Club Calendar Updates 2023

Simply use the search bar and enter either calendar for the latest members calendar or update for the latest monthly members updates

All are included in the New News section of the website - click here

Click here to understand the different types of competition played at PRGC

Click here for all you need to know about the World Handicap System.  Read Section 4 in particular - written specifically for PRGC by Competition Secretary, Barry Woledge.

Competitions Secretary Handover Report

1          Background

There are five types of stroke play competition golf played regularly at PRGC:

• Men’s Qualifiers: the regular monthly medal and stableford competitions. Played to R&A rules all competitions are set up through HDIDo and cards are automatically uploaded to England Golf and the World Handicap System (WHS).
• Men’s Board Competitions: trophy competitions played once annually. Played to R&A rules all competitions are set up through HDIDo and cards are automatically uploaded to England Golf and the World Handicap System (WHS).
• Mixed Competitions: the regular weekly Friday Mixed stableford. Played to R&A rules all competitions are set up through HDIDo and cards are automatically uploaded to England Golf and the World Handicap System (WHS).
• Seniors Competitions: for members aged 55 and over. These are played every Tuesday and once per month there is a formal stableford or medal “qualifier” Played to R&A rules all competitions are set up through HDIDo and for all individual competitions, the cards are automatically uploaded to England Golf and the World Handicap System.
• Wednesday Afternoon Golfing Society (WAGS): a weekly event in the summer months. There is also a roll up competition through the whole of the summer to find the overall WAGS champion and it all comes to a head with a WAGS Wind Up 18-hole event in early November. Played weekly over 9 holes it is currently managed by Dave MacKenzie. Cards are not currently uploaded to the WHS.

2          Regular Qualifying Golf Competitions uploaded to the WHS

• Monthly medal: these are now to be played on one weekend day in each month from March to October inclusive. Dates are planned 12 months in advance. It will alternate between Saturday and Sunday with the monthly club stableford. Competitions are set up in HDIDo by the Handicap Secretary and a notice is published one week ahead of the due competition. Cash prizes are offered to the two medal division winners. Entry fee is £5. £2 of this goes to the prize fund and £2 to the members’ fund. The remaining £1 goes into a supplementary “two’s” competition pot. Those who score a two will receive a bonus payment from this fund which is rolled up in the event there are no two’s scored in any month
• Monthly Stableford: these are now to be played on one weekend day in each month all year round. It will alternate between Saturday and Sunday. Dates are planned 12 months in advance and in December, January and February there will an alternative day in the diary to allow cancellation due to inclement weather. Competitions are set up in HDIDo by the Handicap Secretary and a notice is published one week ahead of the due competition. Cash prizes are offered to the winner and runner up. Entry fee is £5. £2.50 of this goes to the prize fund and £2.50 to the members’ fund.
• Seniors Medal/Stableford: we play one senior qualifying event per month being played on one day as a Medal in summer and Stableford in winter. We run twin competitions played in parallel: seniors aged 55-74 play off the white tees and seniors aged 75 and over have the option to play off the yellow tees. Entry fee is £4 with £2 going to the prize fund and £2 going to the member’s (senior) fund. This has proved very popular. With the advent of the WHS it is possible to revert to one competition with mixed tees
• Friday Mixed Stableford: this has developed over the past three years and has become very popular during Covid times, in no small part as it is exceptionally well organised by John White. It has now been formally adopted as a club event and has entered the club calendar for 2022-23.  It is also our first regular “mixed” event where we can now use the WHS system to provide a level playing field for ladies and gentlemen. Currently John White manages this event. Entry fee is £3 and cash prizes are distributed to participants to reflect best front 9, best back 9 and best overall. All cards are uploaded to HDIDo
• Seniors Golf: this group play every Tuesday and is open to all senior members. One Tuesday in the month is dedicated to the Senior medal/stableford. On other Tuesdays, the members organize themselves into competitions which are uploaded to HDIDo and the WHS unless it is a team-based event. Al Bowyer manages the entry fees and cash prizes are awarded to winning participants

3          Board Competitions: the “once off” trophy competitions

Played on one weekend day with an entry fee of £5 per player these events are as follows:

• Men’s Spring Stableford-individual
• Men’s Summer Pairs-better ball pairs stableford
• Mike Jefferson memorial Trophy-Mixed individual bogey
• Inaugural Anniversary Trophy-individual stableford (the ladies and gents run two separate competitions on different days)
• California Cup: mixed 4BBB greensomes stableford

Played over one midweek day with an entry fee of £5 per player:

• Men’s Seniors Championship-Individual Medal on one day and now played as two events: Seniors Cup for those aged 55-74 off the white tees and Seniors Plate for those aged 75 and over off the yellow tees
• 9-hole championship-mixed individual stableford played on one Wednesday afternoon only
• Fowler Bowl-Mixed individual stableford limited to those with an HI of 18 or higher

Played over two days, Saturday and Sunday as a 36-hole competition with an entry fee of £10 per player

• Club Championship-a medal competition playing in the scratch championship for the Barcilon Cup and Handicap Championship. There is a Men’s Competition and a separate ladies competition organised by the ladies’ section played on the same days.

There also two restricted field events by invitation only played at the end of the summer:

• Men’s All medal winners Champion of Champions-open to all those who win a white tee medal in the golfing year (main club and seniors). A white tee medal event.
• Senior Men’s Champion of Champions: open to all seniors who won a seniors or main club event (qualifier or board event) in the golfing year. A stableford event played off yellow tees to include those winners aged 75 and over. We also run a best of the rest for those who want to play but have not qualified as a winner.

4          Qualifying Competition sign up

For the routine qualifiers and board events we allow players to play when they want to and with whom they choose provided they are members with a valid WHS handicap index. Our verification is players MUST pay their entry fee via the envelope system before they start their round. Upon completion they then upload their cards via HDIDo where the competition is already set up. To upload via the England Golf App would require players to spend at least 2 hours at the club after golf and that does not work. We are confident this system captures all those players who intended to play on the day.

The exceptions to this approach are:

• The Club Championship: where all members are required to sign up in advance and play is planned in strict handicap order
• The All-Medal Winners Champion of Champions: where qualifying members are invited to participate and play is planned in strict handicap order
• Seniors Champion of Champions: where qualifying members are invited to participate and play is planned in strict handicap order

5          Team Competitions

There three team events in the year:

• RyderHeim Cup: a mixed multi-mode 18 or 27-hole team event. Teams of four who play 4BBB, foursomes and singles all in the one competition. This event includes post-match lunch and takes some organizing. It can only be played on a Saturday due to the F&B requirements
• Bob Wilson Trophy: Florida Scramble: played to Florida rules every Christmas Eve and open to all members and their guests. An 18-hole shot gun start followed by buffet lunch
• Al Bowyer Mixed Pairs Eclectic: a new team event inaugurated in 2022 and managed directly by Captain Al Bowyer

6          Annual Knock Out competitions

These are as follows and all played to match play rules. Entry fee is £5 per player. As it is match play the cards are not uploaded to the WHS. With the exception of the Hutley Cup, the HDIDo system is used to make the draw and maintain a constant online record of progress through the competition.

• Singles handicap knockout
• Pairs handicap knockout-4BB
• Singles Scratch knockout
• Senior singles handicap knockout
• Senior Pairs handicap knockout-4BBB (blind pair drawn from a hat)
• Hutley Cup-Mixed Foursomes

7          Cash Collections and prizes

The cash collections and prizes for the Monthly club medal and stableford, are managed by the Club handicap secretary. The cash collections and Prizes for the senior medal/stableford are managed by the senior’s handicap secretary and Al Bowyer the senior’s treasurer. The cash collections and prizes for the Friday mixed stableford are managed by John White and Al Bowyer. The cash collections and prizes for the regular Tuesday Seniors events are managed by Al Bowyer. Finances for the WAGS are managed by Dave MacKenzie.

There are no cash prizes for the winners of the once off board events and the annual knock outs as these are trophy events. Entry fees are collected by the Competition Secretary and reconciled with entries. The entry fees are used to pay for individual “memento” trophies for the winners, the cost of sign writing the winners’ names on the honours’ board and make a contribution to members’ funds.

The personal “memento” trophies are sourced from M.J.H Services: aka Mick in Quickstep at 27 Hight Street, Princes Risborough and are paid for out of the members’ fund.

The main trophies are retained at the club and kept in the trophy cabinet. The one exception being the Captains Trophy where the winner gets to take the trophy home for a year. This is because the winner of the Captains Trophy will receive a personal reward from that years’ Captain which is not a trophy. In 2022 Captain Al Bowyer awarded a very nice bottle of Single Malt Whisky to Pete Smith the winner.

8          Inter Club Matches

These matches are arranged by the respective leaders:

• Men’s CBL and Seniors Men’s CBL: Steve Sargeant
• Senior Men’s Friendlies: Doug Taylor
• Mixed Matches: Jean Caldicottt

All are 4BBB match play events played over 6 rubbers. Match fees vary according to the F&B provided pre or post, match.

9          BB&O Hillman Trophy

This is the most prestigious interclub competition within the BB&O. It’s a men’s team event engaging teams of 7 playing singles match play golf. Three players must be in the HI range 6-9 and 4 in the range 10-20. Match dates are arranged by the competition secretary who is the primary contact for the BB&O. Teams are selected by Steve Sargeant.  No match fee is charged for those playing in this team.

10        Annual Diary

This is prepared every autumn by the Competitions Secretary to include all the planned golf events at PRGC over the next year. This is placed on the PRGC website by Gary Tubb.

11        Handicap Committee

In keeping with England Golf recommendations, the Competitions Secretary will also chair the Club Handicap Committee consisting of the Competitions Secretary, Club Handicap secretary, Seniors’ Handicap Secretary and Ladies Handicap Secretary. This group will meet from time to review handicaps and affect changes outwith the WHS where necessary.

12        Monthly Update by the Competitions Secretary

This started with the advent of Covid and the closure of the dressing rooms and notice boards.  It is emailed to all senior golfers and “competitive” golfers on BW’s list and is placed on the PRGC website by Gary Tubb. It has proved popular with those who read it but not all do so!!

It is probably time to go back to the notice board and consider an upgrade to other social media outlets used by PRGC members. Given the age profile of the membership this could be something of a challenge?

The best way to communicate to ALL members is using the HDIDo email system as it captures ALL members.  It does however cost money to do it regularly and in the past Gary Tubb directed that we not use this system as it also includes circa 1200 ecard holders which is where the cost comes in. I understand Gary has now split the membership database into full members and ecard holders so it may be possible to use the system for members only as there is a limit on how many emails can be sent in the month. Currently Gary uses the system for official PRGC.com Ltd messaging to all members and ecard holders. Gary will need to advise on this.

The club is conscious of GDPR data security issues and whatever system is used, the emails should be bcc to members so the full database is not available to all. Only the elected committee members will have open access.

13        Club V1: How did I do: HDIDo

PRGC uses this system to manage the qualifying events, facilitate the upload of individual cards to England Golf and the World Handicap System, and promulgate results. The various Handicap Secretaries set up each and close out each event as required by the diary schedule.

We also use the software to manage the draw for all knockout competitions and provide for an online update of the progress of the events through the summer.

It is also a source of up-to-date handicap and contact data on all members. Gary Tubb has full access to the system, the handicap secretaries have access sufficient to manage handicap issues and the Competition Secretary has access to the mechanics of the system.

14        Signwriting

This is undertaken by Trevor Scott at Right Signs ltd. Tel 01628 528351. www.rightsigns.co.uk.

There is a spreadsheet in the club data file (on the flash drive) which has to be completed at the end of the season with the names of all the winners. The Competitions Secretary will know all of the men’s winners. Jacqui Taylor will provide details of all the ladies winners. Complete the spreadsheet and send it to Trevor.  He will print the names and arrange with Sarah to come to the club and put them up. The bill is paid from the members fund and not by PRGC Ltd. The invoice has to go to Steve Williams the treasurer who will set up the payment in the banking system.

15        Banking

This is managed by Steve Williams the Treasurer and we have an on-line business account with Lloyds Bank. Steve will always set up any payments in the system and, Jill Peppett and the Competitions Secretary are authorised co-signatories needed to complete the transactions.

BW

19 October 2022 V7

Click here if you wish to play in the Seniors Championship on October 4th,  2022.  Please simply complete the online form and click 'send to Barry'.  Paperless, quick and easy.

Closing Date for Entries: Friday September 30th

Click here if you wish to play in Al's Captain's Day on August 6th, 2022, please simply complete the online form and click 'send to Al'.  Paperless, quick and easy.

You will be invited to enter competitions in March this year - please wait for your invitation email from Barry

Click here if you wish to enter a competition during 2022, please simply complete the online form and click 'send to Barry'.  Paperless, quick and easy.