President’s Patter

April 2022

Looking back, March was an incredibly busy one for our hard-working staff with a significant golf event on every Monday throughout the month as well as some private functions including family and friends of members.

This was followed by another huge golf day, the ‘GMA Day’, on Monday the 3^rd of April which saw us host golfers representing some of the top metropolitan clubs many of whom were very low handicap to scratch and ‘plus’ golfers.

The feedback about the condition of our course, our facilities and service were universally outstanding. Hearty congratulations to Des and his team on yet another success.

Speaking of events and functions our increasing popularity with both members wishing to utilise our clubrooms for their private function and members of the public seeking our venue for their wedding and other celebrations continues to increase.

The nett result of this is driving our profitability and helping us to maintain very low annual fees as well as paying down debt to the benefit of all members.

As I said when I stood for Vice President back in 2019 the only way to maintain viability as a club and pay for our club extension etc in this day and age was to trade our way out. The simple reality is that no sporting club, and particularly golf clubs with their huge administrative and operational costs, can exist purely on member fees.

So, the next time you hear a member complaining about ‘another private function’ perhaps you can remind them that hosting these events means that our club will continue to operate and be viable long into the future and will continue to enable us to keep our fees to the minimum possible.

Our staff do an excellent job in looking after us as members and endeavoring to balance our wants as members with demands for outside use of our Club.

This can be tricky and the reality is that you simply can’t please everyone but by and large they get the balance right.

As our reputation for quality service increases and spreads by word of mouth this balancing act will continue to present somewhat of a challenge for us going forward, not a bad problem to have when you think about it.

March also witnessed our first real exposure to Covid 19 with a couple of staff members either testing positive or with family members coming down with it. Whilst these occurrences are inevitable, I have to say that I am very surprised by the extremely low exposure we have had to date.

With so many golfing events drawing people from all over the State etc it has been remarkable that so few active cases have occurred.

Of course, I may be presaging an oncoming deluge but we will just have to wait and see.

As we approach winter, I see that the Health Department is warning about an active flu season, so we might all consider having the flu jab this year to try and head off a double infection.

I should also remind you that many of us need to update our Covid Vaccination details with the Club in relation to the third jab.

If you are behind in this area, please act quickly otherwise you may find yourself unable to book yourself in for an event.

In the meantime, happy golfing in April. Stay safe, continue with good hygiene and mask wearing and I look forward to seeing you at the Club and in the upcoming Easter Cup.

Best Wishes

Rob Littlewood

PRESIDENT