Have you entered for the Volvo Golf Championships yet?

CAPTAIN'S CHAT

The clubhouse is now very quiet since most of our overseas members have departed. I hope you all arrived back safely.

We closed the course for a week to do our autum hollow tining and apologies to those who felt inconvenienced but it was the best decision as we managed to do all eighteen holes in two days. This means we’ll be back putting on our magnificient greens for which have become famous sooner rather than later. We also took the decision to close the clubhouse to do all the maintenance required after the heavy traffic from the summer season. It also gave us the chance to give time off to the staff who worked long hours during the summer. I am sure you will join me in thanking them for their hard work serving our members and guests.

We have a number of projects on the go which are keeping us busy.

On the course we are over halfway to completing the 16th cart path. This is going to be a big improvement both in safety and asthetics as well as reducing the noise to all the houses along the fairway.

We are working towards a final plan for the upgrade of the men's locker room and the maintenance of the ladies locker room. It is unfortunately taking a bit longer than we wished for but we want it to be right once and for all.

We have also had a number of meetings to discuss the way forward with the pro shop. Added to this is a restructuring of the staff in the shop and the tee time reservations area. With the departure of Venetta Wolvermans, Robynne Payne has been promoted to fill this position. A new bookings person, Deanne Willie, has been appointed to take her place as bookings clerk. Robynne will take charge of this department and between the two of them I am positive we will see a big improvement in this department.

On the food & beverage side of things we have made use of a consultant to look at all aspects to develop a plan to improve this side of the club. A number of areas were identified that needed action and we have already started with a training programme for the serving staff. This will be an ongoing process but I am sure you will all see and experience the difference. Our aim is to raise the bar and deliver service excellence all day and every day.

With regards to food I am sure I do not have to tell you that costs have increased dramatically over the last year and I am told that they are scheduled to increase by about thirty percent over the next year. In recent weeks I have been doing checks on the food being purchased and I must say that I personally was not happy with the quality. The best chefs in the world cannot produce good food from poor quality products. With all good intention and in trying to keep costs down I am convinced that we have been supplied inferior quality meat. We have now changed our supplier and the sample I tasted that was prepared in our kitchen was superb. The effect of this and the fact that prices are going up, is that there has to be an increase in our prices. From now on we will not compromise on quality. Another change we will be making is that we will not be freezing meat or fish in future. We will order fresh product in limited quantities so please excuse us if your choice happens to be sold out. Life is too short to eat bad food or drink poor wine!

At the end of all this we will have a superb club house serving good food by well trained and happy staff enabling our members and guests to enjoy a wonderful experience.

That is all for now as winter begins to set in. I look forward to seeing you all on the course or in the evenings soon.

Best regards
Dean

DIRECTOR'S REPORT

We are back up and running after being closed for last week’s hollow tining. With being closed for the week, it gave us the opportunity to get to areas that needed attention and maintenance.

In the clubhouse, we were able to deep clean the kitchens, carpets, upholstery and to paint the interior walls.

On the golf course, we had a successful week of hollow tining with the weather playing its part. The one area that is not complete yet is the hollow tining of the back nine fairways which are currently ongoing and should be completed soon.

We thank everyone for your support and understanding during last week.

Windhoek Pairs:
Last Sunday was the second round for the Windhoek Pairs and I have the privilege and pleasure of announcing that our very own Phillip Taberer and Paul Raggett have qualified for the next round in Windhoek, with the opportunity to qualify to play in Spain at the International Final.

Well done to them both and we look forward to watching their progress.

Staff movements:
We have had a shift in the functions and golf booking departments with the departure of Venette at the end of April, whom we would like to thank for her contribution to Erinvale.

With her departure, I have the privilege to announce that Robynne Payne has agreed to take on the role as head of Functions and Membership.

With Robynne’s shift, we needed to fill the big shoes she left in golf bookings and we believe we have found the right person in Deanne Willie.

I wish them both the best of luck and I thank all members in advance for supporting them.

Volvo Golf Championships:
Volvo has recently partnered Erinvale in finding an individual to represent Erinvale and Volvo Helderberg in the Volvo World Golf Championships later this year.

The format of the event is Individual Stableford where the best 3 out of 4 events will be used to determine the winner. The winner will be participating in the Regional Final at Lost City with the main prize on the line to qualify for the International Final all sponsored by Volvo.

The first round starts next Saturday, the 28th May.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Volvo for choosing Erinvale and we hope all will enjoy the experience.

Good luck to all members.

Lanzerac Food and Wine Evening
Please view the poster below for more information.

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Happy golfing!
Gavin