Community Outreach

Each of our Get Golfing sites (through its Captain’s) is currently selecting a local charity that is being adopted as the Club’s designated charity for the next 3 years. This will replace the tradition of each section having their own charity, working independently and the relationship ending after a year.

We believe that by working together we can achieve more and not only raise funds for the local charity but build them into heart of each club.

We want to become hubs for our local communities to enjoy golf but also visit our amazing facilities and sites for a variety of social and wellbeing activities. Together with the Captain’s we have seen some great charities, who do amazing work within their local community.

We believe that by all sections working together on a common goal it will:

• Create a better community within the club
• Spread the workload
• Create an exciting and varied social calendar open to everyone in our local communities that are well attended and inclusive
• Maximise the awareness and engagement with the selected charity
• Allow them to plan effectively as they will have sustained support over the 3 years
• Allow them free access to our amazing facilities and spaces to expand their projects, capacity and impact on local people
• Bring people together to work collaboratively and build upon the great traditions that our golf clubs have in raising much needed funds for local causes
• Maximise the funds raised for the local charity as to allow expansion of their work and impact in our communities

Both the charity and club will receive support from the Get Golfing Community Outreach team, with dedicated event and fundraising training and the support of the marketing team to promote and maximise a variety of golfing and social activities for everyone to enjoy.

We are looking forward to the January launch of the 8 charities selected by our 8 sites and starting to build lasting relationships that will  make a real difference to the local communities that we serve.

This is just one element of Get Golfing’s Community Hub Program to enhance our golf clubs and share our beautiful sites with everyone. If you would like any further information please contact Stu Williams, Community Development Officer at [email protected].

From Stu Williams, Community Development Officer: Hi all! I just wanted to give you a flavour of what your community team get up to in a normal week.

On Monday Hampton Court hosted Hampton Wick primary girls for an amazing visit where the girls had their introduction to golf coached by Yvonne and and the HC team.

Also on Monday, Mill Green hosted Music 24 for their Musical café session to help with their dementia music therapy work. They receive the facility for free and create an amazing environment for both sufferers and carers to relax in our beautiful spaces and create fun music.

On Wednesday Creswick primary school brought their year 5 class for a great morning of golf on the range, par 3 and putting green. They are the sites adopted school for 2022 and looking forward to a great partnership. Thanks to site pros Jack and Olly for the great sessions.

Redlibbets recently hosted their 2nd SEN multi sports afternoon that saw 16 children take part in archery/ boccia/table tennis/golf and pong.

Pyrford Lakes hosted their wreath making event in aid of Age concern Woking.

Sherfield Oaks are hosting the Loddon school staff on Monday to plan 2022 and how we can support our nearest special school.

This month Get Golfing’s community team have worked in partnership with Sherfield Oaks on their member led fundraising campaign for the staff injured in a recent accident. It was a great example of how working together we can achieve more and delivered amazing results in a really quick turnaround.

The online auction kick started the fundraising campaign that culminated in a great golf day that saw over 100 members and guests enjoy the Wellington course and a fun evening organised by Club Captain Guy Wright.

Over 16 thousand pounds was raised thanks to the amazing generosity of the members, those who donated items and all who bid either online or on the night.

An amazing achievement that will help those involved to a speedy recovery.

Club News

From Kevin Evans, Golf Manager:

We have reached December after kicking off our season at the end of March this year. We have welcomed new members to the club and there are more to follow as we go through our transformation, making our golf experience stronger and very soon we will have a new look clubhouse. 

Festivities begin with our Captain’s Christmas Dinner on Sunday 5th December and I hope you will be able to join Steve Vyse for that.  

Sunday Lunch is now available for you to book with our chef Colin Pritchard which I am sure you will enjoy, and we have our new menu too for daily snacks and meals. 

Make sure you get in some Winter Golf which is lovely on a bright crisp morning. Remember to repair those pitchmarks and divots, even if it wasn’t you. This will keep our course in good stead ready for next season.  

If you are in a competition over the Winter, please have a look at the “Winter Rules” so you know your options when playing.  

Have a great Christmas from us all at Arkley Golf Club. 

Kevin 

From Get Golfing CEO, Edward Richardson: We need to announce that Kevin Evans will be leaving us on December 8^th for pastures new in January. Kevin’s contribution to Arkley is recognised by all and we wish him the very best. His replacement is James Bilotta who joins from The Shire via Mill Green. Please make ever effort to introduce yourselves to him. James is the first port of call for all member issues during these winter months.

Clubhouse News

The prices are back from the contractors for the clubhouse renovations and the work is now scheduled to commence and be finished in February. The scope of work includes external drainage to stop the jousts from rotting from the washout from the car park. It also includes a minor re-design of the function room external door. The public areas will then be stripped and a new bar, flooring, lighting and furnishings will be installed. The intention is that we will broaden the interest into the Club from just golfers to those also wishing to use the facility for casual dining and events. Our priorities will always remain on the golf, but Arkley has to be financially sustainable and in order to do this, we have to upgrade the clubhouse experience.

Between then and now, we will continue to manage the situation with limited custom and challenging trading conditions. The support of the membership is fundamental to the long term success of the Club, so we please ask for your patience while we work on this turnaround.

Course News

From Jason Hatton, Course Manager: With November temperatures above the norm and little rain, the course has had a chance to dry out a fair bit. This has given us a window to re-lay most of the main drainage pipe through the middle of the course. This has consisted of removing the existing perforated pipe and replacing it with solid drainage pipe. Hopefully, this will combat the ongoing problem of root interference from the trees. This causes major blockage to the pipe which in turn creates various wet areas.

We have also removed the pond on the 8th/17th hole and now the pipe runs underground and heads on out across the practice area. This area will be overseeded with a fescue, rye grass mix and wildflowers will be introduced to add a bit of colour on the course.

The leaves are now starting to fall at a rate of knots and as I have said previously this is an ongoing operation normally taking around 2-3 months, we do appreciate your patience. In the last few weeks we have trialled a worm suppressant. This will help with the worm castings and it has had an impact, nowhere near the same results with what we had previously used but it’s a step in the right direction, I will be using it again before Christmas.

This coming month the greens will be aerated and top-dressed along with the tees and approaches, this will become the normal for the foreseeable future as we strive to improve all the playing surfaces. The overseeding of the fairways that was done last month has germinated very well and with an added fertiliser feed has made the areas stronger. An overseeding programme will become part of our budget going forward, this will be to correct any bare areas around the course.

Could I please ask all of our members to rake bunkers, replace divots and please repair pitchmarks as we move into winter, the greens are becoming softer and even a short chip shot will make a pitchmark so please be vigilant around the greens.

Lastly, one of our greenstaff Kevin Stout has decided to hang his rake up and go into semi-retirement (he still will be working part time in the greenkeeping department) I would like to thank Kevin for all his hard work not only on the golf course but also in his previous role as the assistant treasurer. Kevin has given an awful lot of his time to Arkley golf club over the years and he has proved to be an invaluable member. So, we are now on the lookout for a new full-tim greenkeeper (if anyone is interested or knows someone who might be please see Kevin Evans or myself for more information) this will push us up to 4 staff which will benefit the golf course no end and enhance the member experience. 

Captains’ Update

From Steve Vyse, Club Captain: Not a great start to my year with the course being closed but it didn’t take long before we got back to normal. My first official duty was to present the prizes at the Get Golfing Masters with the winners going to Le Touquet next March.

The Texas scramble planned was cancelled due to the heavy rain, but at midday the rain stopped and the sun shone and at 1.30 pm Kaz and myself walked out onto the course to be greeted by the large crowd that had assembled.

Kaz putted out first and nearly sunk her 21 ft putt, (well done Kaz an excellent 2 year’s)
and then it was my turn, I admit I was a bit nervous but managed to get the drive away, not one of my best but safe. This year the drive was measured and congratulations to Don Foster for selecting the correct distance of 223 yards, enjoy the champers.

The real winners were Kaz and Tanya’s charities and with your kind donations I raised £320, many thanks for your generosity. 

GOLF 

Due to the inclement weather casual golf has been the mode of play and unfortunately the course has taken quite a pounding. May I ask that you replace divots and pitch marks (even if they are not your own) and hopefully others will see and start doing it themselves.

On a brighter note our Ladies Pearson team started their campaign by beating Aldenham 7-0 but sadly lost to Hadley Wood 5-2, not bad for 2 away matches.

The annual challenge between the men and ladies took place on Tuesday 16th Nov and in a closely fought match the men ran out winners by 290-276pts and I had great pleasure handing over the wooden spoon trophy to lady captain Tanya. Many thanks to the 32 players that participated in this popular event
 

NEXT MONTH 

Further updates including changes to our Rabbits’ and Stag’s structures
Capt Steve 

Ladies

From Tanya Wilson, Lady Captain:

Our first team comp was drawn ‘Best 2 scores from 3 Stableford’ was won by Max Bourn, Sylvia Smith, Hongwei Luo and Anne Medayil, well done ladies.  

The Arkley Waltz winners were Marion Rich, Pam Parsons and Ann Bunyard.  

The Daily Mail foursomes: was either played on Sunday 7th or Tuesday 9th November 2021. Congratulations to Wendy Living & Pam Parsons they scored 31 points, we wish you both well for the next round.  

The Wooden spoon is a yearly winter fixture: Men v Ladies, this was Captain Steve and Myself’s first mixed competition. We negotiated the playing format! We were both really chuffed that 32 players signed up, the teams were announced. The ladies against the men battled out their golf, and everyone seemed to enjoy their games. Steve and I really appreciated all the support, however this year the ladies retained the wooden spoon!  

Congratulations to the men you were the better team on the day. We look forward to the rematch next year.  

Pearson competition: 

These are ‘match play’ matches played in winter/spring against other Hertfordshire clubs. A massive thank you to Wendy & Kaz as they’ve agreed again to be our joint Pearson Captains’. 

This season we are drawn against Aldenham, Hadley Wood and Porters Park, a team of 7 ladies are chosen to play the home and away matches. (This competition has handicap restrictions.)  

Our first match was Aldenham away, amazingly we won 7-0  

Our second match was Hadley Wood away, the home team certainly made the most of home advantage and we battled to a 5-2 loss.  

Hadley wood will return to play us before Christmas, we will then take the home advantage and have our revenge!  

Thank you to all the ladies who support us.  

Winter golf competitions  

Round Robin: is a 9-hole match play comp. A great way to keep your swing going in the winter.  

This is drawn and matches are now up in the locker room.  

The first round has to be completed by 31 January so you have 3 months to play 2 x 9 hole ‘match play’ rounds. Please contact the group players and don’t leave it to the last minute – the weather in January is usually much worse!! 

The ladies are looking forward to the Christmas competitions and festivities, Tuesday 7th December is our Hamper competition. 

Saturday 11th December: ‘Secret Santa’ competition. 

Tuesday 14th December: Christmas Lunch day, there will be an optional 9-hole competition in the morning, followed by Christmas lunch and a classic guess the baby/toddler.  

Just wanted to remind the ladies all the weekly/weekend competitions have individual signup sheets in the locker room.  

We welcome our newer ladies to join in with us oldies!  

We were all new golfers once upon a time.  

Lastly, welcome to our new Club Captain Steve and a massive thank you with the members support on his drive in. He decided to split his donations and gave £160 to my chosen charity for Prostate cancer, thanks Steve you certainly have the ladies section behind you for your Captaincy.  

I hope you all stay safe and have a happy Christmas & best wishes for the new year! XXX