MEMBER NEWS
NOVEMBER DECEMBER 2023 MONTH -2023
In Course this Edition | GM, Course andClub Golf Update Update and Events Update In This Edition | GM, Update, Golf Update,
AN UPDATE FROM... Russell Heady General Manager Hello all and welcome to the November 2023 edition of our newsletter. Newsletters now go out every two months so this will be the last one of 2023. Wow, the years seem to go by quicker every time, maybe I’m just getting old! I played in a club match here at Abbey Hill a few weeks ago (the team must have been desperate!) I was impressed by how great the fairways and greens looked, and played. I must commend the greenkeeping team on a continued excellent job this year (as always) I certainly concur with the popular opinion that 2023 has seen the course in its best condition! If any of you are interested, my playing partner Mick and I won our match 5 & 4 and our Abbey Hill team won four matches to two, so not a bad debut!
COURSE UPDATE Ross Course Manager Hello and welcome to my winter newsletter for 2023 as we approach winter and the end of another season. The bad weather has been hitting all areas of the country hard over the past month and we have certainly received our fair share. Looking back over September and October, rainfall totals have been high, with September recording 72 mm and October approaching 100 mm. The temperatures and humidity have also been high resulting in strong growth, high disease pressure, good recovery and a high percentage of the trees still being in full leaf (more on trees later). September has turned out to be the second warmest month for average daily temperature (18.1 degrees) of the year with only June being warmer.
This year I have tried to add extra value to your membership by offering free extras for you and your families. Following our successful free Pirate Adventure Golf and Foot Golf member offers to you all, which I’m pleased many of you took up, we are now offering all five and seven-day members the chance to bring a friend for a free round of golf on the main course in November! (Monday to Thursday and you must play with them). To get booked in for this amazing free offer, drop me an email at r.heady@abbeyhillgc. co.uk This newsletter features a course update from Ross, a pro’s tip from John, updates on our electric vehicle charge points, winter wheels policy, the Coffee Bar refurbishment as well as our New Year’s Eve event. Enjoy! Best regards and see you around the centre! Russell
The greens have recovered well from the outbreak of Anthracnose that hit them during August, thanks in no small part to the weather conditions and the hard work from the green staff that has aided their recovery. As we approach the winter months and recovery from wear and tear will tail off, the greens are in good shape. Our goal now will be to keep them as free from any pests and diseases that we possibly can. We need all your help too! EVERYONE can play their part in keeping the greens in good condition.
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We are also planning on rebuilding the second tee. The existing tee will be stripped of turf, raised, and extended out a further 75 sqm of playing area, and then returfed. During this process, we will be using a forward teeing area.
An example of a wrongly repaired pitch mark that will leave a scar for many weeks.
The second green was successfully drained at the beginning of October using the Hydrowick rope drainage system that has worked so well on previous greens. The green has started to settle down well and once we have carried out some further spiking and rolling, come next season this will be back to normal. We now have three greens remaining to complete (3, 9,10) which we hope to do in the next couple of years.
I wrote in my last newsletter of waiting on a report following the survey of trees across the site. That report is now back, and whilst there is some felling of dead trees and pruning of some others, overall due to previous proactive management of the site, the work required is minimal. This work will be carried out over the next six months in line with our requirements to ensure we take the necessary safety precautions for us all.
Many other tasks are planned to include aeration, the leveling of many irrigation sprinklers that have sunk over the past few years, the replacement of sleeper edges on pathways and of course the continuous battle with clearing leaves across the site and keeping the course playable. Traffic controlling posts and ropes are now out and I would again ask you all to consider carrying your clubs rather than using a trolley, even dropping to half a set of clubs. The difference this will make in course conditions and the distance that you are required to walk will be significant, your golf game may also improve in the long run. If you can’t carry it and you are a trolley or a buggy user, may I also ask you to stick to the paths, and keep away from greens and tees, at this time of year “every little helps”. We will also be reverting to the red flag and ball indicator on the pins from the first week in November, as we have done for several years. The ball position on the pin indicates the region of the hole placement on the green. We do this because the visibility of the white flags is poor against the likely frost in Winter, and we often use the frost holes at the front of each green so that there is less wear across the whole green.
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Finally, some staff news, I’m delighted to report that we now have another member of the team undertaking formal qualifications. Darren Broxham, who many of you know, has joined Sam and Ethan on the road to becoming fully qualified. It’s fantastic to have these young guys committed to improving their skill set. Further good news for Sam in what has been a remarkable year for him; he has been selected by the green keepers’ association to attend the turf industry conference in January next year in Harrogate for four days where he will sit in on several educational presentations.
GOLF UPDATE
As always, I ask you to keep up the good work with repairing pitch marks and encourage your playing partners to do the same.
You’re feeling good. You’ve either hit your approach shot close to the hole or rolled your birdie putt up to near tap-in range. And then you do something that all of us have done — even tour players.
Please continue to follow the safety rules to protect the staff whilst we are out working on the course. Kind regards Ross and the entire course team.
John Scheu Head PGA Pro
Pro’s Tip PUTTING
You miss the short putt. It might be the most frustrating and embarrassing mistake in golf but don’t give up hope. Making short putts is one of the most effective ways of lowering your scores. Practice the right things, and you, too, can improve your short putting. Here’s how… 1. AIM THE PUTTER FACE Where you aim your putter face must be a huge priority if you want to make your short putts because the ball will travel where your putter face is pointed at impact. Yes, your path influences it, but the putter face is king. You can see good players do it in their pre-putt routine: After their practice strokes, they take a moment to aim the putter face before settling into that grip and setup. 2. GET A GRIP The way you place your hands on your putter’s grip will stabilize the club and influence your ability to deliver a square face at impact. There are so many ways to hold a putter, so you have plenty of choices. I’d suggest using whatever makes you feel most coordinated, and if you’re looking for something basic, take your cues from the grip’s design. Most grips have a flat top. Place your thumbs on the flat portion, and because the club is more upright, it’s designed to be held more in your palms than your other clubs, which will eliminate excessive wrist movement.
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3. GOOD POSTURE Good posture, where you bow forward from your hips and let your arms hang below your shoulders, creates a natural path for your arms to swing. You can practice this without your putter: bow forward from your hips, clap your hands together and allow your arms to swing naturally. Your stance width can vary according to preference, but generally, it should be roughly the width of your hips. 4. STROKE AND THEN LOOK Once you’re set up with a nice square clubface, you want to keep your body very quiet as your arms swing. The task sounds simple but can be challenging because so many of us are result-oriented. We can’t help but peek to see if the putt is heading towards the hole. Watch the best putters when they putt, and then you’ll see how stable they keep their lower body and head as they stroke. You should keep your head down long enough to see the putter contact the back of the ball. Let the stroke complete fully, and only then can you look up. 5. YOUR STROKE IS CIRCULAR Every putting stroke has some degree of arc. It may be difficult to see on short putts, but with all the modern technology and our ability to measure these things, we know it’s there. If your underarms stay close to your body, and your putter head stays relatively low to the ground and through, this natural curving path will roll the ball end-over-end; If you incorrectly try to swing your putter back straight back and straight through, your arms will tend to disconnect from your body. 6. LIMIT YOUR BACKSTROKE Your backstroke controls the distance of your putts. When you have a short putt, you only need a short backstroke. If you swing your putter back the proper length for the putt, smaller strokes will naturally deliver less power. If your backstroke is too large, your body will attempt to put on the brakes and decelerate. This is tough to time consistently, and it can make your putter face less stable, too.
7. MINIMIZE MOVING PARTS To make your short putts, the emphasis is more on accuracy than power. The priority is making sure the ball starts on the correct line. In this regard, the less moving parts, the better. Too much movement in your lower body can decrease your efficiency. Swaying back and forth is a common cause I see; you should feel like your feet are planted firmly on the ground during your stroke. 8. READ EVERY PUTT Take the time to read the break on every short putt. I often watch golfers hurry up and stroke their short putts without much thought, assuming every putt is straight, but they’re missing an important step. Walk in a semi-circle around the hole to see where the high point. You probably won’t need to play the putt too much outside of the hole, but aiming for the right edge on a rightto-left braking putt can make all the difference. 9. RESPECT THE CHALLENGE A good attitude is helpful throughout life, including on short putts. Get over it when it doesn’t work out, remember that you’re playing for fun, but give every short putt your full attention. If you’re not prepared to do that, you might as well pick up your ball. Don’t think about these short putts as ones you “should” make. Think about them as putts you need to earn. And to do that, you need to respect the challenge they present and focus. 10. PRACTICE WITH FEEDBACK Practicing properly means practicing with feedback. I used to spend hours putting through tee peg “goals”. Nowadays, they have putting matts with lines on them which accomplish the same thing. Whatever you use, practicing with feedback — meaning, you can see what’s going wrong when it’s going wrong — will help you get it right and build your confidence along the way. John
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Winter Clothing
Carry if You Can
We now have everything you may need for winter golf in the shop, from woolly hats to insulated gloves, to waterproofs, and winter jackets. Have a look at our fantastic winter range next time you are in the shop.
We ask all of you to carry your clubs this winter if you can, as it does help to protect the course. You will also have the benefit of better exercise, more calories burned, being able to walk more directly to your ball in areas roped off for trolleys and may even improve your range of shots by carrying fewer clubs and improvising.
Course Updates Now that the winter months are upon us, 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: https://abbeyhillgc.co.uk/course-status/
Driving Range Heaters Remember we have bays with heaters on the driving range so no excuses when it’s cold not to keep up your practice!
Winter Wheels As we do every year, we will only allow trolleys with winter or hedgehog wheels on the golf course from November 1st. Typically this stays in place until March. Winter wheels have less surface area contact with the ground and have been shown to cause a lot less damage to the grass in frosty winter conditions. If you don’t have them, you can purchase hedgehog/winter wheels from our shop or hire one of our trolleys that will all have them on.
Coffee Bar Refurbishment We had the good news this week that our builders had a window of opportunity and will be able to bring forward the refurbishment of our Coffee
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Bar. This work will be from Monday 6th November to Friday 1st December. The Coffee Bar will be closed during this period, however, we will have the Fairway Suite Bar available as the temporary coffee bar for you to still get food and drinks. The full main and breakfast menus will be available as normal as well as cakes, crisps, nuts, and hot, cold, and alcoholic drinks. There will be two entrances to The Fairway Suite Bar, from the main clubhouse entrance and the back patio area bifold doors. To protect our new carpets, please either change out of your golf shoes or ensure they are blown and cleaned using our new shoe-wash compressed air area.
Electric Vehicle Charge Points
Our three new EV charge points (six spaces) at the bottom of the car park are almost ready to go. They will be connected to the grid during the week commencing 13th November and should be ready for you to use by the end of the month! They are provided by BP Pulse, so to purchase credit simply download the BP Pulse App.
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: Aldwickbury Park – Harpenden Burhill – Surrey Birchwood Park – Kent Hoebridge – Woking, Surrey Redbourn – Redbourn
Muddy Golf Shoes/ Entrance Mat We have placed a mat in the clubhouse entrance from the door to the toilets. Please wipe your feet on the door mat, then walk on the new mat to the toilet doors. This will help us keep mud off the new carpet!
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 by calling them on 01908 562566 (option two) You can also take non-member guests at members’ guest rates! Wycombe Heights provides a challenging golfing experience with varying elevations and excellent greens. It’s under an hour’s drive from Milton Keynes and well worth a visit.
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New Year’s Eve! We are hosting a New Year’s Eve Party this year. Come and party with us to celebrate 2023 and to see in 2024! For more information or to book, give us a call on 01908 562566 and one of the team can help.
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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