26/4/14

The course is looking absolutely fabulous at present and we really must give a huge thanks to Pop and the boys. Which brings me to the fact that poor old Pop is at this present moment waiting for a much needed operation on his leg after an accident on Thursday on the course. Lets all wish him a very speedy recovery!

We have, as a board, had some very interesting debate about subscription fees at the club and in partcular "Introductory Offers" for new members. Following our very successful fee discount system (or bar credit) for a member introducing a new member we need to think about how we can attract more new members from far and wide. Interestingly the Hobson has lost around 100 members this year (Why and how can we recruit some of them?). At the end of ther day "Subscriptions" are our main source of revenue. If I were to ask our 400+ members what we should do I think I would get many different suggestions ranging from "£490 and no offers!" to some sort of discount. I would be interested to hear from the membership by email of what they feel is sensible! Please feel free to send me your views on pkwhittaker@gmail.com

15/4/14

Another Board Meeting last night. Good business done as usual, everyone upbeat and positive about the clubs position. One small disappointment is that we voted against purchasing a "Greens Iron" for now. Of course it is something that perhaps we can resurrect in the future and for this season perhaps hire one when we need it.

Slow play seems to be hot on everybodies agenda at present. We think that a satisfactory time to go around our course is between 3 1/2 and 4 hours but we do need to take into consideration that there are those amongst us who have good reason to be a little on the slow side. (Not me of course because i am "the speed") We have a very large and lets be honest, very active Vets Section who should be given the courtesy of respect and perhaps a little extra time and patience. I enjoy playing with the 80+ years of age members and am amazed how they are able to get round week after week! Good for them! I will however be posting on the website some "Tips" to help us all avoid slow play! Even I might learn a thing or two!!

Great news that both the Mens and Ladies sections are through to the next round of the Mail on Sunday (4th Round). There are still some local clubs left in the competition so we shouldn't be travelling far afield as yet. Lets all pray for home fixtures! 

8/4/14

The Sec/Man Michael Rutter is at Conwy GC at this very moment playing a round of golf prior to his interview for the "Manager of the Year Award". Just getting to the last 6 in the country is an honour in itself. Good Luck Michael!

Huge congratulations must go to the Ladies section who have again done the club proud by beating Matfen Ladies (away) in the Mail on Sunday this weekend and progress to the 4th round! Just another 6 wins required to progress to the finals in El Rompido! C'mon

The men play their MOS 3rd round match at home v Hobson on Sunday 12th April 2pm tee. All support is very welcome!

The mens team are starting their preparations for their very busy Hadrian and North Durham League campaign to come by holding team practices on Wednesday evenings at the club. All are welcome.

The Calcutta draw has taken place. Some very interesting draws! Good luck to all.

1/4/14

I wanted to start this blog with some sort of "April Fool" theme but after a couple of botched attempts I thought "No, I am the Chair and should be dignified and never stoop to doing such a thing !" So just a normal blog then! Yawn! But this months picture is a hoot!

The season has started at last but the weather was darned cold this weekend! It would seem that the majority of the members enjoyed the course set up and whilst its a little short and producing a CSS 68 its still a real test. In fact only 8% of members beat the course on Saturday (a few more were able to on the Sunday).

A few stats to get you all talking:-

Sunday

• There was 1 par on the 12th from 89 players and it played 2.25 over par!
• The 5th is coming out tougher than its SI 16 mainly due to, I have no doubt, being off the very back of the teeing area!
• Its always fairly easy to see which way the wind blew by viewing the scores on the 8th and 9th. The 8th came out the harder hole this week!
• The course played 21.7 over par (on average). The average handicap of our members is 18.5. Interesting!

I will be keeping a close eye on the stats over the next few weeks to see if the winter alterations make a difference to the playability of the course. I suspect they will. I am interested also to watch how the 4th fairs with the OOB back in play! It played SI 11 (usually 10) so no surprise there!

This was the first week of the attempt to run the Sunday 10.30 sweep by text! It seemed to work fine (except for one person, no names no pack drill) and we were able to get off the 1st in time! I will endeavour to continue this for a few weeks to see how it pans out! With April being a month of VP's then it is crucial that we all get sweeps organised so that the course is not held up!

I have found the "Diary Sync" invaluable, and i know that all who have tried it have very positive things to say about it. It will certainly help to keep you abreast of timings!