Hoebridge Member News - October

MEMBER

AN UPDATE FROM... Sarah Blunden General Manager

Hi everyone

After one of the hottest and driest summers on record, September provided a different challenge as it started with some incredibly wet days. Whilst rain was very welcome, the level we received in a very short time period led to flooding across the courses and the paths around our Clubhouse, resulting in short periods of course closures and closure of our Adventure Golf.

Nonetheless, those heavy downpours led to our yellowed grass greening up pretty much overnight. The course has recovered very well, and the growth in the grass has been much quicker than we anticipated, which puts us in a very good position to complete our course maintenance in October.

Due to how dry the course was this summer, we are overseeding all three courses at the start of October. This will ensure excellent regrowth and strength of fairways as we go through into next spring. This overseeding will then be followed a week later with our course maintenance, which begins on Monday 10th October.

As we move into autumn and winter, the greenkeeping team can begin focusing on

their larger winter projects. One of which will be the filling in of the 12th ‘pond’ and installing a new bunker in its place. We would have loved to have been able to improve this for you sooner but installing a bunker during the summer months when the ground is incredibly dry and the course very busy would have lead to a less efficient install with a longer recovery time.

Away from the golf course, we must say a huge well done to our Food & Beverage Manager Connor, and Golf Professional Leighton, who both completed their charity bike rides at the start of September. Connor rode from Burhill Golf Club to Paris with a group of other team members from across BGL that included our CEO Colin Mayes. The 300km+ challenge got underway outside Burhill, and involved a threeday ride to Paris – finishing underneath the famous Eiffel Tower. Together Team BGL raised over £10,000 for the British Red Cross Ukraine Crisis Appeal.

Leighton Kane also successfully completed his charity bike ride ‘Ride Across Britain’. Leighton cycled from Land’s End to John O’Groats covering over 1035 miles, taking a total of nine days. Leighton was cycling in memory of his Dad and a close friend, Adrian Girardelli, who sadly passed away this year. Leighton raised an amazing £3,500 for the Prince’s Trust and Buffalo Foundation.

Hoebridge’s 40th Anniversary

This year’s Past Captains Day celebrated Hoebridge’s 40th anniversary.

Over 70 members and ex-members attended the day with many past captains returning to Hoebridge to celebrate the event.

It was a brilliant morning of golf, with a shotgun start at 8am.

Having only spent a few months at Hoebridge, it was truly wonderful to hear the history of the club and get to meet some new faces of past members who came back to celebrate the day with us.

Thank you to everyone who joined and Happy Birthday Hoebridge!

The car park extension is now very close to completion. The new parking bays are designed to grow grass, in order for the car park to stay in keeping with its surrounding area. We will be keeping the car park closed across October to allow the grass to bed in, and it will then be opened at weekends only, when the club is at its busiest. We will open the car park fully in 2023, which will give the grass time to establish before usage begins to ramp up.

In my last newsletter I spoke about the impact inflation was starting to have on Hoebridge. This has continued to be the main focus of mine, so that we can work towards mitigating the effect of price increases as much as possible. The recently announced business cap for electricity was most certainly welcomed. However, the likely % increase, and in turn price rise that will still happen is going to be hugely substantial and one that we will have to work hard to try to find a way to cover. One way we are working towards finding cost saving strategies is by putting our back of house and toilet/changing room lighting onto sensors, so that they are only on when needed, and replacing the few remaining older style lights with LEDs.

We also continue to see every day items increase in cost. For example current fertilisers for the Course have increased by around 40% and top dressing by around 22%.

We won’t compromise what we are spending across our golf course, and want to ensure we maintain standards and continue investing in Hoebridge.

I do therefore need to remind you that we will need to look at passing some of these costs back onto our customers. As I have spoken about previously, this is never an easy decision to make and any price increases we do are following in depth competitor and industry analysis.

Our draught beer costs have recently increased by between 6% - 8%. We are therefore having to put a price increase onto these from the start of October. However, we will only be increasing the price by an average of 3% (and a further reminder that as members you received 10% off of the advertised selling price), rather than passing on the full cost increase. I will continue to keep you updated with examples of what cost increases we are experiencing and the ongoing focus that my team and I are putting on it to ensure standards are maintained.

Thank you

Sarah Blunden

GOLF UPDATE Ian Hayward Head

Professional

Hello all

We are delighted to announce that Junior Academy Coaching has re-launched at Hoebridge with regular Saturday lessons available for juniors of all levels to develop their golfing skills.

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 your tee time. For cancellations or modifications within 24 hours, please contact the Pro Shop on (01483) 722611 or by e-mailing proshop@hoebridgegc.co.uk

As we move towards autumn and winter the number of tee times available greatly reduces. In order to ensure the maximum availability for all members to play, please cancel a tee time if you are not using it. Whilst we know that the majority of you will use this cancellation feature as intended, we will be monitoring the tee sheet for anyone abusing the system. Should we find that a member is regularly booking a tee time and then cancelling, their booking rights may be removed.

Winter Rules

Winter rules will come into effect from 1st October. Please see the signage around the clubhouse and at the starters hut that details the relief options and procedures for this local rule.

The lessons will take place on the first three Saturdays of every month with groups available at either 10.30am-12.00pm or 5.00pm-6.30pm and will be run by PGA Professional Enrico Laurato. There will be a fun better ball competition on the final Saturday of every month on either the Shey or the Maybury course to give the juniors a chance to put their new skills into practice!

To book or for further information, please contact the Pro Shop on (01483) 722611 at any time.

Cancellation of Tee Times

Following customer feedback, I am pleased to announce that we have recently updated the online booking system to allow the modification and cancellation of tee times

With the weather getting colder and inevitable frost on the way, I would like to take this opportunity to remind all our members about the winter wheel policy for trolleys in place at Hoebridge. During frost conditions all trolleys MUST have winter wheels fitted to be allowed on the golf course with no exceptions. Now is a great time to ensure that your trolley is winter ready! Please contact the Pro Shop and we will happily assess your current set up or advise as to what you require to make your trolley ready for winter use.

Many Thanks, Ian Hayward

COURSE UPDATE

Barry Gardner Course Manager

Hello all

After a very warm and dry summer and praying for rain, we ended up going a bit crazy with the wetter stuff. After moaning about too much sun, I am now moaning that we have had too much rain! Whilst it’s not been too much in total it does seem to have come all at once.

Within the space of two weeks, we went from different shades of brown to lush green across most of the courses. It’s great that so much of the grass has bounced back but we are still left with a few patchy areas, especially on the fairways and approaches.

Course before moving onto the Shey and then the Short Course. Other than when the team are out overseeding, there will be no further disruption caused to playability.

As such, we have booked in to carry out over-seeding of the fairways and approaches in the week commencing the 3rd October, they will be staring on the Main

Whilst on the subject of course improvements, we will be carrying out some green renovation work to the Main Course greens on Monday 10th October.

This will involve scarifying, hollow coring and back filing with sand. We hope to keep the back 9 open whilst we work on the front 9 and then vice versa.

This winter we will be starting our greenside bunker renovation plan, focussing on the 12th hole.

We will be filling in the ”pond”, as well as the very tiny pot bunker, and installing a decent bunker and landscaping the area to help with any surface run off. We will also redesign the left hand side by removing the first bunker and re-landscaping the second bunker.

We will also be carrying out some renovation work on the 17th greenside bunkers. All bunkers that we renovate going forward will have internal drainage and a rubber crumb liner. This rubber crumb linerwill result in no stones working their way up and into the sand and will help keep sand on the bunker faces.

There will of course be disruption whilst the work is carried out but it is unavoidable and we will try to keep it to a minimum.

Thanks, Barry and the team

HEALTH & FITNESS UPDATE

Ryan Stonehouse Gym Manager

I trust you all had a nice summer, the hot weather recently has certainly kept the Health Club busy!

New member of the team

I am pleased to introduce our new Personal Trainer

Joe McRobb, he joins us from David Lloyd and we look forward to Joe bringing our members his experience in coaching and Personal Training. Joe is offering a limited number of free Personal Training consultations, please contact the Health Club team to take advantage of this opportunity.

Our Instagram following goes from strength to strength with our weekly content, including lots of helpful tips and advice for all things fitness. As we head into the golf off-season, please look out for our golf-specific strengthening and mobility exercises, designed to improve your game and prevent injuries.

You can follow us at @gymathoebridge For bespoke golf training programmes please come and speak to one of the Personal Training team to find out how we can help you.

See you soon, Ryan Stonehouse

Give these stretches a try to help with your game of golf

Thread the Needle

Benefits include:

- Opens up the chest and shoulders.

- Releases tension in the neck, shoulders and upper back

- Increases spinal mobility

- Relaxes the body and quiets the mind

- Can help to alleviate neck and upper back pain

- Relieves stress

Step 1.

Step 2.

Russian Twist

Benefits include:

- Strengthens your core, obliques, and spine.

- It’s a total core exercise that also works you balance

- It builds stability in your spine - Trims your mid-section all at once

Step 1.

Step 2.

A day in the life of a golf marshal

The first job of the day, at around 6am, is to open up the main starters hut and check the system to see if we have any competitions or societies that day. We check to see if any requirements are needed, (i.e. nearest the pin or longest drive) and get these out onto the course.

We ensure we have the latest tee sheet in order to know who is playing and when. It’s then time to meet the 2nd Warden, who covers the Shey and Par 3, to ensure they are updated and ready to go.

I am normally the 3rd Warden on the course covering the late shift starting at 11.00am into the evening. This is the shift I like as it gives me the chance to check how the morning has progressed and if there have been any issues. I take the Warden’s buggy and drive around the course to see where the societies and competition players are and check for any slow play.

I position myself between holes 7 and 8 to aid players through this area and radio the starters hut to keep all wardens up to date on how play is progressing. This area is the most picturesque part of the course with amazing views over the Surrey Downs and what I now call the view from my office.

I then patrol the 3 courses in our buggy and start to empty the waste bins and tidy the litter

from the courses. I enjoy taking the time to talk to the Hoebridge members and visiting players to see how their round is going, (good or bad!) and asking if they have enjoyed playing the course.

Importantly, I also check players cards to confirm tee off times and to see if they have paid to play the course. This has not always been the case and these players are kindly invited to leave the course or immediately head to the Pro Shop to pay the fee they owe in order to continue.

I’m looking forward to seeing you all on the course soon.

Regards, Steve

Meet the Team

In August we welcomed two new members to our team. Naomi has joined us as our Administrator and Hannah as our Sales and Events Advisor.

As Administrator, Naomi is responsible for ensuring our banking and membership payment processes are completed efficiently, as well as overseeing the HR administration for the site.

Hannah joins the sales teams as our events advisor. Her focus is on our functions and events, currently in particular on Christmas. If you’re looking to arrange a party, meeting, or would like to join one of our Christmas nights then Hannah is the lady to help organise this for you.

NAOMI WYE

Hey! I’m Naomi, I started working at Hoebridge at the start of August taking the role of the Administrator.

I’m a fun, bubbly caring person who is forever smiling! If I’m not smiling, then a coffee is needed!

I have been in the hospitality industry for the majority of my career and have worked my way up to where I am now. I love coffee, crisps and relaxing with a gin & tonic on a summers evening.

HANNAH SMITH

Hi! I’m Hannah, I have joined the Hoebridge family at the end of August. I come from a background of hospitality and customer relations. I thrive working in a fast-paced environment and like to keep myself busy. In my spare time I love playing netball, travelling the world, autumn evenings and a large glass of white wine.