Many members will be aware that the Board has been working for some time on producing a masterplan to guide the golf club in its investments in maintenance and improvements over the next 10 to 20 years. With invaluable help from club member and experienced architect Terry Graham, the masterplan has been developed to a point where its main features can be presented to the membership for discussion.
The masterplan brings together many of the projects and improvements that have been considered for a long time, and includes many standard maintenance items.
Most of the major cost items will require Council Development consent. To seek individual DAs for each item is extremely time-consuming, so one of the key ideas behind the masterplan is that we present to Kiama Council a “staged development plan” which, if approved, will allow us to move ahead with a whole series of projects without tying us down to specific timing or priorities.
Many of the projects will be dependent on grant funding. The catch is that most grants require a DA (which in turn necessitates a variety of consultant reports – environmental, planning, engineering, landscape design, geotechnical and survey). If we can secure a blanket approval for a whole series of projects in a large masterplan, we can save ourselves time and money in the long run and we will be in a much better position to apply for grants.
In the short run, there will be very significant consultancy costs to be able to present the plan to Council.
Remember that we will not be locked into doing things in any order; we can choose what to do when and we will be able to delete projects if we wish to.
I urge you now to have a scan through the table of works below to get a better idea of what is on the drawing board. I want to have a couple of consultation days with staff, volunteers and the general membership over the coming days and am looking forward to getting everyone’s feedback.
Consultation Days (lounge/verandah):
Staff, Volunteers and Women’s Committee: Friday 25th November 4.00 pm
Members: Sunday 27th November 4.00 pm
Phil Hahn
President
| Project | Details |
| Relocate 4th Green north, build new practice green & relocate 1st tee north. | Lease of Club Jamberoo Land ends 30 September 2025. |
| Build Greens Nursery near works compound. | To facilitate repairs to greens as necessary. |
| Rebuild, modify 13th, 16th & 18th Green to address excessive slope. | |
| Expand 8th Green to add more depth. | |
| Build new 9th Tee to the east. | |
| Renovate or replace 4th Bridge. | |
| Raise 6th Bridge to ease flood impacts. | |
| Raise 16th bridge east end. | |
| Build path new 4th Green to 5th Tee. | |
| Upgrade all pathways to either concrete or Geohex. | |
| Modify or replace Causeway across Hyams Creek between 8th & 10th . | |
| Rebuild Retaining Wall 16th . | |
| Potentially connect 2nd Dam with 16th/17th Dams. | |
| Dredge cleanout drainage canals, dams, remove weeds and install water fountains in main dams. Replace, upgrade ring mains to all greens. | |
| Tree and vegetation management works | Removal of undesirable or inappropriate species, planting new trees, riparian zone weed eradication, improvement and management of clear tee/fairway chutes, address root invasion & shading issues. |
| Club House Precinct Works. | Install Glass Stacker Doors between members lounge and Deck, Replace deck area blinds with louvre windows or similar. Extension west so building can accommodate kitchen, stores, cleaner, disabled toilet, club professional, improvements to bar, shop starters area and office. Construct new convenient cart storage facility. |
| Entrance & Parking. | Relocate service road to works compound, reseal car park, improve stormwater drainage, rebuild car park retaining wall, improve waste management, upgrade car park entrance. |
| 17 Allowrie Street Rental Property. | Address access issues to premises. |
| Works Compound. | Upgrade amenities, fuel storage, construct carts washdown & cleaning facility. |
Good to see the long term planning. Would love to see some discussion on the 150sq. metres of perfectly maintained grass behind the 16th green, seems we could use some of that area for the betterment of the course. Regards Bruce Byers
Just a quick question under the heading of Tree and Vegetation Management works regarding the fairway chutes.
Can the existing trees that OVERHANG the fairways ( left hand branches on 11 th hole) or fairway chutes ( left hand side all the way down 5 th hole), be trimmed for the safety and fairness of play of all people using our course?
I have been informed that these will have to go to council before any pruning or trimming.
Surely we don’t have to get permission to do gardening ( ie trimming of hedges etc) around the course.
We are not totally cutting trees down, just doing maintenance as required.
In regards to tree and vegetation management works, I would just like to ask one question.
Do we have to have permission to trim any trees that overhang fairways ( ie on 11th or the fairway chute on 5 th hole) from council?
Information that’s being circulated is that this is so.
But, do we have to get permission to trim our hedges and maintain other vegetation?
I thought that surely maintenance was at the discretion of the green staff who have been doing a fantastic job through very trying times and is a credit to them for producing a fantastic course for their members and visitors by presenting it in a manner to encourage new members and visitors by producing a difficult, but fair course for them to enjoy their games.