FROM THE FRONT OFFICE

Wow, what a year! I can honestly say this has been one of the most challenging years in my work career. Thanks to you all for your support, words of encouragement and appreciation as we navigated through the unknown.

2022 is likely to be another interesting year with decisions to be made on the future of the Racecourse Reserve. The Board are gathering their thoughts and will send a communication out to you all shortly. In the meantime, we do have booklets in the clubhouse that give an overview of the options under consideration. Please take time to have a look. We urge you to make your opinion known to council via their website.

My sincere thanks to all the Volunteers that have helped the club in so many ways this year. From gardening, tree chopping, emptying the course rubbish bins, cleaning and more. Every little bit helps and it is what makes the Club such a special place.

I will be taking a few days off, so the front office will be closed from close of business Friday 24/12 and reopening 10 January 2022 . I hope to get out in the boat and maybe dust the cobwebs off my golf clubs...(I say this every year!)

Have a very safe and happy holiday season everyone and I look forward to seeing your happy faces back in the new year.

Michelle Towersey

Club Manager

VACCINATION POLICY

Thank you for your support & understanding with the introduction of the Vaccination Policy. We acknowledge this has not met the approval of you all and sadly, some members chosen to leave. The policy is under constant review and The Board will assess again in the New Year. In the meantime, we have now relaxed the mask wearing policy in the Clubhouse. Staff are still required to wear a mask when serving, but we are happy for members to remove their masks in the Clubhouse if they wish.

ON COURSE

General: Summer is here already - this year has seemed to go so fast. Such a crazy year with a lot of things happing and changes we all are doing our best to adjust to. While all this stuff has been going on our greens staff have been remarkably busy making the course look great so we can all enjoy what we love.

The fence work along Cameron Road is now finished and looking great. This project was funded by The Racecourse Reserve as part of a Health & Safety concern regarding access on to the racecourse.

Fairways:   Are growing well at the moment. Maybe too well after all the rain!

We have started the 9^th couch conversion. The kykuyu grass that is on the right hand side of the 9^th  green surround will be stage two and be cut out and seeded late summer once the couch is in play. The reason for this is it will be too hard to maintain new seeded grass in the mid-summer heat with staff on breaks etc. Because we will be stripping off the turf right up to the green, we want to create the best playing surface as possible so would rather wait till it is a little cooler and dedicate more time to making sure it's perfect.

Projects:  We now have all the irrigation parts needed to start work on the new forward 8^th yellow tee. The greens staff will look at starting this as soon as the couch conversion on the 9^th has been finished.

Congratulations: To our Apprentices -  Mitch & Sam for completing their Level3 Turf Qualification. They now move on to Level 4 in 2022.

Carl Rumble

Course Superintendent

CAFE & BAR XMAS HOURS

Merry Xmas from the Cafe & Bar Team!

Leah, Erena, Sharon, Pani, Asher and Evyan

The team have done a fabulous job throughout this year and I think you will all agree they deserve a few days off to spend with their families. In this respect, the Clubhouse, Cafe & Bar will be closed as follows:

• Saturday 25/12 - Xmas Day
• Sunday 26/12 - Boxing Day
• Monday 27/12 - Public Holiday
• Tuesday 28/12 - Public Holiday

Normal service resumes from Wednesday 29/12 and we will be open every day from then!