YMMA January ’24 Update

Hi Members,

A Happy New Year from the YMMA Committee. The committee are looking forward to this year’s challenges of which there will be plenty I’m sure with the Clayton Report and Master Plan out now. We have had one committee meeting this year that went for around the 3-hour mark so lots of discussion on a range of topics as detailed below.

Yering Meadows Pennant Season

Pennant kicked off last week for the Yarra Courses Senior Pennant Team at Eastern Golf Club. Unfortunately, a win eluded us (lost 7/1.5) but we had several very close matches. The Division 5 men’s pennant team has successfully recruited 4 new players to the existing group, who will add great depth to the top end of the squad, Joel, Scott, Ryan and Nick (pro shop). They are all great guys, so if you come across them, please introduce yourself and make them welcome. The highest handicap amongst this group is 3. We hope to provide regular updates on each team’s progress throughout the season. Yering Meadows are hosting Division 5 on March 17th so please come up and support the team.

Social Mixed Events

Our Social Mixed events kick off on February 25th. Look out for the flyer and entry form on notice boards at the club. The first event will be a Mixed Ambrose Event to start the year. We have 11 Mixed Events scheduled this year including a couple of Board Events (President’s Mixed and Heather Johnson). All the dates are in the handbook (recently released) and online in the syllabus tab.

Yering Meadows Course Master Plan – Clayton Report

The YMMA Committee met with Mike Clayton, John Sloan and Lucy Jiang on Wednesday 24th  January to get a first look at the draft course master plan. The meeting went on for approximately 2 hours and Mike walked us through his vision and thoughts and what course changes they are proposing.

Their masterplan for Yering Meadows aims to balance challenge and enjoyment for all golfers by addressing elements of the course, including bunkers, tee locations, artificial mounding, green design, vegetations and tree management. The plan is detailed and deals with all aspects of the course layout.

Stage 1 plans to address the more pressing bunker issues as well as some vegetation management aspects. Our Levy funds will contribute to fixing up the initial bunkers items whilst our course superintendent will deal with the vegetation items. We will have the proposed design on a board in the clubrooms for all to see and when Mike comes to present, please ask questions or speak to one of the committee members in the meantime. Whilst not all of the committee members were in attendance those that were are very impressed by the detail and consideration given throughout the document. The committee has endorsed the draft plan.

As stated previously we have organized Mike Clayton and John Sloan to present to members on the 14th of February from 6:00pm onwards.

Next steps,

  • Load masterplan onto website and visual changes up on a board in the clubhouse.
  • Mike / John to present to members on 14th February 6:00pm (Wednesday evening)
  • Stage 1 commencement date (as early as February) and what this means for members.
  • Stage 2 detail to be considered and then work out a timeline.

At this time, I’d like to thank Lucy and the family for getting the course review completed to draft stage. It’s been sometime since the levy was collected, changes taking place but considering the weather conditions (floods and rain interruptions), superintendent and grounds staff changes the owners have done well in getting this course master plan in place. We look forward to the ongoing investment into improving the course for members now and into the future.

YMGC Subscription 2024-2025

YMGC Management are changing the yearly subscription timing from 1st July 2024 to 28th February 2025 and from then on it will be yearly subscription. 2025 will see a slight increase with CPI coming into play.

Bag and Buggy Storage

We have had many questions regarding buggy storage and now that we are not charging our Lithium batteries, the charge out rates will be adjusted. YMGC Management will work out a daily rate and for those paying the Electric Buggy (EB) rate they will be reimbursed via their house accounts. This will happen at subscription renewal time.

Course Update – Tim Vegt

Tim and his crew have spent a lot of time on the Nursery course over the last week or so preparing for the Yarra Courses Senior Amateur Event on the 22nd of January. Most would have seen the spiking being done to greens to try and get the water into them and he is having some success. You will see some dead and dry patches on some greens. They are trying to stay on top of these through watering and adding some granular fertilizer. They will be applying some iron to moss affected greens and surrounds so you may see some dark patches appearing but won’t last for too long.

Tim has had some queries regarding fairways and the scalping being seen. This is mainly due to the growth they are seeing from recent weather conditions. They are applying a growth regulator to slow it down. Holes 19-27 will see some catch up work in the next few weeks.

Match Committee

We will be forming a Match Committee this year to manage and control all aspects of our decision making for playing conditions and competitions. Members will be Men’s Captain (Ian Muntz), Ladies Captain (Pam Spencer), Stuart Robertson (Committee member) and Leigh Deagan (Director of Golf).

Regards,

YMMA Committee.