Member News
Dear Member With the first major of the season now over, it feels like the golf season is now kicking off and we are all working hard to make sure this year is a good one for you all. During May we are expecting the materials to arrive for the warm up nets and the contractors are on site this week to start the ground work as well as some path work on 14 and 18. We are also hosting our first members evening on the driving range this month which offers all members an opportunity to come and enjoy our fantastic driving range free of charge. Please see further information included in this newsletter including, how to book. At the end of April, we were part of a large power cut, which UK Power Network have said affected thousands of properties in the area. Due to the size of our facility they had to bring in a generator to power the substation to keep us going. Thankfully after a week, they have managed to repair the fault and by the time you read this, the generator will have left us bringing quiet back to the 1st tee once again. Within this newsletter you will find a brief update from Stephen Lee, Head Professional and Jaspal Singh, Food and Beverage Manager as well as an update from the Club Captain.
Last Month's Challenge Last month you may remember, I set you a challenge to see how many past champions you could name from the picture below. The answers are as follows: Attendees of the 2022 Masters Champions Dinner - Back row (L to R): Tiger Woods, Sandy Lyle, Bubba Watson, Sir Nick Faldo, Adam Scott, Fuzzy Zoeller, Dustin Johnson, Mark O'Meara, Charl Schwartzel - Middle row (L to R): Mike Weir, Vijay Singh, Jordan Spieth, Patrick Reed, Jack Nicklaus, Jose Maria Olazabal, Danny Willett, Sergio Garcia, Bernhard Langer, Larry Mize, Tommy Aaron, Zach Johnson, Trevor Immelman, Craig Stadler, Ian Woosnam, Fred Couples - Front row (L to R): Charles Coody, Gary Player, Hideki Matsuyama, Ben Crenshaw, Fred Ridley (Augusta National chairman), Raymond Floyd, Tom Watson
Kind Regards Stephen Norton, General Manager
EXCLUSIVE MEMBERS NIGHT
MONDAY 23RD MAY
FROM 6PM UNLIMITED BALLS PLUS FOOD DEALS ON THE DAY TWO BAY START...6PM OR 8PM I 90 MINS UNLIMITED BALLS
PLUS EXCLUSIVE FOOD & DRINK DEALS ON THE DAY
BOOK YOUR PLACE ONLINE BY SPEAKING TO MEGAN OR LORENZO
Course Report from our Course Manager - Neil Crittenden I would like to start off thanking everyone for the positive comments about the course over the last month. Understandably over the winter period there was a lot of negative feedback regarding the condition of the course, but I feel we have turned a corner and are on track to have Birchwood in great condition from now on. The Greenkeeping team put a lot of effort into producing a course we can all be proud of so, if your invited to give feedback on the NPS, please give a thought to us and express your positive feedback. It's always well received by all the Greenstaff. Where were the April showers that was promised?!?! We have had very little rain in April with a period of three week with nothing but cold dry winds, this has been great for golf but not so good for us. Currently, all the seed which we put down during the overseeding is sat dormant with grass growth very slow for the time of year. The Greens are looking good but not running as true as I would like at the moment with different species of grass growing at different rates creating a slightly uneven surface. It’s been a catch 22 scenario with watering the Greens, on one had they need the water to survive as the dry windy conditions will drought them out, but with the low temperatures we have been putting cold water on an already cold plant which will only restrict the growth, imagine standing outside in the cold and someone chucks cold water on you every night it’s not going to do you any favours.
You’ve probably noticed the sprayer out on the course over the last few weeks and you will start to see the weeds shrivel up and die. This year the daisies are in abundance and have come a little earlier than previous years. For this reason and for the first time, we are spraying all areas on the course. This includes the deep roughs which come into play. We get a lot of weeds that migrate from the Roughs to the more managed turf.
Most weeds are just unsightly but blanket weeds like White Clover, when left, will cause problems to play as balls seam to get swallowed up in them with daisies from a distance looking like hundreds of balls on the playing area. Some areas will be left as we still believe that it is important to have wild areas on the course for the natural habitat for flora and fauna. As much as I’m all for leaving as much natural habitat for the wildlife we are first and foremost a golf course and must maintain it that way but will always try to be sympathetic to the natural surroundings.
The bunkers on fourteen and fifteen are now all finished, although I have decided to leave opening them till the middle of May. This is to try and get the surrounding areas as settled as possible and to encourage a few areas to heal so to withstand the wear and tear of daily Golf and maintenance. We are trying to encourage more people to rake bunkers and have invested in a better-quality rake and going forward are going to have three rakes in the large bunkers two in the medium and one in the small so players don’t have far to go to get a rake.
As a company we are always looking at the latest technology and innovations the golf world has to offer and ways to improve your experience on the course. We have ordered a new type of Pin for the Greens THE SLIM PIN. In January 2019, the rules of golf changed allowing the flag pin to stay in the hole when putting – to help speed up play. The Problems that occurred were: •
•
Some players were keen to keep the pin in whilst others wanted the pin out. Damage to the hole edge occurred when players attempted to retrieve their ball from the bottom of the cup.
This new design encourages players to keep the pin in the cup. A thin shaft (8mm) which is nearly half the size of a normal pin and makes it easy for the ball to enter the hole and not bounce out when hitting the pin and easily retrieve from the cup when the pin is still in, These will be put into play as soon as they arrive.
An update from Club Captain - Duncan Anderson Dear members, Please can I start by thanking you all for your support this year with my captaincy. I am really enjoying the year and hope you are also. My charity this year is the Freddie Farmer Foundation. This is a charity that I am very passionate about as you probably are all aware. It was also chosen as the ladies Charity by my good friend Vicky Way and Ladies Captain. Between are two sections we have managed to make over four thousand pounds for the charity to date while trying are hardest to provide you the members with an enjoyable year. Part of the enjoyable year we seek to give you, will be the jubilee Cup. This will be to support all the captain’s charities this year just like the Good Friday Mixer did. If you would like to play in this, please book yourself in via ‘How did I do’. Booking closes 2 weeks before the Comp date of Thursday 2nd June. This is so we can hand any tee times not used back to the club. So please get yourselves booked in to avoid disappointment. The competition is for all sections to attend after all we all have a couple of things in common we all love playing golf while supporting good causes. We will have plenty of prizes on the day nearest the pins longest and shortest drives. Nearest the pins in 2 shots. There will also be prizes for the overall winner. There will be plenty of opportunities to win something. We will also have a charity raffle and a members sweep stake on the day. If any members would like to sponsor any of the holes on the day the price for this would be £50 pounds. Please get in touch with me if this is a way you would like to add your support to the captains Charities. I look forward to seeing you all on the day. You will need to bring your A game with you on the day the last day we did like this was won with an impressive 45 points and he still thinks he left a couple of shots out there. Please see below pictures from the captains Charity Day we managed to make £855 for the charity at this event. The day was a Texas Scramble and was won by Mike Abbot, Bal Chana, Dave faulty and John Stoner. Key Dates to look out for: • • • •
2nd June Jubilee Cup. Competition money split between the captain’s charities, the same as the good mixer. 17th June away day Langley Park 16th July Captains Day with an evening function 9th September race night being planned
Once again thanks very much for all your support.
An update from Head PGA Professional - Stephen Lee Buggy Booking now available online. I know this is something many of you have asked about. When you book your tee times online you will now have the option to book a golf buggy with your round. A box will appear after you have selected your tee time. You will not be required to pay in advance, simply pay your member’s buggy rate in the pro shop when you check in for your round. Please ignore the price when booking the buggy, the team in the shop will charge you the correct Member Rate when you arrive on the day,
An update from Food & Beverage Manager - Jaspal Singh Thank you for your continued support, it’s been lovely to see so many of you return to our bar and restaurant, along with many new faces too. We hope you are enjoying our new summer menu. Please find the attached link to explore our food and drink section on our web page:
Summer Menu
To make our service a better experience, as of the Monday 16th May, we will be returning to bar service. Please find yourself a table when you arrive, make note of your table number, and place all orders at the bar, or via our Elite live app. Please note we still running cashless services at the club. Payment can be made via a card or receive your members discount via Levy band. The bar team will then deliver your drinks and food to the tables. Our team will still be available to help and guide you through our new process. We look forward to welcoming you back to the bar and restaurant.
MAGIC AT THE MOVIES Friday 10th June
MEMBERS SAVE 10%
Join us for a night full of magic and illusion whilst enjoying a delicious three-course meal, table magic, magic show & disco £40.00 PER ADULT
BOOK WITH THE EVENTS TEAM TODAY