Your browser is not supported. Please update it.

Club News

From Kevin Evans, Golf Operations Manager: I hope you have been managing to get some golf in since last month’s newsletter, a lot of people seem to be away on holiday, and it will be nice to see a few more faces back at the club in the next month.  

We had a good attendance for the Q&A on Wednesday, August 11th. Quite a few questions were asked, which was understandable, people wanted to know more about Get Golfing and the new era ahead. Later in the newsletter you can find a full Q&A rundown of the evening and any other questions that were asked prior to the evening.  

Since our last communication, the Pro Shop has now closed and check-in is in the bar/lounge area, which is open from 7am each day. Products are still available to you on site, with gloves, balls, tees, caps etc. The last bits of existing stock will be on sale at very good rates if there is something that interests you.  

We would like to encourage you to come into the clubhouse and check in before you play. There is always the opportunity to grab a freshly ground coffee or other refreshments both for takeaway, or, of course, to sit down and enjoy before you start.  

Golfmanager is now in operation as our new tee booking system and, as with any new system, issues arise. Rest assured, they are being dealt with to make tee booking as painless as possible. As a reminder, please be aware that Club V1 is no longer active, and you cannot access your card balance through this system.  

Course News

From Jason Hatton, Course Manager: At the beginning of August, we ran our greens maintenance week, which consisted of a heavy double-verticut, followed by a 13mm solid tine to alleviate compaction. We then top dressed all the greens with Leighton Buzzard sand. This is the first time we have used this product on the greens and it’s fair to say it has worked a treat, even with all the heavy rainfall we had before, during and after. We then completed the process with a light fertiliser feed. Fingers crossed, the greens should be back to their best very shortly. 

Those of you who came to Ed Richardson’s Q&A evening would have heard him outline some of the financial outlay to be spent on the golf course. Further to that, I thought it might be useful if I provided a little more detail about why it is being spent. 

One of the first things Get Golfing had to rectify was the pump that pushes our water around the irrigation system. This had broken down and was beyond repair, so a new pump was purchased by Get Golfing and has now been fitted and is working. 

Following on from that, the controller that runs the computer system to all the irrigation points also broke down and was, again, beyond repair. Get Golfing gave us the go ahead to upgrade the controller and decoder system. I am so pleased about this as it will give us such peace of mind as we move into next year. 

Get Golfing has also given us permission to purchase verticut, scarifiers and roller units for the greens machines — all bits of kit that will prove invaluable for creating better playing surfaces in the future.  

Although perhaps largely invisible to the membership, these upgrades come at a substantial cost, and I would like to thank Get Golfing for supporting Arkley in the way it has done so far. 

We will be verticutting tees and approaches shortly and giving them a light top dressing. The extensive work on the fairways this year has really helped those that have struggled in recent years, and it is fair to say there has been a big improvement.  

We will be carrying on with our overseeding and fertilising programme to address the bare patches on the 5th, 6th and 8th fairways in September and, as soon as work commences, these areas will be roped off and deemed GUR. 

Member Buy-Back: Arkley will also be running a member buyback scheme in aid of the charity Mumba Children’s Project. All Get Golfing sites are running a member buyback scheme on all branded golf clothesand not just your clothes from specific clubfrom anywhereWe are also accepting clubs, balls and bags. These can then be partexchanged for new logoed apparel with our new club logos. You will shortly receive an email detailing the work this charity does and how you can help us help them. Check out the poster below to see when Get Golfing are at Arkley:

Mumba @ Arkley

Captains’ Update

From Kaz Donald, Club Captain: I have excellent news: Steve Vyse has agreed to be my Vice-Captain! 

So, you can all now relax and not run away when you see me approaching! I’m thrilled that Steve has stepped up. He has a wealth of experience — having been Captain at Elstree — and I know that you will support him. 

The Q&A meeting with Ed Richardson was well attended, and some good questions were asked. It will be interesting moving forwards to see how things pan out for Arkley. Ed is very positive about our club, which bodes well for us. 

The golf has been good, and some great scores have been posted. Matt Holland was crowned Top Dog with a round of nett 67 — married life is obviously good for him! Neil Bradley was chasing Matt’s tail with a score of nett 68. Our young padawans took charge at The Wilmot Lunt Trophy! Conor Thompson, who appears to be in great form currently, scored 39 points, with Mike Fernandes taking second place with a very respectable 37. Congratulations to all for some wonderful golf. 

It was great to be able to host the Arkley Salver, after missing it last year due to Covid. Ten teams took part, with nine clubs represented. The golf started well but the weather was always threatening. We finally succumbed to thunder and lightning, and Kevin had to call us all in. There was much discussion regarding how to calculate the winner as we had started on two tees — my suggestion that we be allowed to use my best nine holes was thrown out and we went with scores on the front nine. Our spirits certainly weren’t dampened, and a very lively clubhouse listened as Enfield were announced the winners, with Davide Minoli taking the individual prize with 23 points. 

The Hendon/Arkley Challenge took place in glorious sunshine, at Hendon. Arkley put on a good show and won 4/2. 

Our club teams have been at it again… 

Congrats to the Foxes, who won at Mill Green, which sees them win their league and now go through to the quarterfinals. They will face Knebworth and we have home advantage! 

Sadly, the Rabbits lost for the first time this season as Enfield took full advantage of playing at home — it was very close, with a result of 3.5/2.5. 

The Stags played Chorleywood at Arkley and won convincingly by 5.5/0.5. The return match saw a turnaround, with Chorleywood coming in 5/1. Team Manager, President David, is happy as this is an overall win for Arkley! There was a return to winning form with a 5/1 home victory over The Shire. 

Tanya and Chloe were sad to report a loss at Chartridge Park. Again, another very close result of 3.5/2.5. 

As always, many thanks to all who have represented Arkley. Giving up your time for matches and your concerted efforts are greatly appreciated. Thanks must also go to the team organisers for all that you do to herd the players. 

I can’t thank you enough for the support that you gave me for my Captain’s Day events. Some 76 of you played golf, which really is brilliant. Many congrats to all who won prizes but especially to Paddy Duggan, Lorraine Robertson and Simon Cooper who won their categories. It was such a shame that we could not present the prizes on the day but that will happen later in the year. I shall be sorting a date for the dinner asap. Paddy, Lorraine, and Simon, and those placed, will be my guests. 

My Captain’s Away Day at West Essex was a great day despite the “biblical” weather. Again, I’m humbled by the support you gave me. A total of 71 golfers went out to play and Joe O’Neill beat us all! 

Another thing that you may, or may not, have already heard is that on Tuesday, July 6th, at the SOHGC Vice Captain’s Day, I won a trophy, which is something that I am very proud of and not just because a little bit of history was made. In fact, Arkley, as a club, did well as Tim Corbett was runner-up — sorry Tim! There were 44 players and for us to take the spoils was outstanding! At the President’s Day at South Herts, Tim was among the prizes again and so was Bob Howell. 

With all the results that I have listed above, it really does prove that Arkley should never be underestimated – something of which our opponents are often guilty. We don’t always win but we can never be accused of not putting up a great fight. Keep it up – be proud – and enjoy your golf! 

 

Ladies 

From Mary Vyse, Lady Captain: This month has been a quite a month golf-wise. Wendy Margaret and Janet won the Taylor Texas Scramble and Wendy won the August medal. My Captain’s away day was held at Rickmansworth, I don’t know how it got the name Tricky Ricky as the ladies all scored extremely well. 

  1. Margaret 41 points  
  2. Pam 40 points  
  3. Tanya 35 points  

Congratulations to all. 

Events coming up in September include the Ladies Autumn Meeting and the Ladies Open, please encourage all your fellow lady members to enter. 

Q&A Summary

Ed Richardson introduced Get Golfing. He explained that it is a charity set up to promote golf and a site like Arkley needs Get Golfing. Ed stressed the need for everyone to understand that Get Golfing does not have shareholders and all surpluses go back into our sites, so for Get Golfing to work, it needs the support of the membership as much as it has to do its own good work to build the customer base.  

Ed gave a quick summary of Get Golfing: 

  • 8 sites 
  • 400 staff at peak season 
  • 5,000 members  
  • Circa £12m turnover 
  • £2.25m invested in past 20 months  
  • No structured debt, only hire purchase agreements on machinery.   

The benefits to a member of a Get Golfing venue are significant and these will be rolled out this autumn and communicated to the members before the start of the 2022 season. A meeting is being set up for mid-September with the Captains, Vice Captains, Competition Secretaries, and Handicap Secretaries of each section, so we can start the process of integrating Arkley into the Get Golfing network/family. 

Ed closed by explaining that we need to swap out the old management system and this will take time to settle in. Only now have we started to take control of the site with our own caterers, a change in management of the Club with Kevin Evans playing a more central role, and these changes will take time to settle down, so please show some patience. Without change, we wouldn’t have the wheel, the combustion engine, and now satellites in space and more importantly, the golf ball flying further!! 

In terms of the general direction for Arkley, the likelihood of property development on the site has to a great extent gone away and Get Golfing believes that Arkley will exist for well into the future.  

As a result, Get Golfing will be operating and investing into the site as if it will be in situ for the full length of the 25-year lease.  

From our perspective, the golf course must come first, and the programme of improvements has already begun. Looking ahead, drainage work will take place this autumn and, longer term, a tee construction programme will be put in place. There is absolutely no intention to change the design of the course. 

Finally, you will certainly see plenty of new faces around the club as new members are being signed up and we extend a warm welcome to them at Arkley. We have plenty of exciting times ahead and we all want Arkley to be a lovely place to play golf and enjoy many happy times on and off the course. I look forward to seeing you soon. 

Community Outreach

From Stuart Williams, Community Development Officer (Education, SEND and Communities), Get Golfing: Hola from a busy Community Events coordinator. 

Work on our Community HUB programme starts this month, which will see us aim to offer a variety of activities at our sites for our local communities and non-traditional visitors.  

We will be using art, music, sport, drama, walking, running, film nights and a host of activities to offer more for both members and visitors and so create some great social interactions in this disconnected age. 

Our NHS Blood & Transplant awareness and recruitment campaign is growing with every visit (see more below from Hampton court). Next stop is Arkley Golf Club on October 3rd when we will also run a great pairs scramble competition that is open to members, guests and visitors. After that it is the turn of Ansty in Coventry on October 30th 

The NHS desperately needs more donors. Please don’t be put off if you offer and they give you an appointment in a few months. They have to manage demand peaks, blood types and are still under-strength themselves as they return from Covid. You really will be doing something amazing and thanks to those members who already donate. 

 

 

Hampton Court gives blood: Our national partners NHS Blood & Transplant had a great recruitment day at our stunning Hampton Court site. They recruited more than 45 new donors, enlightened lots of people as to their blood type and spoke to a host of amazing people who already donate to help people they will never meet. Thanks to David and the team at Hampton Court for their support of this event. 

 

Community Partners: We are now taking nominations for local community groups that could do with help and we are also selecting our partner primary and special schools. Please do get in touch if you would like to suggest a small local charity or community group or school that we could help in 2022. 

Memory walks: We are hosting a series of Memory Walks for the Alzheimer’s Society around our beautiful sites and it would be great if you are free to join us at The Club at Mill Green, near Welwyn Garden City, on September 18th at 4pm, or at Redlibbets in Kent on September 19th at 3pm. 

You can find your nearest event at alzheimers.org.uk/memory-walk or you can set up your own. We are looking to raise funds to beat this horrible disease but also to create a lovely social event for people to chat and enjoy our sites. Everyone is welcome and we ask for a £5 donation for adults but nothing from children and dogs. We will have a 5km and 2.5 km route that will start and finish at the clubhouses. 

 

 

Exemplar local partnership: The Club at Mill Green is supporting Music 24, which does amazing work through music to bring smiles to dementia sufferers plus their carers, and creates amazing social interactions for those of us who are lonely. To find our more visit https://www.music24.org.uk. 

All this amazing group needed was a space to meet on a Monday afternoon every two weeks to bring sunshine and smiles to those suffering from dementia. We are happy to give them it free of charge. 

If you know of any local groups that need a free space to use, help expanding their provision or raising awareness of their work, we would be happy to help. Please contact [email protected]. 

Also, in September, we will be launching our Adopt a School programme, where we identify a local special school and primary school to help unlock their students’ potential. We will host a series of golfing, music, art and drama opportunities at our sites to allow their students to shine. 

Walking the Dog: Hopefully by now you are aware that all our venues are dog friendly and that you are keeping an eye out for when a great social walk around our sites is taking place at your club. 

Our dog of the month is Ted from Mill Green. Ted likes sitting down, sniffing, and listening to loud music. If you email me a picture of your dog at the golf course or on one of our walks, they could be famous. We look forward to next month’s nominations. 

Ideas please: Finally, I would love to hear from you, so please do contact me with any ideas you have for using our sites to do some good. Our venues and staff are our greatest assets, and we want to use them to have a positive impact on our local communities. Please do remember to say “thank you” to your clubhouse team, chefs, green keepers and golf ops as they are doing an amazing job in tricky conditions.  

I look forward to meeting more and more of you on my visits and please do come up and say hello if you see me in your clubhouse. Contact me at [email protected].