UPDATE # 14

DATE: FEB 2017

Members’ Update

Chairman’s Update Hi Everyone, Welcome to 2017. I hope the New Year has started well for you.

Our busy season is in full swing and December and January have been positive months for the club. Our cash flow monitoring sees us sitting where we expected to be at this time which is always good news. There have been ebbs and troughs throughout the past few months but the bottom line is being maintained. I’d like to remind all members that we will soon be approaching our club’s membership renewal period - which is always a financially critical time for the club. Subscriptions are due on March 1st. It would be greatly appreciated if renewal memberships are paid promptly. Thankyou for your cooperation.

The dropping of the levy last year has seen a great influx of new members that is setting the club up for a bright future. Congratulations to Paul and the Pro Shop staff for getting these new members on-board. We all welcome you to our club and hope you find it an enjoyable experience.

Craig Costello

Chairperson

Manager’s Message The P&L from July to December 2016 is available for all members to view in the manager’s office at any time. We have traded as expected so far this year other than in the month of November where we were impacted by adverse weather which affected both public visitation numbers as well as course recovery from scheduled maintenance which resulted in us having to offer reduced green fee rates. Fortunately we are well on the way to recovering our shortfall against budget in November through exceeding budget in both December & January. Please contact me and make an appointment should you wish to come in and view the financials in full.

We are currently undergoing some course maintenance works by verticutting the fairways on the front nine. Thanks to Neil, his team and all the volunteers for all their help. We will have some great reduction in the thatch on the fairways which should lead to a reduction in the amount of water needed to maintain the fairways as well as improving the golfing experience. The waste from the verticutting process is to be used to assist in covering the recently filled in bunkers around the course so they will grow over more quickly.

The Water Committee has had recent meetings with representatives from the City of Busselton and separately with Libby Mettam to discuss the water shortages being experienced by the Club as well as the community as a whole. Correspondence from local residents to local councillors, local media and elected representatives have helped to highlight the matter. (I have included a letter that went out to all residents at the end of the newsletter.) There have been numerous potential solutions discussed but the long & short of it is that there is no easy solution and any solution in the future may involve a significant cost to the club.

We remain in the position where we need to become self-sufficient and maintain our course with the water we have in our lake system, again highlighting the merit of our water usage reduction policy. We originally calculated that we could harvest approximately 143,000m3 from our lake system and would require approximately 145,000m3 to maintain the course. While we are on track to harvest significantly more than the 143,000m3, we have had to revise upwards our requirements to maintain the course to approximately 180,000m3. We must also take into account the fact that this year we have had a rather wet spring as well as some unseasonal summer rains. This has really justified our taking a proactive approach to the matter this year as we can now repeat the process next year and use average figures over two years. We will keep you updated on progress as it occurs.

We have a very busy few months ahead of us with the Summer Cup coming up on February 25th & 26th and our Club Championships scheduled for March 18th, 19th & 25th. We are also in the process of finalising the dates for our 2017 Pro-Am and Holden Scramble. Once finalised we will share more information with you all.

On Saturday 8th March, in conjunction with the Dunsborough Football Club, we will be hosting a Sportsman’s night featuring Brent ’Boomer’ Harvey & Glen Jakovich. Tickets are available for purchase at Evolution Surf & Windmills Break Resort. Please buy your tickets early to avoid disappointment as we expect this event to sell out. Please see the flyer below for more details.

I look forward to a great 2017 at the Club and, as always, my door is open should you wish to discuss anything.

Paul Devaney

Club Manager

We are delighted to introduce our exclusive Member Loyalty Card. The card rewards you for dining with us and is available at the bar. We will keep the cards in a box by the till so you don’t have to remember to bring it in each time. Just simply ask the bar staff to click your card when you purchase a main course.

The future of the food offering at the Tavern is largely dependent on the support and patronage of our members, so we ask you to please consider us for your next dining experience. We are also offering a takeaway option if you would rather enjoy your meal at home!

Remember to spread the word amongst your friends and family that the Tavern is open to the public – the success of this facility is success for the Club. We regularly update the DLGC Facebook page with our upcoming offerings—Did you know that kids eat free on Thursday night? Check out the facebook page for details (https://www.facebook.com/dunsboroughlakesgolfclub/)

If anyone has a particular favourite dish that they would like to see on the menu have a chat to Dave and we will see what we can do. Also keep your eyes open for some new developments in our food offerings on competition days—our theme nights are proving popular.

Remember if you’re hungry while you are playing your round and would like something ready when you are passing through , ring the Tavern when you’re on the 8th or 17th tee and we will get it ready for you to pick up on your way past.

We hope to see you all soon!

Dave and Bron

Tavern Kitchen News

House Committee

A big thankyou to Sue Reynolds who donated half of her ‘Chase the Ace’ prize, and to all those who supported the Christmas raffle - these proceeds covered the cost of the new veranda fans. Many thanks also to Dave Begley who has installed the fans to keep you cool whilst you ponder what went wrong out on the course over a cool beer or glass of wine.

Speaking of wine the Tavern wine list has been extended so everyone should find something that suits their taste and budget. The range of draft beers on offer have also gone down well and are now as popular as the bottled beers.

The social golf days have been popular with many of our newer members getting an introduction to golf competition and to their fellow members.

The next social event, has been moved to Sunday 12th February. This will be a morning round with lunch available in the Tavern after golf. There has been good support of the Tavern by members and visitors alike over the holiday period and hopefully this will continue as it helps so much to support the golf course and the game of golf .

Ian Morrison

House Committee

Wednesday 8th Feb

Burger Night

The buggy room is ready with only a few spots left at $200 per year with money going towards sand, carpet etc. Thanks to Trevor and the boys for all their hard work. Verti cutting started on Thursday - thanks to all those who have volunteered. We thank you for your patience and understanding of the course condition and appearance as we undergo this vital maintenance. We have filled in most of the bunkers so the remaining will get our full attention with sand being put in and drainage being done ASAP. A big thanks goes to Ray Ness and Chris Holman for their help. After verticutting the front nine holes, ‘stolens’ (material removed from the fairways) will be used to assist growth to cover the filled in bunkers. Neil & his team will be adapting our reticulation system to allow for ongoing watering of these areas to ensure great presentation of these areas. What a great job the vollies are doing, just check out the path on No 17.

Wayne Gould

Grounds Committee

Course

Water We are in the midst of our water use minimisation plan as outlined in our newsletters distributed in August & December. We have harvested 73,000m3 from our driving range dam already and have now shifted to using water from the ‘blue lake’ at the back of the 8th tee box. We will keep you posted as to how much we harvest from this dam once we have the figures. W e are currently modifying one of the aerators to pump water from the 16th lake into the 18th lake for use in our reticulation of the course for the first time. We are aware that this amount will not be huge but we also recognise that every little helps and we feel it is a worthy exercise to identify how much is available to us from this source. We recognise that the reticulation system needs further modification to cover some areas of the fairways that were previously maintained via the rough reticulation. A full analysis of ‘need’ areas will be conducted by the water committee at the end of February with modification of the system to take place over the winter months. We met with Libby Mettam on Wednesday 1st February to discuss water supply issues for the Golf Club and the community as a whole and are meeting with the Busselton Shire on Monday 6th February to revisit responsibility of drain maintenance throughout the golf course & estate. We are hopeful that both meetings will lead to positive outcomes for the Club.

Our new website is under construction and this is the focus for the marketing team in the upcoming month. We are

hoping to have it live by 1st March.

We have also had our webpage linked to MargaretRiver.com

Marketing

The Match Committee welcomes everyone to 2017 and we hope that we can all make it a great year. We have a number of big events planned for the year and we look forward to making them a huge success.

Our first event is of course the Summer Cup and you will all have received your entry forms by email. We would ask that you fill in the forms and return to us as soon as possible. If you wish to play with other members please put your entries in on the same form. The draw will be done on Tuesday the 21st of February and will be posted on our Website. Please invite family or friends to participate in this event. They are all welcome as long as they have an official Golflink Handicap. We once again have wonderful sponsors in Flying Fish and Urban Quarter supplying very generous prizes for the weekend.

The Club Championships start on the 18th and 19th of March and finals will be played on the 25th March followed by Presentation and Dinner.

On the 5th of February a social day was scheduled but due to the vertimowing of the fairways we have moved this forward a week to Sunday the 12th of February. As in previous occasions this will be a morning start. Please contact the pro-shop to enter—additional details are included later in the newsletter.

Due to the large fields on Saturdays some Tee Times on the other side have been made available so Members are not missing out on their game. Wednesday fields have been very large also which is great for the Club with fields of 120 to over 130 over the past few weeks. Good to see a lot of Members playing ready golf which definitely helps with pace of play.

Just a reminder that on #1, #2, #8 and #15 the hazard lines have been moved to the top of the banks. No practice swings or grounding your clubs in these areas as per the Rules of Golf. Please see the Notice Board re the new rule which came in this month on Ball Moving on the Green. (Poster attached towards the end of the newsletter)

A number of players have been disqualified lately due to not signing their cards. Please always check before posting your card as it saves a lot of angst for yourself and for the Match Committee member having to tell you that you are DQ’d. Some members do not take kindly to accepting that they have made this mistake.

Thank you once again to the Match Committee and all the volunteers and staff who make each week of golf run as smoothly as possible. T hanks also to Len Thomas who does a great job as our Course Marshall on Competition days.

Happy Golfing... Sandra Haunold –Captain

Match Committee

Milton Sceney being presented with his Hole-in-One trophy

Sponsors and Winners

DATE SPONSOR WINNERS

4th January Milton and Helen Sceney Ned Dixon & Maureen Hughes

7th January Busselton Toyota MM Bruce Howard & Chris Marshall

11th January Regency Beach Resort Pieter Willers & Jan Plant

14th January Libby Mettam MLA Colin Johnson & Pam Hughes

18th January Smart Line Mortgage Advisors Kim Thompson & Maureen Hughes

21st January Robyn & Peter Howe Colin Johnson & Gerry Morris

25th January Linda & Peter Jenkins Jamie Ellis & Hannelore Lauterbach

28th January Sue & Norm Reynolds Chris Holman & Jane Gould

4th January 8th—Peter Carter

16th—Milton Sceney

11th January 1st / 5th / 15th—Rusty Pronyszyn

10th—Jamie Ellis

15th—Glen Smith

18th January 8th—Mack Hall

21st January 8th –Gerry Keogh

9th—Graham Hadley

25th January 8th— David McCarthy

28th January 8th—William Pollard

Sunday Social —SUNDAY 12TH FEBRUARY

Kindly Sponsored by Sandra & Brian Mortimer Start time 8am It will be a Split Sixes comp. Played in groups of four. First 6 holes best 2 scores count, next six holes best 3 scores count, last six holes all 4 scores count. There is a sheet available in tavern/pro shop, players can either just put their names down and be drawn partners or they can request to play with someone, just specify if ringing through.

We have recommenced a 9 Hole Golf Comp on Tuesday and Friday starting at 7.31am.

If you wish to play in this comp you must enter online, you will be able to do this a week before the competition. After you finish it is important you enter your card, good or bad, via the touch screens, then drop into the slot provided. Please note, despite the comp being set up as a Ladies comp and Men’s comp, you are able to play in a mixed group. Please however, play at the time and with the people that you have entered with online.

If you do not wish to play competition golf, social golf is still available. This will be on the same lines that are happening presently. If you wish to obtain a handicap so you can play competition golf, just keep six 9 hole cards and leave at the pro shop for me.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me for any questions.

Jane Gould Handicapper

9 Hole Golf

Peter Gleeson

Andrew McDonald

Sally Ann McDonald

Michael McDonald

Taras Melsom

Keven Turnbull

Nicholas Wood

Jason Duffy

Jonathan Meyer

Lee Pettengell

Russell Hawkins

Anita Perry

Phillip Claringbold

John Lill

Stephen Masters

Brad Ethell

Michael Edwards

Andrew Glover

Tony Wilkinson

New Members

Did you hear ...

Sometimes you hear of a little story that needs to be told, well here’s one such story…………!

A week or so ago, a certain gentleman, I won’t give you his name I would hate to embarrass him, put his clubs on the back of his cart to play in the Friday Afternoon Comp. He put his clubs on his partner’s cart and I presume, had an enjoyable afternoon. Everything was fine up to this point. He returned to the golf club, put his clubs on the back of his cart and went in to enjoy the hospitality. I have even been told that he didn’t stay too long enjoying the hospitality!!

The next morning however, when he went out to put his wife’s clubs on the cart, I won’t tell you her name either, but she is called “Captain” at times, his clubs were missing!! He rang the club, no they weren’t there, rang around his mates, no they hadn’t seen them. They had been stolen!! You get very disappointed don’t you, when you think the community you live in has a safe environment and you find that sometime during the night someone has come and stolen from you. The whole club was behind him though, feeling very sorry for his loss.

By the following Wednesday his clubs still hadn’t been found, he was very emotional, you do get very attached to items that you hold near and dear. New clubs were being thought about, not a change he was looking forward to. He decided to ring the only gentleman he hadn’t been able to contact and check for the last time if he had seen his clubs. “Hold on”, he was told, “I’ll go and check”. He came back a few minutes later, “Yes, I have an extra bag on the back of my cart”. The lost had been found!!! Thank goodness!!

This should be the end of the story but I have a couple of questions that have to be asked.

Do you think you should notice that when you are putting clubs back onto your cart that there is another bag, that doesn’t belong to you, already there?

Do you think you should notice that you are putting your bag onto a cart that is coloured burgundy when your cart is coloured gold?

Junior Golf Update

We have a small but very keen group of young golfers coming through our ranks. A few secondary-aged students were interested but our lesson times clashed with their other sports and we were not able to hold these students. As we are looking at a five-year plan, hopefully our current young ones will lead on into a core of Junior Members in the future.

We began with 12 primary school students who regularly attended weekly classes. We planned to take a break during the winter, but they were keen to continue! Term 3 was cold, windy and sometimes wet and our numbers dropped for Term 4. Some because they needed a break and others because our Monday sessions clashed with their summer sports. This year, we will all have a break in Term 3.

2017 looks promising. We have been in touch with Cape Naturaliste College where some students will be offered golf as a recreation activity in Term 1. If there are sufficient numbers, we will be taking these classes at the college. The PE teacher at Dunsborough Primary is considering golf as a Term 4 activity for their years 5 & 6 (six classes in total).

Golf Australia is very aware that golf ‘loses’ players to team sports as students reach adolescence and is establishing an interclub team-golf competition. Shani Waugh at Bunbury is also keen to get this off the ground.

If you have anyone interested in joining, all they have to do is go to the MyGolf website in put in their postcode.

Many thanks to Marty Thomas, Pam Hughes, Elaine Graham, Jan Trainer and the other members who have offered assistance. If you are interested in helping out now and again, please let Sue Reynolds know.

Sunday 12th February Sunday Social

Friday 24th,

Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th February

Summer Cup

Wednesday 8th March Sportsman’s Night

Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th March Club Championships

Saturday 25th March Club Champs Final and

Presentation Dinner

We are looking to make a central collection of our Club history.

Do you have:

any information/photos of the development of the course?

further information of the development of the club to add to that in our Foundation Fixture book?

photos of any past Presidents, Captains or Club Champions, pennant teams etc?

some great anecdotes we could collect?

ideas of other information we should collect?

Are you interested in helping pull all this together?

Where possible, we would like the information electronically (in a word document or scanned photos). Please hand any suggestions to the staff in the pro-shop or email to Paul Devaney.