Try out your golf course

Members and visitors alike have been steadily rolling up over the past six weeks to test the first nine holes of the Maleny Golf Course following the grand opening on June 30. If you missed the opening see this link on the club’s website. www.youtube.com/watch?v=JErixOZBigQ&feature=youtu.be

The quality of the greens has really impressed all who’ve played the course to date and some of the tough lies around the fringes will improve quickly once Spring arrives and the growing season gets underway.

Planning work on the final nine holes is continuing and the temporary clubhouse shop is beginning to take shape now. With a bit of luck the roofing, painting, carpeting and fit-out should be completed in September.

Anyone keen on getting involved as a volunteer should get in touch with club manager Richard Owen at shop@malenygolfclub.com.au or Penny Edwards at pbe@aapt.net.au.

Special Green Fee Offer

As advised separately, green fees ($15 for nine holes and $20 for 18 holes) will be waived until 31 October for members who make a one-off payment of $125. There will be no further offers until the new fees for the full 2016 financial year are announced and come into effect on 1 November 2015. If you want to take up this offer, mail a cheque, use direct bank transfer or pay at the club shop.

Social Golf

Patronage has not yet reached levels requiring adherence to strict timesheets, even on competition days, but members are still encouraged to call club manager Richard Owen or the volunteer on duty on 0488 173 017 to arrange a tee time or to book one of our fleet of new Ez-Go electric carts.

If there is a competition on you will usually be able to get on the course without too much of a wait, however, this may change as patronage and participation in competitions increases.

Club News

There’s still a lot happening around the club so make a point of visiting the website regularly and going to the news tab link here to keep abreast of developments like the recent visit by three professionals who played the course and delivered very positive feedback.

Pictured from left are the three pros Chris Rutherford, Greg Hohnen and Lindsay Stephen on the third tee.

Course Update from the Superintendent

Due to the newness of some of the greens and shading issues we have aerated the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 6th greens to try and get a little more oxygen into the root systems so they will be a little bumpy until they settle down again. The greens currently appear brown because they are dormant during winter and this enables us to save some money on maintenance, fertiliser and irrigation.

Golfers should be aware that there is preferred lie throughout the course due to the prevalence of bare earth in places. Once the growing season starts we will set about levelling out the bumpiness around the fringes of the greens. The next major project to be undertaken will be a new and safer cart path down from the 4th tee and over the waterway to the fairway.

Captain’s Corner with John Pottage

It’s great to see our vision finally come to fruition and now that we are playing the course I encourage all members to care for and repair the course at every opportunity by attending to your own divots as well as those inadvertently left by others – particularly on the tees.

Eliminating slow play is something we also all need to keep in mind when out on the course. In a nutshell all players are responsible for keeping up with the group in front of them or to let faster players through – whether in competition or social play.

In competition golf the lowest marker has responsibility for maintaining the pace of play. Here is a link to some useful tips from the R&A on how speed up play click here

For the results of competitions click here and for the details of coming fixtures click here