will continue to use the current prize structure due to the low number of participants.

The Committee and Board agree that the new voucher structure is well represented with the new fees, especially Thursday with two additional divisions added it gives more members a good opportunity to collect prize money throughout the year.

Men’s Singles Matchplay Knockout

The entry list for the men’s singles knockout is in the pro shop. If you are interested in participating this year, put your name on the sheet. Entries close at the end of March with the event to commence in April.

Women’s Singles Matchplay Knockout

The women’s singles match play knockout rounds have started over the past week. Copies of the draw are located in the women’s locker room. Please ensure you complete your rounds by the designated date. Good luck to all participants.