Club news

Yet another busy month here at Warley Park not without some challenges, the weather has been wet, to say the least, with more than five inches of rain in a space of four days at the start of October. On the brightside, it is nice to see that the new drainage ditches are doing their job well. 

With that said due to the poor weather conditions we made the decision to move to an early implementation of some of winter rules, including pick, wipe and place.

The range is now fully operational again, complete with a new ball dispenser, buckets and balls all in place. We are awaiting several quotes before the decision is made on the new range shelter being installed, watch this space for future range news.

At long last we have seen the arrival of the new golf office, which has been put by the 1st tee (I know that some of you have already nicknamed this “Paul’s Shed”).

Dom and his team have already set to work putting the new decking in place and installing a new path down to the office so fingers crossed we will be open for business soon.

We also had the film crew and some of the stars over to record an episode of the popular TV series T.O.W.I.E on Sunday, October 11th. The episode is set to air on or around November 11th (I will keep you informed) and I believe that, after they had such a great day with us here at Warley Park, they are considering changing the programme’s name to T.O.W.I.W.P!

Unfortunately, the planned Warley Park Society Masters event had to be cancelled due to the tier two restrictions being implemented, the other sites that hosted similar events this month had incredible success with everybody who attended enjoying an incredible days golf and I was looking forward to showcasing what an outstanding club we truly are. This will be rescheduled (most likely in the new year now).

Covid-19

The saga continues and there seems to be no respite from the nightmare that is COVID-19 and, with further restrictions implemented by the government, our area has moved into a Tier 2 restriction level.

What are the changes?

• People must not socialise with anybody outside of their household or support bubble in any indoor setting, whether at home or in a public place
• People must not socialise in a group of more than six outside, 
• Clubhouses must operate a table service for all food and drink. A take-away service may also be provided 
• Clubhouses must close between 10.00pm and 5.00am 
• Businesses and venues selling food for consumption off the premises can continue to do so after 10pm as long as this is through delivery service, click-and-collect or drive-through 
• Locker rooms should be closed except for allowing use of toilets, wash basins and the retrieval of stored items 

What is unchanged? 

Aside from those changes outlined above, no other changes to the guidance in our ‘Framework for Playing Golf’ are required. 

The current guidance can be found here – https://www.englandgolf.org/download/a-framework-for-playing-golf/ 

This includes:

• Playing of golf outdoors may continue in its current format;
• Pro shops may remain open with mandatory wearing of face coverings;
• Face coverings must also be worn in all public areas of the clubhouse, except while eating and drinking;
• A legal obligation for clubs to collect track and trace information on all visitors to the clubhouse and to retain this information for 21 days.

Course news

From Dominic Rodgers, Course Manager: Wriggly, wiggly worms!: While the course is holding up very well and the greens are playing nicely, you might appreciate learning about some of the issues we have to deal with over the last few weeks and going into autumn. 

We had more than 99mm of rain in the first weekend of October alone, since then it has rained nearly every day and we have experienced another 40mm plus in one week with more forecast. 

Although not special to Warley, wet and humid weather has caused us several problems: 

• Worm casts have suddenly gone crazy on all areas of the course. Due to restrictions on the chemicals we can use, there are very few effective, economic and legal products we can spray to deter worms from casting. While the aeration they provide to the sub surface can be seen as beneficial, the soil casts they leave on the surfaces are an unsightly pain. We have sprayed the greens and approaches with a new turf conditioner, which, if quite expensive, is reported elsewhere to be doing a great job. 
• You also have probably noticed Daddy Longlegs aka Crane Flies everywhere,  especially on our greens. Once they have hatched, they fly around looking for places to lay eggs that then become Leatherjackets. The damage Leatherjackets do is well documented, as is the fact we no longer have legal chemicals we can spray them with anymore. Until three years ago we could spray the whole course with a pesticide that worked brilliantly for about £500. Now we have a pesticide from the USA that is only allowed to be used on greens and tees under an emergency licence. It has to be heavily watered in, which does not help other issues, to get the pesticide deep into the soil. And it costs about £1,800 just to spray the greens.

• The warm wet weather also encourages the development of Fusarium disease on greens, which — a bit like colds and viruses in humans — is often caused by stress and damp conditions. Again, as with human viruses, the strains of Fusarium have become more and more resistant to treatment. Add to this the fact that many effective fungicides are banned in the UK, so our job is even harder. Measures we can use to prevent Fusarium include making the grass plants more hardy by use of iron, potassium and silica. We also try to keep the surfaces dry, which is not easy when we have damp days and clear nights creating heavy dew in the morning. Hopefully we will get a few hard frosts soon as this normally stops the disease in its development.
• Finally, another issue we face at the moment is sudden deluges of rain, which makes it very difficult to cut the surfaces without leaving either brown water marks or grass clippings. A few inches below ground, the mainly clay soil is very dry and so these deluges either run off to low-lying areas or just soak the top few inches with nowhere to go. 

Please don’t take the above list as a moan about our lot as greenkeepers, we just want you to be aware that changing weather patterns are having an impact on our course and the way we have to work to maintain a high-quality standard of presentation. Enjoy your golf.

Competition & event news

Seniors: The Hastie Medal was won by Simon Hall with a six under nett 65 and two shots back was runner up Bill French with a nett 67.

The RK Trophy Stableford was won by Peter Wines with 41 points with David Skinner one shot back with 40 points

Juniors: The Mid-August Stableford saw a fantastic performance from William Bailey off 7 handicap winning with an 8-under par score of 44 points. Even so he only won by 1 point from Piers Wiechman off a 14 handicap with 43 points.

The September Stableford was won by Buddy Miller with 41 points only just beating Oliver Eagle with 40 points.

Ladies: The August Medal 1 was won by Delray Bussey with a nett 67, pushing Tina Waldon into second place with a nett 68

The September Stableford saw a cracking performance by Donna Walker who, off a handicap of 31, scored a tremendous 45 points, which ended up seven points in front of Jan Tallentire, who was second with 38 points. Even with a 4-shot cut to 27, we are sure Dionna will continue her good form.

Sadly the Ladies Autumn meeting had to be cancelled at the last minute, we will of course keep everybody updated as to when this can be rescheduled.

Men: The August Sunday Medal had 10 players scoring under par and Lee Taylor must have thought he had won with a nett 65 but he was beaten by Ed Brown, off 4, with a nett 64 (a 3-under-par gross). What a fantastic performance!

The August Saturday Stableford was won by Gary Curtis with 39 points, just beating Darren Bailey on 38 points.

The September Saturday Stableford had Barry Shelton winning with 42 points from Gerald Pearse with 40 points.

We also saw the Colts (juniors) vs Captains, which was a well-contested competition — as it is every year — with the result being as predictable as the sun coming up! The Colts just pipped the Captains on the 18th after an up-and-down par. The Captains had been 4 up at one stage but, as one former Captain (don’t worry your identity is safe with me) mentioned, there are a certain number of bandits in the junior section!!! (not bitter at all!) 

Member news

Winter rates: Members should be aware that we put into effect a new points matrix on October 26th for the winter golf season to March 31st to reflect the new playing conditions in terms of light etc.

This will offer both Member guests and Flexible Members a much more economic rate when playing over the winter season. Details can be found here.

Join the Golf Passport: If you are an existing Member of a Get Golfing club, you can play UNLIMITED golf at our other venues for just £25 a month or £300 a year (with a 7-day lead time for booking your tee time). Why not organise a 4-ball with your friends and enjoy an away day at another course near you? Remember you can use your Club Card across all Get Golfing sites as well! Please note that flexible members have their points deducted based on the time and day of play. Please click here to learn more.

Golf news

World Handicap System update: As a golf club, we are the data controller for any data stored in IntelligentGolf about the membership. Members may be interested to know that, as part of the WHS license agreement with England Golf, certain fields of your member data are requested to be uploaded to the WHS.

The club’s data privacy policy has been set to require consent from all Members before any data is sent — and to send placeholder data for any Members who do not have an email address or who have not provided consent.

Members are able to set their privacy preference but please before doing that, within your Member log-in, go to My Golf and then Preferences and verify your email address and tick all the appropriate boxes that allow you to receive communications.

Only then go to My Golf, My Rounds and click on the WHS Privacy Link.

FYI: If you click on the link below you will be able to view the latest communication sent out from England Golf to help golfers understand the new WHS system which comes into action from November 2nd.

Please remember that Intelligent Golf and all golf support companies have no access to anyone’s handicaps or playing records until November 2nd so any discrepancies or problems with any uploads cannot be resolved until after this date.  The last upload from England Golf to the WHS takes place at 8.00pm on the 1st of November so things are constantly changing on a daily basis until this time.

https://www.englandgolf.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/WHS_070_Golfers_Toolkit_FINAL.pdf

Food & Drink news

Since the October Newsletter, Boris has made further restrictions on the hospitality industry, we are having to adhere to the non mixing of households inside but groups of six are still able to make use of our patio area. Let’s hope the weather remains kind to us.

We want you to be able to make full use of the facilities we have here at Warley Park,  so why not order a hot drink, beer or sandwich to take out on the course with you, just order at the bar. Or call us on 01277 224891 x 1 to pre-order your takeaway to collect as you come past the clubhouse on the 9th.

Also, are you bored cooking at home in your social bubble? Why not order a takeaway from our ‘On The Fairway’ menu, lovingly prepared by our Chefs for you to enjoy at home.

As most of you know, the Front of House and Kitchen team have been back at work since July. It now gives us great pleasure to welcome back Mandy Ray, our Functions Manager, who has been on furlough since April. She is now back and organising the functions diary for Christmas and 2021. 

Christmas is coming, let’s hope it’s a good one! Our plans for Christmas have had to be slightly amended this year, but we are now taking provisional bookings, with payment due by the end of November for the following:

• Saturday breakfasts with Santa;
• Sunday lunches with Skittleman & Santa;
• Christmas party nights will now be a Christmas meal without a DJ or tribute act and finish at 10.00pm, all prices have been reduced by £10 per person. 

Please find full details attached, to make a booking please email [email protected] or ring 01277 224891. 

Please also contact Mandy if you would like to make a function booking: Children’s Parties, Christenings, Baby Showers, Dinner Dance, Wakes, Birthday Parties, the list is endless.

Stay happy and healthy.

Pro news

Wayne’s world is now operational and he is offering a full club repair service, including re-grips while you wait, shaft repair and replacements and a club cleaning service. Wayne is offering a 10% discount on any of the above services through the months of November and December.

Are you looking for the perfect present for the golf nut in your life, gift vouchers for golf lessons are now available from our resident Pros. Contact Wayne or Russell for details.

You can find out more about our resident Pros here Warley Park Professionals