Hoebridge Member News December

2022

GM Report

Hi Everyone

I hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas and have been able to enjoy spending time with friends and family.

As I look back over 2022, and my first 6 months at Hoebridge I am incredibly pleased and proud of our Club.

However, 2022 has brought with it many challenges including increasing inflation and cost of goods, as well as extreme weather conditions.

After a very hot and dry summer, we then went into an incredibly wet November, where we received 142.5mm of rain. To put this into context, our average rainfall for November is usually 65mm. Furthermore, half of the 142.5mm was received in the first week of the month.

This wet November was then followed by a long cold spell mid December, where we had days of temperatures not getting above freezing.

During both extreme weather conditions, myself and Course Manager Barry, had to make the difficult decision to close the courses on several occasions in order to protect them for the future. Winter golf, and how we manage our courses has changed a lot over the past few years. The quality of winter greens has improved, as has the clothing we all wear to keep us warm. As such, we are seeing many more rounds being played throughout the winter months, then we would have done 10 or more years ago. Whilst this is of course a positive, as we want to see as many of you enjoying your golf as possible, it also leads to further complications as to how we protect our Courses in extreme conditions.

The freezing temperatures immediately changing to warm weather that we saw in the middle of December is a prime example of this. When frozen ground begins to thaw, this is when the most damage can be done. The frozen soil penetrates well into the ground, often inches down. When the ground starts to thaw it does so from the top down, and so the water has nowhere to go. It cannot

penetrate through the ground as the lower sections are still frozen. This leads to the surface being soft, and the sub surface hard. Walking on ground when it is like this will break the grass roots and likely kill the grass altogether. This can lead to high levels of damage and take months to repair.

As such, even though the weather was mild and the courses were looking green, the risk of allowing people to walk on them was too high.

We will always look to keep our courses open as much as possible. We of course also hope that January and February will bring more stable weather patterns. However, should we need to make the decision to temporarily close, please know that we do this in order to protect our Courses for the future.

It is not always possible for us to predict when we will need to close, with the decision often needing to be made at first light when we can properly inspect the Courses. We will aim to communicate out any course closures as quickly as possible. Our first priority is always to call those who are already on the tee sheet for that day, starting from the earliest tee time. We then update the Hoebridge Golf Centre website, on the home page, and our social media pages to inform those who may be looking to book. As members, we have an additional form of communication via Club V1, whereby we will change the course status to ‘Closed’, and if needed add an additional note giving further information as to why.

With 2022 coming to an end Barry and his Greenkeeping team are now looking forward to the new year. This year’s main winter projects include the refurbishment of the bunkers on the 12th and 17th of the Main Course of which work has already started. Refurbishment will continue during January and February, with us looking to open them in the Spring, weather dependent.

Back in the Clubhouse we have enjoyed hosting many Christmas Parties throughout December. It is always a very busy month for the F&B team as we welcome hundreds of people through our door. It was brilliant to see so many of you as members also hosting events with us. Some of the highlights being your Presentation evening to kick the season off, Men’s Christmas Shot Gun and the Ladies Christmas Special.

I was lucky enough to be invited to attend your Presentation evening this year. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many trophies!!! Congratulations to all of the 2022 winners. The highlight of the night for me, was seeing just how much you had all raised for the Captains Charity Strokeability. Across 2022, together you have raised £17,760. This will make a huge difference to an important local charity.

Finally, I want to take this opportunity to thank all of the team at Hoebridge for their hardwork this year. Our people really are the most important thing. Both you as members, and the team who work with us, come together to make Hoebridge the friendly and welcoming Club that it is. I was very lucky to come into such a great team, who all want to create the best experience for you. Thank you to all of you as members as well - you are the heart of this Club!

I wish you all a very happy 2023.

Sarah Blunden General Manager

Course Manager Report

Hello all

Merry Christmas to you all

Personally, this time of year I generally reflect on how the year has been and then look forward to seeing what we can do better next year.

After a hectic start, I now find myself understanding the whole site a lot better and I have a long list of improvements that I will prioritise and start working towards. Always top of the priority list is the condition of the greens

After a very dry summer I have now also seen the greens in their winter state to give me a good understanding as to what they need to maintain and improve their health further.

My first take is that we will be working on reducing the amount of organic matter, commonly called thatch. The photo shows that we currently have thatch in the top 30mm of all of the greens. Thatch acts as a sponge and holds onto water, thereby slowing the infiltration of any rainfall which can lead to winter greens that are soft, wet and spongey.

Thatch removal generally involves hollow coring or aggressive scarification with sand back filling the grooves or holes, the sand is to help dilute the thatch, allowing channels for water to move through and allowing oxygen to microbes and fungi which feed on thatch and help firming up the surface. I will be planning our 2023 course maintenance diary at the start of the year, and will keep you updated as to when greens work will be completed.

It is important to remember any work we carry out on the greens is for the greater good of the greens and in turn offering you better, year-round greens, and as the old saying goes “you have to break some eggs to make an omelette”.

Overall, I am very happy with how our courses play and how they have recovered from the very dry summer we had. The investment in over-seeding the fairways, across all 3 courses, has paid off and we just have some areas surrounding greens or walk off areas that require some over-seeding before we start the season.

With us now heading into January I am glad to leave a leafy Autumn behind. On a site of this size and with the number of trees that we have, the leaves are always going to be a big problem. We will look at ways to try and make the clearing and removal better, but at times it is a thankless task when the wind brings them down faster than we can clear them!

From all the greens staff we wish you a happy Christmas and a great new Year

Regards

Barry Winter Rules and Winter Wheel Policy

A reminder that Winter rules came into effect from 1st October. Please see the signage around the clubhouse and at the starters hut that detail the relief options and procedures for this local rule.

I would also 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. On days when the winter wheel policy is in place, signs will be placed at the main entrance and 1st tee, with the marshalls reminding anyone who may not realise that the policy is in place.

Many Thanks

Ian Hayward Head Professional

Hello all

So winter is finally here! We’ve been busy recently guiding our members on how to move their cardio training inside to avoid the dark and cold nights, our spin classes are also proving a popular option to keep up the miles for the winter.

We’ve recently added a Cardio blast class to our timetable to provide a fun and challenging workout using a mix of cardio and resistance equipment. If you would like to give one a try please let us know! Following customer feedback we have updated the Fitness Class booking system so that you can now cancel via the Elite Live App or website.

Personal Training offer

5x1 hour sessions for £199! Coming soon, this will also be available as a gift voucher via our website. Also available to non-members, so everyone can benefit from some guidance via personal training. For more details please come and ask at Health Club reception.

Winter Health Club Memberships

For those Golfers looking for a short term membership over the winter, we are pleased to announce a new non-contract membership option for £35 a month. Please speak to a member of the team for more details.

See you soon

Ryan Stonehouse

Gym Manager

Employee of the Quarter – Adam Stevens

Earlier this winter we congratulated Adam on being our Employee of the Quarter.

Adam started his time with BGL at one of our sister clubs Burhill back in 2017. He began as a kitchen porter working at Burhill for 2 ½ years. However, as the 1st lockdown hit the country, he was transferred to Hoebridge to help the kitchen out over this difficult period.

However, it soon became apparent that Adam had far too much to say to stay in the kitchen, and that he needed to be in a more customer facing role! Adam moved over to the driving range and in May 2022 was promoted to Range Bar Manager.

Adam can often be found strolling up and down the range, ensuring that everyone is having a good time and that they are stocked up with drinks. This summer he put extra emphasis onto improving our food offerings on the range, including weekly specials such as ‘Wing Wednesday’ and ‘Monday Madness’ – 2 for 1 Pizzas!

Adam puts so much energy and enthusiasm into the driving range. He is passionate about the benefits and fun that can be had by using Trackman, and with his focus also being on the Range Bar he always works to ensure that our guests have the best time.

Thank you Adam!

Coming up in 2023

Our 2023 events are now live and already selling fast, and it would be great to see our members enjoying a few of the evenings we have lined up for the year ahead. After listening to feedback from both members and the public, we feel we have struck the right balance with our events for 2023. Our more popular evenings in 2022 with members were by far the Murder Mystery Evenings, and they are back again in May with our golf themed evening “Body in the Bunker mystery.”

All our events include a meal, and members naturally receive 10% discount on their booking. With some great tribute acts lined up as part of our tribute nights to our Quiz nights on the first Thursday evening of each month, to some brilliant stand up comedy, we have something that will appeal to all our members. Contact the team to secure your team booking for what will be an incredible evening!

Shawn Wise Sales Manager