MAY 2023 NEWSLETTER

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

As this newsletter to members is produced, the weather has certainly quickly turned to being quite cool and more than a little wet. After a reasonably dry period, December 2022 to March this year, rainfall seems to have returned to provide us with 85mm in April and to-date in May 93mm plus what’s falling from the sky right now (Thursday). We can’t complain about the weather, I suppose, as we are approaching winter and we do live in Victoria.

The golf course looks great and is playing well particularly the greens, which overall have recovered well from the most recent coring. Big thanks to Pat and Dave Hackney and all the helpers. Helpers that include, at the moment, young James Christie, who is undertaking school work experience with Pat.

Hand Waterers. The volunteer workforce of hand waterers remained active throughout summer, looking after the greens and other areas. Well done to you all and thanks for your time and effort.

Practice Green Extension. Members will have noted the extension work on the practice green a month or so ago. Plenty of grass coverage but as yet fairly soft in structure. Might be after winter into spring until the new area is playable.

Volunteers of the Month. Committee recognised the following members, respectively, for their effort. For February, all the hand waterers caring for the greens and other areas of new turf. For March, all the coring team that carried out the March coring of greens – this included Phil Russell, who was unintentionally omitted from previous messages of thanks. For April, Peter and Kris Kelly for their fabulous effort in coordinating the prizes and auction items that contributed directly to the massive amount of $7,750 that was raised for the Royal Children’s Hospital. A magnificent effort by everyone involved.

Membership Fees – Season 23/24. Membership renewal letters will be available to members during June. Membership fees for the coming 23/24 financial year must be paid in full prior to 1 August 2023. Members should be aware that committee has determined that a greater fees increase than normal is necessary due to rising costs. The committee has not taken this decision lightly as all of us are dealing with the same ever increasing costs of goods, services and of course utilities payments. It’s worthwhile to note that the annual capitation fees paid by the club to Golf Australia have been rising over the past couple of years. The club has fundamentally absorbed those increases. We have no option but to pay these fees as they provide every club member with GA ‘personal golfers insurance’ cover and they contribute to the costs of running the GolfLink Handicap System. The committee has also decided that due to the legal fees the club has encountered over the past two years in defending the club against claims made at VCAT, that a member levy be applied this year to all six and seven day members and including life members.

Equality Matters Update

At the club’s Special General Meeting held 21 January 2023, members were informed that the 22 to 23 November 2022 VCAT Hearing had been postponed. The hearing of the ‘discrimination‘ claims against the club was finally heard at VCAT over 4 to 6 April this year. As advised at the SGM there will be no judgement provided by VCAT on the discrimination matters until the second part of claims (Victimisation) are heard. Presently the victimisation claims are expected to be heard in either October or November this year. The club has expended to date a total of $113,360 in defence of the club. Given the forthcoming ‘victimisation’ claims hearing, that could be held over five days, the costs associated could be in the vicinity of a further $50,000. The final figure will be in part determined by the number of witnesses involved from both sides in the hearing process.

As has been the case throughout this matter, the club’s legal team has advised that the substance of the VCAT proceedings should remain confidential until full resolution.

Care of the Course. With the return of rainfall over recent weeks, the greens have softened a little and are once again being subjected to ‘pitch marks’ that are not being repaired. Please look for your pitch marks and those that may already be present, and repair them properly please. Remember using the repair tools that are available from the shop for free, draw the grass depression towards the centre – rather than lifting the damaged turf upwards.

Please also repair existing divots across the course including in the rough.

Shop Bargains. Plenty of good bargains to be had in the golf shop. Danny’s got some very nice shirts and jackets to keep out the wintery chill. Plenty of golf shoes and other apparel. Don’t forget if there’s something you need and it’s not in stock, speak to Danny and he may be able to get it in for you at a very good price. Member credits are building in the club’s accounts so committee would ask members to consider using some of those funds.

Welcome to Our New Cleaner. Committee would like to welcome and recognise the efforts of our relatively new cleaner – Penelope Crane. She is doing a great job following on from the work of Linda Denny. She’s at the club twice a week so please say hi and introduce yourself.

Recent Tree Trim Works. Members should be pleased next time they step on to a few of our tees and look towards the greens. The committee recently agreed to Murray’s and my suggestion to open up some of the tees/chutes to reduce possibility of lost balls and to generally speed up play. We were centrally minded and took into account both left and right handers – although it took some convincing to improve the lefties side of things – particularly if you believe the right handers who consider the course set up for lefties! Anyway, any donations gratefully accepted by both Muzza and myself!

Pleasant golfing through the coming winter season!!

Regards,

Steve Wright
President CGC

MESSAGE FROM THE LADY PRESIDENT

The GPV Peninsula Matchplay commenced in mid-April with the final round held Monday, 22nd May 2023. We hosted the Matchplay round last week, 15th of May, which gave us the opportunity to show our club off at its best to people from all over the Peninsula. The course was in great condition, thanks to Pat, Dave, James and the many volunteers that give their time for the improvements of our golf course. The ladies also had a great time making purchases at the Golf Shop, as we are well known for the good prices and quality stock that Danny offers.

Cerberus Golf Club held second place on the ladder by 1 point to Mt Martha prior to the final round. Our ladies played against the ladies of Mt Martha in the final round at Portsea Golf Club. With Cerberus winning 2 matches against Mt Martha’s 3, we finished second on the ladder.

This is a great achievement for the ladies of Cerberus Golf Club. Congratulations to Yvonne Jones who finished the Matchplay series undefeated! Thank you to our Matchplay Captain Kris Slocombe for organising and coordinating with the team and GPV. Thank you to all the ladies for the great effort they have put into the competition and made themselves available to play: Linda Denny, Loz Welch, Kath Dowd, Kris Slocombe, Margot Smith, Pam Brown and Yvonne Jones. Special thanks also to the selfless people who caddied for these wonderful women throughout the match series. Cerberus Golf Club is indeed a great club to belong to.

Back in March, we held our Ladies Cerberus Challenge Bowl which was a huge success with a full field of players. Changing the schedule from October to March was clearly the right decision. Unfortunately, the Cerberus team was not successful in winning the Bowl. That honor went to Carrington Park.

We would like to thank our sponsors, HK Beauty for the prize vouchers and our many nearest-to-pin sponsors, who once again put their hand in their pockets for these prizes.

More importantly, we would like to thank the many people who made the success of this day possible.

As usual, all our ladies who supplied food on the day.

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We catered for 70 people with all of the salads and sweets donated by our lady members. We received so many compliments regarding the food and the course.

We would like to express our profound gratitude to all those who turned up on the Sunday prior to the Monday event, to clear the course of numerous debris caused by the wind storm that went through on the Saturday. It was heartwarming to see so many men and women working together to get the job done.

Ladies often enter events hosted by the ladies of Cerberus Golf Club just so they can sample our lunches and we are often asked for recipes. This has given the Ladies Sub-Committee an idea to create a Cerberus Golf Club Cook Book. We are now asking our members to supply our Secretary, Jacqui Thompson, with their favourite recipes. We would love to have at least one from each of our lady members. Of course, our male members are encouraged to send their recipes, as well, if they wish to. Desserts, soups, mains, salads, sandwich fillings or anything else you like making or consider your specialty. Please send them to Jacqui via email, ladysecretary@cerberusgolfclub.com.au and watch this space.

We have had many new lady members join our club over the past year. This is reflected in the numbers we have had playing on a Tuesday and the increase in ladies now playing on a Saturday. The 1 Club Programs we’ve held have been instrumental in this growth, clearly fulfilling the program’s promise of creating a pathway to women who are interested but have never played golf before. We will be holding more of these clinics later in the year as the weather improves.

Some of the 1Club Program graduates have become season pass holders. We are looking at a way forward to include these ladies into more club events to help them feel confident enough to transfer to a membership. At the moment, the Ladies Sub-Committee is also working on a new pathway for women to come and try golf at Cerberus Golf Club.

It has been a number of months now since we implemented the Saturday Monthly Medal Sausage Sizzle. We are pleased with the positive feedback we have been receiving. The appreciation of this initiative encourages us to continue holding them into the future. Thank you to the ladies who help organise and make this initiative possible every month.

Regards,

Vicki Rynaard
Lady President CGC

MESSAGE FROM THE CLUB CAPTAIN

Ongoing Course Improvements

The committee has an ongoing commitment to continually make improvements to the course through drainage, irrigation and general maintenance. This will improve conditions through the harsher times of the year. A few specific projects that will take place over the next 12 months or so are:

Drainage works – 8^th/17^th Fairway
Irrigation works – the top left hand side 5^th/14^th Fairway
Reshape the 5^th/14^th Green
Improve the Club House precinct with landscaping and garden

Planning has already begun and these tasks will be undertaken in no particular order, when conditions suit. Each year, the committee will continue to identify areas that require the attention needed to season proof the Golf Course.

Men’s Pennant

Our men’s pennant team was unlucky not to make the final, missing by just ½ a match. Once again we punched above our weight in terms of numbers to choose from compared to the larger clubs. I thank all players who gave up their time to represent our club and in the manner in which they competed.

Regards,

Dave Hilet
Captain CGC

MESSAGE FROM THE CLUB MANAGER

WINTER GOLF SHOP STOCK

Winter golf gear are starting to arrive. There are some great specials available such as vests, tops and jackets. See the ‘SPECIALS’ rack for heavily reduced items.

If you require waterproof pants or jackets, please see me so I can place an order in your size, if not already in stock.

SHOES

Minimum 15% off on all FootJoy and New Balance golf shoes. New stock arriving.

GOLF CLUBS

Looking for a new driver?

TaylorMade are clearing their M4 model. With the M4 series now superseded by the M5 for more skilled golfers, prices have dropped considerably with little to no compromise. Our sale price is $375. This is less than half the price of the current model, Stealth.

TaylorMade M4

Leaving the traditional driver face design behind, the Taylormade M4 driver offers multiple revolutionary technologies that improves distance, forgiveness, acoustics and feel. The combination of Twist Face and Speed Pocket provide enhanced forgiveness and corrective performance across the face. By adding reinforced outer sections to the driver, the centre of the driver is allowed to flex more. Resulting in more ball speed from all strike locations on the face.

REGRIPPING

With winter approaching, it may be the perfect time to regrip your golf clubs. See me to explore the options available at our Golf Shop.

PRIZES IN YOUR ACCOUNT

To assist the club in reducing our prizes liability, I encourage members to use their Golf Shop credits before the end of the financial year. You can check the balance amount of your credits in OneGolf by clicking on the ‘Prizes‘ button on the top right corner when you log in.

Regards,

Danny Shine
Club Manager CGC