Dear Member

 

Welcome to the MARCH members newsletter. I am sure we are all getting ready for the new season and looking forward to some warm Spring weather, apparently there is no snow or ice forecast for June or July yet !

 

Our Club Captain Steve Cullington and Ladies Captain Dorne Werner would like to see as many of you as possible for their Captains Drive-In on Sunday 15th March at 1pm. Have a guess at where their drives will finish, good luck to them both.

 

Steve has also arranged a  Gol f Challenge D ay where he will play 4 rounds in one day on 30th June in support of his charity, the Great Ormond Street Hospital. He will be joined for each round by the Vice Captain, Ladies Captain, Seniors Captain and the Junior Captain - best of luck to Steve for the day. I hope you will sponsor him nearer the time - how much energy will that take in an already hectic year !!

 

On the course you will soon notice new tee markers and bins, it was decided that we should replace the previous ones which had been in use for 10 years plus. So as part of our efforts to improve the visual effect of the course we have purchased 108 tee markers which will improve one small part of the course - look after them please.

 

The course development committee have recently recommended to the management committee the plan for the course over the next 12 months or so. This work will start with the 12th green which will be reshaped and new bunkers will be put in place. The depth of the bunkers was becoming a problem to many and the effect of the build up of sand on the banks has made them increasingly difficult over the years. The visual appearance of the green should hopefully improve this tricky little hole.

 

The next project will we hope be extensive work to the 6th. We intend to work on the problem area at the front of the green by taking the steepness away and generally improving the fairness of this hole. The 6th causes issues particularly in dry weather and we believe that this will improve the situation.

 

The Management Committee has recently approved small increases to the Green Fee rates. It was felt that our rates, which had not increased for 2 or 3 years, needed to reflect the product we offer. We were of course mindful of how we compare to other courses in the area and felt that £1 or £2 increases to various rates would be acceptable. We have kept rates for members introducing guests at the same level as before, these start at £15 per round, great value if you have friends to bring along.

 

Clubhouse - you may have noticed that there is a problem with the floor in the bay area of the clubhouse. This is receiving our utmost attention, please bear with us whilst remedial work is carried out. We expect this work to be carried out promptly without hopefully affecting your comfort in the clubhouse.

 

The Captain will be pleased to welcome as many people as possible to his first Presentation Evening on Friday April 3rd at 8pm. Please note this year Captain’s Presentation nights will commence at the earlier time of 8pm rather than 9pm. Please come along and support your club.

 

Members offer - Introduce a friend and get £50 of your next annual subs, introduce two friends and get £100 off !! Don't delay - act quickly before this fantastic offer ends.

 

Junior Organiser - We are still looking for a member to help with running the junior section. If you can offer help for all or part of this post then we will be pleased to hear from you.

 

The latest gadgets to come to the market give golfers the opportunity to know exactly how far it is to the flag, based on either a Laser rangefinder or GSP technology.

They are becoming more prominent and we hear are included in some buggies and trolley set ups. A survey in America stated that 25% of golfers there used a device of some description, that 35% wanted to try a device and 40% were happy making their own distance judgement.

 

No doubt the UK will follow suit soon. A Todays Golfer survey carried out last month discovered that 76% of golfers were in favour of this technology being used in competitions.

 

Here at SRGC the Management Committee have debated as to the acceptance of such devices. The R&A have said that they are allowable under a local rule, however whilst they could be used based on this ruling would it be better to have a rule of golf to tell us as to whether we can or can’t use them ?

 

Questions which may be asked would be, do they quicken up play or delay it and do they provide too much info ? We would like to know your views on the subject. The Management Committee will be discussing this again very shortly so your feedback is important to us.

 

Please email any comments to me at development@stokerochfordgolfclub.co.uk

 

It is also very important to us that we keep an up to date database of members at the golf club so if you know of any member who has still to let us have their e-mail address please encourage them to do so. This is important in keeping all informed of what is happening at the club.

 

Finally we received little response to the last quiz question, perhaps it was too tricky, without going into the detail of the question again for those that would like to know - the answer was 1924 our centenary year.

 

Have a good spring, enjoy your golf and play quickly !

 

 

Disclaimer

We always try to ensure that all information in our newsletters is fully up to date. However, sometimes changes and errors may occasionally occur and as a result we reserve the right to change or correct details where required.