This will hopefully promote a smoother flow of play and reduce the build-ups that sometimes occur around the course. The feedback from members who have spoken to me has been very positive and they confirm it has reduced some of the delays often encountered. Better to wait longer on the Tee rather than in between your shots!

The Abba Tribute Act who performed at the Club on the 13^th of October certainly put a feather in the cap of the Social Committee. It proved to be a most entertaining evening. Special thanks must go to Mike Battisson who put in a lot of work and time to make a very successful evening.

During the year, I have received many comments from visitors to our Club. The common theme has been that “it is a lovely course with great greens, excellent catering with delicious food and a very friendly atmosphere”. We have every reason to be proud of our Club.

Representing Alresford Golf Club has been a great honour and my thanks to you all for your support and making it such a memorable year for me. I have been fortunate in having such an excellent Ladies Captain and Vets Captain to work with. I should also thank David Maskery for ensuring I did what was required of me and for giving me solutions to the inevitable problems that arise. I have very much enjoyed working with all of them. My Vice-Captain, Graham Marshallsay will soon take up the role of Captain. I am sure you will all join me in wishing Graham all the best for the coming year.

Finally, I must thank our Editor, Andy Thomsen for all his hard work and the patience he has shown me during the year!

It would be nice to see you all at the Trophy Presentation evening on the 16^th November, the AGM on the 23^rd and the Captain’s “Drive in” on the 25^th.

Brian Wright

The Autumn Meeting went without a hitch due to brilliant organisation by Sandra and Di. Everyone was in good spirits even though this was the last major event of the season. Winners on the day were Mandy Overton, Gunnel Berry and Charlotte Marsh (despite being injured!). The introduction of a 9 hole competition was well received and the winner was Jo White paired with Gill Freemantle and Mandy Overton.

Tonny Maxwell is outgoing President of the Hampshire Ladies Past Captains and as such hosted the Autumn meeting at Alresford. With 140 Ladies playing this was a huge event. My thanks go to Annie Beal, Jennifer Clelland and Sue Masser for helping with this in my absence.  The feedback I have received from the HLPC Committee has been outstanding. They especially thanked us for the warm welcome they received, the Course and the meal…!

For the 17^th year running the  Ladies Assistants PRO-AM was  wonderfully arranged by Sally Willis with 108 players from 36 Clubs. Alresford was looking its best, and the curry afterwards smelled delicious. Congratulations to Martin Adams from Swanmore who won the individual Pro’s prize and his Ladies Team from Meon Valley who won the Team event.

Thanks also to Malcolm and Jane Scott for the presentation and prizes and as always all the help they give putting on this event.

The usual friendly rivalry and banter took place between the Vets and Ladies for their annual combat. The format this year was American Greensomes which was well received.  Despite the Ladies trying their best we were just beaten by 5 matches to 4 matches. Lots of the matches were very close though which I believe made it more enjoyable for everyone. Lovely meal to follow so as always thanks to the Chris and Kelly Pullinger and to the Greenstaff for all their hard work on the course.

The Vets, Ladies and Juniors competition was great fun and Chris and I had the honour of playing with Will Briggs… goodness can he hit a long ball!  The worthy winners were Wynne, Sue and Wynne’s grandson Bertie… super ending to a lovely day.

So, finally a massive thank you to my fantastic Committee, who have all worked so hard this year, and to all the Staff who are a very committed and hard working bunch! Thank you to Jean for asking me to be her Vice Captain and thanks to Sue, who has backed me so solidly this year. My best wishes to her, and her Committee for 2019, I hope she has as much fun as I have.

And thank you to all of you for your kind words and support this year… I have loved every minute of it. I hope to see lots of you at the Ladies AGM on Saturday 24^th November, so I can thank you in person.

Love and best wishes

Mary

Some Reminders

All the temporary greens are either marked by a white circle on an area of the fairway or by a ‘Lift & Drop’ sign on a cut area off the fairway. Temporary greens marked as such are classed as putting greens. If your ball lies on a temporary green you must lift and drop the ball, without penalty, within one club length of the nearest point of relief not nearer the hole you are playing to. Similarly, when your ball comes to rest on a normal green and it is not the green for that hole, you must lift and drop the ball, without penalty, within one club length of the nearest point of relief.  It’s also a good idea to avoid walking across the temporary greens unnecessarily and to take trolleys around them as you would a normal green.

When the sheep arrive later this month, we will have a Local Rule in force which defines the sheep enclosure as Ground Under Repair from  which entry into and play from is prohibited. If your ball is known to be in the sheep enclosure or it is virtually certain that a ball that hasn’t been found is in the sheep enclosure then you must substitute another ball and drop it, without penalty, within one club length of the nearest point of relief from the point at which the ball crossed the boundary of the sheep enclosure and not nearer the hole. Relief may also be taken from surrounding fence to the sheep enclosure.

New Rules of Golf

As the new Rules of Golf will be effective from 1^st January 2019, we plan to offer some sessions highlighting the main changes to the rules which will affect everyone. Potentially there could be 2 or 3 sessions between now and the end of January. We will post notices when the dates and the numbers we can accommodate for each session are finalised.

George Clelland

Question.

A Bramble growing off the course interferes with a players swing. As the Bramble is growing off the course, may the player bend it out of the way or take relief under rule 24-2?

First, the catering team have been great this year. We have had some exceptional meals and we now regularly hear the away teams commenting on the great quality of the food at Alresford.

The Vets Committee has worked really hard as usual and in particular I want to single out Dennis Jones as fixtures secretary and Wynne Tufnell as tournament secretary. Nothing much would happen without those two guys. Dennis is retiring at this years AGM and being replaced by Tony Freeman. Wynne will retire as tournament secretary at the end of next year, but Gareth Rees is already in charge of the trophies and will shadow Wynne next year with a view to taking over the tournaments for the 2019/20 year. Ken Coburn has done sterling work as treasurer, despite not playing in vets matches (although, contrary to protestations, he is actually old enough to qualify) and Graham Lumb has been great as Secretary. Tony Stanton has always represented our views to the Greens Committee and given very helpful explanations of the changes to the course that are being made. And Geoff Procter has been a wise head as past captain. Geoff Jenkins has also been immensely helpful in keeping the scores of the summer matches so we can award the captains tankard for “most valuable player”. Robin Bashford ran the winter league last year and is, of course, already selecting teams for winter 2018/19, so many thanks to him for stepping up. In addition, many of you have offered friendly advice at various times during the season or spotted “deliberate” mistakes on the board – like dates, times and venues of matches – mere details, of course but important nonetheless. Thanks for keeping the season on the rails chaps.

We have an immensely successful Vets Section at Alresford and it has been my pleasure to be Captain this year. I know its in safe hands, and I look forward to many fun days in the future as a has-been.

Chris Thompson

BAR CARD ‘TOP UPS’ – YOUR HELP PLEASE?

If you are coming to a function, please ‘top up’ your card beforehand. This helps the staff and your fellow members when it is very busy at the start of the evening and you are not taking the attention of one of the bar staff for a longer period of time than necessary and perhaps having to wait for the credit card machine as well etc etc. ‘Top Up’ the day before whenever possible.

MENS SHOWERS CLOSURE – REPAIRS

The repairs to the mens shower wall will take place week beg. Monday 5^th November and may last 3-4 days. During this time the showers will be out of use. We apologise for the inconvenience. They will be opened for use as soon as is practical.

PRACTICE GROUND / DRIVING RANGE

Members are advised that there will be Hampshire County Junior Girls training taking place on Saturday 17^th November at the club. This will involve more intensive usage of the practice areas and driving range during the morning. We will keep some bays available for members.

Why not celebrate Christmas with your regular golfing groups? Forgo the usual post-round bacon sandwich or bowl of chips and pre-book a Christmas lunch (festive food or otherwise) – book directly with Pullinger Catering at the Kitchen.

Leaves will be the next large task.  Blowing and collecting is visible and obvious but transportation and storage also highly time consuming.  We do carefully store and reuse, creating nutrient rich top-soil bulking agent.   Our leaves are blown, collected and stored on the 12th for 2 years to decompose in an aerobic capacity. Thereafter they are transported to the range holding area for a year and further decomposition before being added to nutrient deficient soil to gain quality high nutrient soil for our future construction projects.

You may have noticed that the circular seat, in memory of Helen Connelly, has been relocated from adjacent to the 7^th tee to a position overlooking the practice area.  We have been approached by friends close to Helen recommending this move and agreed to an experimental relocation.  Helen’s sister Michelle thoroughly approves of this.  We are looking at various options to improve the 1^st tee, it’s approach and the practice facilities and feel that the seat is safer there  We expect it will be used by parents of juniors while they are using the chipping, putting greens and short game facilities as well as by friends and family as well as members wishing to take advantage of the views from this elevated position.

Finally, look out for notices regarding winter rules and tee changes.  This decision is made by the competitions committee, when weather conditions demand.

Happy golfing!

Mark Tiplady

You will have seen and heard the various methods we are currently employing to try and minimise this problem and maybe heard talk about others;

Chemicals – Acelepryn is a new chemical which is still seeking formal approval after testing. Emergency permission was granted this year for use between June and September but only on tees and greens. It has a limited application period and can not (or should not !) be used on fairways. As we haven’t suffered any damage to tees or greens yet we wouldn’t have been able to use it anyway.

Mechanical means such as rotary knives – these are tools that crush the larvae during the months when they are nearest the surface. The grubs do not like disturbance which is thankfully why their presence is less on well kept greens. This slitting of areas of the course is both ‘hit and miss’ literally, time consuming , disruptive to golfers and has been found to aid the birds in lifting the turf.

Nematodes – these are microscopic animals that are sprayed onto the turf and will attack the chafer grubs. This works well in the laboratory but in practice is difficult as the nematodes need to be applied very precisely to high concentrated areas of grubs. Machines are being developed that can inject nematodes directly into the soil but as yet are not readily available and will no doubt be expensive.

Organic products derived from citrus oil or garlic have been mentioned but those courses that have tried these products have seen little benefit if any.

Unfortunately there are no silver bullet solutions and we have found that the good old-fashioned scarecrow, hawk kites and bangers all work just as well. We have operated a programme of shooting and then hanging a dead bird in the areas of activity. We appreciate that this is unsightly and can be distressing to some and so have avoided this at the moment.

We will continue to do our best to present the golf course in the best condition as possible subject to the influencing factors, many over which we have no control. Please bear with us and your understanding and appreciation of the difficulties our Greenstaff are facing at present is welcome.

Answer.

No, such action would be a breach of Rule 13-2

Not a member of the 100 Club?

The objective of the Alresford Golf Club 100 Club is to raise funds for projects and items requiring capital expenditure that will enhance the Golf Course and/or the Clubhouse. Such projects would generally be considered as ‘extras’ and not necessarily be within the Club budget. The 100 Club was launched in 1987 to raise funds to augment the Centenary celebrations of the Golf Club in 1990, but at the request of the members, the 100 Club has continued to raise funds for items such as the Information Board and Clock on the 1^st tee and the Automatic External Defibrillator in the Entrance Hall.

If you’re not a member of the 100 Club, you can become one for as little as £1 per month. Shares in the 100 Club are purchased for £1 per month and there is no limit on the number of shares which can be held. In general, most members have between 1 and 5 shares and pay by monthly direct debit, though it’s also possible to pay quarterly or annually. Each share is allocated a number which in entered in the monthly draw. The top prize is £100, with a second prize of £50 and four other prizes of £32. For more information contact George Clelland on 01962 735008 or george.clelland@btinternet.com, or call in to the Secretary’s office.

George Clelland