Member Survey

We have been advised by Golf Business Advisory Services  (GBAS) that only 30% of the golf membership have completed the member survey sent out last week.  

We would like to get as much information as possible from the whole golfing membership so if you haven't already, please complete your survey by the 15th of April.

March Golf Summary...

Rain, rain and more rain sums up March 2021 but there was still some great golf played.  We had just 24 comp days at Hilltop in March as we were closed on the 1st and 2nd for green renovations and then we were closed for 5 days straight in late March which will test everyone's memory for the last time that happened (if ever).

As per every year after green renovations, there was some very hot scoring including the women's monthly medal on the 16th March where 11 of the field of 54 players scored nett 71 or better.  A couple of amazing scores that day include Sue Hilder with 63 nett and Di Maguire with 64 nett.  Other very notable achievements include Jamie McLennan with 66 nett in the men's medal and Brett Lowry, Alan Gerrard & Keith Harvey (must be Jackie's lessons) who all shot 44 points last month.  Well done to Dennis Tanko with 43 points and to Stan Steed who beat the whole Thursday field of 140 in the Par event with +4.

It is also worthwhile noting Rob Powell, who has found comfort in C Grade with 68 nett in the medal.  I can only track the last 5 years of scores in golflink but lets say it has been a long, long time since Rob shot in the sixties in a stroke round (zero times in last 5 years).

2021 Pennant Season

For the men's teams, lets just say they are looking forward to next year.  Our Division 1 and 2 teams didn't come last which is something.  I will highlight Wayne Finlayson who was undefeated in his Div 1 games for the season and also Victor Nash in the Seniors who was also undefeated.  I will also mention our number 1 player, John Croker who actually won a game in the last round, well done John.

Our Senior team had a chance to make the final but unfortunately missed out on a count back on individual games.  There were a lot of "District" politics involved with the Seniors Division as they were in the final briefly until the District changed their mind on an official ruling.  The less said the better...

The women's pennant season kicks off next week so good luck to all the players competing this year.

Course Slope Ratings

I have recently had a few people stating that the Hilltop Course Slope Ratings and Scratch Ratings are unfair to them playing in open medley competitions.  This has been an interesting debate as I have a few women stating it is unfair and favours the men while I also have a couple of men stating it is unfair and favours the women.  It would probably be quite entertaining if these two groups met each other but on a serious note, I have asked Golf NSW to review all our ratings and scores from competitions.  Golf NSW responded yesterday...

Hilltop Car Park Gardens

We have been planning for some time (about 5 years) to renovate all of the Hilltop Car Park gardens as we know some members have been volunteering their time and doing their best to keep the main areas looking neat and tidy.

We appreciate this will be a big job to totally renovate all the the gardens throughout the car park so we received several quotes from professional landscape companies to undertake the work and we are pleased to announce that this has now been approved my the Board.  We look forward to presenting and maintaining a much higher quality landscape around Hilltop in the near future.

The work will be conducted in stages of priority starting with the car park entry points (see photo attached).

We have received a few enquiries about the plans to renovate the Beachside Course as per safety improvements and most of you are aware that we did Stage 1 two years ago (stopped hitting across the road) and that Stage 2 (up on the wall at Beachside) was postponed due to Covid last year as there was a lot of uncertainty about the financial future of the club.  We are in the final stage of completing the Stage 3 plan which will be made public for members to comment once complete.  

Hopefully, next month, will be in a position to display this to the membership and if approved, work will commence this August and Beachside Members will be accommodated at Hilltop for 9 hole rounds during this renovation period. 

Good golfing,

Barry West (Aust. P.G.A.)
Golf Manager
Mollymook Golf Club