MONTH 2023
AN UPDATE FROM...
Russell Heady General Manager
Hello all, and welcome to our September 2024 Newsletter, our 5th newsletter of the year.
Newsletters now go out every two months so you will also get a November edition this year.
It’s been a good few months at Abbey Hill Golf Centre with some much-improved weather, especially throughout August. The golf courses have been in fantastic condition, and I must say a huge well done to our amazing greenkeeping team.
I believe the course condition for the club championships at the end of July was the best it has ever been, and it was a great challenge for our members. Congratulations to Demi Maxey, ladies winner and Matt Fender, men’s winner!
We are so pleased with the investment from BGL into improving the clubhouse over the last 18 months. We now continue apace with investments on the golf courses with the completion of the new short course tees, new paths, and bunker rebuilds set to come in this month, which Ross details below. We are very grateful to the board of directors and the Guinness family for their commitment to the continued improvement of Abbey Hill.
Thanks to everyone for filling in our online surveys, we had a great response in July and August, and I am proud to say are now top of the NPS score table! It was great to get so many brilliant scores, with excellent feedback on our staff, team, and golf courses.
The latest winner from the random draw of all respondents was Brian Cuthbertson who won a £60 driving range credit or a free 4-ball voucher! Keep the responses coming.
The Par 3 Short Course saw the first round of our committed investment to make improvements last month, with the installation of nine artificial tees. The tees will allow a tee peg to be pushed in and you can strike a ball cleanly off the mats as well. We decided to put these new tees at the back of the old teeing areas to also lengthen the course, making it more challenging and playable. This has improved playing conditions and has generated lots of positive feedback. If you’re a main course member don’t forget you also get to play the Short Course for free!
We have taken the difficult decision to stop Footgolf here at Abbey Hill. We feel that this will significantly improve the playing experience of traditional golfers on the Short Course with less noise, more tee time availability, quicker rounds, less damage to the greens and no bucket holes/ blue flags in your way. We still see ourselves as a very family-friendly site with youngsters and families able to start out on the pirate-themed crazy golf, or try golf for the first time on the driving range, before progressing to the short course, and eventually the main course.
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We launched our new website last week. It has a much more modern look with some fantastic pictures and drone flyovers. Take a look by following the link here: https://abbeyhillgc.co.uk/
Enjoy your late summer golf and I hope to catch up with you all around the centre soon!
Russell
COURSE UPDATE
Ross Course Manager
Hello everyone and welcome to my fifth update of the year.
As we slowly say goodbye to the summer and welcome the autumn season in. It’s always a very busy time of year for sports turf maintenance as we deal with the ever-changing weather and ground conditions, plus the picturesque but problematic leaf drop.
We start with a thank you for some excellent feedback following the club championships at the end of July, when we had the greens running at over 11 feet on the stimpmeter, for comparison, that’s slightly quicker than they
were at Troon for The Open Championship!
July also saw a couple of famous sportsmen paying a visit to the centre: Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez from the Red Bull F1 team. Sergio kindly spent some time with the team for a picture and to check over some of our machinery.
In other team news, two of our greenkeeping staff team, Sam Norman and Darren Broxham both enjoyed great weeks away learning at different courses. Sam worked at the Scottish Seniors Championships, and Darren was working at the LIV Tour event played on the JCB Course in Staffordshire. I think both guys came back extremely tired after working 15-hour days over the week that included 4 am starts. This is great for their personal development and to network with other green keepers from around the country and learn new techniques.
Darren cutting the approaches at The JCB Course
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Sam with the greenkeeping team and event winner at Trump International in Aberdeen.
A look back at the weather stats over the previous two months shows a mixed bag. July continued the theme of this year’s wet summer as we recorded 79 mm of rain against a site average of 55 mm, thus making it our third wettest July in the past 20 years. August on the other hand was the opposite with just under 30 mm of rain (19mm fell on one day) against a site average of 53 mm for the month, thus making it our fourth driest in the past 20 years.
Fortunately, this has come at the right time for us as we slip into autumn, and it gives us a nice dry profile as we approach the historically wetter months of the year.
So, what’s in store for the next two months?
We are due to verti-drain (deep spike) and sand dress the greens again during September as we start to prepare the greens for autumn/winter. I have mentioned before that we do understand it can be frustrating when, as golfers, you see what seems like the green staff continually doing work on the greens. But this work must be carried out to give us the best chance of producing decent putting surfaces throughout the year.
We also intend to take the opportunity before winter to overseed the putting surfaces again. Most of the turf disease in the UK affects a certain type of grass plant, Poa Annua. It’s considered a weed grass; however, the reality is many courses in the UK are predominately formed from Poa Annua swards. This doesn’t mean that decent surfaces cannot be produced with this type of grass plant, however, the aim is to reduce the amount of Poa Annua in the sward due mainly to its susceptibility to many turf diseases. We are also trying to encourage grasses that are less prone to disease as well as are more durable, drought resistant and have a fine leaf blade. In recent years we have embarked on a programme of overseeding our surface three times a year and have been trying to introduce these more desirable grass species (Agrostis), a programme we carried out in early August, and as mentioned, we will do so again in mid-September.
The heavy long areas of rough will also be cut back soon in preparation for next year and we have also hired a root pruner to go around the greens and tee complexes that suffer from tree root invasion. These ultimately sap moisture and nutrients from the playing surfaces as well as contribute to subsidence. It won’t be long until we begin our annual battle with leaves. We are reasonably well equipped with our out-front rotary mower that can collect and mulch leaves as well as grass, plus two mid-range tractors and rear-mounted blowers. Please be patient with us, we seldom have less than two guys blowing and collecting leaves every day. Unfortunately, this is one of the downsides of having such a great number and variety of tree species meaning that our leaf season is busy and prolonged.
Bunker works for 2024 have now been approved and work will begin in the second week of September and last for approximately two weeks. The works will see contractors on site and the rebuilding of the greenside bunkers on holes 11 and 18.
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Darren front row 6 from the left with winner John Rahm!
In addition to this, we also plan to install a raised path on the 5th hole, extending from the tee complex down to the edge of the fairway, a particularly wet spot during the winter months. The hope is that we can then look to increasing pathways in future years to combat the areas that get wetter during the winter months.
Enjoy your golf.
Ross and all the greens team.
PRO’S TIP OF
THE MONTH
John Scheu Head PGA Pro
The Bunker Shot Blueprint: Top Tips for More Up and Downs!
We have all had our sand trap nightmares. Taking two or more swings to get the ball out of a bunker is just frustrating and a waste of shots.
We are going to look at the top 10 tips for bunker shots to make sure you can consistently get up and down from the bunker.
Instead of just getting the ball out, let’s set the goal to get it close and tap the putt in.
How to Hit Out of a Bunker (Key Takeaways)
• Select a lofted club to launch the ball high and out of the bunker, sometimes a 56-degree sand wedge isn’t enough, and a 60-degree wedge is better.
• Play a high bounce sole grind to increase glide through the sand.
• Open your clubface slightly for added loft.
• Position the golf ball forward in your stance to promote striking the sand first.
• Lengthen your backswing to prevent clubhead speed loss through the sand.
• Extend the lead wrist to add more loft to your clubface.
• Hit the sand before your ball to get the clubface to travel under it and launch it out of the bunker.
John
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Golf Shop Sale!
We currently have many offers in our golf shop sale. From golf shoes to golf bags, you can grab yourself a bargain or two!
Graham’s Hole-in-one!
Congratulations to our Course Marshal Graham who recently made a hole-in-one on our 3rd hole!
Graham is also Staff Member of the Quarter!
Yes, Graham is in the news again! Our Course Marshal Graham has been voted the staff member of the Quarter! You will always see Graham busy helping us around the site from jet washing the patios, to repairing pitch marks, to gardening! He is a very friendly face on the 1st tee and around the course when marshalling and a pleasure to have on our team. Well done Graham!
Members’ Reciprocal Golf!
Don’t forget a fantastic benefit of membership at Abbey Hill is one 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 – Nottingham/Derby
The Shropshire – Telford
Thornbury - Bristol
Wycombe Heights – High Wycome
You can book your round a maximum of seven days in advance by speaking to the team in our sales office by calling them on 01908 562566 (option 4) You can also take non-member guests at members’ guest rates!reusable bottles can be refilled in our cafe bar area.
The Shropshire Golf Centre, link to the website here: https://theshropshire.co.uk/ is near Telford and around a two-hour drive away. With three 18-hole combinations available that challenge all aspects of your game, you simply cannot get bored with a golf club in your hand!
All 27 holes are both picturesque and challenging! It is well worth a visit if you are heading north!
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Cool Drinks for Hotter Days!
We have some cool drinks available for you to drink on hotter days, Iced Coffees and Slushies are now available in The Coffee Bar!
Family Fun Day a Big Success!
Thanks to everyone who attended our recent Family Fun Day! The tombola, crafting, bouncy castle, golf darts and BBQ were great, and we raised a total of £615 for Willen Hospice!
Christmas at Abbey Hill!
Can you believe there are only 110 days to go until Christmas? If you are looking for a venue for your Christmas party, then our function spaces are the perfect setting. Speak to a member of the team today for the best availability.
01908 562566 events@abbeyhillgc.co.uk
