Hampshire Police Leisure Sport (HPLS) Corporate Membership

It is pleasing to note that HPLS have purchased two additional 7-day memberships, making 11 in total.>

At this time of year, the course is at its very best; however, we should be aware that our course also plays well throughout the year. The Captain’s blog of a visiting team regarding their heavy loss to Alresford in March stated: “But the lack of golf played by our members was in stark contrast to the home players, as they’ve been able to play throughout the winter. Alresford had only two winter tees in play on Saturday, with greens in very good condition”. A well deserved complement on our course.

During the month, the men’s County 7s team won against Royal Winchester and now face Wellow in the next round. The Gales Hockley team beat Hayling and now go on to face Camberley Heath. Alresford travelled to Lee-on-Solent for their Kindred Cup match only to lose in their first round. In the men’s friendly matches there were mixed fortunes: – winning at home against Bramshaw and the round robin match against Corhampton and Waterlooville. We lost to a strong Tylney Park team at Alresford and secured a creditable draw at Hayling.

Team golf started on the Thursday 17^th May with 10 teams taking part in the 9 hole competition. The “Roe the Boat” team came out on top for the evening with Carol Roe achieving the highest score for the ladies with 21 points. Mike Battisson was the highest for the men with 22 points. For those who were unable to get into a team, a 9 hole roll up competition starting off the 10^th will be held on future Thursday evenings. The entry fee is £2 and a prize is awarded to the winner. To ensure the social golf evening goes well a great deal of effort is needed and our thanks go to John White for making it such a success.

On the 7^th May, 36 Club Members headed off to the Five Lakes complex near Colchester to participate in the Captains’ Charity Trip.

Five Lakes comprise a good lakes course, which we played twice and an acceptable links course which we played once. There were excellent leisure facilities and many of the group took to the pool or had a sauna after the golf, although others decided that the sports bar was a more attractive option.

The winning team for the second-year running was; Darren Boreham, Keith Turner, John Goddard and Geoff Jenkins. Such a good performance must attract the attention of the handicap committee and hopefully their handicaps will be reviewed before next year’s trip! Keith; however, did not demonstrate any skills in controlling his trolley which ended up in a water filled ditch. Although wet and muddied following the retrieval of his clubs, Keith continued his game with his characteristic smile and returned a very good score.

Bob Germon had varied fortunes but came into his own winning 2 of the ‘nearest to the pin’ for the men on consecutive days. Chris Thompson was ‘nearest the pin’ on the first day, however, it should be noted that Jane Scott was over 15 feet closer to the pin and Chris still took his prize! For the ladies, the ‘nearest to the pin’, over the 3 days were Liz Hesse, Pat Palmer and Fiona Corkhill.

Socialising over a few drinks was a significant part of the trip for many. Richard Bass’s patio bar which ran on the basis of bring and share, proved to be very popular as the before dinner venue. Di Peisley’s bedroom was also a popular watering hole, presumably ‘a ladies’ only venue!

The final evening of the trip was an inside BBQ with half a bottle of wine provided. This, together with the pre-dinner visit to our private bars ensured a very convivial evening. Stuart Slater, an accomplished chorister, was the man to lead the after dinner singing and  he was abley supported by Carol Rowe and the rest of the rowdy bunch through a few popular songs.

With any trip there is the boring work of checking the scores etc. and for this we must thank Mary Panter, Sue Masser, Jennifer Clelland and Jane Scott for a job well done.

The final comment must be to say thanks to all the club members who came to Five Lakes for the golf and for making it such a fun few days.

Congratulations to the winning team for the second successive year; Darren Boreham, John Goddard, Keith Turner and Geoff Jenkins.

First of all, a very warm welcome to Polly Church who has joined our section as a Full member and to Hanne Lewis who has joined as an Overseas member.

May has been such a busy month, its hard to know where to begin… and also… do I dare mention the weather? Finally, the sun tan cream has been put into my golf bag!

There have been lots of Competitions played this month. The first of our new scratch matches was played at Hockley with the next one at home this Sunday. We also played the second round of the Annodata at Meon Valley.  We have played 5 of our Stoneham matches and also 4 Friendly Matches so as you can see we have been very busy! All the results can be found in the results section below.

This weekend is also very busy with, Lesley Martin and Liz Thorne representing us in the Knight Cup at Gosport and Stokes Bay, the North Hants Trophy being played here against the Army and the Scratch Trophy against Meon at home on Sunday… good luck teams!

We have 2 Stoneham Matches this month, both at home, on Wednesday 6^th June and Wednesday 3th June… Supporters are always welcome!

The Captains Charity trip to Crowne Plaza Resort Colchester – Five Lakes, was great fun! However, I would like to say that our Ladies team, comprising of Sue Masser, Jennifer Clelland, Jane Scott and myself managed to come third, which was a great result. Obviously, eating and drinking excessively, didn’t impact on our golf too much! Thank you, team M&M’s.

The County 2^nd team played at Alresford against Berkshire and both Becky and Jane Scott were playing. It was a beautiful day and Hampshire won all its matches.

I had fun lending a hand to Malcolm with the Junior girls training. Its great to see these young girls hitting such great shots with natural swings.  Could be some stars of the future, being taught at Alresford!

I would urge you to consider signing up for the Captains Charity Day on Sunday 10^th June which is open to 5 and 7-day members at a small cost of £5 and you can also bring a non-member guest for just £10. The charity this year is Transplant Sport and was specially chosen because of my son in law Tim’s journey back to health having had a kidney donation 5 years ago. He has been very involved with Transplant Sport which helps so many people who have had transplants get fit and active again.

We have the Ladies Away day at Guildford to look forward to this month and please watch out for my Captains Day (July 10^th!)  sign-up sheet which will be going up soon…the more the merrier!

With very best wishes

Mary

Club Championships

The notices for the Men’s and Ladies Club Championships have been posted in the Changing Rooms. The closing date for entry will be 5:00pm on Friday 15th June, and the Start Sheet for Round 1 will be posted on Monday 18th June. The first start time for Round 1 will be 8:00am.

Once the last group has handed in their cards on the Saturday, the Men’s and Ladies’ competition organisers will compile the scores for Round 1. The Men’s and Ladies’ playing groups will be revised separately based on the gross scores from Round 1, and then an integrated start sheet will be produced. This start sheet will be emailed to all competitors on Saturday evening. It will be the responsibility of each player to know their start time on Sunday morning. The first start time for Round 2 will be determined based on the number of entries and the objective of announcing the winners around 5:00pm.

Since the competitions are being held over two consecutive days, the Match & Handicap Committee have, with the approval of the Captain’s Committee, decided to impose sanctions on players who do not turn up to play on either day. Anyone who, having entered, but subsequently finds they are unable to play on both days must notify the Office by 9:00am on Friday 22nd June. This will give the Committee at least some time to amend the playing groups and notify all the other competitors. After this time, a player who does not turn up will be excluded from all competitions, knock-outs and matches until 1st August 2018.

Men’s Club Championship

The sign-up sheet for the Men’s Championship is in the Pro’s Shop. Although the entry fee is only £6, all competitors are playing in both the Men’s Club Championship and the John Holmes Trophy. Both competitions are stroke play medal with the Championship being a scratch competition and the John Holmes is a handicap competition.

On each day of the competition, players should register and collect their score cards from the front desk.  Entry to the Championship sweepstake and a table of the day’s pin positions will be available in the Pro’s Shop. On completion of each round, players should return their completed cards to the Scorer’s Table and ensure they have agreed with the scorer that the card is correct before leaving.

New Members

Welcome to the following new members who have all joined the club starting during May / June so far Polly Church ( 7 day), David Parker, Robert Monger, Barry Dodd, Jeffrey & Sarah Staines (5 day), Tom Nickson (Intermediate), Roger & Hanne Lewis (Overseas).

Paul Robson, Mark Truran, Gareth Davies, Dan Baines, Michael Cork and Alex Thew have all joined under the HPLS scheme.

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.

Special Member Referral Offer

Refer a new 5 or 7 day playing member and receive An EXTRA £50 credit on your bar card.

Speak to the Secretary for more information.

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.

JUNE

Wednesday 6^th at 11.00am
Wednesday 13^th at 11.00am
Wednesday 20^th at 11.00am
Wednesday 27^th at 11.00am ( mid-week medal)

JULY

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

Pressed for time, can’t get to the club for the next few weekends? Need to register some qualifying cards for handicapping?

Why not enter and play in the forthcoming 9 hole qualifying competitions. You can play during the day or after work.

• Sign-in will be done using the terminal in the Entrance Hall only. There will not be a sign-in sheet in the Pro’s Shop.
• Sign-in for the competition will be available 1 week in advance of the competition date. (
• The entry fee will be £1.50.
• The entry fee should be placed in an envelope with your name on the outside and ‘posted’ into the Office.
• On completion of your round, please enter your score into the terminal in the Entrance Hall. Score Entry will be available until 9:30pm on the day of the competition,
• You can only enter your score if you have previously signed-in. Sign-in and Score Entry are date and time-stamped. If there is too small an interval between the two time-stamps, your score may be discarded.

The next competitions are on Friday 15th June and Monday 2nd July

I am very pleased to say that Steve’s operation was successful, and he returned to work on Monday 21^st May, He is still in some discomfort but hopes to be ‘fully operational’ in 3 to 4 weeks.  Whilst he’s been away the team have been busy with a mixture of jobs.

Tree felling was first on the list. The remaining condemned trees had to be felled within the timeframe set. 6 trees were dismantled in a day. Colin Luff had a crucial role in achieving that target while our team cleared much of the debris. The remaining timber will be removed when the regular course work is caught up. It always amazes me how rotten a tree can be internally whilst externally appear sound and thriving.

Elsewhere on the course the fairways have been sprayed with feed and growth regulator, Tees have been scarified and seeded. The greens are being gently groomed to deal with poa seed heads combined with top dressings and regular nutrition to get the best performance possible in “Mad May”.

There are a couple of regeneration areas on the course which have been levelled and seeded (9th Fairway/6th Path) These will germinate with good time and the team will have them back in lay shortly.

Planned maintenance for the coming weeks includes a light aeration of the greens, weed spraying on fairways and semi roughs.

Thanks to the team for their hard work keeping high standards with staff shortages and fast-growing conditions.  We continue to receive great feedback from visitors.  Special thanks to Adam who has led the team very effectively during Steve’s absence

Exemplar work lads.

Mark Tiplady

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

£100    –   Mary Rook

£50      –   Mike Pigott

£32      –   Bob Smith

£32      –   David & Mal Hope-Mason

£32      –   Nick Male

£32      –   Liz Petheram

Congratulations to this month’s winners. The next draw will take place in the week beginning 18^th June … look for the list of winners on the Secretary’s notice board.

Now the playing season is getting into full swing, remember to reserve Friday 3^rd August in your diary for the main event of the summer … the 100 Club Stableford and Evening meal. More details in next month’s Fore Info. An event not to be missed!