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Club News

From Kevin Evans, Golf Operations Manager: Just while I am finalising my input to the newsletter, the Ryder Cup is almost here and watching the practice days prior to the event. Always a huge 3 days and let’s hope Europe triumph. 

We have had a fair amount of competitive golf out on the course and we have some new members to welcome to the club too. You will see some more new faces walking the lush fairways and we will be wanting to help them into the club as much as possible. New members could be possible swindle players and representing the club in future matches, so let’s make them welcome! 

I am hoping you are starting to get used to our new booking system and I know we have had some issues which we have tried to resolve as quick as possible. The system brings everything together which will grow over the next few weeks as it beds in further. 

There are exciting times ahead with the clubhouse, we have a refurbishment planned for November and more details will of course be passed onto the membership as we get closer to the refurbishment. 

It is that time of year where the presentation evenings are round the corner, where you can all boast about your successful play of the season and the changeover of Captaincy’s. A final is now on the cards for the Foxes for the 3rd year running!  

Keep an eye on your events section on the Golfmanager sign in area for tee times. We have an NHS fun day and the Autumn Pairs returns for another year. Fancy your chances in any of those? 

Everything that is happening at Arkley is to move your club forward and put it in a good position for years to come, we hope you, like us, are looking forward to the journey.  

To a great Autumn ahead… 

Course News

From Jason Hatton, Course ManagerWith temperatures settling at around 20 degrees and heavier downpours than normal for September, the golf course has become very green and lush. Heavy dews in the morning are proving to be a real menace to our cutting regimes. We are cutting and then having to blow the grass with our tractor mounted tornado blower and our backpack blowers, and this is all proving to be very time consuming.

In October, we will be doing some remedial drainage work down on the 8th fairway to alleviate the water problem we have after a heavy rainfall. This will include digging a new drainage channel and backfilling with a new pipe and shingle. This has the added benefit of helping other areas on the course that become wet due to the water backing up the existing pipe.

We will also be light coring the greens and applying a light topdressing. Happily, this will not be as invasive as the normal maintenance week aeration and the greens will return to normal quickly.

The new upgrade to the irrigation system has been completed and is in excellent working order.

Now we are moving into Autumn I am looking into a worm control product to try and suppress the casting there are a few out there now so we will trial them and fingers crossed we will find one that works.

Finally, please do remember to replace your divots, repair pitchmarks on the greens and rake the bunkers after use, this all contributes to keeping the course look fantastic for you all.
 

Captains’ Update

From Kaz Donald, Club Captain 

Thank you for all the lovely messages about Pops – they were very much appreciated.

Dates for your diary… 

Annual Awards Dinner – aka “the Sausage and Mash” takes place on Friday 8 October. This will be combined with my delayed Captain’s Dinner.  If you have won a trophy, please make sure to come to the dinner and take your applause!  The sign-up sheet will be posted very soon so please look out for it. 

AGM – change of date – come and see Steve take over the reins on Tuesday 19 October @ 7pm. 

The Clubhouse will be closed for refurbishment throughout November – as Kevin has already said, more details will follow. 

The Veterans Bowl was won by Richard Rowbottom with 38 points closely followed by Dave Lovell who scored 37.  Well done chaps! You have to be over a certain age to enter this comp – I think some may have got confused! 

For those of you who are new to Arkley the President’s Trophy is a two-day, 36-hole, event. The qualifier is held on a Saturday/Tuesday with the best players battling it out the following Saturday. Both Richard Rowbottom and Lady Captain Mary started the final in a commanding position. Richard had posted a nett 64 and was four shots ahead of Dave Wallace. Mary was 6 shots ahead of Wendy. So, it was up to their opponents to chase them down. It appears that our leading qualifiers dug deep and held on to secure victory and that took some doing – good job Richard and LC Mary! 

I have heard and seen (fab pics Mike F!) that the President’s Dinner was very jolly. It was good to see new faces joining in the fun. Many thanks to President David for a great event.  

The culmination of the Summer Singles Matchplay Knockout took place on Sunday 19 September. The final was played over 36 holes.  A great battle between Andrew Saint and Richard Rowbottom took place with Andrew eventually winning 3&2.  Many congrats to both for getting through to the final and to Andrew for a great fight back! 

Peter Davey is the worthy winner of this year’s Order of Merit – congratulations Peter who has played tremendously all year! 

Our own Eddie Hildebrand played in the Knebworth Junior Open and shot a nett 69!  This gave Eddie 3rd place but he was elevated to runner-up due to the golfer who won the Best Gross Prize being unable to collect two prizes! As always is was great to see Arkley being represented – thank you and congratulations to Eddie! 

The Foxes continued their campaign with a 3/1 quarter-final win over Knebworth.  They met Mill Green in the semi-final which resulted in a 4/0 victory and they now romp into the final which will be played at South Herts on Wednesday 29 September, against Manor of Groves. Again, a wonderful Foxes season. 

Our Rabbits managed an honourable 3-3 draw at Muswell Hill and they beat Hampstead (away) 3.5/2.5. So great stats for the Rabbits this season…played 6, won 4, drew 1, lost 1. Well done to all our Rabbits and thank you so much for giving up your time to represent Arkley!  

The fixture for the Stags v Mill Hill was sadly cancelled as Mill Hill couldn’t field a team – so that’s a win to us as far as I’m concerned! The match at Finchley saw our Stags win 3.5/2.5 – so a good month for the Stags. The final Stags match, for the season, will be at Redbourn on 30 September. 

The SOHGC held its Mixed Invitation, at Arkley, and it was a great success. Ann Bunyard and Ray Johnson won the day, with Eric Diment (Hon Sec SOHGC) and Pam Parsons beating Mary and Steve Vyse for 2nd and 3rd places respectively. It was yet another top performance from Arkley. 

The August Bank Holiday Mixed competition was won by Tricia, Iain and Joe – thank you to all who played and to Wendy for organising things. 

The Mixed v Mid Herts saw Arkley win, away from home, 5.5/0.5.  It’s brilliant to see some new golfers on the start list. I’m not sure what Mid Herts thought about it! 

This may be my penultimate contribution to the AGC newsletter – can I hear sighs of relief? 

I look forward to seeing you all at the dinner on Friday 8 October – if not before! 

Captain Kaz 

 

Ladies

From incoming Lady Captain, Tanya Wilson: Thank you for choosing me as this year’s Lady Captain, it is a real honour. I’m very much looking forward to our year ahead as well as of course playing lots of golf.  

Most of our newer members don’t really know me that well yet, so I wanted to share a little about me. I’ve been a member here at Arkley for 34 years – I joined in 1986!  

My Parents were members at the time and during this time my brother Glyn became Club Captain, both my Children were junior members. My daughter Chloe still is a playing member and I hear the men often saying she is organising them too! Go Chloe x  

Arkley is a special to us not just for the golf, but it’s a great venue. We have celebrated so many wonderful occasions here.    

During my membership, I’ve helped organise events, joined various committees including Greens Committee, the board, and more recently I’ve organised the mixed golf competitions with the help of Chloe. This year I have particularly enjoyed introducing new players to these friendly competitions. In my golfing years I was also a member at Winter Hill golf club, in Berkshire, but Arkley is still our favourite!  We have played great golf here and met many close friends.

I’m looking forward to working closely with the Get Golfing team as well as supporting our Pro (and new General Manager!) Kevin and of course all the members.  

My Charity this year will be Prostate Cancer. I’m hoping to raise awareness about this terrible disease and thank you in advance for your continued support.  

Happy Golfing! 

Tanya x 

Community Outreach

From Stuart Williams, Community Development Officer (Education, SEND and Communities), Get Golfing: For this month’s newsletter I thought I would introduce the fantastic team we have here at Get Golfing managing the community events at your sites: 

 

Faydra Mitchell – Community Events Coordinator East 

Faydra has a passion for all things charity and community, from volunteering with local groups to running music festivals. She is a mum to 2 amazing children, and her life is never quiet, but always fun! I love to be involved in all things to do with the elderly or children, especially those with SEN or Disabilities, and my real passion is providing activities and entertainment for the community. I’m lucky to be involved in some great music festivals like Local and Live and Tonbridge Calling, and to me there is nothing better than seeing people having a good time at an event you have provided. 

 

Yvonne Brooke – Community Events Coordinator West 

An experienced golf and leisure operator I am really passionate about encouraging more women and girls to play sport. I have created the Ladies Golf Lounge, a Facebook Group for female golfers, which now has nearly 6,500 members. 

The group has given me a platform to support and promote a number of sport related charities, give a voice to women’s golf and allowed me to work with a diverse community which has been amazing and something I’m really proud of. 

My husband and I have 2 children, a 7 year old boy and 9 year old girl, so most of our life is spent as a taxi service (I’m sure many of you reading can relate!) ferrying them around to various clubs, birthday parties and playdates. Hence, I regularly escape to the golf course for some peace and quiet and to recharge my batteries! 

 

Stuart Williams – Group Community Development  

Having worked in education and community sport for over 25 years I have a passion for creating safe, enjoyable and engaging events and opportunities. I enjoy building programs that make humans feel better about themselves and am passionate that we at Get Golfing have an amazing impact on our local communities. I want to create great environments where people (visitors and staff) can help each other, enjoy our sites and contribute to building a better society. 

 

Looking ahead to 2022 

Adopt a school 

We will be announcing the primary and special schools that each site will be adopting as partners for 2022 where we will be offering a wide variety of activities for both students and staff. Golf obviously but music art drama, a venue for staff training and our great TAP program that targets FSM & PP children. 

Group Charity Adoption 

Our group charity has now been selected for 2022 with the Anthony Nolan Trust partnering with us. More information with both an education, awareness, and recruitment campaign to roll out next year and an exciting pro-am series planned. 

Local Community Groups 

The team will be working closely with site teams to identify a local group or charity to support for 2022 and whilst we can assist with fundraising, we would prefer groups that can utilise our beautiful spaces (for free) to enhance or expand their provision to local residents 

NHS Blood Donation Partnership 

Over the last 6 months we have hosted Recruitment and awareness campaigns for Blood Donation. This month Arkley host the team where anyone can come along, find out how they can become a donor and find out their blood type. It will take place on Sunday 3rd October and their will also be a fun pairs scramble competition if you would like to play. 

What’s On – Arkley Golf Club Arkley Golf Club