30th May 2024
News Archive
30th May 2024
President’s Update – Project Repair & Maintenance
Our Repair and Maintenance Project
On Tuesday night at the extraordinary general meeting an overwhelming show of hands voted to begin work on our Repairs and Maintenance Project. The outcome was enthusiastically welcomed by the Technical Committee and the Board who have been absorbed for a couple of years in the development of the plans to deliver the project and turn the soil.
It has been a long journey where various options and alternatives have been considered, a journey interrupted by COVID and slowed down during our Centenary year. Many Members have been onboard for the trip, all passionate about the task, offering alternatives, expressing preferences and taking part in workshops and briefings. Every one of these inputs was considered by the Technical Committee in conjunction with the Board and The Player Group, clearly not all made it to the final design. Some because of cost, some did not fit, others were modified. The Board is appreciative of the interest and willingness shown by all participants and the enthusiasm of Members toward approval of the design notwithstanding that there may be some minor modifications and risk mitigations that could find their way to the final product.
That journey is now over and today we gather together to embark on another, it begins with the preparatory stage of the R&M Project where Michael and the Course Team will finish off the temporary green and build a tee on the first hole to create a par 4 and par 3 on the first fairway. Similarly, they get ready to build another temporary green and temporary tee on the fifth hole again establishing a par 3 and par 4, this time on the fifth fairway. A third temporary green and tee will follow on the tenth hole in July creating a par 4 and a par 3 on the tenth fairway giving us 4 spare holes and allowing us to take 3 holes out for a complete rebuild and retain a spare hole as a 19th in case of need. The next step is to build the first of the USPGA greens on the practice green we know as 16A. This will be ready for seeding in September and be ready for play by January 2025 when Stage 1 of the R&M Project commences with a rebuild of 9, 17 and 18. Members will see the greens between now and July, although the tees will be held off until October when the Club Championships are completed.
In October 2024 we will provide a review of objectives of the preparatory stage and a detailed outline of the work plan in Stage 1 when the rebuild of 9, 17 and 18 are planned. This will be the first of the formal project reports to Members and it will address the flow of play, par of the course and any disruptions to movement on the entire area of the Club. Barnaby, as General Manger, will provide interim reports, generally monthly, covering work in progress. His reports will be photogenic with commentary. The budget will be compared to actual each quarter and any material variance will be notified to Members.
The decision of Members to allocate the money and get the R&M Project underway was some 30 years in the making, it was a momentous decision from that point of view but more so because of the overwhelming number of hands that shot in the air when the vote was called for. It was said that there was an air of confidence and joy from everyone in the room. That is an accurate reflection and we celebrate that, as a cohesive group, we are joined together to successfully complete one of the most important projects our great Club will undertake.
Michael Rowan
President
27th April 2024
Repair & Maintenance Project – Member Presentation
Click here to view Par 70 White Tees – pdf
Click here to view Par 71 Blue Tees – pdf
The image below is of the Completed Course White Tees Par 70:
The video below shows existing green layouts and commentary on new design elements.
The video below takes you through the proposed course layout.
Please find below links to view the detailed design of holes along with videos that detail the current layout and transition into the proposed design.
Click here to view detailed design of Hole 1
Click here to view detailed design of Hole 2
Click here to view detailed design of Hole 3
Click here to view detailed design of Hole 4
Click here to view detailed design of Hole 5
Click here to view detailed design of Hole 6
Click here to view detailed design of Hole 7
Click here to view detailed design of Hole 8
Click here to view detailed design of Hole 9
Click here to view detailed design of Hole 10
Click here to view detailed design of Hole 11
Click here to view detailed design of Hole 12
Click here to view detailed design of Hole 13
Click here to view detailed design of Hole 14
Click here to view detailed design of Hole 15
Click here to view detailed design of Hole 16
Click here to view detailed design of Hole 16A
Click here to view detailed design of Hole 17
Click here to view detailed design of Hole 18
26th April 2024
Notice of General Meeting & Explanatory Memorandum
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN of a General Meeting of the Members of Pennant Hills Golf Club Limited at the Registered Office, the Clubhouse, Copeland Road, Beecroft, on Tuesday, 28 MAY 2024 at 7.30p.m. to transact the following business:
- To consider, and if thought fit pass, the following resolution as an Ordinary Resolution:
ORDINARY RESOLUTION:
That the Club proceed with the repairs and maintenance project relating to greens, tees and bunkers at a cost of approximately $5.02m ($5.66m less $0.64m spent). Preliminary works are taking place (Temporary Greens on 1, 5 & 10 with the rebuild of 16A), the majority of works are set to take place between January 2025 and December 2027.
Notes to Members:
- Members who have any questions concerning the Ordinary Resolution are requested to put their questions in writing to the General Manager by 5:00pm on Tuesday, 21 May 2024. This will allow their questions to be properly researched and where possible, answered in advance of the General Meeting. However, Members will still be able to ask questions at the meeting.
- To be passed, the Ordinary Resolution must enjoy a majority of the votes cast by Members attending the meeting and eligible to vote.
- In accordance with the Club’s Constitution, only financial Members being Full Members who are at least 21 years of age and who are 7 Day, 6 Day or Flexible Members shall be the Members of the Club entitled to attend and vote at the General Meeting.
- Emeritus Members are entitled to attend the meeting but are not able to vote.
- Under the Registered Clubs Act:
- Proxy voting is not permitted.
- Members who are employees of the Club are not entitled to vote.
Information about the Proposed Resolution:
- An Explanatory Memorandum summarising the works shall accompany this Notice of Meeting.
- The Explanatory Memorandum is also available on the Club’s website.
- Hard copies of both documents are available upon request from the Office in the Clubhouse.
Dated: Friday, 26 April 2024
Barnaby Sumner
General Manager
By Order of the Board of Directors
Explanatory Memorandum
This document is to assist Members to understand the extent of the proposed repair and maintenance program of works to be presented at the upcoming General Meeting of the Pennant Hills Golf Club Limited at the Registered Office, the Clubhouse, Copeland Road, Beecroft, on Tuesday, 28 MAY 2024 at 7.30p.m.
Why are we doing this?
The Board has recently provided a detailed outline of plans and project schedules along with more detailed explanations to Members as to the scope of the work and reasons why the repairs and maintenance project to renew greens, bunkers and tees is critical to the longer-term survival and retention of our course and Club. This has been outlined in several communications to Members, but to recap:
The need has been evident for many years and has now become crucial both to improve playability of our course and to keep pace with developments at other Sydney courses.
Expert reports have been commissioned over the past 30 or so years. The first was by “Turf-Force” an independent turf consulting group, that undertook soil testing, root penetration and drainage analysis for the Board in 1995. Their report concluded that our greens needed extensive repair. This was confirmed in February 1998 when the first Long-Term Course Plan was published. The report said:
“With the exception of the recently constructed 5th green, all greens at Pennant Hills are in need of rebuilding to modern standards. This fact was highlighted by the Turf-Force Report covering the 5 greens closest to Devlins Creek and confirmed by later technical advice. The decision to rebuild the greens is partly economic, in that maintaining the greens with current problems of grass type, poor surface drainage and soil profiles is not cost effective. New greens not only cost less to maintain they also require less renovation and are therefore not out of play to Members as often.”
In 2014 Jim Wilcher of Golf by Design submitted a second Course Master Plan that was costed at $4.6m, the Board at the time elected to undertake renovation and development of the clubhouse as a priority and commence the course project later when finances permitted.
Following a recent extreme heat event, a number of greens failed and required considerable repair and attention to restore them to playable surfaces. A leading turf consultant, John Neylan, found that the prime causative reason was the lack of drainage on the affected greens leading to general poor health and inadequate root penetration.
The proposed reduction in length of Holes 2 and 3 is to mitigate golf balls leaving the course and the potential harm they could cause to members of the public.
What are we doing and how are we doing it?
The current project was seen as an urgent undertaking by the previous Board and was enthusiastically embraced by the current Board who initially asked The Player Group for a concept design. A contract was subsequently signed with The Player Group on 1 November 2022. It has been a long process with some uncontrollable interruptions, primarily with Covid and then a deferment due to our Centenary program. However, it has been a methodical approach with considerable research and has included extensive Member consultation. The primary driver was getting it right rather than acting to a strict timetable.
The Technical Committee[1] and Phil Jacobs, our course architect, were guided by design elements presented to Members in November 2022 when the first concept proposal was published incorporating his initial thoughts following his visit in February of the same year. Three of these elements related to design:
- The first was to minimise changes and remain as true as possible to course #5 of 1935.
- The second was to retain a Par 71 (the proposed changes reduce the Women’s Par to 72 from 73).
- The third was to make all reasonable efforts to mitigate public risk by reducing the probability of balls leaving the perimeter of the course. The other elements related to project processes, costs and management.
Members responded positively to the initial concept design but questioned the wisdom of lengthening Hole 7 and moving Hole 4 back to the M2/Pennant Hills Road corner. Several Members also indicated that Par 71 was not necessarily a primary objective as many of the great courses in the world were Par 70. The Technical Committee considered these two points as well as other Member-based suggestions, many made in writing and others aired at the series of presentations that followed the November 2022 meeting.
As a result of field testing, consideration of other options, consultation with the architect, further Member feedback and the recent visit of Adam Kelland, also of The Player Group, the Technical Committee agreed that the proposed changes to Hole 7 and Hole 4 were not desirable but that retaining a Par 71 was important. The issue of retaining Par 71 was the subject of well-reasoned submissions by some Members pointing out that notwithstanding the realignment of border holes on the course, errant balls leaving the perimeter are always a possibility, however remote. Therefore, moving to an initial Par 70 and later being forced to close or alter a hole by the Road Authority after a ball related incident might reduce the course to Par 69, which is an unacceptable outcome. Taking this into account the Committee worked through several options with the architect and presented a concept plan to the Board that included changes to four (4) holes to create greater interest in the course as well as reducing public risk. These are:
- Shortening of the 2nd hole by some 50 metres and the re-alignment of the tee making a more acute dog leg shape.
- Shortening of the 3rd hole to Par 4 including lowering of the forward tee and removing bunkers and some trees between 3 and 12 as well as bringing the green forward.
- Lengthening the 11th into a Par 5 for the men by playing the hole to a similar location of the existing 3rd green.
Lengthening the 12th to a longer Par 5 to be played off the Blue markers on the M2 Boundary and a Par 4 when played off the White markers on the North side of the new 11 fairway more or less parallel with the 13th Green and playing to a Green in a similar location of the existing 2nd green.
After field testing, the Board enthusiastically approved the Concept Design.
In preparation for the repair and maintenance we have commenced early works in the form of suitable temporary greens including the full reconstruction of 16A.
New works are being undertaken on the 1st and 5th fairways, including 250-300m2 of new (temporary) greens, roughly the size of the current 7th green and 150m2 of new teeing surface. This will be followed in June/July with works on the 10th fairway bunkers which will be reduced to one bunker and the inclusion of a new (temporary) green and the full reconstruction of 16A. This will allow a full 18 holes of golf to be played throughout the construction period over various configurations of old, new and temporary holes.
It is important to be thoroughly prepared for the scheduled program as both contractors and resources need to be booked and ordered 6-12 months ahead of commencement time.
An early start on the temporary greens and tees over the next six (6) months or so, will give them adequate time to grow in and be in top condition before they come into play.
Funding the project
The total course cost estimate is $5.66 million. This includes the $400k for design fees, $437k for contingencies and $152k for 1.4 kilometers of essential cart paths around tees and greens and $201k of equipment. The budget has been prepared on a conservative basis, opting to err on the higher cost side. Once the first full stage of work has been completed it will provide a better guide of costs for the remainder of the job.
Success will be measured primarily by the quality of the final outcome as well as on time and on budget outcomes.
The project costing timeline shown below provides us with an indication of which financial years the costs will be incurred.
Based on current estimates, the 6-year cash flow forecast indicates that peak borrowing could be around $4.6 million in 2027, made up of Member Notes of $1.6 million (after factoring in for rollover withdrawals) plus bank debt of up to $3.0 million. Discussions with our bank are occurring to determine the structure and type of debt that best fits our needs. We envisage all loans will be paid off over the medium term. Whilst we have made very conservative assumptions about the rollover of Member Notes over the duration of the project, it is likely that bank debt will be less than $3 million and the notes program, subject to Member support, may extend beyond the completion of the project,
If the project encounters cost overruns and we are otherwise constrained by existing borrowing facilities, the bank has indicated it is willing to consider additional accommodation. Our “Plan B” is to extend the project duration to spread the costs over a longer period of time, thus reducing peak debt through the generation of further operating surpluses. As The Board has stressed many times, “…we want to have a finished golf course of the highest quality, cost is soon forgotten if the final result is exceptional…”.
How might Members get a better understanding of the design?
To help Members better understand the scope of works the Club has published a number of images and videos.
Members wishing to view this information are requested to log into the website and click on the following link:
“Repair & Maintenance Project – Member Presentation (Holes 1-18)”
Once you click on the link you will see the following information:
- Video showing old and new greens with voice over that provides key details of proposed works
- Video showing proposed layout transitioning from Holes 1-18
- Video of each hole showing current green design transitioning into new green design
- Detailed design drawings of each green showing contours, existing green size and proposed green size
This information will form part of the Member presentation that will be shown at the General Meeting scheduled for Tuesday, 28 May.
Members wishing to attend this meeting are asked to register at the following link, click here.
What is an Ordinary Resolution?
“Ordinary Resolution” means a resolution which is passed by a simple majority (50% + 1) of those Members who, being eligible to do so, vote on the resolution at a General Meeting of Members. Accordingly, if 100 Members attend and vote at the meeting, then for the resolution to be passed as an Ordinary Resolution, it needs votes in its favour from not less than 51 Members. Those Members that abstain from voting are not part of the calculation to determine the success or otherwise of the resolution.
[1] Neil Rolfe – Club Professional, Course Superintendent – Michael Hedger, Club Captain – Damian Maguire, Treasurer – David Blackshaw, President – Michael Rowan and David Warwick as Project Advisor.
5th April 2024
Living History – Golf Made Easy
The latest from Bruce Jones who notes:
As you would know Neil Marks, Alex Marks’ son was a member here for many years and donated the Marks Family Trophy for many years . He passed away recently and I re-read his book, “ Tales from the Locker Room’
He was a very funny man and I was in fits of Laughter when I read his last section which is a booklet in itself title “ Golf Made easy”
I wanted to share it with members of the club and through Darcy Cluff, a long time family friend of Neil and his wife Kay, we have received Kay’s permission to publish this booklet on our web site.
She expressed absolute delight at the opportunity and said she knew Neil would have been thrilled too.
The book was originally released in 1993, so for younger members it might hold some good history.
As a ‘teaser’ I am quoting a few of the reviews appearing in the introduction by a number of famous people:
“Over the years I have seen all the great golfers, from Old Tom Morris to Noel Ratcliffe, but never have I met a man with the theories of this author” Harry Vardon
“Marks has done for golf what Pontius Pilate did for Justice” New York Times
“This is not just another golf book, it is an adventure story. A story sweeping in its grandeur, majesty and power played out in such exotic locations as Mona Vale, Massey Park and Marrickville” Barbara Cartland
“The best book I ever read’ Mike Tyson
“I sincerely hope all my competitors read this book’ Greg Norman
“This book was most informative. I especially enjoyed the section playing the sand iron’ Saddam Hussein
“I juts couldn’t put it down” Trainee Helicopter Pilot.
