A warm welcome to our new members;
Country Members; Sally Jones and Bernard Walsh.
Juniors; Fletcher Pickworth, Fergus Puklowski
Full; Manuel Bluegum
Let's again start with some good news. We have recently signed a Partnership Agreement with Hamish.Fletcher Lawyers. We are very excited about this association, they are a pre-eminent law firm in our region. Very supportive of communities and have a long association with Golf. Their team is very experienced in all facets of the law and if you are looking for legal advice then we would certainly recommend HFL to you. Many of you will know our members Chris and Sharon McGeown, Chris is the Chief Executive of HFL and has been instrumental in putting the Partnership deal together. Chris says, "From the first time we played golf at Motueka the golf club members have been very inclusive and approachable. They are some of the same values we share at HFL. So it was a very easy decision to enter into this long-term partnership".
To contact HFL visit their website www.hflaw.co.nz or email Lawyers@hflaw.co.nz or call 03 530-0210 (Nelson) or 03 544-2537 (Richmond).
The end of our financial year is the end of August so now is the time when we look ahead to next year. We don't have our financials for the year yet but we are expecting that, once again, we have had a good year. I will be able to give you more detailed information next month and also our thoughts on very important issues such as our recommendation for next year's subscriptions! Having just spent a month on the Gold and Sunshine Coasts playing golf you really do appreciate how good our course is! Particularly for the middle of winter! And not only that but we are very fortunate to play golf at an affordable price. Some of the Subs over there make your eyes water!
We now have our new fairway mower in action and I hand over to Nick to give us his thoughts on that and other matters:
Hi Guys, so things have been going pretty well out on our course apart from the last few weeks of rubbish weather. But as John Hills would say with the law of averages things catch up and we ha ve had a great 12 months of weather. We have in the last couple of weeks received our new fairway mower which has a lot of great changes to our last model which will help us in producing a better surface on our fairways. We have kept the old mower as it wasn't worth anything to trade but will be helpful to have when we have tournaments or we renovate our fairways and we can share the load with our new machine. Ian and I have been busy putting in more drains which have been making a big difference around the course. Some of you may have noticed we have attached sump boxes to the drains and this will allow us to clean out pipes in the years to come, as they do become blocked with smaller sand particles and leaves and all sorts of rubbish. In the coming weeks there will be a wee bit of disturbance on a couple of the greens with a bit of well needed drainage and profile maintenance work which has to be done. On number one green you will notice some slits, which is the mini mole plough which will create a drain about 15 cm below the surface. This green has big issues holding water in the profile and also the sixth green. We will be coring the sixth as it has over time built up a black pan which is not allowing the water to drain through the profile and is creating poor root structure and drainage and in turn a green that is hard to manage.
All and all things are ticking along well at the moment touch wood for some sun and longer days ahead. Happy golfing!
From all the comments I get I don't think our course has ever been in better condition, both from the work our Greenkeepers do and also the work of our volunteers. From Nick's comments you will understand how technical it can be! I think it's fair to say that the only blight on the landscape is the condition of the Greenkeepers Shed. We have therefore agreed that it's time we gave the old feller a spruce up. So this Summer we are going to completely repaint it. Work has already started on getting costings and, once again, Guthrie Bowron have been very helpful. They are also willing to lend us their water blaster and spray equipment. So watch this space, our trusty volunteers will once again be to the fore!
You will have noticed that we have a very flash new table on our deck! I know that he will hate me mentioning him but thanks once again to Dave Thomas for his wonderful workmanship in creating this for us. Apart from the top, the rest of the table is made from timber milled from a Macrocarpa that was felled on our course.
A couple of little enhancements on our course lately that are not obvious to the men. The ladies walkway between 15 and 16 has been tidied up and the archway lifted. Personally I think that little walk through the native bush there is one of the nicest areas on the course. And secondly the screen by the ladies 18th has been replaced and a new seat added so they sit in safety while the men try to get of the 18th tee successfully!
That's about it for this month with one exception. On 14th September we have our inaugural "New World Masters". This is going to be a great tournament, Nett and Gross, with terrific prizes. We are very grateful to Bruce Miller for his ongoing support of our club. This is his idea, his tournament and it will definitely have his mark on it. So we need to get out and support it, so I encourage you all to enter!
So there we are, we are at the end of Winter, spring is around the corner, the ducks are pairing up, buds are blooming, our new fairway mower is champing at the bit to cut the Spring grass and we are all looking forward to getting our handicaps down!
Good golfing,
Peter
