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.
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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
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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.
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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
www.info@naturalstoneconsulting.co.uk 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 secretary@clevedongolfclub.co.uk