| Dear Members,
How are you coping with Change? As a society we have undergone a massive upheaval in the last few months. It has rattled our cages at all levels, requiring personal sacrifice, compliance with government guidelines, and limited access to family and friends. At a local level here at Mona Vale Golf Club, the rules around our operation have seen dramatic changes for members, staff and visitors alike. At MVGC we have seen unprecedented demand for golf from members and public, combined with shortening daylight time, and restrictions in place around social distancing which restrict our ability to meet this demand. It is important to note, under the terms and conditions of our lease, we are required to maintain access for public players outside of competition play. Currently we have capacity for 150 playing 18 holes in groups of 2 on Wednesdays and Saturdays. This will reduce until the shortest day on June 21st. The 10 Hole competition initiative increases access by around 30 on Wednesday and Saturday. However, putting this in context, we have 280 members trying to book on Wednesday and Saturday. Without adapting and changing our old practices, the net result as daylight reduces will be; fewer playing spots in competition, growing waiting lists, and naturally enough, frustration when we miss out on a game on the booking sheets of choice. Management and the Board are facing logistical problems relating to access to booking sheets, a stressed booking process, management of the waitlist, equitable access and meeting membership expectations. Thus, we appreciate that these changes test your adaptability, flexibility, tolerance and patience. Thank you, we do value your cooperation and understanding. The following points summarize the steps that have been taken, and will be introduced to satisfy demand. Initial response: 1. Measures were taken to increase the tee time availability to members at the expense of the public and social groups including:
2. Measures to manage the waitlist with the introduction of the Priority Booking System for Wednesday and Saturday. Secondary response: 3. The booking system through MiClub became overloaded, problematic and frustrating for members and management. To address this problem and give equal access for all members, we have introduced the MiClub lottery system. Booking using this mechanism commenced on the 8th May 2020. Details of this operation were communicated on Wednesday 6th May. Please study this to avoid disappointment while booking. Latest Initiative: Reduced Competition Games – Commences Monday 11th May 2020 While some 7 and 5 day members have the opportunity to play 4 times a week in competition, there are many members, who despite being in these categories, through work commitments and other circumstances can only play 2 days a week for example. With the difficulties of high demand and reduced capacity on the sheet, many of them are not able to book more than once every 2 weeks. This is not equitable and has already generated dissatisfaction and concern. 4. As a result, the Board has made a decision to temporarily modify access to play in competition as follows: *7 day members (male and female) will be able to book in 3 competitions each week only. *5 day members (male and female) will be able to book in 2 competitions each week only While this is restrictive for some members who currently play more frequently in competition, it is expected that the result will increase availability of tee times for many members who currently are missing golfing opportunities despite all the changes we have introduced. We would ask that if members currently playing in the busiest competitions, who are flexible with playing days, that they may consider playing on the less busy comp days . This would also reduce stress on the time sheets. Whilst encouraged, currently this is optional. You can be assured that the frequency of play will be monitored by Management and the Match Committee while this restriction is in place. The monitoring of the sheets will commence on Monday 11th May. If your name appears on the booking sheet more than the allotted allowances, you will receive an email notification. You will have 24 hours to remove the booking. The seven-day period of bookings will commence from Monday to Sunday. Please review your bookings for next week, if you have exceeded the modified allowance and remove yourself as soon as possible. 5. Members playing socially within public tee times Currently some members are playing socially in public tee times. As mentioned above, the Club has an obligation within its lease to provide a percentage of tee times for public play. Members are only permitted to play in these times, if accompanied by a paying guest or paying a green fee. (Detailed in the fixture book, page 111) During this period of high demand, any member wishing to play socially must call the Proshop on the day. You cannot play socially without checking in with the Proshop, even if the tee appears to be vacant.
Other changes that have been introduced include the use of the MiClub mobile phone App for scoring. Scoring App Advantages: 1) Decreases the need for the Proshop to manually process cards 2) It will reduce the need to enter your scores at the terminals 3) This app also gives you GPS function and live scoring 4) It supplies start and finish times which will assist monitoring speed of play 5) Access to R&A golf rules via the App is available 6) It records stats for your last 20 rounds and has current handicap display Thus, while the fluid situation we have found ourselves in produces many challenges, it also encourages us to expand our acceptance of new technology, increase efficiencies in operations and support the longer term changes that will benefit Mona Vale Golf Club. I seek your support to “give it a go”, and like all of us old dogs, learn new tricks for the benefit of all. We will continue to monitor the changes in government guidelines with regards to playing in 4’s, aspects of social distancing guidelines and attempt to do our very best to accommodate the needs and expectations of all our membership.
Graeme MacDougal Club Captain |
