The Board are preparing a further update to the Course Rejuvenation project it would be beneficial if Members made themselves familiar with the Explanatory Matters to the Course Redesign Presentation provided to those attending the meetings and also posted to the website on 13 June.
Explanatory Matters to the Course Redesign Presentation
The project in 2023 to renew our tees and greens has been a long and difficult journey. The work up to 1937 is well chronicled and the complexity began in 1946 when part of the course was earmarked for possible resumption to accommodate increased traffic. Then in 1965 the Club received notice from the authorities that our frontages to Mahers Road and Pennant Hills Road would be resumed. For the next 30 odd years, certainly to 1996, successive Boards operated in ambiguity where course development options were formed in response to potential resumption of land and where substantial work on tees and greens was generally deferred due to uncertainty of the outcome. Three course redesigns were completed in 1990, the first by President Paul Hendricks, another provided by Kel Nagle Cooper and a third commissioned by Tom Woolbank of Australian Golf Management[1]. The difficulty of the challenge before Paul as President and shared with other Directors during his nine-year tenure was facing this ever-present threat while desperately seeking solutions should not be underestimated. His subsequent election to Life Membership was well earned.
By the AGM in 1996 the Board was able to report that changes were relatively minor and that the redesign of the 5th hole had been completed and construction about to begin. The result is that we are currently playing golf on what is known as “Course # 5”, completed in 1935 and renewed immediately after the war in 1949 under a committee led by Harry Small then modified in 1996 to accommodate resumption of land on the Southern and Western edges of the course. At this time the problems were listed as scarcity of water, drainage and the aging conditions of our greens, matters that occupied the mind of Richard Kirkby from his appointment in 1994 until his departure some 28 years later.
Subsequent Boards have commissioned redesigns; Jim Wilcher (Golf by Design) completed a Master Plan late in 2011 that was amended and discussed by Boards in the ensuing years. No action was taken, probably due to the radical nature of the plan that, among other things, saw the 18th hole as a finishing Par 4, the 9th hole as a dogleg Par 4 as well as shifting of the machinery shed and works area to where the toilet block is near the 14th hole. Some variations of the plan were put forward but nothing much seems to have been discussed past 2014. The estimated cost of the Wilcher plan was said to be in the region of $7 million, today it would be $10 or $11 million. Not surprisingly, attention turned to extension and refurbishment of the clubhouse ultimately costing $7.3 million. Work on the greens was deferred.
The twin constraints of limited land and our inability to remove trees have prevented extensive action. What has been done has been largely about water, shade, tees, greens and bunkers, where greens and bunkers were the primary focus of course rejuvenation. The Club is now at a point where we can no longer defer work on our greens without facing the unwelcome prospect of playing on substandard greens and from bunkers that are unable to withstand weather events. The inevitable result is the need to close the course in times of storms and heavy rainfall. We are the last of the PACK clubs to undertake the necessary work of green restoration and course rejuvenation.
The tree issue is a serious impediment to an otherwise unfettered approach to course redesign; the current ratio of new plantings to old, imposed by Council is 6 new for 1 removal.
My newsletters of recent times have provided details of the engagement of Phil Jacobs as our architect and the process we are undertaking to redesign our course with emphases on renewal of our greens and tees as well as our objective to reduce the incidence of balls on to Pennant Hills Road, the M2 and Copeland Road. My most recent update described the concept designs providing for alternative outcomes and although subject to ongoing assessment, it indicated the likely result.
There were two options that emerged:
Simple solution
The simple option was either no change or the traditional response of converting 3rd Hole to a par 3 and a par 4 as suggested in the Wilcher Master Plan. Unfortunately, this produced two soft holes not in keeping with the existing character and slope rating of the course and was likely to exacerbate balls landing on Pennant Hills Road rather than act to prevent them. It did provide an additional spare hole but reduced the length of the course and overall complexity of the layout.
Complex Integration of Change
A more complex solution required a series of integrated changes:
- The 3rd hole to reduce to a Par 4 with the tee moved forward and lowered
- The 7th to extend to Par 5 by moving the green back to just beyond the 4th green
- The 4th green to move back with the tee back in the SW corner of the site adjacent to the existing 3rd green and the hole to angle slightly toward but beyond the existing 11th green
- Moving the 12th tee forward and reducing 12th hole to Par 4
- Extending 11th hole to a Par 5 by moving the green out to an “L” shaped green shared with the new 3rd hole green.
These changes maintained a par 71 course without unduly changing the core of the course #5 and seemed an elegant solution accepted by the majority of those who attended the two review sessions. However our field trial of the proposal identified dangers and risks not contemplated in the design. These were mainly in long high balls by big hitters to the 11th green shared with the 3rd hole and over the new forward tee for the 12th hole. The current view of the Technical Committee is that the risks imposed by the integrated solution outweigh the advantages of maintaining a par 71 Member’s course.
Likely Recommendation for Change
The only major change to our course is likely to be the shortening of the 3rd hole to a Par 4 for general play from the white tees for Men and retaining the Par 5 from the existing championship tee. Providing a Par 70 for general play and Par 71 from the championship tee. The white tee and Women’s tee will be bought forward and lowered considerably. Other changes will be increased green sizes and small directional changes to tees incorporating additional length where we can. Otherwise we retain what is known as the “1937 course # 5”.
The Detailed Design of Greens and Tees
This process is well underway, and Phil Jacobs will be on course later in June to validate his thoughts and to test the drawings on site. Members can expect a presentation of detailed green designs as soon as it is practical to do so.
We are blessed with an astonishing undulation, a clever and varied layout of holes, beautiful tree plantings within a delightful garden surround so to have tried various ways to improve this without success is not surprising. Bunker redesign, relocation of some bunkers and removal of others will provide visual improvement and lower operating costs.
Financial
The Board is in the process of completing the Business Plan to provide discipline to the project. It is likely to require expenditure of around $4.5 million over the next three years. Our initial thought was $3.6 million plus a contingency, regretfully current inflationary pressures demand a reassessment. The total cost will be more than $4.5million when capital equipment and other expenditure made during the concept stage is added in. It is proposed to expense some items as we go and to treat capital equipment in the normal way but for the sake of a conservative figure, we might expect a capitalised value of around $5 million for the project. That represents an amortised charge or a write-down of $250,000 annually against our profit and loss account over the next 20 years.
Indications are that with normal trading outcomes and historic levels of internally generated cash surpluses together with existing bank arrangements, the project could be completed as planned. However, there is no margin of error and no fall back in the event of the unexpected. It would be unwise to proceed on these lines relying on extension of bank debt and serendipitous trading to survive unexpected variances and overruns.
The possibility of an issue of debentures to Members was put forward during the review stage and the Board has seriously considered that strategy. It is proposed to issue an Information Memorandum inviting Members who might qualify as “Sophisticated Investors” to subscribe for subordinated notes with tenures of two and three years. The interest rates on these notes will meet market rates and offer a saving to the Club in the order of 2% over the existing cost of bank debt.
The Board has examined similar offerings at other clubs and the results are encouraging, one Pack club raised over $2 million within 6 weeks of putting the offer out. Another club uses member notes to cover short term annual operating shortfall in preference to bank overdraft. The major benefit to PHGC is that it provides a capital cushion to meet the unexpected, reduces reliance on bank debt and provides ample liquidity to the overall funding of the project. Details are expected to be finalised before the end of July and the offer opened in August.
The first soil will be turned in November of this year when hole 16A will be rebuilt according to USGA Green Construction Standards.
Michael Rowan
PRESIDENT
[1] Golf in the Pennant Hills District, Ron Harper 2000, pp160-168
Click here – President’s Letter May 2023
Click here – PACK Slope Rating Table
Click here – Member Presentation Notes
Click here – Construction Information
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