General Managers Update
Like many, I am pleased we are past the shortest day and the spring horizon can almost be seen. Certainly, the past month’s dismal and often wet weather has not helped anyone’s golf scores, but the Club continues to offer a quality experience to members and visitors.
In this newsletter we see the continued growth of our Club in both members and sponsor support. Overall, we are travelling well as we close in on our financial year end of 31st August. We will be working on our 2024 budget including next year’s subscriptions in the next few weeks.
Out on the course, Ricky and his team of Naomi and Will continue to present the course in great condition. The contribution from our volunteer rough mowers (Dave Black, Dean Ross and John Dewsbury) makes a huge difference. Not only do they do great work, but they also allow Ricky and his team to concentrate on the specialised aspects. Our other course volunteer, Tony Orpwood, has cleared drains, helped dig for irrigation leaks and removed old stumps with his trusty digger. Comments from visitors are always complimentary. The planning for our course spring programme has begun with the benefits of last year’s work (fairway scarifying and reseeding, tree removal, tree root cutting) very apparent.
We continue to be very proud of our Clubhouse, both its look and the team that provides the great quality food and drink. An update on our Clubhouse Team is in this newsletter.
As I have mentioned before, please contact me if you have any questions, comments or suggestions around our Club activities.
Rod Templleton
General Manager
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Out on the Course
The winter months are a time where the course work is reduced but plenty is still being done with machinery maintenance, tiding up around the sheds, pruning trees as well as the team taking well deserved leave.
The greenkeeping team spent autumn preparing for winter by clearing our drains (with help from Tony Orpwood and his digger), checking drain grates and lids, and servicing the pumps in the Bottle Lake swamp that pump into the Styx River. All this work has resulted in the course handing recent wet weather well.
One thing that is happening concerns our bunkers. We have taken delivery of new bunker sand as the bunkers have not been “topped up’ for some years. Also, Tony Orpwood is helping Ricky reshape bunkers on holes 2 and 8 so the bunker rake can better prepare the sand.
Members will have noticed the new practice green flags. They certainly help with the seeing the holes and getting the balls out. You may not have noticed but we also replaced all the cups on our greens – stabilises the flags for those who like to leave the flag in.
One initiative we started in June was our “Divot Patrol”. Every golf club has issues with unrepaired divots and pitch marks. No matter what signs are displayed, what newsletters are sent, or what words are said, all clubs have this ongoing issue. While we will keep reminding players of the need to repair our course, we have formed the patrol from the members who volunteered. Each fortnight we will send out a team of five to repair tees, fairways, rough and greens over nine holes. The Club will shout refreshments at the end of the session.
Our first Divot Patrol - Howard, Jayne, Tony, Alistair & Tony getting instructions from Ricky.
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Men’s Report
We are in the grips of a strange winter, with a dearth of snow & frosts - 2023 being evidence of climate change. Recent rainfall along with our peaty soils make for heavy conditions during winter. Despite the challenges, our greenkeeping staff do a superb job in presenting the course and surrounds for members and guests’ enjoyment.
Inside the Clubhouse, a big thank-you goes out to our bar and catering staff. They greet us with a smile and provide service that is second to none. Shirley and her team provide an assortment of top-quality fresh food that can be grabbed on-the go or enjoyed leisurely in the clubhouse. Nikki and Phil have a great knack in knowing your favourite tipple.
Club events
Over the past quarter, traditional events on our calendar have been contested. Recently the Brooker Cup was won by Colin Hight and Warren Grey. In a tightly contested final they prevailed on the 19th.
Our Club Championships were played in the late autumn with strong fields competing in all grades with the titles taken out by:
- Senior – Cooper Moore,
- Intermediate – Jeramie Neaves,
- Junior – Dan McCormick,
- Junior B – Jonathon Turner
- Super Seniors – Mike Kelly.
Our team won the Canterbury Golf Champion of Champions tournament at the Pegasus Golf Club in May. The team was Senior Cooper Moore, Intermediate Mark Roberts and Junior: Dan McCormick. Waitikiri won the team gross event with 94 points and Cooper Moore won the senior stableford with 41 points. A great day for the club
Top Dog for July is Howard Duncan. Prior to that, Jim Goddard was Top Dog.
A new event on the calendar is the Tri-Series Challenge being played on the holiday weekends of Kings Birthday, Matariki and Labour Day. It has been well supported and feedback is positive, particularly around meeting fellow club members by mixing up the field.
Inter-Club
The premier competitions being Woodward, Blank and Simon Cups are just around the corner. Trials have been held and squads are to be selected. Once again, Tony Thomas is managing the Woodward team & is assisted by Simon Marshall and Blair Franklin.
I wish all members happy golfing as we enter spring conditions.
Stuart Turner
Men’s Club Captain
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9 Hole Report
One of the big achievements this quarter was our success in getting through to the semi-finals for the 9 hole men and ladies’ interclub tournament. A big congratulations to those involved, namely Donalda Barr, Pat Barwick, Chris Dyer, Sally Fairweather, Karen Harland, Bernice Hey, Vicki Hight, Paula Kenny, Melanie Sanders, Sue Shannons and Sue Talbot. Well done ladies.
A tremendous turnout for the 9 hole Mixed Tournament on Monday 22 nd May. Approximately 70 players took part, and a great day was had by all. Several of our ladies played well enough to take out some of the top placings and go home with some very exciting prizes. We were very thankful for our Green’s Team who had the course looking great even after a few days of considerable rain.
The odd titbit on some of our ladies:
- Sylvia Browne and her husband Dave are now back from their exciting trip to the Masters Golf tournament in Thailand. Sylvia says there was a big group from the Waimairi GC and Sylviaand Dave made up the rest of the group from here in Christchurch. I am sure if anyone wasinterested in maybe going next time the Browne’s would be only too happy to answer any questions you might wish to ask.
- Our poor Vicki Hight is on the mend now after a very unfortunate fall while holidaying in Australia. We hope to see her back playing in the not too distant future. Although she cannotplay, she has still been turning up after our game on a Wednesday, not just for coffee, butready to help out whenever needed. Really appreciate all your help Vicki.
- The group of new members are coming along in leaps and bounds.
I am pretty sure we are going to see some very good players amongst this new lot. Comments from a few of thenewbies - they love the course, really appreciate the help and guidance given from our seniormembers when out on the course playing on a Wednesday and are forever grateful to our Professional Steve for his continued guidance after all having had lessons from him.
As we are now into winter golf many of our players disappear off to the sun hence starting a six week Winter Madness Trophy this week. Good luck to all those taking part.
Happy times to all those off on holiday to places all over - France, Scotland, Fiji, London, Italy, Sunshine Coast, USA, Rarotonga and must not forget Fairlie (don’t know if you will come back with a suntan from there, Karen!!).
Happy Winter golfing to you all from the 9 Hole Group.
Pat Barwick
9 Holer Convenor
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Women's Report
The recent calendar has been very busy with Interclub matches, Club Champs, the Waitikiri Women's Teams Event and our Pink Ribbon Fundraiser.
Congratulations to our Club Champ winners Chris Marple (Senior), Fay McCarthy (Intermediate) and Lynley Thompson (Junior). It was disappointing that Covid removed Naomi Wallace and Nicci Bryne from the competition.
Interclub has continued well into May. Two of our three teams, the Silver and the Midweek Fours, made it to the finals.
Team managers Pam Ellis, Kathryn O'Donnell and Jen De Boer did a great job of mustering players and ensuring that all events ran smoothly. I am sure that everyone who competed enjoyed the experience.
The Waitikiri Women Teams Event was held on Thursday 20th April with 24 teams of four competing.
The Committe received much positive feedback from players with the catering, prizes, table decorations, raffles and the course all received favourable comments. Many thanks to all who contributed to making the event a success. $605 was raised in the raffles.
Our Pink Ribbon Fundraiser and Visitors Day was held on Tuesday 23rd May. For the second year we broke away from the traditional breakfast and had a Cupcake auction. $377 was raised in the auction, which branched out to include all types of baking and produce.
The Nancy McCormack Foursomes/Ella Casbolt Rose Bowl was held over two Tuesdays 16th and 23rd May. Winners were Lynley Thompson and Anne Hill. The Eileen Kay Salver, a single round stablefords competition was won by Jayne Coles with 36 stablefords on Saturday 24th June.
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Sutherland Vase Eclectic over 3 rounds winner Chris Marple 70.5 half net, Golden Oldies winner Jayne Coles 73 half net , RU Barbara Anglem 77.5 half net.
Player numbers have understandably reduced over the last couple of weeks due to the soggy dampconditions.
Anne Hill
Women’s Club Captain
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Welcome to New Members
While we, like most golf clubs, rode a Covid Wave with new members and more green fees, we are still welcoming plenty of new members as the pandemic’s impact declines. The Board is very comfortable that our current membership of less than 600 is a good balance to provide financial strength while allowing members easy access to our course.
While we have a significant number of new members, we have also had members resign so that the net increase continues to be manageable.
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Anderson, Matthew
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Anngow, Chris
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Appleton, Tom
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Askew, Darren
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Barakauskas, Andrius
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Blackhall, Daniel
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Bosecke, Corey
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Brandon, Alex
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Burrows, Mackenzie
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Cahill, David
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Cahill, Tahlor
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Calder, Anneka
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Calder, Craig
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Calder, Jonathon
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Chung, Won Hoe
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Cole, Ryan
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Constanti, Costa
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Cooper, Mike
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Cowan, Sam
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Crow, Tarn
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Drury, Jonathan
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Edmond, Jackie
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Enoka, Ben
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Foubister, Will
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Gale, Antony
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Geddis, Dylan
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Griffiths, Brian
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Guerin, Stuart
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Guzman Theis, Gustavo
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Hoskins, Mary-Louise
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Howie, Mitch
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Hutchinson, Deane
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Hyland, Jacob
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Ikin, Gary
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Jamieson, Tim
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Jo, Haidee
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Johnson, Mitchell
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Jordan, Ann
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Kehoe, David
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Kenny, Paula
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Kim, Joohong
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Kim, Nicole
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Kim, Sei
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Kim, Shio
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Kim, Soo Young
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Kim, Tony
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Kivi, Barb
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Lazor, Kim
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Lee, Oliver
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Lee, Ranhee
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Lee, Simon
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Loffhagen, Tom
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Macdonald, Michael
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Macleod, Malcolm
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Madden, Corbett
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Marshall, Rhys
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McKenna, Tony
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Nash, Adam
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Naylor, Jane
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Nicholson, Paul
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Norton, Greg
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Orczy, Keiko
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Palmer, Tim
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Park, Byung Mo
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Park, Francesca
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Pike, Jayden
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Pitlertpitak, Umpinee
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Read, George
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Reeves, Steven
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Righton, Mark
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Roberts, Nick
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Shearer, Ben
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Shearer, Paul
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Shim, Soo
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Support from Gaming Trusts
The Gaming Trusts distribute over $300m every year to community groups, including sports clubs. While we do not rely on this income, it does allow us to manage our financial position and has meant we have been able to invest in some significant aspects of our Club to improve the experience of members andvisitors.
In the 2023 we acknowledge the support from the following trusts:
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9 Hole Interclub Semi-Finals
Our team played Templeton GC at Waimari Beach GC on Monday, unfortunately a close loss 65 to 62. Well done Sue Shannon, Chris Dyer, Bernice Hey & Melanie Sanders.
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A Forest of Rhodo’s
The garden area beside the Clubhouse now has seven new rhododendrons donated by member Barry Alexander & his wife Maureen. They were planted by Handyman Extraordinaire Dave Black.
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 Canterbury Golf Champion of Champions
On Saturday 1st July we were finally able to present Cooper Moore, Mark Roberts & Dan McCormick with their medals & trophy for winning the Champion of Champions tournament at Pegasus GC earlier in June. Cooper also won the senior stableford.
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Our Pink Ribbon Tournament
Our Women's Group played their annual Pink Ribbon Tournament on Tuesday 23rd May. A great turnout on a great day. Pictured at the table of pink auction items is the Pink Auctioneer, Judy Clarkson.
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The 2023 Ogier Canadian Mixed Foursomes Tournament.
The tournament was held on Sunday 2nd July in fine but cold conditions with the course being heavy. The winners of the Ogier Trophy were Dean Hutchison and Rosalie Neaves. Overall winners were Jeramie Neaves (Waitikiri) and Bianca Laird (Bottle Lake) 72 Nett
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2023 Askew Memorial Trophy
The Askew Trophy Tournament was held on Sunday 28th May on a beautiful autumn day with a field of 36. Winners were Warren Grey & Jenny Rooney.
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Brooker Cup
This year’s competition's final was played in uncomfortable conditions on Saturday. Winners were Colin Hight & Warren Grey who prevailed over Simon Trower & Brent Davis on the 19th.
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Canterbury Golf Order of Merit/ Tour Championship
Great performances by members Cooper Moore, Kim Moggach & Aaron Forsyth at Clearwater GC on Sunday 30th April.
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Welcome to new Sponsor Partners
We are thrilled to welcome two new partners into our Sponsor Family. Both provide background to their business below and we encourage members to use their services or refer them to friends.
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Pool Tech
Pool Tech Christchurch offers professional spa and swimming pool services. Our team is highly trained in all aspects of spa pool care and value quality workmanship above all else. Pool Tech deliver and install spa pools often into hard to access areas while spa relocations around the Canterbury region are also a large part of our business. We repair and provide parts and covers for both swimming pools and spa pools.
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Southbase Construction
Southbase Construction is a 100% New Zealand-owned and operated national construction company, with a track record in the successful delivery of complex and large-scale projects across a range of market sectors including commercial, education, community, industrial, health, retail and industrial.
With operations nationwide and the ability to scale up or down as required, our services extend from pre-construction through to project delivery and asset management. Our commitment to innovation sees us embracing the latest industry-leading virtual reality and technology systems, utilising BIM technology to collaboratively front-foot and resolve potential issues and enabling clients to view their projects in 3D format throughout the design and construction phases – providing additional risk management and assurance of delivery excellence for all stakeholders.
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Our Clubhouse Team
The old adage "You wouldn't play golf without a 19th holds true when we have a 19th like ours. We are very proud of our refurbished Clubhouse, with more and more external functins being held here. Members and visitors also appreciate the surrounds and, as importantly, the great quality of the food and drink prepared and served by the Clubhouse Team.
Our Kitchen Team has changed as is to be expected, with Lauren and Mel leaving to continue their careers in law and education respectively. Our current Kitchen Team is our permanent staff Shirley (the Manager) and Amy, with our casual staff being Hunter, Bell, Dakota and Sandy.
Behind the bar, our long serving (excuse the pun) Nikki continues as manager of the Bar Team. On Sunday's, and on busy occasions, member Phill Kynock is also behind the bar.
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Team Contact Details
- Rod Templeton (General Manager)manager@waitikirigolf.co.nz /DD 383-1270 / 021 856 189
- Helen Satherley (Admin Manager) admin@waitikirigolf.co.nz / 383-1400 or DD 383-1128
- Steve Moye (Professional) waitikirigolfpro@gmail.com / DD 383-1271
- Shirley Brunning (Café) cafe@waitikirigolf.co.nz/ DD 383-0729
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