Member News

- March 28,

2021

General News

Please note that submissions are welcome and the email address has changed to chuck.dandy@aol.com After a significant hiatus resulting from a lack of creative juices we are back in action. On March 25 the board assembled via Zoom with some very interesting developments discussed. The 2020 Financials have been prepared and forwarded to the Audit Committee. The financial situation of the course can now be regarded as stable. Membership continues to grow and has now exceeded 320. The restaurant will begin opening on March 26 and will be open 11am to 5 pm Wednesday through Sunday for the near future. The course set up will return to normal starting April. This will return the white tees to the prepared areas and end the use of mats. The new greens mower has been put into use and it employs more blades on the reels to give a better cut. Technology will once again make our course better. The new sprayer has been put into service and the white puffs serve as tracer lines to ensure proper coverage. Not a defect in operation! Over the next month there will be over-seeding and heavy fertilization of areas that have suffered from overuse during the winter. Anyone who has been on the course can identify these areas around greens and tee boxes. The greens crew will not be roping off these areas, but that does not mean they could not use a break. When approaching greens and tee boxes please be aware of areas that have seen exceptional use over the winter and take a few extra steps to help the over-seeding take root. One of the aspects that makes Cowichan GCC unique is the plethora of trees but like everything they require management. In order to assure there is appropriate sunlight penetration and air flow to ensure health grass, increase safety, improve sight lines and enhance available panoramic views and reduce cleanup requirements we have begun a program to optimize the benefit of the trees to our course. The first step was the pruning of the trees around the clubhouse and 18 green hopefully this will reduce future damage to the clubhouse roof. The program will continue with a selective harvest behind 13 tee and between the left side of 12 fairway and the property line with the intent to provide views of Cowichan Bay and help the lower tee with more sun light. Finally there will be a selective harvest between 10 green and Cowichan Bay Road which will increase air flow and reduce the heat stress on the area around 10 green. A side benefit of this work is that it will be revenue positive and expectation is that the contribution will be significant. The work will be scheduled to have a minimal impact on our enjoyment of the course, however, it is possible that we will need to make minor accommodations and request that all players respect works and safety measures. This is an ongoing program and more information will be provided directly through emails and the website. We continue to make progress on the roof replacement and have directed an executive committee to make arrangements to proceed in 2021. In the foreseeable future we will proceed with a Zoom AGM. More information will be forthcoming shortly.

Captain’s Notes

The following dates have been established for 2021 Ladies morning start: 7 April Men’s Night start: 14 April Will be tee times starting at 2:30 PM and run till 5:00 PM Senior Morning start: 15 April Sign-up sheet is at back of Golf Shop Cowichan Open: 3-4 July Club Championship: 28-29 August The idea of an individual match play ladder is still being considered, if interested please mention this to the Pro Shop so that interest can be determined.

Golf Shop News

The golf course continues to be utilized heavily and we ask that if you are not going to make your tee time to please make sure you cancel so that we can accommodate other members who would like to play. We also remind you to follow our protocols as far as pace of play. That starts right from the first tee when we hit our tee shots once the group in front of us is at the first green and keep that pace around the course. Excited to have Scott returning on a more regular basis along with Andy who will be available for lessons and club fits on Monday and Tuesday and will be in the shop Thursday mornings. New inventory continues to arrive as the supply chain dictates.

Condolences

Our condolences to Maartje Reimer and family on the loss of Ray. Ray was a great club supporter in his role as Seniors Captain. We also offer our condolences the Eriksen family on the loss of Ron. Ron was a long time member.

Congratulations

Holes-in-One Jon Rutledge #6 March 6 Ian Mcmahon #13 March 5

Members’ Area