Ladies Winter Calendar to follow shortly - Wednesday Ladies Mornings continue - see Weekly Planner

We had an enquiry regarding the Members’ Code of Conduct and our Governance documentation.

We recently launched a new Policy Section on our website, developed in partnership with England Golf. The Code of Conduct, along with a full list of England Golf  aligned policies, including safeguarding, GDPR and many others, can be found in the Members’ Section → Policy Section.  For ease of access, we also placed a copy of the code of conduct on the club notice board.

This section ensures that  all members have clear visibility of the standards and policies expected of us as golf club, proudly affiliated with England Golf.

Ladies Winter Calendar to follow shortly - Wednesday Ladies Mornings continue - see Weekly Planner

Dear Members,

WE NOW HAVE ELEVEN TEAMS FOR THE SCRAMBLE AND ARE CREATING A RESERVE LIST TO COVER  PEOPLE WHO DROP OUT
-  OUR FASTEST EVER SELL OUT!!

We’re delighted to share the details of the annual Christmas Eve Scramble, taking place on Wednesday 24th December.

Member teams will be competing for the Bob Wilson Trophy—plus a festive bottle for each winning team member. Teams with two or more guests will be playing for the Guest Team Prize, which comes with a different bottle of cheer!

The sign-up sheet will be pinned at the bar as usual, so please organise your teams and get signed up as soon as possible.

This event is always a highlight of the season—a fun and festive way to kick off Christmas. So rally your teammates, bring your festive spirit, and let’s see who’s going to start Christmas with a bang!

Let the festivities begin!

Another year, brilliantly masterminded  by Dave Mackenzie (supported mainly by Richard Aldridge and Graham Blackwell)

Lots of people to thank...

• to the WAGS themselves who we know were umming and arring about whether to hold the event somewhere else this year - thank you for supporting the club, it meant a great deal to us.
• to JT for organising the singer - he was outstanding
• to Sarah and Luke who did so much in the background to make this event as cracking as it was
• to Trish for her 3 platter feast - meat, fish and cheese - simply delicious!
• and last but not least to all the non WAGS who came along and added so much to the evening.

And finally, a massive congratulations to the overall winners of WAGS 2025 and to those who won prizes on the day.

New Handicaps, Electronic Scoring and the Pro Shop

As part of our ongoing commitment to best practice—guided by England Golf—we’re introducing a streamlined induction process to support new members in accurately completing cards and developing their handicaps. Luke, Sarah, and Paul will now lead dedicated training sessions for new members on how to correctly complete a handicap card, both on paper and electronically, and how to submit scores via the England Golf App (initially with guided support).

This initiative not only empowers new members with the confidence and skills to manage their own scoring, but also aligns with Luke’s sustainability goals for the pro shop by encouraging greater use of electronic scorecards.

Importantly, it also eases the workload for our handicap committee volunteers, allowing them to focus on applying their valuable local knowledge to handicap decisions, rather than processing new handicap cards. It’s a win-win for efficiency, sustainability, and member experience.

Card filling and handicap awareness will be an important component of the new welcome packs we are creating to help increase the confidence of our new members.

Handicap Training & Review Update

England Golf have worked through with Management (Gary Tubb),  a train the trainer module for the active review of handicapping within the club.  We are hugely grateful for the support we continue to get from England Golf.

For transparency:

• Data-led process: Handicap reports highlight concerns, which are then balanced with local knowledge (e.g. injuries, form etc).
• No current concerns: All member handicaps were reviewed with no meaningful issues identified.
• Ongoing commitment: A follow-up review is scheduled for Spring, ahead of the new season.
• Fair play focus: Our Handicap Team's role is largely to ensure that, using data and local knowledge, England Golf’s mantra is upheld: “All golfers should be able to play, compete and win – regardless of age, gender or ability.”
• Competition integrity: Repeated wins by the same players may signal a need to adjust club levers—whether through handicapping or competition rules—to ensure all members feel they have a chance to succeed.

More updates will follow next year as we assemble the Handicap Team

NB Out of interest - Sarah Barter, England Golf’s head of handicapping and course rating has pointed out the growth of 9 hole golf and the importance of putting in your 9 hole cards. Nationally 9-hole scores are slowly increasing in men - now nine per cent of scores submitted this year. With 9 hole cards for women now representing 22% of cards submitted!

Also some players have a high number of 'deleted intents' - mostly to protect their handicaps from going up it would seem, but all cards started should be completed unless for good reason eg lightning etc