Firstly, a very warm welcome to our new Golf and Hospitality Supervisor. Only one week in and David Wilson-Howarth is already showing what a valuable member of our small staff he will be. Do introduce yourself and make him welcome.
The Club Champs Finals pairings are sorted, and some interesting games in prospect. Grand Final day is Saturday 12th October, and the course is closed for all general play that day. Do come along and support the players. I am particularly looking forward to the two young bulls from the Greenkeepers Shed battling it out.
As Donna mentioned in my last newsletter, we are now into our 'Opens Season' and it was amazing how quickly the Superliquor Open filled up. With that in mind, I recommend you get your planning sorted for the remainder of our Open Tournaments. If the sheet isn't yet in the Clubhouse, you can enter online on our website now.
In line with our Strategic Plan we have just purchased a new John Deere mower. This mower is a "surrounds" mower and will replace our aged one. The technical name is a John Deere 2550 E-Cut Hybrid Triplex Mower. But in layman's terms we just need to know that it will be quieter to operate, much more fuel efficient and will do a better job. As we all know golf equipment doesn't come cheap, and this mower has cost us $79,950 excl GST. On behalf of the club, Peter Johnson applied for a grant to assist with the purchase. I am very pleased to tell you all that Peter has, once again, been successful. Pub Charity has approved our application and are providing our club with $36,000 excl GST towards the purchase price. We are incredibly grateful to Pub Charity for the support they have shown us over recent years. And once again Peter thanks so much for compiling our application. I know that the biggest hurdle facing many golf clubs is the challenge of replacing aged equipment. We are so fortunate that our staged approach to equipment replacement over a number of years has us in a very strong position.
We conducted a review recently of our power supply contract to see whether we are getting the best deal, and it is pleasing that it all checked out and our costs are very competitive when compared to new customers of our supplier.
For the added security for the club, members and our staff we have made the decision to have security cameras installed in and around the clubhouse and Matchroom. These will be installed in the next month or so by Ken Eccles a renowned security expert that has thousands of cameras in operation privately, commercially and for police nationwide. Remember to smile: you're on candid camera!!
In a similar vein, we continue to strive to capture all the greenfee players payments that visit our course. Shona and Peter have done some great work this year in that regard, and David will also have a valuable part to play. We recognise however that very early morning and late afternoon/evening are times when some visitors may think they need not pay. When we have questioned those who think they may have slipped the net, the response has often been "we couldn't find anywhere to pay". So we are going to make things easier for payment and are in the process of purchasing equipment for an unattended Eftpos/scorecard facility to be situated at the front of the Matchroom. The set-up will also allow members to enter their scorecards on completion of tournaments and hopefully ease some of the congestion we currently experience. This area will be covered by a security camera.
A special milestone was reached this month with our club member count passing 500. Included in that are now over 50 juniors, so the club is really in great shape.
Our 2024 Annual General Meeting will be held on Monday 4th November commencing at 7pm. Mark your diaries.
She Loves Golf coaching for novice lady golfers will commence at 5pm on Monday 30th September and run through to 27th January 2025. Each session will be for approximately one hour. There is no charge, and all equipment will be provided. If you know of anyone who would like to take part, please let them know. Further information is available from Meredith on 0212356636.
Coman Construction Twilight will commence on Wednesday 2nd October. Register 4:45pm to 5:45pm. Dinner is also available.
From our Greenkeepers
The turf nursery adjacent to No 12 green (yes it's a turf nursery, not a new green!!) is complete and waiting for the grass to strike. We are hoping to have the new turf ready to replace the No 4 tee block early in the New Year and other tees blocks will be upgraded progressively.
Once the Superliquor Open has finished on Sunday, and on into Monday, we will carry out renovations on all the greens which will include coring of No 6 and No 18 due to their poor performance/standard. We anticipate these two greens will be back to normal in 3 weeks, with the others playable as soon as this work is completed.
We have completed weed spraying in the rough and will next do the same on the fairways. So, you may notice some dying weeds and yellowing of the turf as the chemicals take effect.
Of course, all this work and the other general course maintenance is currently geared to being absolutely ready to showcase our course to the NZ Womens Foursomes players from around the country in mid November.
From our 18 Hole Ladies
Our local ladies had a good week at Kaikoura with some great prizes for some. Greenacres held their Open Tournament last week which was well supported by Mot girls who several also featured in the prize table.
All clubs have indicated they support the new proposal of 6 in a Pennant team, Motueka has yet to confirm 1 or 2 teams for next year. Motueka also need to decide if they want to reinstate the Regional Pennant final, and some clubs are waiting to decide until the West Coast has been contacted, Sandy is keen to hear from all on how they feel. Dates for these competitions need to be locked in soon.
Denise from Par NZ (contracted by NZ Golf) came down to meet our committee & go through the programme for the week of the NZ Womens Foursomes tournament. She also had a drive around the course with Nick, sounds very happy with course & will only add a few markings around some hazard areas.
We have the Mayor of Tasman, Tim King, confirmed as our local guest to welcome all the players on the Monday evening, along with President Peter C.
We will be asking for trundlers in the near future to borrow for travelling away ladies. If you would like to loan your trundler, please let Peter Johnson know.
We are also looking for a room divider to borrow for the week so if anyone has one please contact Sharon or Sandy.
We require names of Ladies that may be able to fill any very late cancellations (EG should a registered player have to pull out due to illness on the day) as is best to have a full field. Please contact Sharon or Sandy.
From our 9 Hole Ladies
Motueka won the 2024 Inter-Club trophy with a total of 27 points ahead of Totaradale (24) and Greenacres (21) Marlborough (20) and Tasman & Nelson with 14 points.
Many of our regular players have participated in Inter-Club fixtures and Biddy Smith Challenges these past few months - very successfully!
New & Returned Members
We welcome the following returned and new members to our Club. Julia Albert, Harrison Allott, Aaron Bagley, Barend Burger, Fred Burger, Sue Cederman, Jakob Fiedler, Sterling Griffen, West Hermens, Kerryn Jolly, Emmanuel Kelly, James King, Keegan Kristoffersen, Roar Kristoffersen, Mike Mansfield, Lee Mytton, Peter O'Rourke, Kayden Richards, Kase Shuttleworth, Brittanie Simons, Grant Stalker, Matt Watene and Paul Zealand.
© Motueka Golf Club
