McLeans Island Golf Club
Newsletter - July 2025

President's Report

Last Saturday was another successful AGM for the Club. Great to see a good turnout of members attended our 56^th AGM at the Clubhouse on 28^thJune.  We had a full Agenda to work through and 2 Special Resolution notices to be voted on. (1) New Constitution, (2) Approval for Executive to exceed spending limit of $50k for the purchase of a new mower, these were both successfully approved by the members. There have been no changes to our Executive of Chris Collins President, Warren Davis Mens Captain, Sue Collins Ladies Captain and Bevan Harden, Steve Pope, Haley Evans, Bryan Easton and Ken Buchanan.  Non Executive roles for Kevin Cameron and Steve Lamb will continue involvement with the Club Operations in Finance Planning, Reports and Governance reviews. As mentioned at the AGM and in my annual report - thank you to all of the Executive, staff and member volunteers for their work at or on behalf of our Club. Without your support we would not be the Club we are today.

The Irrigation Project is running just ahead of schedule with 10 holes almost completed although the wet cold days recently have slowed our progress. Please remember to play around and away from the work areas and with all going to plan we should have topsoil and grass seed applied to the work areas end of August/mid September just in time for Spring growth.

With the high number of golfers on course these days can I please remind you all to ensure you arrive in time to check in, do your warm up and tee off on or before your booked tee time.

Pace of play also needs to be well managed to ensure the field continues to flow.

Perhaps for the Spring and Summer season we will look at introducing putting together golfing 4’s especially on Saturday afternoons and Sundays to maximise course bookings and keep a steady pace of play. A lot of Clubs do this now - when you book in as a 2 player group you may be put with another 2 players to make up a 4. We will notify via our booking and Facebook sites when we introduce this.

Getting the messages out to our members and visitors is very important. We use email for direct contact with members for Club updates and information. We also promoted this info via Facebook. If you are not signed in yet it would be great to have you all on there. Log in and click to follow our page, at present we have 850 followers for our site.  www.facebook.com/McLeansIslandGolfClub

Stay warm and dry if you can! – enjoy your golfing

Chris Collins, President

Some challenging and very cold conditions for the irrigation team over the last month but they've made great progress to date

Captain's comment

Hello everyone and welcome to July, typically the coldest Month. Good news is that every Saturday you play golf gets us a week closer to Spring!

Good numbers at the AGM although less than 40 hardy golfers played in the drawn teams format. My group was third off, so by the time we got in the clubhouse was mostly full, and judging by the chat coming from the tables, it seems that a good time was had by all. I hope some of you at least made a new friend. Look out for the next drawn team event on closing day.

Top dog this weekend, then Head shield matches alongside Match of the Day on the 12th and 19th, finishing the month off with an American Foursome. Inter club is starting in another month. Anyone with a handicap up to 24 that would like to represent our club at courses all over town is welcome. Talk to me anytime, or let Monty know you are interested and I'll find you.

Reminder for the Winter we are playing one club length placing on any Fairway -not in the rough, a mud ball in the rough is just bad luck. However, free dropping from all the earthworks, fairway and rough, and that includes wheel/track marks. You drop, from knee height, at the NEAREST point of COMPLETE relief, that will vary depending if you are left or right handed, complete relief means your feet are clear of the condition too.

Please keep sanding those divots, more important than ever in the wet. Pitch marks on greens are showing up too. Also sloooooooow play is a bug bear of many golfers. If there are multiple groups stacked up behind you and two empty fairways in front, then clearly your group need to pick up the pace.

Some good tips are:

• Move to your ball and choose your club while someone else is preparing for their shot.
• Move off the green smartly, once two have holed out they can move on
• Most importantly, play ready golf, don't worry about honour on the tee, first person get your shot away, plenty of time to mark your card while the others hit.

We seem to be missing the Rushbridge trophy. This is one of the mixed events, and has not been played for a number of years. Please have a check of your trophy cabinet/mantelpiece at home, we'd love to be able to present it to this years winners!

Enjoy your golf as best you can in these conditions, and I'll see you out there,

Captain Warren.

One of many frosty mornings last month. 

From the golf shop

It’s been a month of mixed conditions out on the course, with the weather shifting between chilly, overcast days and milder spells of sunshine. Temperatures dipped into the low single digits at times, with the occasional shower and gusty breeze, but we also enjoyed some clear skies, giving us great windows of golfing weather.

As expected, customer turnout followed the weather. Sunny days brought out strong numbers of members and casual players, while cold and wet days were quieter. That said, our regulars stayed dedicated, and our Thursday and Saturday Match of the Day participation remained steady.

In the shop, sales were a little quieter this month. Understandably with the colder weather, but range balls remained popular, with plenty of players still putting in time on the practice fairway.

While you’re out enjoying the course, a gentle reminder to take a sand bucket with you and use it to repair divots. And when you're on the green, please take a moment to fix any pitch marks you come across. These small efforts make a big difference in keeping the course in top shape for everyone.

As we head further into winter, thank you all for your continued support and enthusiasm. Here’s to more good days on the green ahead!

– Monty