Hoebridge Member News - February

AN UPDATE FROM...

Sarah Blunden General Manager

Happy New Year! In my last newsletter, I spoke about how I hoped 2023 would bring more stable , this was not the case, with January bringing with it some very

Having spoken about the weather in virtually every newsletter I have written, I’m sure you are all quickly understanding the significant impact that it has on our golf courses. For example, in the first two weeks of January, we had 77ml of rain, whereas in 2021, we only received 17ml throughout the entire month.

These weather variations make it tricky for our greenkeeping team to predict when they can complete various course maintenance tasks. Whether it is too hot, too cold, too wet or too dry, they all impact how the course plays and the ability to carry out work.

Barry (Course Manager) and I will always keep you informed as to how weather conditions are impacting us, and what we are doing to combat the challenges.

Despite the weather, drainage has now been installed in the 17th bunker, and the 12th bunker is now well under way with the previous ‘hole’ being filled in.

Work on both bunkers will continue through February

This project marks our ongoing commitment towards improving the quality and playability of our bunkers – an area that we know is very important.

A Look Ahead to 2023

Our first big event of 2023 was a rules evening, attended by around 80 members. I was joined by two other team members, Barry our Course Manager and James our Retail Manager. The evening was hosted by Doug Waite and Surrey Referee, Ken Jack. It covered lots, from winter rules right through to the latest rule changes that have come into effect this year. A big thanks to Doug for organising the event, and we’ll look to get another booked in for later in the year.

Hopefully you’ll have seen our itinerary of 2023 events advertised around the clubhouse. We want you all to have the opportunity to not just enjoy yourselves on the golf course at Hoebridge, but also enjoy social time with friends and family. There’s plenty booked in already this year, including monthly quiz nights, tribute nights, murder mystery evenings and comedy nights. If you’d like to attend an event, please contact the sales team who can provide all the information you need.

Finally, we are now nearing the end of the current membership year, with memberships due for renewal on 1st April 2023. Keep your eyes peeled for your renewal information which will be sent out via email later in February. If you have any questions about which membership is right for you, let me or the team know, and we’ll gladly talk through all of the options with you.

See you soon!

Sarah

GOLF UPDATE

Ian Hayward Head Professional New Products

Every day is like Christmas in the Hoebridge Pro Shop at the moment, with the new ranges of golf products arriving from leading manufacturers on a daily basis.

The latest demo products are now available for trial from Cobra, PING, and TaylorMade with the official product launches on the following days:

Cobra Aerojet – 10th February

PING G430 – 27th January

TaylorMade Stealth 2 – 17th February

Cancellation of Tee Times

I’m pleased to announce that the recent update to the Elite Live App has proved successful and is being regularly used by many of our members to make adjustments to their tee times.

For those that are unaware, the online booking system has been updated to allow the modification and cancellation of tee times either through the website or the Elite Live App.

Bookings can be adjusted or cancelled through the booking history screen at any time up to 24 hours before the tee time.

Come and be amongst the first to try the latest products and see if they can make a difference to your game.

Our fantastic custom fit facility is available free of charge to our members so there are no excuses!

Book an appointment today.

For cancellations or modifications within 24 hours, please contact the Pro Shop on 01483 722611, or by emailing proshop@hoebridge. co.uk and we will be happy to make the adjustment.

At this time of year, with tee times at a premium and to ensure the maximum availability for all members to play, if you are not using your time, please make sure that you cancel it.

COURSE UPDATE

Barry Gardener Course Manager

Hello everyone, The year has started with yet more testing weather patterns, and despite what you may think, the warmer, wetter weather presents us with more issues than meet the eye.

The grass is still growing, so it needs regular cutting to keep definition and playability. Worm activity is still very high and disease pressure on the greens is high and continuous. Soils have become saturated to field capacity while the water table remains high and has kept areas from draining away naturally.

The changing weather seasons have had a major impact on turf management. There was a time, within the last 15 years when, come November, the mowers would be put away for the winter and not brought back out until March at the earliest. It would have been frosty and frozen meaning the grass would stop growing.

Our main fight, disease wise, on the greens is Fusarium. It’s a fungal disease which is why it’s so prevalent in the autumn and early winter –thriving in mild/humid, damp conditions when the grass plant is not growing as strongly.

The ’new’ worm cast season lasts for around four months or more, and disease pressure on the greens realistically starts to reduce in February now, with grass still trying to grow in January.

Due to changing regulations, we no longer have any chemical available that would stop Fusarium once it’s active. So, we must rely on chemicals that need to be taken into the plant (systemics) and can then protect from the inside before the disease is present.

We now have to spray fungicides preventatively, and even if we think we’ve got everything right, the disease pressure can be so high that the fungicide doesn’t work effectively.

Moving forward, we will be looking at trying to reduce the organic matter in the greens, which will allow us to start on an over-seeding programme. We’ll then introduce grass species that are more resistant to disease attack. It’s by no means a one-year fix, so it will take us some hard work to get where we want to be.

Rest assured, we will be working as hard as we can to ensure you will have golf courses that are more playable all year round and, in turn, better conditioned.

Here’s hoping for some friendly spring weather to get the season off to a good start!

Regards, Barry

Junior Academy

Last year we re-introduced our Junior Academy with weekly group classes run by our golf pro, Enrico. This year, we are looking to expand our Junior Academy even further, and with the help of another of our golf pros, Tom, we will be able to start taking more juniors onto our weekly classes.

Saturday 10:30am – 12pm

Running the first three Saturdays of the month

£45 per child (for all three Saturdays)

The first Saturday of the month will be based on the range with Enrico and Tom holding a swing lesson. They’ll work through all the swing fundamentals, including grip, posture and technique.

The second and third Saturdays of the month will be based on the putting green and short game area to improve everyone’s putting, chipping and pitching.

The end of each lesson will finish with a fun competition so that the juniors can put into practice what they’ve learnt!

Outside of taught lessons, we hold a fun junior competition on the par-3 course during the last Saturday of each month. Coordinated by our committee junior organiser, John Loganathan, junior members can play for free using their membership, or non-members can participate for just £5.

We only have five spaces left for the February Academy. If you’d like to enquire about joining your child onto the Academy, pop us an email on proshop@hoebridgegc.co.uk

Ryan Stonehouse Gym Manager

The Health Club peak season is upon us with lots of enthusiastic members looking to get back into training following the party season! Here’s what has been going on at the club recently…

Welcome to Hoebridge, the Dermal Expert Team

We’re delighted to welcome the Dermal Expert team to Hoebridge. The team specialise in Dermalogica treatments to help clients achieve their optimal skin. For contact information, please come and speak to a member of the Health Club team.

Golfing Exercises

Below are a few simple exercises that can help build your overall strength and stability to aid your golf swing and round.

The cable column is a fantastic piece of equipment to integrate whole body strength and stability. Here are a few examples:

Single Arm Cable Press

Benefits include:

• Strengthens your upper body and core strength

• Core stability (anti rotation)

• Improved force transmission

Cable Reverse Woodchop

Benefits include:

• Hip rotation strength

• Postural strength

• Improved coordination and force transmission

Introducing Our 20-year Members

Five of our members have reached the incredible milestone of 20 years membership this year – a remarkable level of consistency, that’s for sure!

Cable Single Arm Y-Raise

Benefits include:

• Shoulder stability

• Postural correction

• Improved shoulder function

Personal Training Offer

Kickstart 2023 with our New Year package:

Six, 60-minute tailored gym sessions and six, 30-minute personalised HIIT or stretch sessions

For more details, please come and ask at the Health Club reception.

Many thanks, Ryan

Gary Woolham

Sandy & Marilyn Wax

Mark Kelmsley

Danny England

Employee of the Year and Q4 2022

At the start of January, we voted for our employee of the year as well as the final quarter of 2022.

We have so many brilliant people working for us, so deciding on just one person for employee of the year is always hard.

Employee of Quarter – Q4 2022 – Gary Davies

Gary has worked as a chef in our kitchen for more than three years. Not only does he have a passion for cooking, but also a passion for golf! When he’s not in the kitchen, you’ll often see Gary out on the golf course, including joining you in several of your matches.

Gary is a master of the stir fry. His katsu curry is always a popular choice with the team.

He is always there when the team needs him, ready to step up and cover if needed. Being a chef is not always the easiest of jobs, but Gary cracks on and sees busy days through with a great attitude.

Make sure to say hello to Gary when you next see him on the course!

Employee of the Year – Abby Jackson

Abby has recently been promoted to Events Manager, after joining us as our Events Supervisor in April 2022. Abby provides excellent customer service and really cares that our events run smoothly for all our guests.

Abby is part of our Food and Beverage team and takes the lead on running all our functions and events. If you’re coming along to one of our functions, have organised a party with us, or are attending one of your larger member presentations, then Abby will most likely be running the event for you.

Whenever Abby is in, she always has a smile on her face and brings a cheery disposition to everyone around her

Abby hasn’t just done a brilliant job within her role, but she also ran two charity events, in October and December 2022, to raise money for a local charity “Chloe and Sophie’s Special Ears Fund” which supports deaf children in the community. These charity days were great fun, with those attending able to use our Pirate Golf and take part in lots of fun activities including face painting, pumpkin carving and colouring competitions.