NEWSLETTER

Monday 3 February 2025

DEVELOPMENT RELATED GOLF COURSE WORKS

We are pleased to announce that following an extensive tender selection process the Board has appointed Flemming Golf as the company to undertake the Golf Course Enabling Development Works.  Flemming Golf is one of Australia’s leading golf course construction specialist contractors.  They have previously undertaken works at The Australian, Ellerston and Vintage Golf Clubs as well as courses in Queensland and Victoria.  We are in the process of finalising Contracts and Work Schedules so they will be ready to start the works once our DA is approved.

I want to thank Vice Captain Martin Smith and his team for the hours of work they put into the selection process.

BEER PRICE INCREASE

There has been a lot of talk in the media about yet another increase in beer prices expected for this month.  Our situation is that we are at the mercy of the government when they increase the excise on alcohol twice a year and then by how much breweries decide to pass on.  Trust me, it is never an easy decision for us to impose an increase.  We will wait and see what happens and make a decision that is in the best interests of the Club and Members.

DAMAGED NETTING

As you no doubt know, we incurred damage to both the 1^st and 13^th hole netting during recent storms.  Since the initial assessment, we were hit with a further windstorm that caused even more damage.  As a result, the damage bill has climbed to over $62,ooo and we are now waiting on an assessment of an insurance claim.  Due to the high number of claims from around the State we have no idea how long this will take but we will keep you updated when we get further information.

AUSTRALIAN FLAG

I want to thank Jeff McGeorge for donating the Australian Flag that is now mounted in the foyer.  This will be a permanent fixture and used for special events such as Diggers Day.

Following the introduction of the MiScore, the House and Finance Committees have been monitoring the affect the App may have had on players coming into the clubhouse after their round.  The data shows that there has been little to no change in bar sales since the App has been in use.  Of interest, there has been about a 70% take up of the App by members.

Strategic Planning:

In anticipation of our DA being approved and us having a new clubhouse, we are starting to look forward to what that might look like.  We are already working on layout plans for each of the clubhouse floors and would like to give members an opportunity to tell us what you would like to see, particularly in the new members lounge area.  Obviously, we will not be able to include everything, but we are open to all ideas as we continue with the planning process.  We will send you a survey shortly to ask for your ideas.

CAPTAIN’S REPORT

Members, happy New Year to you all.  I hope you all enjoyed a relaxing holiday period and more importantly enjoyed some good golf.  The first month of the year is done and dusted and scoring has been great!

Winners for January were as follows:

A Grade Medal (Guzzlers Cup) – Nathan Sarlog (12) 66

B Grade Medal – Nicholas Khouri (13) 65

C Grade Medal – Dru Gillan (28) 66

Summer Cup – Campbell Blue (5) 67

Australia Day Medal – Eric Kim (22) 41 & Leah Jin (23) 40

A Grade Medal  –  Alani Piukala (6) 66

B Grade Medal (Guzzlers Cup) – David Martyn (18) 64

C Grade Medal – Lachlan Roser (36) 60

Congratulations to you all!

The Major Pennant team have commenced their campaign for 2025. They celebrated a convincing 6-1 victory over Camden at Home.  The return match will be played Sunday the 9th of Feb.  I encourage you all to get out and support the team.

Upcoming Events
February will see some exciting changes to our playing schedule with the launch of the Cumberland Challenge Cup.  This is our version of the Fed Ex Cup with players who choose to opt in playing a designated round every month to accrue points.  The person with the most points at years end will be crowned the Cumberland Challenge Cup winner.  Entry is $75 and I wish you all the best of luck.

MiScore App
As our Vice-President has noted, since the introduction of MiClub golf, we have seen a very positive uptake in the use of the MiScore App. If you havn’t yet downloaded the app, please visit the guide in the online members portal or speak with any of our staff.

In addition to the 70% overall usage, Saturday’s are showing particularily strong usage, above 90% each week.

Since its introduction, there have been some questions from members about the app and how it is used. A few of those are listed below.

Using the App, I am submitting my own score. Is this allowed under the Rules of Golf?
Yes, in June 2023 the R&A announced that they had approved self-scoring to be permissible under the Rules of Golf. Whilst players are submitting their own score, the app still requires a score comparison in order to submit a score. Self-scoring also allows a redundancy for instances where a player within a group abandons their game mid-round.

Can the app be used as a measuring device?
Absolutely! In your App settings, navigate to Location Settings and ensure that they are enabled. Make sure you also do this in your phone’s device settings. Once both are enabled, the distance to the centre of the green will appear in the top right-hand corner for each hole.

How can I improve my phones battery life when using the app?
Try setting your device to ‘Low Power Mode’. Closing other apps in the background will also help preserve battery life. Otherwise, ensure you are fully charged prior to play or carry a power bank or solar charger device to charge your device as you play.

If you have any other questions regarding the App’s functionality, please speak with office staff.

Course update

· Freshwater dam on the 12th is at 90% capacity.  The 2nd dams are at 50% capacity, while the 5th dam is at 80% capacity.

· The New Year weather has been unique, with 112 mm of rain received during the month, with evening storms increasing.  Is La Nina coming back?

· The humid weather has seen an increase in fungi activity, with the green staff addressing it through the use of a chemical program.

It is disappointing that some members continue to disrespect their fellow members and the course by not repairing their pitch marks.  The golfing gods are watching you.

Course Enabling Works

The Tender Review Committee has now forensically examined each Course Enabling Works tender and assessed each against a weighting structure of cost, timing and capability. Each of the tenders submitted was professional prepared and each met the requirements.

As Chair of the Committee, I wish to thank each company that submitted a tender and also my panel members for their time and energy in assessing.  Each company had merit and capacity to undertake the works and while there was varying consideration to award the contract to any of them.  The Board has had an opportunity to review the Tender Committee’s recommendation, the successful tenderer is Flemming Golf.

Work is forecast to commence April 2025 subject to Development Approval.  The construction period is framed around 7 months plus a 4 month grow in period.  Meaning the new course may be in play by the first half of 2026.

In a staged program, construction will begin with the new creek on 2, followed by fairway earth works on the existing 4th, the expansion of the 9th dam, works will then begin shaping of the 4 new USGA greens.  These will then be seeded with Bent grass and grown in.  The Committee is investigating a number of new bunker liner bases, more to come on this in the coming months.

Did you know

Golf Australia has recently released their annual Participation report, interesting facts to note:

· National membership number across Australia for 2023/2024 is reported at 459,143 an increase of 5.6% from 2022/2023

· Membership in NSW across metropolitan and regional club grew by 5.6%

· Average age of membership has decreased in men to 54.9 years and in women 65.3 years

· The number of competition rounds has increased since 2021/2022 by 9.4%

· Average competition rounds per member increased in 2023/2024 to 30.9 an increase of 7.3%

In summary, the game of golf is growing.  Some pundits argue this is with the increased presence of YouTube and simulation golf.  Whatever is the contributing factors golf; is a game for all ages, genders and personalities.

LADIES PRESIDENT REPORT

We finished the 2024 season on a very pleasant and happy note with our Christmas lunch. A noisy affair, (which I hope was an indication of the enjoyment of all those present.)  Thank you to Andrew and the Harmony team for providing such a great meal.  It received many compliments.

I hope all our lady members had an enjoyable festive season with their family and friends.

Also thank to our friendly Pro-shop staff, office and bar staff people, for so gracelessly facilitating all our varied needs, thought the year and again, we have no doubt in this coming year. You are much appreciated.

Well, we certainly commenced 2025 in style with the hottest day for many a long time.  My car, as I drove home registered 45*.  Ladies, we must certainly love our golf!!  Or are we mad??

The course, despite the challenging and weird recent weather conditions tis looking great. Thank you Matt and the ground staff.

Best wishes to those ladies who have put their names forward to represent Cumberland in the various upcoming Pennant competitions. We wish you luck.

Thank you to those ladies who have offered to help, in no matter what capacity to facilitate the smooth running of our Tuesday comp and special event days.

I look forward to continuing to work with my fellow committee members, Tracey and Trish in the upcoming year.

For 2025, my hope and wish for all our members is that it is, a year of enjoyment, camaraderie, friendship, good scores, no matter what our handicap maybe, fine weather, and good health.

Good luck everyone. May 2025 be a good one for one and all.

Barbara Cocks
Lady President

LADY CAPTAIN’S REPORT

Our return to regular Tuesday Ladies competition golf on 28/1 was met with a 42 degree scorcher. Well done to all the ladies for battling on through the heat, and I’m sure you were glad it was an Ambrose event.

Ladies Pennants is about to commence for 2025, with Women’s Grade starting on Friday 14/2. The first match is at Woolooware GC against Monavale. Good luck ladies!

Our Grade squad for this year is-

Soon Lee, Eunmi Pyun, Jessica Kim, Diane Nam, Won Kim, Grace Kim

SuJin Yoo, KunJa Kim, Maria Golden (Team Captain)

Western Districts I pennant also commences this month. The first game is at Oak Point GC against Stonecutters Ridge on Friday 21/2.

The Western Districts I squad is –

Won Je Joo, Helen Cho, Rosa Oh, Seo Jeong Park, Tricia Johnston

Monica Lee, Jane Lavercombe

Good luck to both teams and hoping it’s a very successful year for Cumberland Ladies Pennants.

Wishing our 2024 Ladies Club Champion Soon Lee all the best as she represents Cumberland in the GolfNSW Champion of Champions event at Manly GC on Monday 3/2.

Tracey Hilton
Ladies Captain

Hello again viewers and welcome to 2025 at Banners Golf.

Wow – what a summer it has been with the new Callaway Elyte range now INSTORE and the Taylormade Qi35 along with it.  These two clubs are almost too hot to handle with amazing ball speeds and feel and already a huge tour presence for both clubs.

Fitting days are our focus this month with plenty to choose from.  Starting this Thursday with a Scotty Cameron and Vokey wedge fitting day from Titleist.  We have Ping on the 21st and Callaway on the 28th.  Next month both Taylormade and Mizuno are scheduled.  Make sure you book in quickly for all or any of these as spots are limited and filling fast.

Also, back instore we have a full range of golf balls from Callaway and Taylormade with some models having previously been sold out, 2025 sees both companies launching updated versions of their extremely popular Supersoft and TP5 golf balls.

A huge congratulations to our newest active Professional trainee Luke McSweeney who is doing us proud – make sure you give him your best when you see him as a couple of very positive early results bode well for a great year.

Tip of the month comes from the Feb birthday boy Myo who says –

If you are going to buy a new driver or clubs, make sure you get fitted.  We are all getting older and our physiques and swing characteristics certainly change over time.  Just because you could launch a stiff flex 3 iron back in 1987 doesn’t mean that club or that clubfit have any relevance to your game today.  Take advantage of the great fitting services for all manufacturers and get the right clubs in your hands! Thanks birthday boy Myo.

For any of your golfing needs call into the Pro Shop and talk to our friendly staff.Joanne, Matthew, Myo, Luke, Alex and the Juniors

Thank You To all Our Sponsors for their support!

CUMBERLAND COUNTRY GOLF CLUB
248 Old Prospect Road,
Greystanes NSW 2145

Phone: +61 2 9631 0688
+61 2 9631 0111
Web: www.cumberlandgolf.com.au