Abbey Hill - Member's Newsletter (May - June)

AN UPDATE FROM...

Russell Heady General Manager

Hello all, Hello and welcome to the May edition of our newsletter. Newsletters are now sent out every 2 months to keep you updated on everything Abbey Hill. You still have July, September, and November editions to look forward to later this year.

The strange weather trends continue, as following the 2 weeks of dry weather in February, we had a very wet March - one of the worst on record with over 20 consecutive days with rain! March and April have been busy months for us in the offices as we have been working hard processing all your membership renewals. Thank you all so much for staying with us for another year.

We had to put the prices up and whilst I know it wasn’t easy for you all to find the money in these times of cost-of-living crisis, uptake was very good with over 85% of you renewing. We have already filled most of the 7-day membership spaces with new members and just have the last few remaining before we re-introduce the waiting list.

The first phase of our clubhouse refurbishment is now complete. You will all have seen the new entrance foyer and we have also fully refurbished the two function rooms, the downstairs Fairway Suite and newly named upstairs room, the Atrium Suite. We have also redecorated the Coffee Bar and the male, female and disabled toilets. Phase two will start in January 2024 and include a full refurbishment to The Coffee Bar including new furniture, new male and female changing rooms and a bigger kitchen.

We are also working towards planning permission for a refurbished driving range with more bays, TrackMan technology, more car parking, and a reservoir, so that we are self-sufficient for water to irrigate our golf courses.

Our lovely, refurbished Atrium Suite.

fantastic,

The golf course improvements should be finished this month. You will see a new tarmac pathway from the bridge to the first tee, fully refurbished greenside bunkers on holes 5 and 7 and a new tee ready for the 8th hole. The new bunkers and tee should be in play by mid-May and the new path finished in early May.

In this newsletter we have a course update from Ross, a fantastic pro tip from John, an update on our new driving range lights, a new phone number to order food and drinks from the course as well as details on our Coronation Family Fun Day!

Best regards and see you around the centre

Russell

Our

refurbished entrance foyer

COURSE UPDATE

Ross Course Manager

Hello and welcome to my 3rd newsletter of 2023.

I wrote in my last newsletter in March about the freakish February weather that we had experienced with only 4mm of Rain. This March could not had been more different to February, with 27 days out of 31 for the month in which it rained and a total of 84.3 mm against an average of 41 mm, making it the wettest March for the site.

April has continued in a similar manner, with 51 mm of rain for April against an average of 31mm, making this April our 3rd wettest.

So, what does this mean for conditions out on the course? In terms of turf quality, we are a couple of weeks back from where we would like to be. Spring maintenance has been held up slightly and it makes the decision we took in February during the dry spell to hollow core the greens even more important.

In my last newsletter I spoke of our spring maintenance plan to sand/spike the greens and then overseed/sand the greens before Easter. Sadly, the weather was so against us this was impossible to do. Looking at the forecast for early May we are hoping to complete these works then.

The weather has also impacted us with the project work that’s been going on, again back in early March I was predicting that the works would be completed and ready for Easter.

Most of the projects are now nearing completion: the 1st path will be completed by the 3rd of May, the old fairway bunker on the 11th will be soiled and seeded in the first week of May along with the new bunkers on 5 and 7, plus the new tee on 8 will be open for play by the middle of May.

May and June are two of our busiest months of the year as we increase our mowing frequencies along with finer turf grooming, sand dressing, spraying, and raking.

We’ve recently seen a slight increase of near misses of balls hit in the direction of the green keepers. Please can I politely remind you all of our site policy of waiting to be signalled to by a member of the team before playing a shot. We will always move out of your way as quickly as we can once we have seen you. Thank you!

Many of you will now be aware of Sam Norman, our apprentice who has been selected to work at The Open in July. I will have more information in my next newsletter of ways in which you will be able to follow him during his week behind the ropes at the world’s greatest golf event. Sam was out on the course in April hand mowing all the greens, as he will be doing at the open, getting in some practice with the mower that he will be using at Hoylake.

Continued on the next page

5th bunker 8th tee

7th bunker (left) 7th bunker (right)

More good news for the team this month! Another member of our team is being recognised with an internal staff award for his efforts and continued development with his education. Well done Ethan Couling on becoming staff member of the quarter for the

GOLF UPDATE Reciprocal Golf

Don’t forget, a fantastic benefit of membership at Abbey Hill is 1 free round per month at one of the other nine BGL Golf sites around England. The options are:

• Aldwickbury Park – Harpenden

• Burhill – Surrey

• Birchwood Park – Kent

• Hoebridge – Woking, Surrey

• Redbourn – Redbourn

• Ramsdale Park – Nottingham

• The Shropshire – Telford

• Thornbury – Bristol

• Wycombe Heights – High Wycombe

You can book your round up to seven days in advance by speaking to our sales office, or calling them on 01908 562566 (option 2). You can also take guests at members’ guest rates!

first 3 months of 2023!

One final note, please keep up the good work with repairing your pitch marks!

Enjoy your golf over the coming months.

Ross and all the greens team.

Hoebridge Golf Centre, Woking is a lovely course, only an hour and a half drive from Milton Keynes and well worth a round.

Sam hand-mowing the 18th green

1. The Interview

GOLF UPDATE Pro’s Tip

John Scheu Head PGA Pro

Abbey Hill is a main stockist of Ping Golf Equipment, their mythology on Custom Fitting is world class:

Both a Level 1 and Level 2 fitting begin with your fitter obtaining important information. Questions help the fitter identify your ball-flight tendencies, equipment specifications, your likes and dislikes about your current set, and your needs and preferences from new equipment. The dialogue will continue throughout the fitting to ensure that your expectations are being met every step of the way.

2. Static Fitting

After the initial interview, Level 1 and Level 2 fittings continue with the fitter determining your initial club specifications based on your preferences, needs and ability. For drivers, fairways and hybrids, you’ll discuss the general performance characteristics of different models, lofts and shafts. For an iron fitting, your height and wrist-to-floor measurement are taken to help calculate your static iron color code (lie angle) and shaft length, and your hand dimensions are used to calculate your static grip color code, or grip size. A static fitting can also be performed utilizing nFlight Web, our online fitting application.

3. Dynamic Swing Test

For an iron fitting, you will hit a few golf balls from an impact board with special tape on the sole of the club. When the club hits the board, it will leave a mark on the tape that helps the fitter better understand how your setup, posture, and swing affect the clubhead’s position at impact. The fitter then makes adjustments to find your colour code.

For drivers, fairway woods and hybrids, face tape or spray is applied to the face and the impact marks are analysed for consistency to

determine the optimal shaft length.

4. Ball-Flight Analysis

Both a Level 1 and Level 2 fitting offer some degree of ball-flight analysis from the driver through the wedges. While a Level 2 fitting experience is more in-depth, the fitter will utilize a variety of clubs with slightly different specifications to isolate each fitting variable. This process helps determine the combination of model, loft, colour code, shaft length and flex, and grip that gives you the best opportunity to achieve your optimal ball flight.

https://eu.ping.com/en-us/fitting/our-fitting-process

Ensuring your equipment is suitable for your game means you’re already 1up before you’ve even hit a shot.

Custom Fitting is Free of Charge at Abbey Hill G.C. ~ Contact the Team for more information 01908 563845

*Additionally, we have a Ping Fitting Event on Thursday 11th May 12:00-16:00*

Ping Demo / Custom Fitting

Day, Thursday 11th May 12pm to 4pm

Come and try out the latest clubs from Ping including the brand-new G430 Drivers. The Ping experts will be on hand to custom fit clubs to suit you and your game and you can order your new clubs on the day.

Contact the pro shop to get booked in!

GOLF UPDATE Golf Shop Offers!

We have an incredible offer for you courtesy of Titleist. Titleist are offering this incredible offer as part of their commitment to reward the loyalty of their wonderful customers.

If you purchase three dozen balls, you get another dozen ABSOLUTELY FREE!

This offer includes plain or personalised balls, in any of the following: Pro V1, Pro V1x or AVX.

Speak to our team of Professionals in the shop for more information.

Winter Trolley Wheels no Longer Required

As we enter the warmer Spring and Summer months, you can now take off your winter trolley wheels as they are no longer needed!

Par 3 Tee Off Mats Removed

Now we are into the main golfing season and the tees have dried out, we have removed all the main course par 3 tee mats so that the full main grass tees are in use.

Order food and drinks from the 10th tee to collect on your way to the 11th!

We have changed our Coffee Bar direct dial phone number. It is now 01908 803307. The sign on the 10th tee has been updated as below. Save the number into your phone if you like! You can then order food or drinks to take away from the Coffee Bar as you head to the 11th tee.

GOLF UPDATE

Coloured Flags Back in Use

Please be aware that coloured flags are now back in use!

Red flags indicate the flag is at the front of the green, yellow indicate middle, and white indicate back.

New Motocaddy Electric Hire Trolleys!

CLUB UPDATE

Well done Tom!

On Sunday 23rd April, ex staff member Tom Blick ran the London Marathon. He managed to get round in the fantastic time of 4 hours 34 minutes!

A massive thank you to everyone who donated - so far he has managed to raise over £1,400 for the British Heart Foundation in memory of our amazing ex-staff member David Armor. There is still time to donate, just follow the link below.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/tomblick?fbc lid=IwAR2Wr7JmQAoLlbQeNf3SeVFg1NNYAOeQPb0Mx0vTx_LqeCJAvAD-MHNHgk

We have 4 brand-new Motocaddy trolleys for you to hire, at only £12.50 per round. You can rent these from the pro shop. There are five main benefits of using an electric golf trolley:

1. Take the strain off your body.

2. Reduce fatigue.

3. Extra storage space and accessory options.

4. Spend more time on the golf course. With less risk of getting injured and less time spent recovering!

5. Concentrate on the round.

We have the last remaining of the old Motocaddy Hire Trolleys available to buy! Only £500 (Up to £899 new) Please ask in the shop.

New Driving Range Lights

On 11th April we installed new driving range outfield lights. The outfield is now much brighter. Don’t forget the driving range is now open until 10pm every day!