CATERING NEWS from The Kitchen @ Team!

Firstly, please join me in welcoming Daisy to the Front of House team! Daisy joins us with bags of hospitality experience both in Alresford and in and around Winchester! Daisy will also look after all social media for The Kitchen, so if there’s something to be shared and shouted about then please let Daisy know.

NEW MENU

Our Autumn Winter kicks off on Tuesday 3rd October. Packed full of both Brunch and Lupper dishes – the favourites remain but there’s a few newbies which hopefully will hit the spot!

BREAKFAST BIRDIE – any coffee and bacon/sausage or egg bap (not brioche…..) before 10am Monday to Friday for a FIVER! (no discount….)

We listened to the survey results and there will be an All Day Brunch Section – with a 3 egg omelette…., lighter sandwiches with some ‘modern fillings’, hot snacks for those damp Monday lunchtimes – sausages & mustard and bowls of chilli! along with lots more!

October sees the launch of PIZZA at the club!

With the Ryder Cup in Rome – what better time to launch this exciting new element to our food offer!

Fresh, made to order, sourdough pizzas topped with a variety of fresh and cured ingredients – perfect for a pre, post or during round snack!

Pizza will be available Thursday & Friday evenings from 5pm and from midday at the weekend. Please give them a try.

SUNDAY ROAST LUNCHES

They’re back! Well almost…… kicking off again on Sunday 8th October, serving from 1pm. A dedicated Sunday menu will be in place featuring a selection of starters and desserts alongside the main event! Bookings of course available at the bar!

Enjoy,

Ben

The Kitchen@ Team

Clubhouse Development – Phase 1 costs

We have been finalising costs against contractual prices, provisional sums and the ultimate budget.

To recap; following a Special General Meeting of the Club and the input of Lender’s Trustees the club pledged £300,000 of cash reserves for Phase 1 of Clubhouse Development and successfully sought £506,000 in members’ loans to fund the project against the ask of £500,000.

Final costs for the project, including; builders contract, furniture, kitchen equipment, final canopy cost, additional unplanned costs and irrecoverable VAT is £796,355. There were additional, professional fees of £30,272 which include Architect, Quantity Surveyor, Winchester City Council building control and insurance. The areas in which we experienced significant cost overrun, are, the supply of the patio canopy and unplanned sub-floor repairs.

As we know, Phase 1 of the Clubhouse Development Project was delivered against the background of galloping inflation. The strength and timing of the builder’s contract protected the Club from increasing material costs throughout the contract which was successfully managed by Sue Masser and David Maskery throughout the build phase, and subsequently by Alan Farrell, Chair of the House Committee, as he deals with retentions and snagging. We must also acknowledge the restrictions of the Covid Pandemic which made working conditions far more complex than anticipated, so it was remarkable that we re-opened the Clubhouse on time.

Water Project

Golf Clubs will be subject to restrictions in the use of mains water for the course in six years’ time, which now results in the need for the Club to plan and provide alternative resource. Whilst Alresford Golf Club has access to the bore hole, there are current restrictions on its use which may also become further impacted but this is not clear at this time.

Therefore, we need to clarify the specific issue for Alresford Golf Club and plan the solution. David Maskery is working on this and networking with other Clubs so that our Club is well-informed at this stage. It is vitally important that we take expert advice on the problem and indeed the solution, which could take many forms.

There will be more information provided at the AGM.

Succession Planning

There will be a vacancy on the Management Committee for the Chair of Planning & Development to be filled at the AGM in November, as Tony Hutt stepped down due to ill health; Mary Rook has very helpfully stood in over recent months. I have begun to seek interest in the post, so if any members would like to know more about the role please make contact with me through my email, Chairman@alresfordgolf.co.uk

Succession planning for a new Chair of the Management Committee has been a discussion point during the second half of this year and I have received very positive, strong interest to take over. Any members who may be interested in finding out more about being Chairman are most welcome to contact me for a chat. Please email me, Chairman@alresfordgolf.co.uk

Trevor Pearce, Chair of Bar & Catering also steps down this year, however as we have new style of contracting with The Kitchen@ the Management Committee is proposing to stand down this committee whilst this system is in operation. It is proposed that the General Manager will manage the bar & catering contract, supported by meaningful feedback from member experience. The Management Committee will finalise proposals, and any actions required, in time for the AGM in November.

Finally…..

Derek Myers, Chair of Greens, tells me continually that we can only present a course that the weather permits, which may be true…to some extent…but it’s not the whole story!

This year, we have had the privilege of playing the course in exceptional condition, right through to the Autumn. We are obviously ‘weather dependent’ but the planning and continuous effort of our Greens Team ensure the course is presented in the best possible condition. Feedback from the recent Pro-Am stated that Alresford was in the best condition of any course played in the Southern Region this year. That is amazing feedback and earned through the dedication and pride of our Greens Team. Thank you so much for a brilliant year of golf.

Robert White

Chairman of the Management Committee

Thank you to all members that took part in my Captain’s Day on September 10^th and thank you to the well-wishers who couldn’t make it (including those who couldn’t get a tee time!).  The day gave me the opportunity to say thank you for your support throughout my year. Congratulations to the overall winner Robert Dooley, best lady Sarah Thorne and a special congratulations to Rosie Rooney being the best Junior with a new Junior course record of 69.

Instead of competition fees for the Captain’s Day competition, members made donations to Rainbow Trust, a very generous £1,700 was raised. A full and final figure will be announced at the end of theyear but that now takes us over the £15k mark – a huge thank you to members from all of the captains.

We have had a month of ‘almost’; the Kindred Cup Men’s team made the finals day again but didn’t hold onto the trophy won last year, the Ladies Annodata team lost in the final 16 in a hard-fought match against Puttenham, our trio of Ben Ludlam, Oliver Stuart and Tom Humphris missed out on being placed in the prestigious Addison Bowl at Hayling. However, congratulations to the pairing of Grant Thorne and Ben Ludlam who won the net competition at the County Foursomes held at North Hants, just missing out on the coveted scratch prize.

In my very last Captains Invitational Day of my year, I am delighted to say that 2019 captain Graham Marshallsay joined me at Hockley to play for the Twyford Trophy. Over 28 holes of Greensomes, St Andrew’s Greensomes and Foursomes we came out winners by a clear nine points. However, we are pleased that the trophy stays at Hockley (!)

Simon Freemantle  

Captain

‘September’tells us: Autumn is here! Our golf activities decline and we succumb to the end of season competitions. Nevertheless, ladies at the AGC have distinguished themselves again this month with the Annodata team finishing in the top 16 in Britain (!),

Jane Macrae winning 2 cups (!) in HLG Div2 Spring + Autumn competitions and the Knight Cup team playing in the semifinal at Romsey.

Annodata

The Annodata team lost by a whisker against Puttenham 3:2 in the semifinal. Many thanks to Sally Reid for being the team leader for : Elaine Capp, Polly Church, Jill England, Karen Fox, Gill Freemantle, Esme Goodacre, Lesley Martin, Pat Palmer, Dorothy Shaw and Caroline Warne. Well done ladies for carrying the flag for AGC in this prestigious competition..

Karen also played in the Corhampton Centenary Shield with Jane Macrae, Sue Pearce and Sarah Worthington finishing an excellent 4^th.

The Hull Shield was played by Jenny Steiner and Sarah Staines on 31^st Aug and The Hockley Centenary Trophy was played by Lesley Martin, Ann Younger, Rosemary Verrall and Marion Bruce on the 5^th September. Thank you for taking part in these competitions.

The Alresford Cup is an annual event taking place at Alresford GC at end of September. Introduced by Mary Rook and Sally Willis 20ish years ago, it is an inter-county junior girls competition between Berkshire, Dorset, Hampshire, Kent, Middlesex, Surrey, Sussex and Wiltshire. ‘Shepherd’-volunteers facilitate the teams around the course. This year Dorset won by 1 point over Hampshire. The fact that despite heavy rain fall and thunder  the girls played without a single complaint was a testimony to the resilience and dedication of the young, excellent players.

The annual PRO/AM competition took place at the start of September with visitors coming from many parts of the country. Sandra Hooker, Steve Oldham and myself teamed up with James Crossett from Cuddington GC, Surrey,  finishing midway somewhere! Great nostalgic connections were made when James and Steve realized they had attended the same school albeit not the same year with at least a couple of decades in age difference! Great day!

Captain’s Day on the 10 September was very well attended by the members fighting it out in teams of four.  A great day was held by all with most generous donations for the charity in excess of £1500. This is a phenomenal amount raised in 1day. Well done the Freemantle’s and thank you for a great day!

The ladies have just enjoyed a great day in the Autumn Meeting with 80ish members competing in ‘best 3 out of 4 scores’ followed by a delicious buffet lunch.

Winning group: Sarah Staines, Debbie Wills, Jane Andrews and Judy Wright. Well done to them! Jenny Ball, Vicky Reed, Jenny Frances and Kate Fay won the 9hole comp.

A Friendly match was played at Farnham on the 13^th Sept finishing in a draw.

A 80’s style disco got us thinking back to ‘wide shoulder pads’, ‘big glasses’, and ‘bouncy hairdo’s’. Thanks to the social committee for organising a great evening competing with World Cup Rugby (!?) with numbers a bit down to normal social evenings.

Ahead: Inter-club Eclectics at Bramshaw  and  Hayling Centenary Salver .

With my very best wishes,

Winter Knockout Competitions 2023-24

Men’s Lombard 4BBB & Mixed Winter Foursomes

The draw for the league stage has now been made and matches may now be arranged.  All matches in each league must conclude by 31^st December 2023.  As a reminder each side has equal responsibility to arrange matches.  Full Terms of Competition, together with an example as to how to calculate playing handicaps are displayed along with the league on the notice boards in the Clubhouse (Mixed) and men’s changing room (Lombard).  Please update the sheets with the results of matches played.

Remember: these competitions are predominantly played during the winter months and the competition should therefore be “play the course as you find it”, including tee locations and temporary greens.

Winter 2023-24

The greens committee are considering a number of winter projects which will have a significant impact on the qualifying status of the course during the winter months, and therefore the ability to run qualifyig competitions.

Mark Wood will be arranging a series of winter “Pro’s Stableford” competitions during December, January and early February.

Please remember England Golf stipulate that for scores to be acceptable for handicapping, no more than 2 temporary greens are allowable for 18 hole score and only one temporary green for 9 hole score.  In addition, the course length must not be increased or decreased by more than 100 yards for an 18 hole round or 50 yards for a 9 hole round.

Greenstaff will update the App on a daily basis as to whether the Courses is qualifying or not, and course signage will be visible on the first tee, clearly stating whether the course is deemed qualifying or not.  If the course is not qualifying then no General Play rounds will be permissible.

The decision taken at the time of posting the course status is final will NOT change after that time.

On the occasions that General Play rounds are allowable any General Play scorecards MUST be submitted in the box and will be monitored by the C&H Committee.  Any cards submitted on a day when the course is not qualifying will be deleted.

Gill Freemantle

Chair Competitions & Handicap Committee, Handicap Secretary

handicaps@alresfordgolf.co.uk

The last few weeks have been very busy for the Vets with several summer friendly matches and the Vets Invitation, one of the highlights of the season.

Last year the Vets Invitation took place on one of the hottest days of the summer, this year we had the exact opposite. The day started with light drizzle which became heavier for a couple of hours before easing in the late morning and afternoon. Fortunately there was little wind so conditions remained reasonable and members and guests played some fine golf as evidenced by the good scoring.

The winners of the coveted Vets Invitation this year were Drew Fielden and his partner John Waterfield (Donnington Grove) with a score of 45 points (four ball better ball). Congratulations to both players for an excellent performance.

Full results are as follows:

1st      Drew Fielden and John Waterfield (Donnington Grove) 45 pts

2nd     Richard Calton and John Hawkins (Blackmoor) 41 pts on count back       

3rd      Colin Newton and Chris Coates (Bramshaw) 41 pts

The other highlight of the day belonged to Andy Buckle who claimed the nearest the pin prize on the 10th with a hole in one. Well done Andy. I heard the celebrations in the clubhouse continued well into the evening!

A big thank you to Mon, Margaret and Fran for feeding us in the “Halfway House”,  to Ewan McGregor for organising the event, to Wynne Tufnell for scrutinising the cards and to Ben and his crew for an excellent carvery meal.

Another four matches were played in the summer friendly series with mixed results as follows;

Royal Winchester, Away, Lost 2.5:3.5

Hartley Wintney, Home, Won 5:1

Stoneham, Away, Lost 1.5:4.5

Cowdray Park, Home, Abandoned

Player of the month was Brian Overton who played with Norman Sheen to win 5/3 at Royal Winchester and with Bob Germon to win 5/4 at Stoneham. The match against Cowdray Park was, to say the least disappointing. We were well ahead in six games and all square in the seventh when the heavens opened up and flooded the greens making the course unplayable. We will seek revenge at Cowdray Park in early October!

There are just two more summer friendly matches to play this season after which we have a break of a couple of weeks before starting our Winter League campaign.

Steve Oldham

Vets Captain