Steve Privett leaves

The Management Committee wishes to inform members that Steve Privett, Course Manager, resigned from his position at the club on Wednesday, 20th June 2018 to pursue new opportunities. We have agreed that he will leave immediately, leaving the course in the capable hands of the greenkeeping team.

We should like to thank him on behalf of the membership for all his efforts and hard work over the years spent at the club transforming the course into the condition we all enjoy today.

We are now well into summer golf and it has been a very successful past few weeks for the Club. We have received many compliments from visitors on both the course condition and the excellent food provided by Chris and his Team. All our major golf events have run smoothly, and both the Ladies and Men’s teams have achieved very good results.

The Triumvirate held on the 7^th June proved yet again to be a great success. Fifteen teams of four golfers from various Clubs took part. The Army gained the glory with a one point win over Hartley Wintney. Thanks must go to David Maskery for ensuring the day went like clockwork and also to Keith Monkhouse and David Nightingale for doing the booking in and scoring.

The Seniors Open attracted a 108 players, which was won by Harvey Terry from Cowdray Park with 39 points. It was pleasing to see that four Alresford players were only one point behind.

Eighteen Past Captains took part in the Salver competition. Congratulations to John White who won with an impressive 42 points and with a gross score, which was over 5 strokes less than his age. A magnificent achievement! Although, they did not play, Derek Moorhouse and Robin Good attended the dinner after. A week later, we were advised of Jack Maxwell’s death. He was Captain in 1993 and was a very respected and popular member of our Club. Our thoughts and condolences go to his wife, Tonny.

The Captains’ Charity Day was a lot of fun and a great success.  A just reward for all the hard work put in by Mary, Chris T and Celia (Chris’s wife), Sue, Graham M and the rest of the supporting team. Thanks also go to Chris P and his catering team for providing a BBQ and delicious icecream. The winning team for the day was Debbie and Simon Wills, Matt Ball and Mervin Fullbrook with Debbie also winning the individual competition by one point from Graham. Thanks to the generosity of the Club members; a grand sum of £2,400 was raised for Transplant Sport.

At 5.30am on the 16^th June, the first of 30 Club members started their round in the annual Dawn patrol. Returning to the Clubhouse a little famished, all were satisfied with a substantial breakfast provided by Chris and his team. Peter Gunn returned an impressive 41 points to win a breakfast Hamper and maintained his handicap in the process! Our thanks to the Social Committee for providing sustenance on the first tee and for arranging the competition.

A warm welcome to Sarah Staines who has joined us a 5 day member, and is already joining in with Ladies events.

We have had a glorious June (apart from on the Mary Anderson Trophy!) with so much going on, I feel my feet have hardly touched the ground.

This weekend has been truly amazing with the joint Men’s and Ladies Club Championship. The course was looking at its best with super slick greens, so many thanks to our hardworking greenstaff. And also thanks to George Clelland and all his helpers who just about lived at the Club all weekend. Many congratulations to our Ladies Club Champion Kelly Travers, and runner up Lynne Cowser. The Dorothy Coombs Shield was won by Jan Harring, runner up Kathryn Fielden. The Brenda Hedges Trophy by Lynne Cowser, runner up Lyn Travers and the Best Nett score in Round 2 won by Sarah Densham.  Fantastic golf by all of them.  I played this year for the first time, and would thoroughly recommend you give it a go next year. Its an experience not to be missed!

Let me just go back briefly to May though… we held our Ladies Open on 31^st May and once again this was very well organised by Annie Beal. The whole day went really well despite a drizzly start. We had 112 players from 33 Clubs and the feedback about our course, the friendly welcome and the lovely buffet was very encouraging.

One of the main highlights for me has been our Captains Charity Day, and I would like to thank everyone for the support you gave this event. John French, from Transplant Sport attended in the afternoon and was touched to see everyone there, and those of you who played in the morning probably met my Son in Law, Tim with his family, which was made possible by a successful kidney transplant 5 years ago. All in all we raised about £2500 on the day which surpassed expectation, so we are very grateful to you all.

Club Championships

The 2-day format with an integrated field of men and ladies used again this year, appeared to be well accepted by the majority of competitors. The total entry was similar to last year so that is also an encouraging sign. We are aware that there were a few comments over the two days about slow play. On Sunday there were five 2-balls whose times ranged from 3hrs 11mins to 3hrs 40mins, and there were twenty-four 3-balls whose times ranged from 3hrs 44mins to 4hrs 16mins with an average for the 3-ball groups of 4hrs 5mins. Timings next year may be affected by the change to the Rules of Golf in which the time allowed for searching for a ball is reduced from 5 minutes to 3 minutes. In addition, for next year, the Committee may consider some changes which may help to address the issue. For example, increasing the starting time interval from 8 minutes to 10 minutes, and reducing the time allowed for a round from 4 hours 15 minutes to 3 hours 55 minutes. Such a change would, of course, mean that the finish could be approximately 1 hour later than this year.

There are still a few places left for the Vets Invitation on the 9th August but sign up soon because they are going fast.

Meantime the friendly season is going very well for us. We played at Bramshaw, but lost, possibly due to some confusion about the start time, our team having to go out willy nilly as soon as each player arrived. I can’t think why else we would have lost as we have been a fairly consistently successful team this season! The Bramshaw captain was kind enough to offer us a draw (as it was their mistake), but given that it was a friendly match anyway, their friendly gesture was declined, in a friendly sort of way.

Our game against the Juniors Section was a great day of golf. Will Briggs, Junior Captain, with support from Chris Geary in the pro shop and Wynne Tufnell on our part, got a large field together – larger than I can remember for this match. The day was mild and the golf was fine. The old grand-dads won all except one match, which was won by an all girl-pairing who were simply unbeatable (according to the defeated oldies who did battle with them). All the youngsters were well behaved, sportsmanlike and a pleasure to be with. A credit to the game and their parents. What more could one ask.

At Corhampton our esteemed club captain, Brian Wright, played his first match for the vets, finally acknowledging perhaps that he is not so young any more. Over the post-match meal he was duly “roasted” by the (very well-briefed) Corhampton captain and took it like a man. Welcome to Vets Golf, Brian. We won, by the way.

At Royal Winchester, we won 4/2, which is a very good result at that club. The course was in fantastic condition and the main hazard was a strong wind on the way home, which is hard to play against on top of the hill there.

Drew Fielden kindly captained the team for a win at home to Basingstoke, again a good result. We visit them later in the year.

New Members

Welcome to the following new members who have all joined the club starting during June / July so far; Harry Dhand, Mike Mead and Lynne Duncan – all returning from long term injury, Alistair Gray (7 day), Peter Morgan (5 day), Ann Gunn, Ann Lain and Jacqueline Sanger (Academy) and Suzie Batty (Social Extra)

We hope that your time at the club will be a long and enjoyable one for all of you.

May I remind all members that we are welcoming new membership enquiries for all categories? If you know any friends or acquaintances who are thinking of joining a club or changing clubs, please do your best to sell them the benefits of Alresford.

Club ‘Roll Up’

Fancy a game in the week? All members are welcome to come along to the ‘club roll-up’ on Wednesday mornings. The usual start time is 11am all year round but may change subject to any advanced tee reservations. Up to date timings are shown on the main noticeboard and on the website.

JULY

Wednesday 4^th ~ 11.30am (due to golf society)
Wednesday 11^th ~ 11.00am
Wednesday 18^th ~ 11.00am (mid-week stableford)
Wednesday 25^th ~ 10.30am (due to golf society)

AUGUST

Wednesday 1^st ~ 11.00am
Wednesday 8^th ~ 11.00am
Wednesday 15^th ~ 11.00am

Flaming June lived up to its reputation this year!  Record temperatures and ideal golfing conditions for the bulk of the month.  The course has held up well, although we do now have some brown patches on fairways.  Yes, this is how my July report began last year!  2 years running?

The Club Championship weekend was also blessed by fair weather and the course looked wonderful and played tough but fair.  Copy and paste, 2 years running!  Great credit to Adam and the boys who have worked hard and effectively to bring the course up to this high standard.  As you would expect, we are now concerned about the lack of water and we are hand-watering some at risk areas.  We’ve raised heights to 3.5mm and reduced frequency of cutting. More frequent ironing to keep green speeds up. Lots of hand watering going on. Really starting to brown off now.  (Copied from the greenstaff Twitter feed which you can access from the Club website home-page).  All greens have also been spiked to aid performance.

The FAQ section of the website has been up and running for almost a year now.  One topical example is as follows:

Is it true that the course maintenance programme is geared towards the Club Championship and Pro-Am?

This is a common misconception and is not true. In fact, the dates of the Club Championships and Pro-Am have largely been chosen to coincide with the time when the course is most likely to be at its peak condition. However, it is true that in the few days prior to these events the work schedule is likely to be more centred around the greens and fairways to ensure they are presented at their best for these events.

Further to Steve’s resignation, we are now working to ensure that we have the right team in place going forward to maintain and improve the high standard of course we enjoy here at Alresford. We are giving Adam and the team every support during this difficult period. They have certainly done a great job over recent weeks!  We will concentrate on course presentation.  It is inevitable that some areas may suffer through reduced man-hours and hope for your understanding.

We hope you all enjoy great golfing conditions during July!

Mark Tiplady

The winners of the 100 Club prize draw for July were:

£100    –   Wynne Tufnell

£50      –   Elaine Spreadbury

£32      –   John Goodacre

£32      –   Kathryn Fielden

£32      –   Diana Hampton

£32      –   Jean Coveyduck

Congratulations to this month’s winners. The next draw will take place in the week beginning 23^rd July … look for the list of winners on the Secretary’s notice board.

100 Club Salver and Evening Meal – Friday 3rd August

This mixed Stableford competition is open to all members of the 100 Club. There is no entry fee, and since this is primarily a social event, the competition is not a qualifying round for handicap purposes. Please arrange your own playing groups and tee-times, but remember that the evening meal will be served at 7:30pm so make sure you’ll be finished by then. On the day, you must sign-in at the Pro’s Shop before you play to register your entry to the competition and to receive your free ball for participating. There are prizes for the top 3 scores and the winner will also receive the magnificent 100 Club Salver to hold for a year.

Men will play off the Yellow tees; and Ladies from the Red tees. To equalise the scoring, ladies will add 2 strokes to their handicaps and play from their own card. Completed cards should be put into the box in the Entrance Hall.

All members whether they have played or not are invited to attend the evening meal during which the prize winners will be announced. The two course buffet meal with coffee will cost £17 per person and will start promptly at 7:30pm. Please add your name to the sign-up sheet which will be on the Social notice board.  Payments in advance to the office would be appreciated; cheques should be made out to Alresford Golf Club 100 Club.

If you need a playing partner and aren’t sure of who is in the 100 Club, contact George Clelland by email: george.clelland@btinternet.com or telephone: 01962735008.