News Archive

26th August 2023

PHGC Centenary Open – Sunday, 26 November

This event is set to take place on Sunday, 26 November and we are hoping to attract a field of 80 Men & 40 Women. Entry for Members is $50 each, Non-Members is $100. 1st Prize for both Men & Women is $1,000.

Special trophies have been commissioned to commemorate the event and players will enjoy a buffet luncheon at the conclusion of play.

Please click on the following links to enter this event:

– Men’s Centenary Open

– Women’s Centenary Open

CONDITIONS OF PLAY

Handicaps – Each competitor must be a member of an affiliated golf club and hold a current GA handicap. GA handicap limit for entry Males 5.4 & Females 18.1. The committee has the right to extend this handicap limit prior to the event.

Rules of Play – The Rules of Golf and the local rules of Pennant Hills Golf Club shall apply. The local rules appear on the scorecard and the clubhouse board.
Tee Markers- Blue Tees Men/ Red Tees Women
Format- Strokeplay over 18 holes.
Ties – In the event of a tie for the major scratch winner, the winner will be decided by a sudden death play-off on the 18th hole and if necessary replayed until a result is determined. Ties for all other trophies will be decided using the GA count back system. If more than two players are in the play-off, the position of runner-up will be decided by the GA count back system.
Trophies – Only one voucher may be won by a person on the day, the scratch winner will take precedence, followed by the voucher with the highest monetary value.
Caddies – Caddies are permitted.
Motorised Transport -Carts permitted for medical reasons only.
Distance Measuring Devices – Permitted for the event.
Spectators – Permitted but must abide by the clubs dress regulations
Registration – All players shall report to the check-in desk in the Proshop at least 30 minutes prior to the shotgun start.

16th August 2023

President’s Update – Course Rejuvenation – August 2023

Background
My letter of 10 May provided a status report of the course rejuvenation project to renew our greens and tees and address the problem of balls hit out of bounds. It said that we had tested the original concept design and after some field trials found that risks may be associated with the shared green proposal of holes 11 and 3. The outcome being that the major change to our course may simply be the shortening of the 3^rd hole to a par 4 for general play from the white tees for men and retaining the par 5 from the existing championship tee. This meant a par 70 for general play and par 71 from the championship tee. The men’s tee and women’s tee were to be bought forward and lowered considerably.

This proposal, including sketches of each hole was outlined for a general viewing by Members in June where we sought feedback and provided an update on scheduling plans. A display was set up in the Meeting Room and several presentation sessions were programmed where Members could attend and discuss the plan with Members of the Technical Committee [1] and Directors. I also wrote a note on 5 June explaining the evolution and status of the course redesign. This is on the website.

Visit by Phil Jacobs and deliberations of the Technical Committee.
The timing of the presentations was to fit with a visit by Phil and followed by meetings with the Technical Committee and Board reviewing alternatives. Phil was due to be with us at the end of June. Enter the Department of Home Affairs, we were rocked to receive a copy of the Departments letter of 29 June addressed directly to Phil indicating that his application for Temporary Work (class GA, sub class 400) Visa was refused. The letter was issued from the Australian High Commission in Pretoria saying that the application had been referred to the Visa Application Character Consideration Unit in Canberra. Phil, who had previously been granted a Visa to visit us in Australia and to other parts of the world, is at a complete loss to understand the refusal.

The Player Group responded quickly and assigned Danny Obermeyer to the project while keeping Phil as the appointed architect. Danny has applied through an agent for a Visa, we are not expecting any delays and Danny is spending time working with Phil as he waits for his Visa to be granted. They have worked together on other courses for the Player Group. We are hopeful that Danny will be at Pennant Hills this month.

I have written to Hon. Clare O’Neil MP, the Member for Hotham and Minister for Home Affairs asking for clarity. Our own member, Julian Leeser MP has been helpful, however Julian points out that it is a difficult issue when Dept. of Home Affairs is involved.

Member Presentations – 5 Feedback Points and Responses

The sessions held in June were well attended and the constructive feedback is helpful, many took the trouble to record their views in writing and the Technical Committee made notes of Members assessments in each of the sessions. The main opinions or reactions included:

Great initiative, welcome project, get on with it.

The project is a great initiative and there is a positive, enthusiastic desire among members to get it done. This latest setback on the Visa, on top of the previous Covid restrictions is unfortunate. However, the primary objective is getting it right, it is not a race against time.

The proposal to reduce 3^rd to a par 4 yet allow a blue tee to remain is not wise. It is a deception to retain length and par 71 without completely solving the problem of balls hit out of bounds.

In the early presentations several members made it clear that they did not think par 71 was necessary, others tended to favour retaining par 71. In response, the Board was working toward the best possible redesign in terms of improving interest and relief as advised by the Architect. After consultation, we have abandoned the concept of retaining the blue tee on hole 3 and are proceeding with redesign this hole as a par 4 with the tee sunk down in around the same position as the current red tee. It will not be an easy par 4.

Members indicated that par 70 or 71 was neither here nor there, the problem is the challenge that might be created in the future if the balls hit out of bounds continue and cause authorities to force a change that may reduce the par of our course to 69 or even 68 with obvious and unwelcome consequences for the course rating and slope. Members were surprised with the number and frequency of balls leaving the perimeter of the course.

Submissions received by the Board argued that if we proceeded to par 70 and further change was forced upon us by authorities due to the number of balls leaving the perimeter on holes 1, 2 and/or 5 (particularly 1), then we may end up needing to make changes that result in a par 69 or even par 68. This should be avoided.

In making changes the focus should be on retaining the overall degree of difficulty of our course and increasing the interest of the redesigned holes.

The Board and the Architect agree that we should avoid radical and unnecessary change to what is known as the 1937 course number 5. We are a Member’s garden course and golf should be enjoyable, played over various interesting holes without being too difficult on a normal competitive set up. Bunker redesign, relocation of some bunkers and removal of others will provide visual improvement and lower operating costs. Changes include increased green sizes without excessive undulation with small directional changes to tees.

The women who attended indicated that the focus seemed to be on the men’s course and that more consideration and communication might be provided to the outcome for women.

A committee drawn from the Women’s Executive will be invited to discuss the revised proposals before the final concept is agreed.

Likely Final Design
Phil Jacobs was previously instructed to proceed with detailed design of the 14 greens that would not be impacted by his proposed options to holes 3, 4, 7 and 11. This work nears completion. We have since discussed the approach to shortening the 3^rd hole and possibly extending the 12^th hole by shifting the green more toward the existing 2^nd green while moving the 2^nd green some 50 meters down the hill. This change does two things, it creates a more interesting slight dog leg second hole thereby reducing the out of bounds issue and considerably strengthens the par 5 12^th hole. This configuration may require two limited size screen fences between these holes and Copeland Road. They might be like the now redundant fence on the Pennant Hills Road side of the existing 3^rd tee.

The logic of the par 71 submissions have appeal, it future proofs the charm of our course should we ever need to redesign a perimeter hole. Accordingly, the Board has reconsidered the original plan to extend hole 7 to a par 5 and shifting the 4^th tee back toward the existing 3^rd green. The length of that new 4^th hole would be much the same as the existing Blue tee being 176m, White 169m and Red 154m. The 7^th hole would extend to 450/460m around the same length as the existing 1^st and 12^th par 5 holes. The consideration of this change in the review of the concept design questioned the wisdom of losing the index 1 of the most difficult hole on the course to a supposedly an easy par 5 just to retain a par 71 course. Whilst the new 7^th will certainly not be index 1, analysis indicates it will remain a difficult hole. It will not be an easy par 5 as was suggested.

On that note, it is worth reinforcing the view that the outcome of the redesigned course should not be evaluated based on an individual hole or two, rather the focus should be on retaining the overall degree of difficulty and appeal of our course as well as increasing the interest of all 18 holes.

We are now waiting on the Visa for Danny Obermeyer, his visit to the course leading to further discussions by our Architect and the Technical Committee resulting in a recommendation to be considered by the Board. The best possible or optimum redesign in the view of the Board shall then be put to Members prior to proceeding with the project.

Funding and Timing

The plan was always to start in the second half of this year, the work was to commence in the coming spring after the planned visit by Phil Jacobs in June and a final design being presented to Members this month. That schedule has been revised and the start date pushed out to early 2024.

The note on 5 June also discussed the outlay of the project indicating that it could cost around $4.5m over the three-year period. Forecasts suggest that it can be funded from normal cash generation supplemented within our existing bank lines. The risk being that budget over runs and unforeseen events have a habit of interfering with the best plans and there is no contingent source of additional finance. To overcome this, and to reduce the reliance on short term bank debt, the Board planned to publish an Information Memorandum (IM) to Members qualifying as “sophisticated investors” and invite them to subscribe for an issue of two and three year unsecured notes. Had we been turning soil as planned the IM would have issued this month. It too, has been deferred to early 2024.

The Board is disappointed that we need to defer the start by 6 months but it is clearly in the interest of a better outcome. We look forward to presenting the final design as soon as is possible.

Good luck with your golf.

Michael Rowan
PRESIDENT

(1) The Technical Committee reports to the Board and comprises Michael Rowan, Damian Maguire, Neil Rolfe, David Blackshaw, Liam Ash, and Barnaby Sumner. The Technical Committee has no authority to act other than is sanctioned by the Board.

9th August 2023

Course Project – A further update to issue in the coming week, a background paper

The Board are preparing a further update to the Course Rejuvenation project it would be beneficial if Members made themselves familiar with the Explanatory Matters to the Course Redesign Presentation provided to those attending the meetings and also posted to the website on 13 June.

Explanatory Matters to the Course Redesign Presentation

The project in 2023 to renew our tees and greens has been a long and difficult journey. The work up to 1937 is well chronicled and the complexity began in 1946 when part of the course was earmarked for possible resumption to accommodate increased traffic. Then in 1965 the Club received notice from the authorities that our frontages to Mahers Road and Pennant Hills Road would be resumed. For the next 30 odd years, certainly to 1996, successive Boards operated in ambiguity where course development options were formed in response to potential resumption of land and where substantial work on tees and greens was generally deferred due to uncertainty of the outcome. Three course redesigns were completed in 1990, the first by President Paul Hendricks, another provided by Kel Nagle Cooper and a third commissioned by Tom Woolbank of Australian Golf Management[1]. The difficulty of the challenge before Paul as President and shared with other Directors during his nine-year tenure was facing this ever-present threat while desperately seeking solutions should not be underestimated. His subsequent election to Life Membership was well earned.

By the AGM in 1996 the Board was able to report that changes were relatively minor and that the redesign of the 5^th hole had been completed and construction about to begin. The result is that we are currently playing golf on what is known as “Course # 5”, completed in 1935 and renewed immediately after the war in 1949 under a committee led by Harry Small then modified in 1996 to accommodate resumption of land on the Southern and Western edges of the course. At this time the problems were listed as scarcity of water, drainage and the aging conditions of our greens, matters that occupied the mind of Richard Kirkby from his appointment in 1994 until his departure some 28 years later.

Subsequent Boards have commissioned redesigns; Jim Wilcher (Golf by Design) completed a Master Plan late in 2011 that was amended and discussed by Boards in the ensuing years. No action was taken, probably due to the radical nature of the plan that, among other things, saw the 18^thhole as a finishing Par 4, the 9^th hole as a dogleg Par 4 as well as shifting of the machinery shed and works area to where the toilet block is near the 14^th hole. Some variations of the plan were put forward but nothing much seems to have been discussed past 2014. The estimated cost of the Wilcher plan was said to be in the region of $7 million, today it would be $10 or $11 million. Not surprisingly, attention turned to extension and refurbishment of the clubhouse ultimately costing $7.3 million. Work on the greens was deferred.

The twin constraints of limited land and our inability to remove trees have prevented extensive action. What has been done has been largely about water, shade, tees, greens and bunkers, where greens and bunkers were the primary focus of course rejuvenation. The Club is now at a point where we can no longer defer work on our greens without facing the unwelcome prospect of playing on substandard greens and from bunkers that are unable to withstand weather events. The inevitable result is the need to close the course in times of storms and heavy rainfall. We are the last of the PACK clubs to undertake the necessary work of green restoration and course rejuvenation.

The tree issue is a serious impediment to an otherwise unfettered approach to course redesign; the current ratio of new plantings to old, imposed by Council is 6 new for 1 removal.

My newsletters of recent times have provided details of the engagement of Phil Jacobs as our architect and the process we are undertaking to redesign our course with emphases on renewal of our greens and tees as well as our objective to reduce the incidence of balls on to Pennant Hills Road, the M2 and Copeland Road. My most recent update described the concept designs providing for alternative outcomes and although subject to ongoing assessment, it indicated the likely result.

There were two options that emerged:

Simple solution

The simple option was either no change or the traditional response of converting 3^rd Hole to a par 3 and a par 4 as suggested in the Wilcher Master Plan. Unfortunately, this produced two soft holes not in keeping with the existing character and slope rating of the course and was likely to exacerbate balls landing on Pennant Hills Road rather than act to prevent them. It did provide an additional spare hole but reduced the length of the course and overall complexity of the layout.

Complex Integration of Change

A more complex solution required a series of integrated changes:

The 3^rdhole to reduce to a Par 4 with the tee moved forward and lowered
The 7^th to extend to Par 5 by moving the green back to just beyond the 4^th green
The 4^th green to move back with the tee back in the SW corner of the site adjacent to the existing 3^rd green and the hole to angle slightly toward but beyond the existing 11^th green
Moving the 12^th tee forward and reducing 12^th hole to Par 4
Extending 11^th hole to a Par 5 by moving the green out to an “L” shaped green shared with the new 3^rd hole green.

These changes maintained a par 71 course without unduly changing the core of the course #5 and seemed an elegant solution accepted by the majority of those who attended the two review sessions. However our field trial of the proposal identified dangers and risks not contemplated in the design. These were mainly in long high balls by big hitters to the 11^th green shared with the 3^rd hole and over the new forward tee for the 12^th hole. The current view of the Technical Committee is that the risks imposed by the integrated solution outweigh the advantages of maintaining a par 71 Member’s course.

Likely Recommendation for Change

The only major change to our course is likely to be the shortening of the 3rd hole to a Par 4 for general play from the white tees for Men and retaining the Par 5 from the existing championship tee. Providing a Par 70 for general play and Par 71 from the championship tee. The white tee and Women’s tee will be bought forward and lowered considerably. Other changes will be increased green sizes and small directional changes to tees incorporating additional length where we can. Otherwise we retain what is known as the “1937 course # 5”.

The Detailed Design of Greens and Tees

This process is well underway, and Phil Jacobs will be on course later in June to validate his thoughts and to test the drawings on site. Members can expect a presentation of detailed green designs as soon as it is practical to do so.

We are blessed with an astonishing undulation, a clever and varied layout of holes, beautiful tree plantings within a delightful garden surround so to have tried various ways to improve this without success is not surprising. Bunker redesign, relocation of some bunkers and removal of others will provide visual improvement and lower operating costs.

Financial

The Board is in the process of completing the Business Plan to provide discipline to the project. It is likely to require expenditure of around $4.5 million over the next three years. Our initial thought was $3.6 million plus a contingency, regretfully current inflationary pressures demand a reassessment. The total cost will be more than $4.5million when capital equipment and other expenditure made during the concept stage is added in. It is proposed to expense some items as we go and to treat capital equipment in the normal way but for the sake of a conservative figure, we might expect a capitalised value of around $5 million for the project. That represents an amortised charge or a write-down of $250,000 annually against our profit and loss account over the next 20 years.

Indications are that with normal trading outcomes and historic levels of internally generated cash surpluses together with existing bank arrangements, the project could be completed as planned. However, there is no margin of error and no fall back in the event of the unexpected. It would be unwise to proceed on these lines relying on extension of bank debt and serendipitous trading to survive unexpected variances and overruns.

The possibility of an issue of debentures to Members was put forward during the review stage and the Board has seriously considered that strategy. It is proposed to issue an Information Memorandum inviting Members who might qualify as “Sophisticated Investors” to subscribe for subordinated notes with tenures of two and three years. The interest rates on these notes will meet market rates and offer a saving to the Club in the order of 2% over the existing cost of bank debt.

The Board has examined similar offerings at other clubs and the results are encouraging, one Pack club raised over $2 million within 6 weeks of putting the offer out. Another club uses member notes to cover short term annual operating shortfall in preference to bank overdraft. The major benefit to PHGC is that it provides a capital cushion to meet the unexpected, reduces reliance on bank debt and provides ample liquidity to the overall funding of the project. Details are expected to be finalised before the end of July and the offer opened in August.

The first soil will be turned in November of this year when hole 16A will be rebuilt according to USGA Green Construction Standards.

Michael Rowan
PRESIDENT

[1] Golf in the Pennant Hills District, Ron Harper 2000, pp160-168

Click here – President’s Letter May 2023
Click here – PACK Slope Rating Table
Click here – Member Presentation Notes
Click here – Construction Information

4th August 2023

NOT ANOTHER HISTORY BOOK, you say!

Our Club has been very well served by three earlier members who diligently recorded the history of the club to the time of their writing: E.J.Hyde, Bob Giblin and Ron Harper researched, wrote, and printed the History of Pennant Hills Golf Club in increasing levels of detail up until 1999.

Since that time, no detailed record of our history has been written.

There was a hope that Ron Harper would take on this task, in time for the Centenary, however health issues prevented him carrying out this role.

We have been given a wonderful book this year, written by Joan Eyles ‘Celebrating 100 years’ which provides a tremendous overview of our past history.

However, we believed it was important to produce a ‘post 1999’ detailed history of all major events and records to help maintain the continuous historical written record.

This role was undertaken by Bruce Jones and today we release this latest detailed history record.

The record covers 15 major events which have occurred between 2000 and 2022 in detailed form. Additionally, the records of trophy winners and Hole-in-one achievements are now regularly released onto the website at the end of each quarter.

Without further ado, if you are interested, you are encouraged to click on the link and start to read the history of our last 22 years. The index on page 4 lists all the topics covered. I would encourage you to also read both the Introduction p2 at the start and the Acknowledgements p 272 at the end of the digital book to gain a good understanding of its scope.

Note that the book can be easily searched using normal digital search techniques.

Bruce Jones

31st July 2023