Member News
Members' Newsletter General Managers Update Dear Member It feels strange to be writing this newsletter knowing that I only have another week left as the General Manager of Wycombe Heights before I leave for Hoebridge. Before I write my final farewell, I want to start with some updates. Thank you to everyone who renewed their membership with us this April. For those of you who renewed before 1st April 2022 there will be some vouchers making their way to you towards the start of May as a thank you. I hope you all enjoy using them! For those few of you who are still to renew then if you haven't already heard from us, we will be giving you a call before the end of the month to look to get your membership up and running again ready for the golfing season. Talking of golfing seasons, we have finally seen some beautiful dry and sunny weather. The Courses are very quickly starting to come back to life, and we are seeing growth across the fairways again. This growth will allow for a quick recovery following this winter’s mud and will allow Chris and his team to get plenty of definition back onto the Courses. (I can't wait to see those stripes!) The greenkeeping team have been busy these past few months finishing off the bunkers on the 6th, 7th and 11th. These are bedding in well and should be due to open during May. I am really pleased with the shape of these new bunkers, and the blinder within them will allow for a much better playing surface. This blinder lining also helps with drainage as well as stopping stones from coming through, which in turn also aids in their long-term maintenance.
Our TrackMan driving range is now open! If you haven't given it a go already then why not?!!! It's a great tool to use to practice and sharpen your game. Especially if you are short on time. As well as tracking your distance in 'practice mode', there are plenty of games to help you hone your skills, as well as many famous courses to try. We recommend downloading and using the TrackMan App each time you use the range, which will then keep track of all
of your practice sessions on the range. It also allows you to input your clubs and ball type making it even more personal to you. On 7th April we held our launch night exclusively for you as members and loved welcoming many of you who attended the night. As well as a tasty curry and unlimited balls across the night, we also held competitions in our new VIP room. Well done to Neil Kerr for winning 'Hit It' and to Zac who won 'Bulls Eye'. The prizes were worth competing for that night, with both members winning golfing hampers worth over £200. Look out for more TrackMan competitions and members nights over the coming months.
Our Summer Menu is now live, with some delicious new items for you to try. My personal favourite is the Cambodian Vegetable Curry. We still have plenty of your favourites alongside the new items and our Head Chef Gary ensures the specials are updated daily to offer additional lunch options for you to enjoy. As you will have all seen on the news over the past few months, inflation has increased significantly and the cost of goods are going up very quickly. We have seen significant increases across all of our cost lines especially within water, electric, fuel and food items. This is already having a big impact on what our suppliers are charging us, what items are available to us and on how much it is costing to run the Clubhouse. As a business we carefully assess these cost increases on a regular basis, as well as keep in close contact with other local Golf Clubs and Hospitality Venues. We want to ensure that we are paying our Team a wage they deserve, and that we are able to continue investing in your Golf Courses and Clubhouse to give you the best value membership. In order for us to do so we will continue to monitor increases in the costs of goods, and where needed will adjust pricing accordingly to ensure continued commitment to the improvement of your membership and the standards we are able to provide. This isn't the most positive update for me to finish on, but one that I feel is very important for us to communicate out to you and one that we want you to know we are paying very close attention to.
Finally, I want to finish with a thank you to all of you. My journey with Wycombe Heights began 15 years ago when I was driving down the A40 looking for a summer job whilst I was at university. Despite working various other jobs as I was finding my career path, I always kept 1 foot in the door at Wycombe Heights. Looking back I sure am glad that I did!!! It soon became clear that I loved what I was doing and that my career was staring me right in the face all along. Fast forward a few more years, and 4 years ago I was lucky enough for the General Manager position to become available at Wycombe Heights. I have loved every minute of being your General Manager. Yes, of course there have been many challenges along the way. But it has been a pleasure to be part of developing a Golf Club that means so much to me. Over the past 4 years we have seen the driving range be developed (and then further developed), the Pro Shop and Coffee Shop refurbished, the Bar refurbished, a Reservoir built and most importantly continued investment into the Golf Courses. However, what I will miss the most and what I am most proud of is the people I have worked alongside. It is the people I work with that make this job so special, both you as members and the staff team. I have known many of you for 15 years and Wycombe Heights will always hold a very special place in my heart. To each and every person working within this team today I want to say THANK YOU To the bar and kitchen; Gary, Sophie, Gemma, Adam, Olivia, Lukas, Victoria, Aaron, Ed, Leah, Monika, Aidan, Imogen and Rhys To the pro shop and on the range: Duncan, Jack, Jack, Ash, Tom, Alex, Lee, Mark, Kieran, Liam, Toby, Ben, Charlie, Pete and Tom To our greenkeepers; Chris, Tom, Matt, Mick, John, Sam and John To the sales & admin team: Jess and Soniya To all of you as members
Thank you!!!
Finally, I wish Tom all the luck in his new position of Interim General Manager. I am so happy to be handing over to him, knowing that he will continue where I left off and work towards giving you the best value Club and welcome that we can. I really am leaving you with a truly wonderful team. Hopefully, I'll see a few of you around the Clubhouse before my last day on Wednesday 4th May. Thank you and good bye! Sarah General Manager
COMEDY HYPNOTIST EVENING FRIDAY 6TH MAY FROM 7PM
TWO-COURSE MEAL COMEDY HYPNOTIST SHOW FOLLOWED BY MUSIC
£28.95 PER PERSON £25.95 PER MEMBER
SPEAK TO A MEMBER OF THE TEAM TO BOOK YOUR TICKETS
A Welcome From Tom - Interim General Manager Hi Everyone, Having been Head Professional at Wycombe Heights from April 2018 to December 2021 most of you should know me. For those of you that don't know me I look forward to meeting you over the coming weeks. I am really excited about taking over from Sarah in this interim role, although I do have big shoes to fill! I want to personally thank Sarah for everything she has done for both the club and for me over the past 4 years. She will be sorely missed and a great asset to Hoebridge Golf Centre. Looking into Wycombe Heights future I am really excited to see this incredible club continuing to improve. I am also very lucky to be working with an amazing team and an extremely friendly membership. Over the next few months we will be making some small changes to reduce our carbon footprint. I know it was on Sarah's agenda for this year and I agree that this should be a priority. More on this will be communicated out in future newsletters. That's enough from me for now. I look forward to seeing you all soon and if you have any questions or quires please don't hesitate to contact me.
Tom Blick Interim General Manager
Course Report Once again it seems we will be jumping straight from winter into summer without a real spring. What do I mean by this? We have gone from extremely wet and muddy to extremely dry and dusty! Spring just doesn’t seem to be there to bridge that gap anymore. In turn real growth has only just begun, especially with the fine turf and grasses. Although we are seeing growth in the roughs
Day time temperatures have generally been good, but it is the overnight temperatures that are still low. Frosts were present last weekend and at the beginning of this week. As
temperatures continue to rise, we will start to see good growth that will contribute to the recovery of weaker areas. With this in mind, we will be completing aeration and sand applications to all greens. Low staffing levels and construction delays, mean we are later than we would like to complete this essential maintenance. On the flip side if we could have carried out maintenance a month ago, we wouldn’t have seen much recovery by this point. So, hopefully with warmer temperatures recovery should be much quicker. Greens maintenance is scheduled for Monday 25th April and will continue for that week. Obviously, there will be disruption to the greens surfaces and you will more than likely find us working on a particular green. We won’t be using temporary greens, so if you do find us working on a green; please pick up and move on to the next hole. This will help us to remain both productive and safe. It goes without saying that myself and the team will try to keep disruption to a minimum and we would appreciate your cooperation too. As I alluded to earlier, we have taken on two new Assistant Greenkeepers: John and Sam. Please make them feel as welcome you have made me feel. Can you believe I have been here a year next month!! Sam will be starting his Greenkeeping Apprenticeship in a couple of months’ time, with potentially John also doing a similar qualification. This now takes the team to 7. The refurbished bunkers are due to be opened the first week of May. We still have an area on the 7th to lay turf on, this will be completed within in the next few weeks. As you can appreciate, keeping the turf alive in these dry conditions has been a challenge. This is also the case for the newly planted trees and gorse around the new reservoir site. I’m looking forward to watching this area mature and become more established. The Short Course, 3rd hole tee and pathway construction is scheduled to be completed over the next few weeks. This will see the end of our winter projects, allowing us to focus solely on the golf courses standards for the coming season. I would like to finish by wishing Sarah the very best of luck, as she takes on the role of General Manager at Hoebridge. It is very much deserved and I thank her for all the guidance I have received since starting last May. You will be missed! Chris Sharp Course Manager
Duncan Purcell - Head Professional With summer now here, now is a good time to stock up on your golfing goods. Whether it be freshening up the wardrobe with some new clothing, upgrading your bag or clubs with some of the latest gear or needing a new pair of shoes for the season - we are now in stock of all these items. Please ask any of the retail team for any assistance and we will be more than happy to help.
We have a number of demo days in the coming weeks - these are by appointment only so please contact us for all details. I'd like to welcome Ash Ghataaura and Tom Millward as the latest members of the Retail Team. Ash has joined us from Sandy Lodge and Tom plays off a 3 handicap and attends the Golf College in Brighton, with Wycombe Heights being his first steps working in golf.
I'm delighted to also welcome Tom Heduan and Peter Hearne, who join us as Course Marshals. This is a position that we have been looking to fill since all Covid-19 restrictions were lifted to enhance the experience of all golfers to Wycombe Heights. I am however sad to announce the departure of Jack Burke, our Trainee Professional. Jack is moving to Drayton Park to take a teaching role and be closer to his family. Jack is expecting his first child later this year, which is an exciting time for him indeed. Jack has been a valued member of the team and I 'm sure you will all join me in wishing him well in the future.
Sophie Lambourne F&B Manager Thank you to everyone who has made me feel so welcome at Wycombe Heights. I have joined the club from Castle Royle where I was the Food & Beverage Manager, previously to this I worked at Harleyford Golf Club for just under 4 years. Outside of work my life mainly revolves around my twin boys, who are nearly 3! I’m looking forward to an exciting summer season ahead, and hope to see as many as you in the bar and restaurant soon!
Employee of the Quarter Jack Mcdonagh A huge congratulations to Jack Mcdonagh who has been voted our employee of the 1st quarter 2022. Jack is our Golf Services Supervisor who oversees the Driving Range and Range Team on a day-to-day basis. Jack has done a phenomenal job these past few months as we prepared for our TrackMan opening.
Gary Burton - Head Chef Hi! I’m Gary and I’ve been Head Chef at Wycombe Heights for 16 years and am still going strong! My team consists of my Sous Chef Adam Dawe who has been by my side here for 12 years. Lukas who has been with us for 5 years and is now training to be a qualified chef and Victoria who has just joined us on the team. Victoria is a keen baker so keep an eye out for some homemade cakes coming soon. We also have Aaron, who is training to be an electrician but helps us in the kitchen at the weekends. We have just gone live with the new Summer Menu and have recently updated all of your match and event menus as well. I hope you are enjoying the new options available to you. If there is anything in particular that you would like to see on our daily specials menu then please let me know and I’ll do my best to accommodate.
Bbq on the decking sunday 19th June