Shropshire Member News - May

AN UPDATE FROM...

Stuart Perry General Manager

Dear Members

It’s been a wet start to 2024, that’s for sure!

On a more positive note, the nights are drawing out and it won’t be long hopefully until we will have warm weather, sunshine, the smell of freshly cut grass and a nice pint after a round of golf in the courtyard.

Here’s some of the latest news from the club.

Course closure notifications

For information to be in one place where members and visitors can find out the current course status, we have added an info bar on the new centre website home page.

Hopefully we are towards the end of the poor weather where course closures may be implemented. Decisions will be made following course inspections, and the status will be updated by 7.30am each morning for that day.

Trackman Range update

As of this month we had our three millionth golf ball hit on the range! What a transformation this investment has brought to the club.

Now members can benefit from 10% additional credit when they top up their YGB booking account.

We are working closely with the IT providers to make this an automatic discount at the end of the transaction if you hold membership status. For next winter we will increase the membership benefit to a discount of 100% if we have any full course closures!

Hayden and the team have been running regular member competitions during periods when the course has been closed. We also have a monthly bullseye competition which is open to all range users. Monthly winners guarantee a spot in the grand finale. Watch this space for dedicated member nights too from April.

Renewals

Our main membership renewal period is now upon us. Thank you to everybody who has completed their renewal in good time. The renewal process is very straightforward, and you can renew via the Elite Live App. But please make sure you contact me or one of the team should you have any questions or wish to discuss other membership options.

For those on direct debit, your April DD will include your annual England golf and county union fees before dropping back down to the monthly rate.

For those on points membership, your renewal is based on your 12-month anniversary from when you joined.

WHS update

You may have read from the monthly committee meeting minutes that we have been through a lengthy process of having the course re-measured, re-rated and revised the course hole stroke indexes. Our WHS handicap tables were updated on Monday 12th February and further updated on 1st April when additional WHS updates were implemented.

The new tables are available from the golf shop or our centre website as the boards on the first tees are now out of date and we are working on changing these to information boards. The hole-byhole boards will also be changed in due course. Given WHS may change again and this process is required every 10 years, a lot less information will be posted out on the course as its costly to replace. The easiest way is to use the HowDidIDo app and input your score through club software as all it requires is your course combination, tee colour used, and gross score.

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During the new rating process, we have had the red tees rated for men and the yellow tees rated for ladies too.

We have also added a QR code to the new scorecard so you can access the tables directly from the website.

Capital projects 2024

Off the back of a successful 2023, we have further commitment from BGL to invest in our club. Main projects for this year will include the installation of course toilets following feedback from the ladies section, refurbishment of the men’s bar toilets, and purchase of a new hybrid greensmower to name a few.

Sustainability 2024

Last year we strengthened our focus on sustainable golf and climate action through the commitment of seven core sustainability policies - in line with the rest of the BGL group. At The Shropshire, these policies guide our decisions to ensure that we’re always working towards improving sustainable ways of managing our site. We are engaging with experts such as GEO, the Woodland Trust, Severn Trent, the Forestry Commission, and the Wildlife Trust to offer external specialist advice.

A big part of improving our sustainability performance is being able to accurately track and report the results of our actions. For example, last year we spent a lot of time focusing on improving

how we recycle and segregate our waste. Through working with our waste company, we now have monthly visibility of where our waste has gone and how it has been disposed of. In the last six months of 2023, 68% of our waste was recycled, 22% went to ‘Wasteto-energy’ where it was converted into electricity and 10% was converted via Anarobic Digestion to energy.

We’re very proud that during 2023 we were able to work with our waste contractor to ensure we keep as much from landfill as possible.

As we begin a new year, our focus on sustainable ways of working continues, and my commitment to all of you is that I communicate what we are doing and why, and the positive impact that this is having on our climate.

One of the small changes you will have already seen is our change of crisps in the bar at the start of the year to the British Crisp Company. As well as being fully made within the UK, the crisp packet is also fully recyclable. Fingers crossed for some improved weather, and thank you for your membership renewals. We are looking forward to a great golfing season here at The Shropshire!

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Bird boxes

As part of our drive to nuture wildlife habitats on our golf courses, we will be adding additional bird boxes and a bug hotel. As members if you wish to contribute by making one for those savvy DIY’ers please get in touch. A great source of info is https:// www.rspb.org.uk/helping-nature/what-you-can-do/ activities/build-a-birdbox

Members Appreciation Day 2024 – Sunday 19th May

This Sunday will see our annual members appreciation day return as a thank you to those members that have supported the club and renewed again for the 2024 season. It’s always a good day, and hopefully we get some good weather on the day!

Members will be able to book a tee time and play with whoever they wish - additionally on arrival there will be complimentary members special, and a post-round drink at the bar.

Prizes will be up for grabs for the best stableford scores on either course combination played in order to maximise entries. 5 day members are welcome to play, please call the shop to book!

Myself and the team will be on hand to carry out the card aministration so please hand in your card to the golf shop after the round. Yellow tees for men, Red for ladies.

Winter feedback

During the winter, we fully appreciate the frustration caused by course closures, and we understand that there have been many questions asked. As such, I would like to address a few of those now.

Simply put, we cannot control what comes from the sky. This may seem obvious, but we have had numerous comments regarding drainage, and it not working or being very poor with need for improvement. Our drainage hasn’t simply stopped working, it has been overrun. Most courses can deal with 1-3mm per day, but when you get 10mm+ all at once, and then more sustained rainfall in subsequent weeks, it will cause problems at any

golf course.

We have also received comments about refunds on membership fees during periods of closure. As much as we would like to do this, and if you recall we did implement this during Covid, we need to keep the great team of staff we have. They work just as hard when the course is closed, as when it’s open. Also overheads/bills, and we all know how much these have increased over the past 12 months, these simply don’t go away for bad weather. Often the clean up process costs more.

We, without doubt, stay open more than any other course in the area, and at worst case offer nine holes when we can on a rotation - the benefit of a 27-hole facility. With the amazing range facility we now have too, which has been heavily discounted throughout the winter, and at times free, we do try our best to offer some golfing release to the membership.

Even England Golf extending the period of pick and place until the end of May shows what golf courses across the country have had to deal with this past winter.

https://www.bigga.org.uk/news-listing/golf-courseclosed-rainfall.html

Hope this helps to clear up a few questions, and we look forward to some better weather soon!

Stuart

Course maintenance update –

Ivan Beetlestone

With 2023 being one of the wettest I can remember in my 25 years at The Shropshire, its also been a pretty wet winter and start to 2024 with an excess of 460 mm of rain to date. Since re-opening fully, we are trying our very best to get back out on the course and prepare it as best we can for you. Thank you to everyone for your patience over the past few months, we don’t take closing the course lightly as you know but from my perspective, I don’t want to offer a golf course for play that we haven’t been able to get out with equipment and maintain.

To help keep the greens in a playable condition, earlier in the year we vertidrained them which consists of solid tines being pushed into the surface to a depth of 12” into the root zone penetrating the gravel carpet below. This ensures that surface water can be removed as quickly as possible, also using a group piece of equipment called an air2G2, we

were able to inject oxygen into the root zone of the greens to encourage healthy root growth and discourage anaerobic conditions more commonly known as a black layer.

Both of these procedures will help relieve the compaction and damage from playing on the greens during such relentless wet playing conditions.

With the soil temperatures beginning to rise, we are now looking to plan our spring greens renovation. In previous years we were able to carry this out in February, no such luck this year. This will consist of dyna coring to the green surface (very small pencil-like) which reduces surface disturbance to a minimum. Small cores of thatch/organic matter content are removed from the green followed by verti cutting to remove old dead grass leaves that accumulate over the winter period just below the surface.

Overseeding is then carried out with a straight bent grass seed mixture with various cultivars into the verti cutting grooves followed by a top dressing of coarse sand to protect the seed and act as a tilth. Top dressing is also an essential process as it also helps to dilute the organic thatch layer accumulation below the sward surface, this also helps to retain the quality of the rootzone, aids drainage and firms up the putting surface allowing for better playing conditions.

When conditions are more favourable a foliar feed of NPK will be applied to aid recovery and keep the turf healthy. We will endeavour to keep disturbance to the absolute minimum during this work.

Ivan

Thank

Please

THE SHROPSHIRE GOLF COURSE Muxton Lodge, Muxton Ln, Telford, TF2 8PQ