MEMBER NEWS
JANUARY FEBRUARY 2024 MONTH- 2023 In this Edition | GM, Course and Golf Update In This Edition | GM, Course Update, Golf Update, and Club Update
AN UPDATE FROM... Russell Heady General Manager Hello all and welcome to our first newsletter of 2024! Newsletters now go out every 2 months so you will get January, March, May, July, September, and November editions this year. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year to you all! This year has gone so fast as we’ve been very busy! We have just completed our busiest season of Christmas Parties ever. Unfortunately, as I write this (Monday 1st January) we have had to close the course for a few days due to lots of rain and waterlogging. I walked the course this morning and it was as wet as I’ve ever seen it. We have had a difficult year with weather in 2023. Hopefully 2024 will be better! We never like to close the course as it stops you all from playing and costs us a lot of lost revenue both from green fees and Coffee Bar revenue.
I am proud of the improvements at Abbey Hill in 2023. Early in the year, we moved into our new offices in the converted staff flat, had both our function rooms; The Fairway Suite and Atrium Suite refurbished, as well as our entrance foyer. A little later out on the course, we re-built the 5th and 7th greenside bunkers, installed the new tarmac path to the 1st tee, built a new tee on the signature 8th hole, and more recently
installed new drainage to the 2nd green. The new shoe wash area was also installed. We have just completed phase 1 of The Coffee Bar refurbishment, with a brand-new bar, TV wall, and bar seating along the windows overlooking the front patio. New flooring, furniture and bi-fold doors will follow soon. I must thank Burhill Golf and Leisure Limited and the directors for backing us with over £700,000 of investment this year alone. Further investment is committed for 2024 with the plan to complete The Coffee Bar refurbishment, install new changing rooms and showers, new toilets, refurbish several tees on the main course as well as re-building 7 more bunkers with new drainage technology. I love that we are also working with the woodland trust to hopefully plant many new hedges and trees. Planning is also underway for a new reservoir in 2025 to make us completely self-sufficient for water, helping to meet our commitment to be carbon neutral by 2025. Our other big project being planned is the refurbishment and expansion of the driving range to include 6 more bays, a bar and a food counter. As well as TrackMan ball-tracking technology in each bay. I am also immensely proud of our greenkeeping team for the outstanding condition of the courses this year. The fairways and greens have been the best Abbey Hill has ever seen. We have just purchased a brand-new ride-on greens mower which you will see in use from January. To show some context on inflation and our costs increasing, the new ride on hybrid green mower will cost around £50,000. We have worked hard on our new sustainability commitments this year, and some examples of these commitments include: electric vehicle charge points, recycling all water used to wash the greenkeeping machinery, recycling food waste, less than 3% of waste going to landfill, bird boxes, bat boxes and bug hotels around the course, every light bulb on the site converted to LED bulbs, all our electricity coming from a green zero carbon tariff, and all our kitchen gas cookers and ovens being replaced by electric alternatives. Feedback in recent weeks has included frustrations with booking weekend morning tee times. Unfortunately, this time of year due to the lack of daylight, there are only around three hours of tee times where you can realistically get 18 holes in.
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This compares to mid-summer when there are around 12 hours of tee times where you can play 18 holes. I can assure you members do get booking priority over visitors and we only allow societies after 11 am. There are members competitions most weekends, and everyone wants to get their round in early. Some members have enjoyed 10 or 13 holes in the early afternoon which is a good idea as afternoons are often quieter. You will certainly see more availability as the days get longer. We have also capped the number of seven-day members to give more booking opportunities to existing members. Happy New Year to you all and I hope to catch up with you around the centre soon! Russell
COURSE UPDATE Ross Course Manager As we approach the end of another busy year, this is my last update for 2023, and conditions on the course unfortunately remain very wet. The weather in 2023 has most certainly been challenging for us, particularly Oct, Nov, and Dec. Looking back at November’s rainfall figures we recorded 75 mm of rain for the month, with rainfall recorded on 50% of the days during the month, just slightly over the average for the site of 62mm. Temperatures remained slightly above the averages, and we recorded our first ground frost of the winter on the 25th of the month. December has continued on the same theme, again with precipitation recorded on all but 5 days so far during the month (report written on 22nd Dec). Currently, rain totals are at 69 mm for the month and 680 mm for the year. I will update you on yearly figures for 2023 early next year. I have mentioned in previous news updates that we have now installed a new weather station as a tool to help us calculate weather statistics and manage applications of various products. One of the tools now available to us is the ability to monitor our evapotranspiration rates. This is calculated using various methods and considers factors like temperature, humidity, wind speed, and solar radiation. Having the ability to use these figures will allow us to make more calculated decisions when applying irrigation, ensuring that we do not overwater the course. This time of year, ET figures also give us an insight into just how wet the soil is and how quickly it is drying. If we look at November ET rates as an example (top left of the next page):
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We are almost finished with leaf clearance and the course is looking tidy. Traffic controlling post and ropes; we again ask you all to consider carrying your clubs rather than using a trolley. The difference this will make in the course condition come the end of the Winter is immeasurable.
We can see that we had 75 mm of rainfall with a total of 11.18 evapotranspiration through wind, sun and humidity giving us an accumulation of 63.8mm. Looking at the figures for the 5th,6th, and 7th of November on days without rainfall we can see that we lost the equivalent of 2mm through ET alone, without taking into consideration what water is percolated through the soil and drainage outlets. Looking at the current forecast for the holiday period we are hopeful of some dry weather and more importantly some brisk winds and some sunshine, which should help us dry down nicely. On a positive note, the greens are in very reasonable condition, healthy and clean from disease. It is pleasing to see a reduced number of pitch marks too, so thank you for your efforts and support. Wouldn’t it be fantastic if we could keep it that way? Please ensure you repair your pitch marks every time and encourage your playing partners to do the same.
Looking into the new year, we have the 2nd tee to complete, which is work that has unfortunately been held back due to the weather conditions we have experienced of late. The new equipment will be arriving in the shape of a new ride-on greens mower, as well as funds being made available for the purchase of a new compact tractor and a set of rough gangs in preparation for the season ahead. I am also hopeful of being able to update you shortly on the plan for more bunker reconstruction in 2024 that will see us drain, line, and rebuild up to eight bunkers. Thank you to all of those who have passed on positive comments and have supplied us with Christmas gifts of biscuits, cakes, and festive cheer. We are very grateful! Have a good month, enjoy your golf, and season’s greetings from the greenkeepers. Ross and the green keeping team.
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PRO’S TIP OF THE MONTH John Scheu Head PGA Pro How can I improve my golf skills in 2024?
Pro Shop Sale Now On!
Don’t miss out on a bargain! Our end-of-year sale is now on.
SALE END OF SEASON
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1. Set goals. If you want to improve your golf game, the first thing you should do is set goals for yourself – both short-term & long-term.
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2. Get custom-fitted equipment – Tailored to you. 3. Hit the range! Practice will increase your consistency, especially over the winter period when you might be playing less on-course golf! 4. Focus on fitness, flexibility, strength, and mental toughness. You will have a winning mentality late into those closing holes.
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Terms and Conditions: Prices available whilst stocks last and only applicable on stock items, prices not available on custom orders.
Driving Range Cards PGA PROFESSIONAL ADVICE & COMPETITIVE PRICES A reminder that to get the best value on the driving range you can buy range cards. £30 credit for £25, £60 credit for £45 and £140 credit for £100!
5. Create a pre-shot routine. Focus on the task in mind and execute. 6. Hold your pose after every shot, a balanced finish will ensure you’ve committed to the strike and remained in control. 7. Play more practice rounds with the same type of golf ball and ensure you use the best ball for your game – See TaylorMade’s golf ball selector tool. https://www.taylormadegolf.co.uk/golfball-selector.html
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Course Status Updates
Aldwickbury Park – Harpenden
A reminder that we will keep the course status page of our website updated regularly. You will be able to see if the course is open, if buggies are allowed, if trolleys are allowed and if there are any temporary greens or tees. Here is the link to save as a shortcut on your desktop/phone:
Birchwood Park – Kent
https://abbeyhillgc.co.uk/course-status/
Coffee Bar Refurbishment The coffee bar is now back open after phase one of the refurbishment in November. We are really pleased with the result, and feedback from you has backed that up. Phase two will begin in March, which includes new flooring, bi-fold doors to the back patio, and new tables and chairs.
Burhill – Surrey Hoebridge – Woking, Surrey Redbourn – Redbourn Ramsdale – Nottingham/Derby The Shropshire – Telford Thornbury - Bristol Wycombe Heights – High Wycombe You can book your round a maximum of seven days in advance by speaking to the team in our sales office. Call them on 01908 562566 (option two). You can also take non-member guests at members’ guest rates!
Burhill Golf Club in Walton on Thames, Surrey is where our company is based. It has 2 outstanding 18-hole courses: The Old Course and The New Course. It has in recent years held qualifiers for The Open. As an Abbey Hill member, you are entitled to one free round at Burhill per year!
Electric Vehicle Charge Points Our three new EV charge points (six spaces) at the bottom of the car park will be ready to use from Saturday 6th January. Apologies for the delay, this was a local grid issue and out of our hands. They are provided by BP Pulse, so to use them simply download the BP Pulse App and register an account.
Members’ Reciprocal Golf! Don’t forget, a fantastic benefit of membership at Abbey Hill is one free round per month at one of the other nine BGL Golf sites around England. The options are:
Meet The Team – Holly As it’s Christmas time, who better to pick for our meet the team profile this month than Holly! You will all likely have met Holly in the Pro Shop. Holly joined our team back in May 2022. She has a great knowledge of all things golf so don’t be scared to ask her for advice and tips! Holly has also just embarked on the PGA Professional qualification, enabling her to become a fully qualified PGA Pro - she’s a scratch golfer who plays and competes regularly!
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My hobbies and interests: Painting, drawing, history of art, skydiving! Interesting Fact about me: I’m also an Art Historian! Favourite Food: Italian Favourite Drink: Latte Favourite Animal: Squirrel Favourite Film: Lord of The Rings Trilogy Favourite Holiday Destination: Scotland Favourite Golf Course: The Duchess, Woburn Favourite Season: Spring You can follow Holly’s Golf Experiences on social media: Instagram - holly.d.impey.golf
Members Breakfast is Back! From January the members breakfast offer is back! For the discounted price of £7.50, all members can get a full English breakfast! Just order a members breakfast and show your membership card.
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Thank you for reading the latest Members News. Please feel free to contact us on 01908 562566
ABBEY HILL GOLF CENTRE H3 Monks Way, Two Mile Ash, Milton Keynes MK8 8AA