One of the most talked-about holes when we are sitting in the Golfers’ Terrace doing post-mortems of our games is the 18th hole on the Palm Course. It’s a par 4 hole, about 350 metres from the white tees. It’s also an Index 2, which makes it one of the most challenging on the course. Palm 18 is a dog-leg left. When you stand on the tee-box, you can’t see the green. On the left of the tee box, across the cart path, is an island which is overgrown with lush vegetation and trees. In that jungle lies a brand new Honma driver which accidentally flew off one of our member’s hands as he was teeing off years ago.

Dear Member

The year 2008 was a very difficult year. Many golf clubs were faced with deficits and had raised their subscriptions, some as early as in Year 2007. Increases were in the range of $10 to $30 per month. Some clubs, in addition, had imposed a monthly minimum spending quantum.

We, at Raffles Country Club, were faced with similar problems. However, we decided to delay increasing subscriptions by introducing cost cutting measures and increasing income through green fees.

Dear Members

Thank you for taking time off to attend the Extraordinary General Meeting on Friday, 18 January 2008. At this meeting, the General Committee received a strong mandate to proceed with the upgrade as 92 members voted for the resolution and 40 against.

For the benefit of members who were not at the meeting to hear the presentation from the Architectural Firm, CIAP, I would like to inform that the upgrading will essentially be in three areas :

a) enlarging and improving the Golfing Reception;

b) enlarging and upgrading the Men and Ladies Golfing Changing Rooms; and

c) improving and re-aligning the Golfers’ Terrace so that Golfers can experience the full view of the Tengeh Reservoir and SAFTI Hills beyond.

A Project Sub-Committee will now be formed to work out the details and oversee the project. As details are being worked out, I would like to invite ideas and suggestions from members on the areas that will be upgraded. You can send them to the General Manager or me. Kindly do this before the end of March 2008 so that they can be considered. I assure you that your suggestions will be considered but they may not be necessarily implemented and I hope you can understand that the upgrading is for the benefit of the majority of members.

Finally, now that the Golfing Wing upgrading is underway, the General Committee will look into the feasibility and extent of upgrading of the Palm Course and Recreation Wing.

May I take this opportunity to wish all Chinese Members and their families “GONG XI FA CAI”.

DR KEE SUE GEE

President

As members will already know, the Club’s membership entails many privileges, one of which is to enjoy the Club’s facilities at members’ rates which are very much reduced as compared to guests’ rates, especially for golfing.

To ensure that members’ interests and privileges are protected, the Club is looking into carrying out membership checks, from time to time.  It is important that we have the understanding of members when we carry out such an exercise.  This is done with the objective of ensuring that non-members are appropriately registered and pay the necessary fees before they are permitted to access the Club’s facilities.