Course Alteration & Grant Update
Update
Course Alteration & Grant Update
Following on from our on-course meeting to present potential course upgrades last year, we proceeded with a grant application via the Sports Scotland Lottery Funding pot. During this process we were challenged to build a story based on a Sporting Impact. This encouraged us to look at our long term vision for the future of the club and ultimately led to a funding application being submitted for further projects that we didn’t initially anticipate applying for.
Within our current working business plan document, we wish to add additional car parking spaces to our facility, as we are often having to use the 9th fairway on the Dinvin Course which sometimes creates confusion upon arrival, and extra workload. It also reduces the income on the Dinvin Course due to it being partially closed. If we were to add a permanent overflow car park to the club, we would need to utilise the 9th Dinvin fairway and this is where the beginning of our enhanced grant application began. If we were to add the overflow car park we would still wish to have a nine-hole par three course and this is achievable, and beneficial in many ways. By creating two new greens on our Dinvin Course, we could create nine shorter holes that finish at the current eighth green. Most importantly, these holes would be beneficial to all levels of golfers as none of them would involve blind shots and we could reduce the operational cost on fuels as well as greenstaff time, freeing up time that could then be spent on our Dunskey Course. The first hole on the Dinvin Course would also be made shorter and this would create the space for a designated short game area, with practice bunkers, greenside pitching and distance control up to 50 yards, all in close proximity to the clubhouse.
The full costing for all these projects was prepared with a written narrative based on the sporting impact for the alterations to the Dunskey Course, the Dinvin Course and the creation of a new short game area. After months of patiently waiting, we’re now in a position to share some good news! We have been successful in some parts, but not all.
In short, we will not be voting on the proposed alterations to the 13th, 14th & 15th holes, or even voting on the proposal as that area of the funding application was rejected, but we continue to explore our options. However, we have been granted funding for the creation of a new short game area & Dinvin alteration.
We have been awarded a match funding amount of nearly £33k, meaning if we spend £66k on the project we will receive £33k back.
This is exciting news, and would be a major step forward in improving our offerings at our wonderful club for members and visitors alike, encouraging participation, development and heightening the Dunskey experience.
Club member Jay McWilliam, has been instrumental in bringing this vision to life and has kindly prepared documents showing the new Dinvin layout and short game area. These drawings and supporting documents are now available to view within the Club Development folder on the Members Club V1 App.
The drafted Dinvin alterations, short game area as well as potential improvements to the 15th hole and 17th holes remain on our radar and we would wish to have the involvement of a new head greenkeeper in future discussions. With this in mind, our advert has now been placed for the position of head greenkeeper. We intend to commence the interview process at the end of May.
After the appointment of a new head greenkeeper we will then provide further updates on any development projects. This promises to be a very exciting few years and I’m sure we’re all enjoying seeing our club evolve.
Alec Ross
Club Captain
Following on from our on-course meeting to present potential course upgrades last year, we proceeded with a grant application via the Sports Scotland Lottery Funding pot. During this process we were challenged to build a story based on a Sporting Impact. This encouraged us to look at our long term vision for the future of the club and ultimately led to a funding application being submitted for further projects that we didn’t initially anticipate applying for.
Within our current working business plan document, we wish to add additional car parking spaces to our facility, as we are often having to use the 9th fairway on the Dinvin Course which sometimes creates confusion upon arrival, and extra workload. It also reduces the income on the Dinvin Course due to it being partially closed. If we were to add a permanent overflow car park to the club, we would need to utilise the 9th Dinvin fairway and this is where the beginning of our enhanced grant application began. If we were to add the overflow car park we would still wish to have a nine-hole par three course and this is achievable, and beneficial in many ways. By creating two new greens on our Dinvin Course, we could create nine shorter holes that finish at the current eighth green. Most importantly, these holes would be beneficial to all levels of golfers as none of them would involve blind shots and we could reduce the operational cost on fuels as well as greenstaff time, freeing up time that could then be spent on our Dunskey Course. The first hole on the Dinvin Course would also be made shorter and this would create the space for a designated short game area, with practice bunkers, greenside pitching and distance control up to 50 yards, all in close proximity to the clubhouse.
The full costing for all these projects was prepared with a written narrative based on the sporting impact for the alterations to the Dunskey Course, the Dinvin Course and the creation of a new short game area. After months of patiently waiting, we’re now in a position to share some good news! We have been successful in some parts, but not all.
In short, we will not be voting on the proposed alterations to the 13th, 14th & 15th holes, or even voting on the proposal as that area of the funding application was rejected, but we continue to explore our options. However, we have been granted funding for the creation of a new short game area & Dinvin alteration.
We have been awarded a match funding amount of nearly £33k, meaning if we spend £66k on the project we will receive £33k back.
This is exciting news, and would be a major step forward in improving our offerings at our wonderful club for members and visitors alike, encouraging participation, development and heightening the Dunskey experience.
Club member Jay McWilliam, has been instrumental in bringing this vision to life and has kindly prepared documents showing the new Dinvin layout and short game area. These drawings and supporting documents are now available to view within the Club Development folder on the Members Club V1 App.
The drafted Dinvin alterations, short game area as well as potential improvements to the 15th hole and 17th holes remain on our radar and we would wish to have the involvement of a new head greenkeeper in future discussions. With this in mind, our advert has now been placed for the position of head greenkeeper. We intend to commence the interview process at the end of May.
After the appointment of a new head greenkeeper we will then provide further updates on any development projects. This promises to be a very exciting few years and I’m sure we’re all enjoying seeing our club evolve.
Alec Ross
Club Captain