MEMBER NEWS
Dear Member, I hope you are enjoying the recent good weather. TThis weekend looks to be a busy one as we have our club championships played over Saturday and Sunday. Record number of entries this year so good luck to all those competing. May the best golfer win! Please see below some information on what’s been happening at your club in the past month or so………. Membership Renewals – April 2022 Following the recent main membership category renewals its fantastic to see our numbers growing. We currently sit around 750 members. We are closely monitoring the situation and ensuring we are careful with society and visitor golf to ensure members always have priority to tee times. Currently 95% of the rounds played are member rounds With such demand can we please ensure we are respectful with booking and cancelling tee times. We have seen an increase in members booking out tee times with just one name and three guests, and there have been occasions where competition times have been booked with no intention to play in the competition. All this does is increase demand on tee times and ultimately lead to disappointment of fellow members. We are monitoring it and repeat offenders will be warned if it continues. All we are trying to do is ensure we can get as many members playing the course as possible during peak times. Midland Schools Championship Thank you to all the members for their support on us hosting this event on bank holiday Friday. Competition was hot but the feedback on our course was even better. We received this from the organiser “Your staff, without exception, have been absolutely fantastic. Nothing too much trouble, and going above and beyond to help out. From our greeting yesterday with Catrina when we arrived, to leaving last night, everyone has helped so much. Sam and Katy at Head of House (so to speak), David and Hayden in the Pro’s shop, Malcolm showing me round to check everything had been done, Ivan coming to check all was okay and sorting pin positions for this morning, to all bar staff going about their jobs with a smile on their faces and a ready welcome! You might think that is how it should be. I agree, but for me it reflects a culture that you have clearly done great work to create. And on top of that, a golf course in great condition! Many thanks, and I look forward to promoting the good name of The Shropshire wherever I go.” John Barker
Investment Projects We have completed the third stage of road resurfacing from the Granville park entrance. Thanks to Lee Steadman (past captain) for working with us to deliver this project. Our new banking’s mower has finally arrived. We had been worried about the delivery times on equipment so we had purchased a second hand fairway mower as a back up.
We are still pricing up the men’s toilet refurbishments and driving range refurbishment. As you can see BGL is committed to reinvesting back into the business. Course Update Having managed to get back out on the course these past few weeks, I have noticed an increase in bunkers not being raked and also pitch marks. The team are doing all they can so please can you help by raking the bunkers and repairing not only yours, but one other pitch mark. If we did this we would never have any pitch marks on the greens. This is a really simple way to improve the condition of the courses and ultimately keep costs down in the long run. Thank you…. Ivan Update: On course activities to date, new paths introduced on the 4th silver, extending to fairway also an open ditch alongside 4th treeline to rear of back tee to aid with winter play and help prevent waterlogging effect. A new path at the rear of the 2nd green on the blue course an additional one to be introduced to join up with it from the R/H /Side greenside bunker. 9th silver a drainage pipe from back of Marshalls hut to water hazard installed to prevent ruts occurring during heavy rainfall and to allow buggies to pass over more favourably, pathway on 6th silver extended to take out deep depression caused by winter wear.
Fairways in process of being sprayed with a selective herbicide to control invading broad-leaved weeds. Fairway bunker and R/H greenside bunker on 7th blue been dug out and a gravel carpet introduced along with additional drainage pipe to stop future flooding, also 8th front greenside bunker this as proven to be highly effective as none of those bunkers have retained any water since completion even after Sunday’s heavy rainfall. The shrub bed /rockery on driving range carpark has been removed and tarmacked giving additional parking spaces. Tree bases sprayed around to improve course aesthetics. To assist with H&S post & rails introduced where applicable, the bridge between the 1st holes on blue and silver courses currently under renovation. Replacement distance markers on fairways now all in situ. New flags, pins and hole cups should be arriving shortly. We have ordered 125 new plastic rakes and 200 plastic hazard markers which are made from recycled CD cases to further enhance the look for the course and continue our sustainability pledge
Kind regards Ivan Suppliers and pricing increases Unfortunately we are not immune to the ever increasing prices at the moment. Just to provide a little insight here are some headlines/key info taken from our industry publications: Beverage: Price of a pint exceeds £8 for first time: The price of a pint has passed £8 in London for the first time as pubs are hit by spiralling inflation. Drinkers paid £2.30 on average for a pint in 2008, but soaring ingredient costs pushed that to £3.95 this year. This represents a 72% increase since the financial crash. The highest price it found was £8.06 in London. This is the first time, through regular analysis of prices from random samples of the UK’s 90,000 bars and pubs has seen the price of a pint pass £8. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a global supplier of wheat, has caused the cost of grain to rise, forcing suppliers to threaten further increases. Barley, one of the main ingredients of beer, has been badly affected. Ingredient costs had risen by 10%, wage inflation is around 7% and electricity inflation is 100%, so that blended cost price “probably puts the price of a pint of beer up 12% to 13%”.
Food: Raw poultry prices climb almost 30% so far this year, beef and turkey up about 20%: Raw poultry prices have climbed 28.2% so far this year while beef is currently up about 20%. The price of turkey rose 19.2% in the first five months of the year, pork is up 15.1% and bacon 12.2%. Lamb is currently up by a smaller 2.9%, but is the most expensive protein on the market and “way above” the five-year average. These figures are purely for the raw material based on the top 50 lines and include no added percentage for labour, packaging or transport. In terms of poultry, demand is still outstripping supply in terms of certain items. BGL Reciprocal Golf Don’t forget as members you have access to all 10 other BGL golf venues for complimentary golf. This is a great added value to your membership. If you wish to book a tee time at one of our venues please see David Ashton who can call ahead and arrange for youany water since completion even after Sunday’s heavy rainfall. BGL Bike to Paris
I’m excited to be taking part in September with a charity bike ride from Burhill Golf Club to Paris with other team members across all the BGL businesses. We are looking to raise money for the British Red Cross Ukraine Appeal. Its some 300km over three days so I really need to get some training in. we are in the process of finalising the fund raising page and I will send out further information once I have it. Hopefully I can arrange one of my race night events back at the club to raise some money from The Shropshire Happy golfing! Best Regards Stuart