Newsletter July 2016 (2).pub (Read-Only)
Transcription
Newsletter July 2016 (2).pub (Read-Only)
Castle Views July 2016 Chairman — David Fife It is finally all coming together. Steve Ewing (our Course Manager) told us when he arrived that it would take 5 years to get the course in the condition he wanted and I am sure most of you agree that it has never looked better. For some of you the greens are still not quick enough but Rob Arthur (Course Director) has detailed in his report the programme of vibro-rolling that will continually improve that situation. The speed will be monitored until we have a surface that provides a fair test on the Clevedon greens, which, in places, feature considerable slopes. Some things have not gone as well as planned and the Board and staff would appreciate your tolerance while they are sorted. I speak specifically of the 14th and 18th teeing areas. We were all disappointed with the initial alterations, but recent changes continue the programme of course improvement. The Board appreciate all the work the green staff does. There are only five of them and in the summer one of them is usually on holiday but they still take pride in keeping the course in great condition. If you have the opportunity to show your appreciation then do so personally. Club Champion—Alister Balcombe The annual Club Championship has just been concluded and congratulations to Alister Balcombe for winning the competition for the third year running. In second place was Andy Ferris with Tom Rowlinson third. Alister is continuing his progress to make a career out of the sport that we all love and we wish him every success for the future. Winner of the net competition and the KK Cup went to James Mitchell. James has subsequently been called up to represent the county which is recognition for all the long hours spent practising. Captain—Roy Quipp Half the year already completed, doesn't time fly when enjoying yourself. Now we are into the golfing season there are many events to enjoy and of course our 125 Celebrations in August and Brenda King Classic in September. The Members Day was very successful and enabled us to showcase our new barbecue, funded by Box 13, providing excellent food thanks to our chef’s on the day, Max and new boy Jason. It is the intention, subject to the weather, to hold barbecues on a regular basis and enable the family to enjoy the clubhouse. We had a very successful Captain’s Day at the weekend and included as well as the golf; barbecue, bouncy castle, face painting and a virtual golf simulator that formed part of the scoring on the day. It was great to see an opportunity to get all the family involved. The winning team consisted of Richard Skuse, Peter Rendle, Rob Smith and Roger Gazzard. Captain’s Day Photos Seniors Captain—Les Holmes Since the last edition the seniors have won 8, lost 4 and drawn 1 of our matches, sadly one of those was our coveted home record to “a youthful” MANOR HOUSE side 3.5 to 2.5. My away day at The Vale saw Ron Angell, Alan Stewart, John Benjamin and Sandy Kemlo winning after a good days golf. Early June saw me enjoy two great days weather wise for my ” overnighter “ at Redditch, an event which was narrowly won by John Connors, Richard Smith and Mike Venables and enjoyed by all. Our “Seniors Open” was very well supported with home players doing very well, Tony Stevens ( 41 pts ) winning Div. 1 on count back from Chris Bellamy, with Jack Harris winning Div. 2. The two top visitors were John Threlfall ( East Devon ) and Clive Gadd ( Worlebury ). I feel credit should be given to Steve Ewing and his team for their efforts in getting the course to the best it has been in a long while, a point on which our opponents have been very complementary. Here’s hoping for more good weather which will allow us to enjoy our great course and one another’s company, playing that wonderful game golf! Great Western Air Ambulance The GWAA is totally dependant on charitable donations to continue its operation which costs between £3k and £5k per day. Clevedon Golf Club has had cause to call for the air ambulance twice in the last 20 months and they provide an invaluable service for everyone in life threatening situations. This is the chosen charity because of this exceptional service and to date the club has raised £3,800 towards the goal of £5k . Many thanks to the generosity of fellow members, without whose help this fund raising would not be possible. Ladies Captain—Lesley Wicking Since the last Castle Views and our Taster Day in April, we have 3 new lady members. The ladies section offer a warm welcome to Heather Priestley, Jo Sims and Lynn Lewis. There are also a few new ladies having group lessons which we hope will eventually convert to members. We are now fully into the season of Alliance matches. Our A & B team are both doing well as is our Friendly team. The A team has won 4 and lost 3 and the B team has won 3 and lost 2. A lot of the matches have been close, so points wise we are looking quite good. We played the 2nd round of the Rogers Cup in May at a very windy Minehead against Cricket St Thomas. We had a great win, 6 games to 1. The next round is in July at Worlebury against Bath. We held our Open Bowmaker in June with a field of 90 ladies (60 visitors) which was one of our best fields ever. We put this down to a combination of our beautiful course and our home baked cakes that we serve in the Halfway House! We also held our 125 invitational Bowmaker. We invited the Ladies Captain plus partner from clubs within Bristol & Somerset to play with one of our ladies. Twenty-four clubs accepted our invitation and luckily although the forecast was for rain, it stayed mostly dry. The day finished with a buffet dinner and prize giving and we have had great feedback from our visitors who thoroughly enjoyed the day and our hospitality. My thanks go to all the ladies who helped the day go smoothly. We have also just had our Invitation Day and this proved to be a great success with Alison Lee and her partner Christine Christie from Marlborough taking the top prize. Our Club Championship was also held in June. Debbie Quinn-Hall (photo attached) regained the ladies’ champion title after overcoming an eight-shot deficit on day two. Debbie took the title by just one shot from Charlotte Millington, with Rosemary Fife finishing in third place. A worthy winner of the net competition was Marian Crewe with two consistent rounds of golf. Future events - Girls County Championships 23 August and my Lady Captains Day 31st August. House Director—Russell Hall Well "summer" is here, let's hope it's a good one, so you can all enjoy al fresco eating and drinking at the Club You may have noticed that maintenance works to the exterior of the building has commenced and is ongoing subject the weather. This should create a more aesthetically pleasing environment on the patio. With regard to the subject of maintenance and upgrading works necessary to fabric and services of the Club, I would appreciate it if any members that have technical or practical experience or knowledge of theses matters and are prepared to assist would they please give details of these to Louise so we can compile a directory. The patio furniture has been replaced and the new sun shades, kindly supplied by St Austell Brewery, are in place. The new twin unit deep fat fryer for the kitchen is proving to be a big asset to the whole of the Club. The new catering times together with the new menus are proving to have some teething problems and we will be reviewing how these are working. New front and back of house staff livery is now being worn by the bar and catering staff. This months guest ale in the bar is Wadworth’s 6X, please enjoy. I ask once again for your continued support of our 125th year social events plus the bar and catering facility. · · · · Various Club Matters The club has applied for planning permission to build a teaching studio and improve the practice facility. The studio will feature teaching, club fitting and a course simulator. The practice facilities will include an all weather astro turf strip and ball dispenser and collection. When we have final details we will hope members will support this project in whatever way they can. The Marshalls have proved particularly popular and useful when we have societies on the course but the work is falling on a few volunteers. If you are able to help on a couple of days a month then it will share the load. Please contact the office. The Clubs 125 weekend is on the 12th and 13th August. There will be a civic reception on Friday for all sports clubs and dignitaries in the town and then the Ball on the Friday night, which is sold out. The 125 golf and evening event will not now take place on the Saturday and this will be re-scheduled. We should have a great weekend. Geoff Twentyman from BBC Radio Bristol has also recently visited the club and interviewed some of our key staff. The recording will be played on his Wednesday night show soon and we will advise members prior to this going out. We have plenty to be proud of and the more people that hear about the club the better. Course Director—Rob Arthur Course Information A schedule of the green keepers normal/routine weekly maintenance has been prepared and has been posted on the “Course Information” board in the lobby, for your information. A further list detailing the additional ad hoc/irregular activity undertaken by the greens staff is also posted on the board, and is updated weekly. The additional information list will include for example, but by no means extensive, items such as: Pencil tineing; greens fertiliser/feed applications; spraying for weeds/insects/ disease etc, etc. Please remember however that ALL planned activities are always subject to change, be it due to the weather, time or resource issues. The Greens I think it is fair to say that only four weeks ago, all members could be rightly pleased with the playing surface and speed of the greens. So what has changed in the interim, and why where the greens running at a slower pace ? In that short period, one needs to look no further than the playing conditions, and the treatment of the greens. The weather has played a significant part, with a lot more rain, higher temperatures, and humidity. These factors have all contributed to more seeding grass and this has played a part in the speed of putts. Additionally, applications of fertiliser/feed, and wetting agent in the last four weeks have also played a part. Going forward, a programme of vibro rolling the greens on a weekly basis has just started and this has already had an impact on the speed of the greens. The position will be monitored going forward. Whilst we have more grass on the greens, the playing surface remains smooth and true. Please don’t forget, that during the main playing season, the greens are cut EVERY DAY, including weekends. Reservoir The transfer main pump was fitted recently so we now have the ability to use the water from the reservoir to irrigate our greens. Filling the top tank behind the 2nd green, from which source the greens are irrigated, is currently achieved manually by throwing switches. Whilst this manual work around is not ideal, it is hoped that the next phase in upgrading our irrigation system by creating a dedicated transfer main, from reservoir to the top tank, can be commenced during the next winter period. Competitions Director—Bernard Maltby Summer is now in full swing, so they say. The summer ‘Knock-Out’ Competitions are now well in progress and have proved to be running smoothly to date, I may come to regret saying that. The long awaited introduction of ‘9 Hole’ Qualifying Competitions is upon us. The Seniors Section trialled the format, to check the Cards and systems are in place and fit for purpose, in a Competition held in the last week in June. It all went to plan and the inaugural Club ‘9 Hole’ Competition took place as a ‘Roll-up’ on the first Thursday in July. The latest publication that I have received and am about to read, is from the R & A and is entitled “Pace Of Play Manual”. Look forward to some interesting fallout from this one! Enjoy your Golf and “keep (and play) safe (and with courtesy) out there!” Professional—Ryan Crowley · · · The season is now in full swing and so are the Pro-Shop team, we've implemented group coaching sessions for the ladies (check the boards and inboxes ladies!), as a club we've signed up with the 'Golf Foundation' to run the Junior Golf Passport scheme. We're also registered with HSBC's Golf Roots programme so we can take golf out into the local community . We're trying to keep the shop fresh with new products arriving all the time. An area we're now comprehensively covered in is distance devices, there's new product from both Bushnell and Garmin to help find out how far those greens and obstacles are away. As ever if there's something you'd like to see in the shop that we don't currently have let us know and we can look into it for you. The Open championship is only around the corner so we'll be looking forward to seeing who can take the Claret Jug this year, The Open is always great inspiration to the clubs out a little more regularly so if you need any help with any aspect of your game make sure you give us a shout and lets see if we can help you enjoy your game a little more . Junior Captain—Molly Hocking Junior golf is healthy and thriving at Clevedon We continue to increase our Junior section and we have grown to 49 members now, many who attend on Monday evening coaching sessions. The Junior Open attracted 30 players competing from both Somerset and Gloucester, the overall Gross winner was Arabella White from Lansdown and runner up was Clevedon’s own Charlie Goss. In the nett competition the winner was Abby Gray from Farrington Park with Clevedon’s Charlotte Millington runner-up. Our Juniors continue to challenge in many Opens and club Comps, Harry Selwyn 41 points winner of a mid-week stableford – down to 16, Charlie Goss (picture attached) won the W-S-M junior open, which gets him cut to 9.7 one more round and single figures !!!!!, Charlotte Millington won Best Nett in the Bath Wessex Masters and is now playing off a handicap of 13.7. All these Juniors and Alfie Hocking have been chosen to represent Somerset at the County level – well done to all The Juniors have not played any league matches as our older Juniors have been focussed on exams …. Good luck and we hope you have all done well, our schedule ramps up in July and August as we complete our remaining matches. Our Monthly medal Champagne raffle is proving to be very popular with the members with £140.00 raised in June, these will continue for future medals and I hope you will continue to support this worthy cause. Team News The 1st Team are finding life difficult in Division 1 following the loss of key players throughout the season. The team have played seven matches and won one and drawn two. A number of players have stepped up to the 1st Team this year and have performed exceptionally well against opponents with much lower handicaps. All matches are played off scratch. The 2nd Team have a tough task ahead as they look to establish them selves in the B&D Division 4. The league has 3 first teams in and majority of players are 5 handicap and below. They have had some tough games at the rain soaked Kendleshire and Shirehampton where they lost 4-1 and home and away to B&C where they went down 3.5 to 1.5 in both matches. A recent fine away win at Farrington sets up a tense end to the season. There are a number of new players coming into the team and with a few home matches coming up they have the opportunity of turning the season around in what is a very competitive division. Richard Ponsford and the boys would welcome your support at any of the matches. Membership & Marketing—David Shields We currently have in excess of 600 playing members and are marginally ahead of where we were at this time last year. We also have 95 social members. · · · · · This year we have taken on 44 adult members and 27 new junior members. I would like to thank Ryan and his team for all the assistance they give to our juniors and also to Andy Millington, our Junior Organiser, for all the time and effort he puts into this important section of the membership. As highlighted in the last edition of Castle Views we have 14 returning members to the club which is extremely positive in the current competitive market. We continue to develop the use of social media through the use of both Twitter @CGCMembers and Facebook. If any member has a photograph or information relevant to the club that could be used then please contact the office. Ryan and his team continue to run beginner lessons for ladies and we are hopeful that new members will join from this source. Rules Corner - A reminder for the 16th Bristol & Clifton Club Champion Clevedon Golf Club member James Mitchell has enjoyed a very successful couple of weeks by firstly winning the Sinot Cup (Bristol & Clifton Club Championship) with rounds of 73 and 74. He followed this up by winning the KK Cup (net competition at our own club championship ) and for all his efforts he now finds that he is playing off a handicap of 2. James is pictured with Captain Roy Quipp and being presented with the KK Cup. Sponsors Directory We have established a directory of all our sponsors and these are all listed below. We would encourage our members to consider using the services of our sponsors where possible as we would like them to continue supporting the club in the future. If you would like to include your business in the directory then please contact Tony in the office. Prices start from £100 plus VAT for 12 months although we have various sponsorship packages available. Services Provided Company Website Dental Care Genesis Dental Lab www.genesisdental.co.uk Consultants Education Fencing Fire Protection Flooring Insurance Jelf Group plc Clifton College PA Fencing Solicitors Ventilation www.jelfgroup.com 0117 240 2000 www.cliftoncollege.com 0117 315 7000 01275 268368 01275 874176 WF Firestop System www.wffs.co.uk AJP Partnership www.ajp-partnership.co.uk 01275876678 Insurance Solutions www.capita-sis.co.uk 0800 389 2028 Chorus IT www.chorus.co.uk 01275 398900 Natural Stone Consulting HLI Insurance Brokers Capita Specialist Information Tech Tel No Triangle Telecom MS Ventilation Ltd 01275 878994 [email protected] 0845 5218 700 www.hlib.co.uk www.trianglenetworks.co.uk www.msventilation.com 0844 579 0064 01275 871122 01275 877228 Clevedon Golf Club does not accept any responsibility in respect of the services being offered by any of the sponsors. Wright & Morgan PA FENCING & LANDSCAPING 01275 874176 Clevedon Golf Club, Castle Road, Clevedon, North Somerset, BS21 7AA Telephone 01275 874057 Email [email protected]