They will still destroy the two best holes.  I very much doubt "young singles moving into high-rise blocks" will have much interest in paying $20 to hit golf balls from tiny bays and "the increasing number of professionals, clerical and administration workers with higher disposal incomes", will be more interested in joining a club with a top class course.

The reconstruction will leave us with a course which will no longer be good enough to host wonderful events like the Australian School Boys Championship or the Deaf Championships which brought so many golfing tourists to our city over the past few weeks. This is the type of young people we are glad to host at our beautiful club and course.

he subject of errant golf balls being hit from the proposed driving range onto the golf course and Corrimal street and into the two dams beside the two holes, was addressed by three speakers at the IHAP hearing. The developer has included a report from Probable Golf Instruction Ltd., Canada, which you will find hidden in the centre of expert reports tabled in the DA on the Wollongong City Council site.

This expert conceded that a percentage of balls could clear the 20m fence on the western side of the 6th fairway - the solution - a fence on both east and west boundary of the driving range of 42m to contain balls hit from the top tees. The look of these two fences would be as ugly as the 16 bays we will have to look at from the southern end of our deck. The people who filled the room for the IHAP hearing were golfers and residents from the Links and Corrimal street but there was nobody to support the Applicant.

Barbara Mackey, Unanderra

Despite the most obvious element involved with Australia’s rising cost of living (CPI) being the price of fuel; reining in the predatory pricing by the oil companies seems to be a “no-go” policy area, irrespective of which ever Party is in government.

For decades’ now our governments have avoided moving to call the oil companies out on price manipulation at the pump. Or return to the practical solution of governments setting the price of fuel! Economic rationalists, oil companies and the “usual suspects” would oppose any move by government toward “regulating fuel prices” by claiming (A) it would be anti-competitive (B) unworkable and (C) is part of a Marxist plot!

Yet in truth, regulated fuel pricing worked well for decades. It helped to create employment and increased competition based upon service to the customers. Rather than accepting the blindingly obvious evidence, oil companies are ripping off consumers by way of “predatory pricing”. Our governments have instead, adopted the oil industry economist’s mantra of “transitory oil pricing mechanisms “to fob off critics of oil companies predatory pricing “rip-offs”!

Barry Swan, Balgownie

Response to the Mercury article "No space for more trains says report". If the report claims there is no more space for more trains, at least increase the amount of carriages on some of the current services.

Weekday train commuters are eye witnesses to the many people sitting on steps or standing for extended periods of time because there is not enough carriages with empty seats on that service. Virtually every second service has four carriages which at peak times is inadequate and unfair on commuters who paid for a seat.

The Coalition government can spend all the money it wants on glorifying the inner city of Sydney, but how about just delivering adequate services for rail commuters.

Adrian Devlin, Fairy Meadow