DECEMBER 2023 NEWSLETTER

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

The summer season is well and truly upon us.  One or two humid days and nights plus the odd warmer day so far.  Despite the early forecast for the return to El Niño weather influences, we have had the odd days of plentiful rain so far.  MOSTLY ON SATURDAYS……. November rainfall was about 43mm locally and this month so far about 51mm. Not a lot but as we can see from the course appearance, it keeps the greens, tees and fairways replenished to a degree, going into the hotter weather.

Thank You to All Staff and Our Helpers:  The club has enjoyed another solid year in terms of trading; the course looks great and we could not achieve this without the consistent support of our team.  Firstly, to Pat Foy and Dave Hackney, their course presentation week in and week out has been nothing short of superb.  Of course they are well supported by the relatively small crew that mow and do other chores each week.  Huge thanks also to Danny, who is sometimes the quiet achiever.  His management of the club and its operations this year has again been fantastic.  Danny has been supported by the few casual staff who are invaluable resources.  Well done to you all for 2023, thanks for your commitment to the club.

Trinny’s Wheel and the Meat Raffles:  Special thanks to Trinny for running the wheel each week; with a little help from Annie periodically.  Also, thank you to Peter and Kris Kelly, who organise the meat raffles on offer each week.  This takes time and your generosity is appreciated by all members.  Thanks to those members who have assisted Peter as required.  These fund raising activities along with the lotto board provide the club with a little extra money, but the act of taking a chance with lady luck and the camaraderie created, including with the valued ‘pot’ in the middle is where the real value is.

Hopefully this newsletter goes out before the weekend: just to let you know there will be additional Christmas hams on offer this Saturday. It would be great to have as many members as possible present this Saturday as we break for Christmas festivities!

Hand Waterers:  Given the onset of summer conditions, our hand waterer volunteer crew has been activated.  This resource is extremely crucial to ensuring all areas of the greens and surrounds receive adequate water in the dryer months.  To my knowledge, the list of waterers has not been updated for 2024 as yet, so if you can spare about 45 minutes to an hour (average) once or twice a week to hand water when Pat requires, let Pat know so you can be added to his list.  Again thanks to the current crew of hand waterers.  

Volunteers of the Month – November and December:  Committee has chosen to recognise the efforts of the following respectively: November – Pam Brown, BIll Brown, Jacqui Thompson, Kath Dowd, Kris Slocombe, Marg Wright and Margot Smith, who provided catering services to our Masters Pennant players during home games.  December – Darryl Kuhle and the Ladies who set the clubhouse up so well this year for Christmas.  Santa’s biggest helper of course – and the real brains trust – is Vicki Kuhle who clearly draws so much satisfaction from providing benefit to others! Great job Vicki, Darryl and all Santa’s helpers. Congratulations and thank you to all our volunteers for your work in 2023.

Care of the Course: An appeal to all members to continue to repair divots throughout the course.  We are lucky enough to have plenty of green fees players on the course but many do not know what the bucket of soil is for.  Plenty of signs of pitch mark damage in the greens so committee reminds all members to look around the greens and repair all ‘pitch marks’ present.  That will keep our primary assets looking in good shape until we core next March. 

Equality Matters Update:  No change since last newsletter.  Committee remains waiting for a VCAT decision/ruling on the discrimination claims that were heard back in April.  Word is not anticipated until at least February 2024.

Plenty of Christmas Bargains:  Danny continues to do an outstanding job of providing golf equipment and apparel in the shop for sale.  There are plenty of good bargains to be had and Danny remains keen to provide a bargain or two to put under the Christmas tree.  There are some very nice shirts, jackets, plenty of golf shoes and other apparel.  Don’t forget if there’s something you need and if it’s not in stock, speak to Danny and he may be able to get it in for you at a very good price.  Great time of year for members to burn some of their existing member credits too.  

 Important – New Defence Housing for HMAS CERBERUS (No Change since Last Newsletter)

As part of the most recent Strategic Review, Defence recently confirmed intentions to construct an additional 60 new homes in the Cerberus married quarter areas.  This has been spoken about in very broad terms at the past two club AGMs.  The new homes will include an additional 15 in close proximity to the clubhouse, this includes eight homes in the two grassed areas adjacent the current children’s playground.  Parking around the clubhouse will be affected and all golfers will need to use the two formal car parking areas once works begin.  Housing works is expected to get underway sometime in 2024 and run into 2025.

New homes (5) will also be positioned alongside Cook Rd near the 8th green crossing track; some in vicinity to the 7th green (17) where housing was removed some years ago; and an additional (20) homes positioned either side of Cook Rd close to the Cerberus cemetery.  The committee has been informed that these latter homes will likely impact directly on the 16th tee and the green nursery areas.  Once the boundaries of the new homes are confirmed and the full ramifications known, the committee will initiate alterations to the course layout as required.

Important – Commonwealth Lease Arrangements Set To Change

Many club members will recall me referring to the current Commonwealth Lease that licences the club to operate a golf course.  The current lease was due to expire at the end of January 2024 but this will no longer occur, due mainly to a recently initiated Defence Review of all commonwealth land being used for recreational purposes.  There are nine Defence golf courses in total.  Defence has advised that the current terms of our present lease agreement will be extended for up to one year.  Committee is now awaiting the findings of the review which was due to be completed by end of year.

Club Championships:  Our Club Championships for 2023 are over for another year.  Congratulations to all women and men who entered and well done to all our winners.  This includes our Ladies Club Champion – Kris Slocombe and our Men’s Club Champion – Tim Wilson.  Well done to you both!  

Reminder:  Expressions of Interest’ are still being accepted by committee from members of the club who may be either six or seven day members, who would be interested in accepting the role of President from after January 2024.  Anyone interested should speak to me for details.

Future Course Works:  Members are advised that committee recently approved another course improvement project for early 2024.  This time the focus is the 8th/17th fairway and will see new drainage and also irrigation works undertaken.  There will be a need for some member support during the works so please respond when the call is made.  I think that all members would agree that all projects conducted over recent years have proved highly beneficial to the overall condition of the course, e.g., top of the 5th/14th fairway and the 3rd fairway as examples.

Finally, on Behalf of all Staff and the Committee, I wish you and your respective families the very best of Christmas wishes and Good Fortune during the year ahead!

Regards,

Steve Wright
President CGC

MESSAGE FROM THE LADY PRESIDENT

Ladies are now playing summer competitions with all our major competitions completed for 2023.  Our first week of this saw a healthy number of women playing, some in groups with their husbands or partners.

In light of this, the match committee have introduced a new special mixed event to be held on Tuesday, the 2nd of January, 2024 the Inaugural 2-PERSON MIXED AMBROSEMixed and not MedleyBookings are already OPEN via OneGolf where you will see the event already LIVE with tee times starting from 8:30am.

November saw us play in many mixed events and all these days were well received and a lot of fun, so hopefully we will end up with a big field in this new mixed competition.

We held our annual ladies trophy presentation and Christmas luncheon on the 12th December that was supported by a large number of our lady members.  Thank you to our President Steve Wright and Captain Dave Hilet and his wife Anita, for attending and getting into the spirit of Christmas with us.  This day was a great success with much fun and laughter to be had.  It was wonderful to see Maureen Treby after a long illness and Pat Mulholand after a few years interstate, both enjoying the celebrations.

A big effort for all who entered the 3 weeks of stroke competition for our Club Championships.  Congratulations to all the division winners.  Well done to our Ladies Club Champion, Kris Slocombe and our Men’s Club Champion Tim Wilson.  A great effort and I know that this holds special meaning for you both.

A special thank you to Marg Wright, Vicki and Daryl Kuhle for the work that they have, once again, put into making our club house look so great for the Christmas celebrations.  Very disappointing that the Christmas cocktail event was cancelled after all the work that these people put in.  I hope that in the future we are able to find a format that will attract most of our members so that we are able to celebrate our Club Champions and Christmas in the style that they should be celebrated.  Please let us know what you would like to see happen for the whole club to get together to celebrate.

Our wonderful manager Danny Shine has agreed to run a clinic over the summer for women who have never played golf before.  This will start Monday, 22nd January, and will run fortnightly for 3 sessions.  If you know anyone who would like to come and try golf, please let them know of this clinic.

Ladies competitions will begin in earnest from the 23rd of January, when the ladies committee will supply lunch.  Our lunch roster will begin from the 30th of January 2024.

We wish you all a very merry Christmas and a safe and healthy 2024.

Regards,

Vicki Rynaard
Lady President CGC

MESSAGE FROM THE CLUB CAPTAIN

Thank you and Merry Christmas to all of the members, Danny, Pat, Dave and all of the volunteers for making 2023 a wonderful and successful golfing year.

Thank you also to all of the members, men and ladies who made themselves available to represent the Cerberus Golf Club in our pennant teams and in individual GPV events.  The Cerberus Golf Club again proved very competitive in all events.

Continued strong Saturday and Thursday fields and an influx of new members over the past few months will ensure the club will continue to prosper.  This will allow the committee to continue to invest in the course as mentioned by our President.  It will also allow the club to continue to invest in new machinery.  Recent purchases of a new bunker rake and greens mower have already made a difference.  We are also looking forward to the delivery of a new surround’s mower early in the New Year.  All of this investment, both on the course and on machinery, will help make our terrific course even better.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and safe new year.

Regards,

Dave Hilet
Captain CGC

MESSAGE FROM THE CLUB MANAGER

The course is looking great in preparation for what should be a busy Christmas and New Year period.  Well done to Pat, Dave and all our dedicated volunteers on a job very well done as usual. 

Great to see quite a few new members join us over the past couple of months and I hope you all hit the fairways regularly and enjoy the benefits of your new membership.

A reminder that members are encouraged to invite guests to play in our OPEN Midweek competitions over the holidays (Tuesdays and Thursdays).

We currently have a full rack of polos in the shop which are well priced at 2 for $89.  Select from Under Armour, Greg Norman, Sporte Leisure and Izod.  Some feature the Cerberus logo.  New Balance Shoes have all been marked down by $50 per pair and we offer an every day 15% discount on Footjoys. 

I would like to wish everyone a safe and happy Christmas and New Year – Good golfing!​

Regards,

Danny Shine
Club Manager CGC

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