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Captain’s Report
Course Development Fund
The Course Development Fund accumulated $92k through the year with funds being expended on the bunker refurbishment program and course redevelopment costs. All funds as at 30 June 2022 had been allocated.
Conclusion
In what has been another extremely challenging year for the Club, I would like to thank Barnaby Sumner, Craig Usher and the whole PHGC team for their tireless contribution and devotion to member service. Many of our staff have been adversely affected by the uncertainties they have had to deal with over the past year, especially from a professional, financial and mental health perspective. Craig has also recently undergone major heart surgery, so we wish him a full and speedy recovery. I also wish to thank the Members of the Finance Committee for their wise and considered input and support throughout the year.
Finally, I thank the Members of our great Club for your continued input, support and patronage. Without you we have nothing.
As we enter the Club’s Centenary Year, we should celebrate and reflect on the legacy of what has been achieved over the past one hundred years. This will provide a good starting point to invest in several crucial major capital projects that will help to secure the Club’s future. There is still much planning and Member consultation to be undertaken and there will be some disruption and inconvenience during the process, but the results will be more than worth it. In the words of Past President and Patron EJ Hyde – ‘Don’t stop, further progress is necessary!’
David Blackshaw FCPA Honorary Treasurer
From lockdowns to long lunches, from playing in pairs and back to fours, the ease in COVID pandemic restrictions appeared to alleviate the stresses in our lives and we found some normality in our golfing routine.
We heralded a changing of the guard in our maintenance shed as we welcomed our new Course Superintendent Liam Ash to the helm. He has brought a new level of enthusiasm to the team and is making some astute decisions in staffing and machinery purchases for the improvement of the course. His team is extremely excited by the prospect of course renovation works and are an integral part in the decision-making process to date.
Pictured: Past and Present Captain’s (Back Row) Chris Pragnell, Damian Maguire, Rob Stevenson (Front Row) Chris Allen, Darcy Cluff and Tony Gresham
However, their immediate challenge is to help each other get through this unprecedented “rain bomb”. As I write this report (at the end of July) there have been 70 plus days that we have not been able to gain access to the course since mid-February due to the unplayable conditions. In what can only be described as a “baptism of flooding” for Liam, the focus has been the protection of the course along with safety of golfers. Whilst the staff have had trouble getting the heavy machinery to various parts of the course not all their time
In this regard I would like to give special thanks to the help of Greg Winters and his many volunteers for giving their time to help with the beautification of the course.
So, hopefully, as we approach the warmer months, the course will dry out and our team can get back to caring for our magnificent golf course.
The golf course.
Concept plans for the reconstruction of tees, greens and green surrounds are with the Board for review and will be ready for Member viewing in the next month or so. Whilst our two designers have provided sound input from the layout and engineering requirements, both Neil Rolfe and Liam Ash have also provided valuable ideas for the layout. I would like to thank the working group and the entire Board for their time and effort in bringing this concept together.
The trials of various forms of bent grasses have given some interesting results with the once preferred A1/A4 (similar to the surface that Avondale have adopted) which was trialed on the carpark chipper not performing well with our recycled water. However, the Pure Distinction (Killara, Kingswood Peninsula amongst others) which has been on our 3rd green for some time, has shown good growth even under the extreme conditions and on an old sub-base.
In the Professional Shop, Neil and his team have also felt the frustration of having to stand down casual staff and keep full timers busy with lessons. We have seen the departure of two valuable team members in Liam Sheils and Andrew Potter. Andrew had the unenvious task of reshuffling events time and time again but did so with much patience and we will miss his skills and diligence. Jared Dries has also chosen to pursue a different career but will still be leading our Major Pennant team on the course. However, when one door closes another one opens for others to create their own opportunities. Jessica Noh (from Ryde Parramatta) and Steve Vail (from Lynwood) have joined Neil and Rachael Bailey and are keen to help us enjoy our golf to the fullest. And just when she thought she had enough to do Kristen Ramirez has expanded her role to assist with Golf Operations to add to her Hospitality duties.
Onto the golf. When we have managed to get on to the course, we have been able to run a few of our regular championships and trophy events:
The Club Championships (2021):
A Grade. Jared Dries def Steve Oitmaa 2/1 (Pictured below) A Res. Harry Maguire def Charlie Johnson 3/1 B Grade. Mark Oppy def Riley Lam on 19th hole C Grade. Mark Cain def Young Park 3/2
Congratulations to all competitors in these Major trophy events. You can always look proudly at the Honour Boards for many years to come.
The Junior Championships were recently contested between Hamish Murray, in his ‘summer vacation’ period from college in the US, who defeated Ryan Richards 2-1 in a high-quality match. Both players (when in the country) are members of our Major Pennant Team.
The Marks Cup final was contested between Andrew Lam and son Riley against Dave Coulton & Rob MacDonald with the Lam’s prevailing 5/4. Thanks to all those who contested this stop-start season and hopefully we can have a much smoother event next year.
The Captains’ Cup was won by Nick Rodwell who defeated Conor Mansfield. Welcome back to the course Nick after a number of years away.
Golf Premier League has been rescheduled several times, but we have reached the finals series.
The Pennant Hills Cup
(Vardon event) was played on Sunday, 19 June and Pennant Hills own Andrew Lam posted a magnificent 3 under par round of 68 of which none of the young guns could chase down. A very proud moment for Andrew to have his name etched alongside some famous amateurs.
The Foursomes
Championship seems to be lacking in numbers as the years go on but there are still a dozen diehards who keep testing their friendships. Murray Fogarty and yours truly managed to withstand a comeback from Dave Bailey and Gabe Ormaechea to take the trophy.
Mixed Foursomes was played on Sunday, 26 June with Peter and Jessica Sherry coming from behind to become the first Father-daughter combination to win since last year. Peter and Judy Trickett have kindly taken on the presentation role from the Gresham’s. The Club extends much gratitude to Tony and Wendy for everything they have done for the Club over a very long period of time.
Major Pennants turned out to be another battle to survive in Division 2. Having been forced to undergo a two-match home and away relegation series against Dunheved. All points were equal after 2 weeks and 14 matches. Each team had to choose one player to play a playoff hole at PHGC. We chose none other than Andy Richards who outlasted his opponent on the second effort on the 18th supported by home supporters covered by umbrellas amidst constant rain. It was a fitting moment for Andy as he begins his career in the professional ranks. Greg Winters managed the best in the Club for the third year and Jared Dries, Andy, Michael and Ryan Richards, Grant Naylor, Steve Oitmaa, David Bailey, Gabe Ormaechea, James Skuodas, Charlie Johnson all did you proud with their efforts.
Pack Cup was not contested due to Covid.
Pack Plate managed to complete 3 of the designated 4 rounds before the season was abandoned due to rain. Darcy Cluff managed the team with David Edwards, Graham Dawson, Andrew Mowat, Kell Furguson, Peter Handle, Greg Winters, Greg Wilson, Hugh Gerdes, Ross Howarth, Ray Miles and John Eldridge all putting in fine efforts helping the team to 2 wins from 3 matches. Avondale controversially claimed victory having managed 3 wins from 3 matches.
Junior Pennants was not contested due to Covid.
Encourage Shield was not contested.
Erik Apperley Shield was not contested.
Senior Championship (2021) saw David Blackshaw display great form throughout the series and defeated Geoff Richards (sire to numerous handy golfers) 2-1.
Now, it is never enjoyable to have to keep harping on a couple of topics we would all like solved being “Slow Play” and “Course Care”.
Slow Play.
All endeavours in the last few months have been to just get people back on the course. Now that we are back and those scars of ‘absence’ are receding, we must remember our principles of golf etiquette to avoid
slow play, especially in the winter months. Admittedly, running 4 balls, finding lost balls and preferred lies with the heavy ground added to slow play issues. Generally, however, it appears that the break may have resulted in a lack of urgency to achieve a round time of 4:20mins. This is not difficult to achieve and can be assisted by:
‐ all players in the group watching each other’s shot ‐ only one person assisting to look for a lost ball ‐ there is only 3 minutes for search time allowed ‐ there is only 40 seconds permitted to execute your shot or putt ‐ “ready golf” concept should be applied from tee through to the green ‐ review your golf swing routine/practice swings ‐ Try to reduce to one practice swing at ‘address’
Course Care.
All players taking to the course, have a duty of care to look after ‘your’ golf course. All players must:
‐ carry a sand bucket and replace their divots (plus any others you may observe) with sand to level approx. 1cm below the level of the grass. This helps promote regrowth and avoids damage to the mower blades ‐ repair your pitch marks on greens (plus any others you see) by using the appropriate tool and bringing the grass back to the surface not the subsurface mud. Your PGA Professional or fellow golfers can teach you the correct technique ‐ rake bunkers after being in one. You must rake footmarks and divots from your shot smoothly. Avoid leaving ‘moguls’ in the sand which can make it more difficult for the next player. Place the rake back in the bunker by placing it softly into the sand at least a metre from the edge of the bunker and pushing the handle away from you. This technique creates the least amount of interference to the sand surface when replacing the rake
No Pennant Hills Member is above these practices. Our Course Team prepare the course for us and it is up to each and every one of us to uphold these principles and values of maintaining the course and looking after ‘your mates’.
Other clubs have already instigated “refresher” videos of how to look after the course and their fellow members. We are developing our own videos but may bring them in with a different strategy in due course.
Lastly, I would like to thank the Course and Playing Committee of David Blackshaw, Sue Fabian, Anne Eldridge, Barnaby Sumner, Liam Ash, Neil Rolfe and Michael Rowan for their support in my first year as Captain and Chair of this Committee.
Damian Maguire
