A Message from the President

Happy New Year to all Golfing Members from the Board and Management.

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome all Golfing Members back for 2022 after a fairly tumultuous 2021.

Camden Golf Club appreciates the support from all our Members and your patience with complying with the regulations set down by the Government, Service NSW and Golf Australia.

Camden Golf Club is looking forward to continuing to provide a great venue for your enjoyment in 2022.

Regards,
Andrew Moyle - President.

Superintendent's Report

Happy New Year and best wishes to all our members.  Hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday period.  A little course update for everyone to understand how we are going and what the next couple of weeks may look like. 

We were thrown a curve ball coming out of the Christmas weekend with four staff members being impacted by Covid in differing circumstances and all four having to isolate themselves. The Christmas/New Year period is always a tricky time to manage work schedules with short weeks and large volumes of play as it is, but this certainly added a new layer. We were left with three staff plus our mechanic, James, to get as much done as possible for the week without compromising course conditions too much. My priority became maintaining the short cut grass surfaces e.g. greens, tees, fairways. The two main things that suffered as a consequence were bunker maintenance and rough mowing. When time permitted we focused on mowing areas of rough that tend to get a bit longer and thicker and left most of the 'out of the way areas'. All the green and tees surrounds were mowed. Our scheduled greens application for last week was done late on Thursday behind the members comp. Bunker raking was done on the afternoons prior to comp but with the amount of social play they were pretty much trashed by the next morning anyhow. The bunker edging/raking etc will be caught up with over the next week or two and morning raking will be close to back to normal schedule. 

All the small 1% jobs didn't even get looked at last week, but we will pick away at them this week and get back on top of them once all hands are back on deck. With a warm stretch of weather late last week and over the weekend I put some extra water on the greens to take the pressure off afternoon hand watering and also get them through the best we could. As I often mention, the health and survival of the greens is the priority this time of the year and they will be slower and softer than other times of the year. 

We have a great group of guys on staff that are willing to put their hand up and do what it takes when needed. The remaining guys last week all did additional hours and extra weekend shifts to cover the workload, so a thank you to them. Also a thank you to golf member Damian King for giving some of his time and assisting with some mowing and also Board member James Blaker who helped with raking some bunkers. Also the many others that offered help - we do appreciate it. 

Two of the guys have returned to work this week but we have James, our mechanic now off due to the birth of his second child late on Sunday night, so we are back to five staff right now. We anticipate seeing the remaining two guys later this week or early next week. It is going to take us another week or two to be able to catch back up on all the mowing and detail work but we thank everybody for their understanding with these unique set of circumstances. Rest assured the guys are doing all they can to have the course the best and most enjoyable it can be for all members.

Thank You,
Justin Bradbury.

Bird Chasers

Just a big thank you to the team involved in trying to keep the corella damage to a minimum.  Watching Bob Preston work his magic on Monday this week reminded me what a huge effort this group of members put in each week.  Yes, you can see the damage done, particularly on the 16th Green, but without their efforts our course would be significantly impacted every afternoon.  Well done!

Upcoming Events

• January Medal this Saturday for Men and Women.

• Match Play - 2022 Club Match Play Championship for Men - All Grades A, B, C - February 12th is the first round, with subsequent rounds following each Saturday. Players qualified for this event in the last few months of 2021, so you should check your calendar and ensure your availability. And get in some good form. 

• Challenge / Practice Match Play - Major Pennant team V Masters Pennant team is set down for 22nd January. This is an ideal opportunity for the 'Majors' to get in some Match Play practice with the season commencing soon. For the old boys, maybe a chance to discover what it will be like in Division 2 this year. 
  

Hole in One

Julie Lillis and her family own Macarthur Trophies - our 'go to' place for all our our gifts for Presentation Night and other special awards.  So it will give Julie great pleasure in organising a hole in one trophy for her husband.  Yes - congratulations to Tim Lillis for his hole in one on the 6th hole last Saturday.  I'm sure the engraver will get the spelling correct.

Christmas Ambrose Event

Seems like a long time ago, but some of these photos remind us of a great day and a few members hamming it up.  

Good to see Mitch/Santa and Jared showing some affection.

Great Scores

• Chris Zanoni and Daniel Meldrum both shooting 3 under scratch last Thursday.

• Rodney Sheraton with 44 Stableford points last Saturday.

• Blake Nolan with 44 points last Monday in the Pro Comp.

• Sue Purnell with 38 points last Saturday.

• Keith Bate with 47 points Monday Comp this week. 

Golfing E-News proudly brought to you by Golfing Member Greg Matheson.