MEMBER NEWS
Enjoy the rest of the newsletter and I will hopefully see you all soon around the Bestcentre!regards Russell
A Message From Russell, General Manager
Member's Newsletter - September 2022
I think Ross' rain dance has finally worked! As I write we've just had a big downpour of heavy rain. We also had heavy rain the previous night and thunderstorms the day before. It is much needed on the course and the grass on the fairways will now start to go back to green again. We've had a really busy summer with the golf courses busy, a busy range, the pirate golf busy with families on school holidays and a packed wedding season. Things will start to calm down a bit now as families get back into the school routine and the temperature drops as autumn approaches. Apart from the lack of green fairways, I've been very pleased with the condition of the golf course. The greens especially are looking and playing fantastically, the best I can remember at Abbey Hill. Thank you to you all for your kind feedback on the course condition which I have passed on to Ross and the green keeping team. The team will now be embarking on their autumn course maintenance to begin the process of ensuring the course it in great condition again for next season.
Hello everyone, welcome to the September 2022 edition of our monthly newsletter! I hope you are all well and have been enjoying your golf!
Congratulations to Neil Lindop on winning the Club Championship! I saw him practicing a lot in the build-up so credit to him for putting in the hard work and preparation. The great Gary Player once said "the more I practice the luckier I get" Like many golfers I'm guilty of always wanting to play but not practicing enough. I've been away for the past week but the feedback I've got was that the course was set up excellently and provided a very good challenge for the championships. We have had some feedback on the trees on the 7th hole carry from the tee. We agree that this gap has got a little too narrow from the back tee and will trim these trees back in the next few weeks.
Hello from the greenkeeping department, I trust you are all well. For those who played in our recent Club Championship, held over the weekend of August Bank Holiday, I hope you found the course fair and a suitable challenge. It’s an event that I personally look forward to each year bringing the chance to test you all just a little bit more with a couple of tougher pin positions. Congratulations to the winners!
Course Report From Ross, Course Manager
The weather continues to be at the forefront of the news as the dry spell continues giving many farmers, land managers, water companies and green keepers plenty of sleepless nights. You will no doubt be aware that a number of water companies across the UK have now placed restrictions on usage, thankfully in our own region, at the time of writing, Anglian water have not and are reporting that their reservoirs are at 78.6% full. You can read more here if you driestwiththeInterestinglyquitethroughgreens,tookthecourse!thatcamara’s,spentmonth,everythingFollowingdayAtwaterhttps://www.anglianwater.co.uk/environment/investingwish:-in-the-future-of-water/Our--resources/monitoring-water-resources/ourownsite,Augustcontinuedthissummer’sthemewithverylittlerainfall,hightimetemperatures,briskwinds,andexcessiveevapotranspiration(ET)rates.July’srecordlowrainfallof2.9mm,Iheldmybreathandcrossedastheweatherforecasterspredictedrainfallduringthemiddleoftheonlytoseethemajorityoftherainfalleverywhereexceptthegolfcourse!Itheeveningofthe18thofAugustwatchingmyweatherstationandthecctvaswellasreceivingmessagesfromeverymemberofmyteamtellingmeitwaspouringdownattheirhouse,onlytoseeeveryraincloudpassbytheThankfullythefollowingdaywedidreceiveanunexpected2.3mm.Towardsendofthemonth,wedidagainreceiveaverywelcomefurther8.1mm,whenwetheopportunitytospraysomewettingagent,biostimulatesandseaweedontheitwascertainlyanoccasionwhenIwasmorethanhappytobesoakedtomyunderpants.So,weclosedoutAugustwithatotalof11.6mm.NotourdriestAugust,thatwasbackin2014whenwerecorded7mmforthemonth.thoughduringthatparticularAugustof2014ourtotalsfortheyearuptoendofAugustwere667mm.Thisyearwehavebarelybrokenthe200mmbarrier,ourrecordsshowing201mmofrainforthefirst8monthsof2022.Ourpreviousyeartotalstothispoint,262mmwasbackin2011whenwefinishedoutthe
year on 405 mm. That following year, 2012 happens to be our wettest on record 915 mm, again proving that nature has a strange way of cancelling itself out. Despite the extremely challenging conditions the greens have remained in reasonable condition, and we have so far managed to have prevented the onset of dry patch that I have witnessed at a number of local clubs, in which the soil becomes hydrophobic and begins to expel water, eventually leading to a loss of turf. Turf diseases in the form of anthracnose, that can wipe out large areas on greens has also been very prevalent this summer at a number of golf courses. It is caused by plant stress from low fertility, organic matter build up, and overuse of water systems particularly when temperatures peak above 25c for 3 consecutive days. Again, so far, we have managed to avoid this thankfully. One problem that does continue to cause us issues though are the birds pecking the greens for insects. As many will know, the chemicals available were removed some time ago and with the added problem of all other areas being so dry and hard the birds are finding refuge in the areas that are watered. August was still a busy month and we managed to once again shallow micro core and over seed the greens. This is our long-term strategy of controlling and reducing the organic matter in the greens whilst trying to improve the sward quality by introducing finer grasses that will not only putt better but help reduce the reliance on chemicals.
September will see us continue this work and is one of the busiest months for the greenkeeping team. Our aim for the month will see us verti cut, micro core, deep verti drain, over seed and dress all in preparation for this autumn and for our base to produce good surfaces again next season. I have recently had approval to continue with our policy of draining 1 of the old greens per year with the use of the rope drainage system. This year will be the turn of the 14th green. The last week in November has been booked in to complete this works. Recently you will recall we have installed this drainage system on the 1st, 8th, 13th and 16th greens with great results. Look out for some bat boxes going up around the areas near the ponds on 12 and 17 in the next few weeks. As part of our planning applications for building the reservoir to supply the golf course with water, the ecology reports have shown that we have a thriving bat population in this area. Hopefully a few more suitable nesting areas will help our guests to establish further. Some more sad news I’m afraid this month in relation to staff. We are set to lose another member of the team, Chris Mayhew has accepted a position at Thornton College to become their new Head Grounds Man. Chris has been with us for 5 years and played a significant role in within the team. We wish him well and thanks him for his service. We will of course be looking to replace both Chris and Alfie. In the meantime, enjoy your golf and please watch out for us green keepers. Ross and the green keeping Team.
Head John Scheu John's Tip Of The Month! Tip – Take Dead Aim!
Not just with your feet but also knees, hips, club face. right handed swing
will compensate for poor alignment. Check your alignment every practice session for the rest of your life! Here's a great video link to help https://www.youtube.comyou:/watch?v=90mvceUsiTs Footjoy Offer! In the shop we currently have a fantastic offer on these brilliant Footjoy golf shoes at only £64.99!!
shoulders, and
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Most
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golfers aim right but this doesn’t always mean the ball will go right as often their
Please remember one of your benefits of the full membership is to play 1 x reciprocal round per month at one of the other 9 BGL courses within the group. In order to book a tee time this must be done via ourselves in the office 7 days or less prior to the date you wish to play. Please see a link to all the courses included here: Inhttps://www.bglcompany.co.uk/golf/ordertobookfeelfreetodropus
a call or pop into the office and we can help get your booked in for an away day, you are also more than welcome to take visitors with you who will benefit from member guest rate at the club.
Reciprocal Golf
Birchwood Park Golf and Country Club, pictured below is a lovely course and is definitely worth a visit if you're ever near Kent. Smoking Ban Lifted!
Due to the recent rain, the risk of fire around the golf course is now low. We have therefore lifted the no smoking ban. Thanks for your patience and understanding in helping us be fire safe.
Hands On The Purse Strings!
Here's a picture of a similar reservoir to the one we hope to install.
A lot of the water we use comes from our bore hole, however this isn't sufficient during the dryer summer months. This year the drought conditions and the increasing trend of long dry Summers in the UK due to climate change, has increased the urgency for us to be protected against water bans and become self sufficient for water. We are hoping to install the reservoir by 2024, between the back of the green keeper's shed and the adventure golf course. By harvesting the rainfall on the reservoir, course and range we shouldn't need to use any mains water at all on the golf courses, a big improvement in the sustainability of our site. Also, certainly a big saving on our water bill! It will initially take around 6 months to fill the reservoir from our bore hole.
We have been resisting cost increases for some time now, having not changed our food menu prices for 12 months and drinks costs since the Spring. Unfortunately, we have now reached a point where we will have to pass some costs onto members, guests and visitors. We have considered measures to mitigate these increases such as changing suppliers and products, ultimately prices are unfortunately going up everywhere. Some examples include eggs up 63%, milk and cream 54%, prawns 51%, smoked salmon 47%. We are also experiencing cost challenges on the golf courses. Top dressing sand has seen a 22% increase mainly due to fuel increases at the quarries. Likewise fertilizers are up over 40% as lots of the ingredients come from Ukraine. Also red diesel used in the greenkeeping vehicles has almost doubled in price.
Finally, our biggest cost increase will be our electricity costs with our rate going up 600% from October! We already have the majority of our lights with LED bulbs which Wehelps.could cut back on the course projects and do less general course maintenance, but this would have a negative impact on course condition so we will not compromise on this area and indeed will continue to spend more, examples being the new bunkers on the 8th hole, many new tees and drainage on the 1st and 8th greens.
Sustainability Update - Reservoir Coming Soon!
Do You Own Any Unwanted Golf Clubs? We are collecting unwanted/unlovedanygolf clubs on behalf of NEDBANK’s Charity who are hosting their annual event at Burhill Golf Club on Friday 9th September YOUR CLUBS WILL BE SENT TO SOUTH AFRICA AND GIVEN BACK TO THE COMMUNITY Please hand any items to the Pro Shop and we will arrange transport to Burhill Golf BunkerClub.Plan
We are finalising discussions with our contractors to re build the greenside bunkers on the 7th hole as well as the large fairway bunker on the 15th fairway. These will be completed before the end of the year with the same bunker blinder technology we used for the 8th bunkers and be a huge improvement. three more bunkers will be removed, including the right sided fairway bunker on the 11th (to encourage hits away from the houses on the left) and one of the two fairway bunkers together on the 14th fairway.
BGLmi_ecmp=LFCFRDOUK_Day1_Return_VC_Guest2022?utm_medium=email&utm_source=ExactTarget&utm_campaign=20220906_&mi_u=44486163&https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/BGL-Bike-2-Paris-CharityBikeRideForUkraine
Last week several of our staff including CEO Colin Mayes completed a bike ride from Burhill Golf Club in Surrey to Paris to raise funds for the Red Cross Ukraine Appeal. All donations will be greatly appreciated here:
Throughout December we have availability for you to celebrate Christmas with us, from your work's Christmas Party to your Afternoon Tea with Santa! Book early as the key dates are selling fast. To enquire please email kcloughton@abbeyhillgc.co.uk View our full brocure via this ChristmasUhttps://issuu.com/bglbrochures/docs/abbey_hill_christmas_brochure_20link:22?fr=sMzMzNDUyMDExNzatAbbeyHill!
