Aldwickbury Park Newsletter June/July 2025 by Burhill Golf & Leisure

JUNE - JULY 2025

GM & CAPTAIN’S UPDATE

Paul Toomey General Manager

Dear Member,

Welcome to June’s Members Newsletter and my first as General Manager at Aldwickbury Park. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Steve Brown for holding the reins for the first four months of the year.

My main aim as the General Manager is to ensure the service and experience you receive at the club is the best it can be, so I look forward to meeting each of you and hearing your thoughts and suggestions on how we can improve and enhance our club. Please speak to me or the team and pass your feedback on to us.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank you for your warm welcome, I’m excited about the future of our club.

Thanks again,

Paul Gareth McNeill

Club and Gents Section Captain 2025

A MESSAGE FROM THE CAPTAIN

Summer is almost here, and we are already well into a packed and exciting competition schedule. It’s good to check the noticeboards and HowDidIDo to make sure that you don’t miss out on upcoming events.

Which is a good segue to talk about Captain’s Charity Day, taking place on June 21st. A separate email will be going out on this, and it is available to both 7 and 5-day members. Please show your support and sign up for the event. It will be an action-packed day with the golf followed by a meal, raffle prizes, silent auction, live auction and many other activities. This is all in support of our Captain’s charity drive this year in support of Orchid Male Cancer. Together with Helen and Glen, as APGC Captains, we are striving to make sure that our fundraising efforts are substantial and make a meaningful contribution to Orchid’s cause. You can also donate directly via this link: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/aldwickburyparkgolfclub

CLUB COMPETITIONS UPDATE

The Spring Cup took place in warm and sunny conditions on the 12th of April with a full field of 92 players. It was an individual Stableford format, and we also awarded prizes to the best gross scores. Gross prizes went to Lee Edwards in 4th place, Stewart Fox in 3rd place, Mike van Wyk in 2nd, and Matt Brown in 1st with a score of 75.

Individual S/F results saw Ben Fulford finish 5th with 37, Jason Landau in 4th with 38, Mike Childs 3rd with 38, Andy Simpkin 2nd with 39 and in 1st place with a personal best round was James Hillman with 43 points.

CAPTAIN’S UPDATE

The annual Ladies vs. Gents Match took place on the 18th of April and, as always, was fiercely contested yet played in

good spirit. The gents took the honours this year. The Spring Texas Scramble is a mixed event and was played on the 21st of April. There was some great scoring on the day, with a very close finish for the first three teams – all tied on 56!

The winners on countback:

1st - Vernon Rodrigues, Stewart Fox, Mike Van Wyk and Tim Love

2nd- Roger Gibbs, Martin Lythgoe, Andy Simpkin and Richard Hyne

3rd - Kevin Trehy, Chris Dilks, Nick Doyle and John Taylor

We held the inaugural St George’s Day cup, aka the Brian Farr Trophy, on the 26th of April. Brian has generously donated the trophy, which, in a first for the club, is 3D printed!

The format is a stroke play competition and presents a great challenge early in the season. We also presented prizes for best nett, with the trophy going to the best gross score.

Best Nett; with a score of 69 and decided by countback saw Kevin Trehy in 3rd and David Lodge 2nd with 1st going to Tom Nelson with 68.

2nd and 3rd placings in the stroke play were also decided by countback with a score of 74 and saw Tim Westgate 3rd, Tom Porter in 2nd, and Matt

Brown winning with a score of level par 72!

The King Charles III Coronation Cup is a

Medal competition which was introduced by Carl Lawson last year, and this year we also awarded prizes to the top three gross scores.

Gross score results were Tom Porter in 3rd with 81, 2nd place went to Silence Sibanda with 78, and Matt Brown placed 1st with a score of 71.

Steve Pick placed 3rd in the medal category with a nett score of 69, Ant

Sexton was 2nd on Nett 68 and David Lodge 1st with nett 67.

The Mo James Trophy is a mixed Greensomes 18-hole Stableford competition which took place on the 5th of May. 3rd place went to Naz Ball and Doug Stokoe on countback with 38 points, in 2nd place Tricia and Andy Wyatt with 39 points

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and 1st place went to Di Godden and Mike van Wyk with a score of 42.

The Aldwickbury Masters was played on the 18th of May. This is one of the most anticipated events of the year thanks to the unique format, which sees players from 4 divisions competing in an 18-hole medal competition for a chance to play in the winner-takes-all 3-hole playoff for the title. The playoff is off scratch, and is played on the 10th, 17th and 18th holes.

The winners of each group were:

Div 1- Mike Van Wyk Gross 68 Nett 66

Div 2 - Daren Simpson Gross 83 Nett 71

Div 3 - Gary Fowler Gross 83 Nett 68

Div 4 - David Flack Gross 84 Nett 67

All four players were a bit nervy on the 1st playoff hole (10th), then Mike van Wyk settled into a rhythm, eased into the lead on the 17th (2nd playoff hole) with a par and parred the 18th and final playoff hole for the win and the right to wear the Aldwickbury Masters jumper.

CAPTAIN’S & ALDWICKS UPDATE

The Jubilee trophy was played on the 26th of May. This is a mixed medal competition which was won by James Glover with a score of 43 points (78), Ed Laver finished in 2nd place on 40 points (71) and Roger Gibbs in 3rd place with a countback on 38 points.

In other news, the Hertfordshire Golf Centenary Golf Day took place at Sandy Lodge on the 22nd of May, and 80 players representing 39 teams competed in the mixed fourball betterball stableford format.

APGC was represented by Julia Bashford and Matt Phillips, and they took the win in fine style, finishing with an amazing score of 48 points! Well done team APGC!

I would like to issue a correction to a result in the previous newsletter. It was of course, Elaine Meagher who won the Valentine’s pairs event, and not Julia Bashford.

The annual Swindle Challenge always draws a big field and sees all of the club swindles competing for the trophy. This is a mixed competition, and the 31st of May saw 82 players representing the 7 swindles. The format is individual stableford for individual placings, and team scores are calculated as an average of the scores of all players in the team.

Prizes were also awarded for nearest to the pin on the Par 3 and nearest top the pin in 2 on the 9th and 18th. Best individual results: 5th Paul Quin 39 points, 4th Kevin Burke 40 points, 3rd Richard Hyne 40 points, 2nd Caroline Leith 41 points and in 1st place Matt Aston with 42 points.

The team competition saw the Sunday Swindle finish 3rd with an average of 32.7, the Wednesday Swindle 2nd on 33.7 and the Big Swindle finish in 1st place with a team average of 34.7.

CLUB AND COURSE NOTES

Please remember to check in at the Pro Shop before playing your round.

The greenkeepers are doing an incredible job and I encourage you to do your best to help them as well as your fellow members by endeavouring to properly rake the bunkers after playing out of them, pick up your tees and dispose of them in the trays next to the tee markers, repair your pitch marks on the greens and replace divots on the fairways where possible.

See you on the course!

Gareth

Glen Rootman Aldwicks Senior’s Captain

A MESSAGE FROM THE ALDWICKS CAPTAIN

With the weather improving daily as we move towards summer, some of us ‘short hitters’ are experiencing pleasing distances on the fairways. Long may it last.

With the course currently undergoing a few changes, we will endeavour to keep you informed as and when changes happen, together with future planning.

Just a further reminder that our club’s 30-year celebration is on the evening of the 11th of July. We hope to see you there.

RECENT COMPETITION RESULTS

With the Aldwicks 2025 calendar in full swing, we have several results to share from recent events. Congratulations to all the winners to date.

Aldwicks Texas Scramble - 18 March

The team of Tony Smith/Trevor Pyne/Peter Tonathy/ Robert Gold edged out the 2nd placed team of Pat O’Higgins/Brian Aris/Norman Kershaw/John Kettle on countback.

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ALDWICKS CAPTAIN’S UPDATE

Tony Fowlers Shootout - 27 March

Played on a fresh Spring Day, Mike Howells and Jim McGown beat Eugene Hickey and Kevin Ayres into 2nd place.

Senior Men’s Club Championships - 1 May

The Senior Men’s Club Champion for 2025 was played in fine sunny conditions and was won by Corin Superfine, edging out Tony Phillips by one shot. The Nett competition was won comfortably by Duncan Perritt. Congratulations gentlemen!

Aldwicks Ladies vs Gents Pairs - 6 May

Once again, the ladies played exceptionally well by beating the gents by 6 matches to 4. This win extends the ladies winning streak to the 3rd year in a row, so very well done to Chris Woodcock and her team!

Aldwicks Medal Trophy - 8 May

Very well played, John Russell, a very worthy winner, beating Dave Habershon into 2nd place.

Inter-Club Matches

After six interclub matches have been completed, our record does not look too bad. We always have high expectations for positive home match outcomes, so the loss to The Hertfordshire was disappointing. We now look forward to the return match with interest!

Redbourn (home) - Won

The Hertfordshire (home) - Lost Brookman’s Park (home) - Won Chesfield Downs (away) - Halved South Beds (away) - Halved Whipsnade (away) – Lost

Look out for upcoming matches on HowDidIDo and enter to play if you can.

NOTABLE UPCOMING EVENTS

Tuesday 1 July - Seniors 75+ Memorial Championship

Monday 14 July – Harpenden Senior Championship to be played at Aldwickbury Park

Finally, can I take the opportunity to stress the need to rake bunkers, pick up broken tees and avoid slow play. These few actions will contribute to an enjoyable game for all our members and guests.

Glen

LADIES CAPTAIN UPDATE

Helen Greensmith

Ladies Captain

A MESSAGE FROM THE LADIES CAPTAIN

Hello everyone, here’s my second newsletter!

What a busy couple of months we’ve had, idyllic golfing weather, however, I’m glad we’ve had some rain, the course was beginning to suffer, and the groundsmen were rethinking their unsuccessful rain dance!

So, what have we been up to? Lots of golf, that’s for sure! Successes and triumphs for many!

I held our first charity ‘bring and buy’ event with a coffee morning in April. You kindly donated many items, which helped to contribute towards a very successful morning. Although footfall was a little disappointing, we managed to raise over £400! I thank everyone who supported the event!

Scratch B Team - Captain Gill Lee

The team has had an amazing start to their season Porters Park - home. Result; 3-2 win! Showing great skill and resilience against lower handicappers, Porters Park ladies praised our team for their skillful short game.

Brookmans Park - away. Result; half! Once again, a truly fantastic result against much lower handicappers on a demanding course.

Well done, team! I look forward to hearing about forthcoming successes.

Pearson Team - Captain Janet Ball

The team have continued to make strides towards the county finals day. The quarter finals have now been played. What amazing results! They first played their home leg against West Herts.

Next, they faced the away leg, requiring 1 win from the five matches.

You’ve guessed it! Another tremendous result. Result: 4-1 win!

This now assures us a place in the semi-final/final day

at East Herts on 19th June. The other teams in the semifinals are:

• Essendon

• Hadley Wood

• Brocket Hall

Last year, we were sadly knocked out by Hadley Wood, who went on to win the County Final. I wish the Pearson Team and Janet good luck, I hope you manage to go a step further this year!!!

CLGL - Captain, Eleanor Brooks

The season kicked off with a home match against Oakland Park.

A team of 6 (3 pairs) competed in a greensomes match. A great start with a 2-1 win! Keep it going team!

Business Ladies - Captain, Eleanor Brooks

Home vs Batchwood Result; 4-1 win!! Congratulations ladies!!

Mixed Matches - Captain, Chris Woodcock

Home vs Chartridge Park

An unfortunate loss for the home team. Result; 3½ - 1½ I know it was a struggle to form a complete team, thank you Chris!

The beginning of April saw the commencement of our Singles and Pairs Summer knockout competitions, I wish you all good luck. Take up the challenge, do your best and most of all, enjoy your matches!

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LADIES CAPTAIN UPDATE

The Summer Eclectic begins! 10 rounds can be recorded, entering your best strokes per hole. All you must do is beat your scores! Good Luck

Competition Winners

Congratulations to the many winners and runners-up of the medals, 18-hole stablefords and 9-hole stablefords. It’s a busy season, so keep playing! There have been many weekly competitions, and you can view all the results on HowDidiDo.

Trophy Winners

Aldwicks vs Ladies (pairs) Captain; Chris Woodcock

Result: a win to the Ladies!

Both teams were very well represented and played with a mixture of humour and competitiveness. The gents were very gracious in their loss and presented Chris with our plaqueagain!

Ladies vs Gents Captain, Linda Reeve

Sadly, the ladies lost this match 4-3, it’s always tough against the gents, but we’ll be back with a vengeance next year!

Spring Trophy

Congratulations to Linda Reeve! Winning with 36 points

Runner up; Sue Hattam 34 points

Senior Ladies Club Championship Winner; Elaine Meagher gross 77, once again regaining the trophy!

Runner up; Linda Reeve gross 80. Nett Winner; Linda Reeve 68.

Bowl

This lovely event fell on an ideal day for golf! We had 24 ladies enter the competition and more joined us afterwards.

Traditionally, the competition is followed by a tea, and we have a plant sale. Thank you all for the contributions and help with the sale, we raised £176.50.

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Rose

LADIES CAPTAIN & EVENTS UPDATE

A marvellous effort by all! We had a delicious tea, which we all enjoyed. Results: amazing scores!

Winner; Diana Godden 41 pts

Runner up; (cb) Dinah Howard 40 pts Congratulations!

Coronation Foursomes

The winners of this qualifying competition proceed to a regional final!

Winners: Mary Hynes and Penny Fairweather 38 points! We wish them good luck in the finals!

Hertfordshire Centenary Golf Day - Sandy Lodge

Mixed 4-ball better ball

Julia Bashford represented us in this postponed event and her partner, Matt Phillips, represented the gents section. They met for the first time at the event, never having played together.

Matt and Julia won! A stunning score of 48 points made them clear winners out of 39 pairs. Many congratulations to you both!

An amazing two months of wonderful golf and results! Well done to everyone for a marvellous representation of our club!

Helen

Holly Laird Sales Manager

Dear

Member,

What’s coming up at the club?

This year, we are once again hosting several events, and we would love to see you all there. As members, you will always get a discounted ticket price, and you are welcome to bring friends and family along too.

FATHER’S DAY

Father’s Day is fast approaching, and we still have some tables left at our BBQ. As a member, your round on the Park OR Manor course would be complimentary, and you would just pay for your BBQ ticket. Your friends and family could either then enjoy a discounted round with you or just join you for the food!

• Member BBQ ticket £20.66

• Adult visitor BBQ ticket £22.95

• Child visitor BBQ ticket £14.95

• BBQ and 18 holes on the main course £55.95

• BBQ and 9 holes on the short course £29.95

30 YEARS CELEBRATION

This year, Aldwickbury Park will be celebrating 30 years, and so we would like to welcome all our members to join us at a summer party to remember! This event is for our members past and present (don’t worry, you don’t

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EVENTS UPDATE

have to have joined the club 30 years ago). You are also welcome to bring partners and guests. Dress code for the event is smart casual, and please do let us know if you have any dietary requirements so we can cater accordingly.

Tickets are £45 and include:

• Speech from our COO

• Founding member photo

• Raffle for the captain’s charity Orchid

• Cold fork buffet followed by dessert

• Live music from local band The Carnegies

• The club will also be sponsoring an arrival drink for everyone

NEW MEMBERS DAY

This is a FREE EVENT for all our members and a great opportunity to find new playing partners and get a scorecard marked to contribute to getting your handicap.

Our fabulous Club Captains and handicap committee will be recruiting fellow APGC members with registered handicaps to play alongside you on the day. If you already have an official handicap and would like to come along to help, we warmly welcome you!

We also encourage you to bring along friends/family who may be interested in memberships with us for £30 (which will be taken off their joining fee if they take up a membership on the day). In return, we will be offering an enhanced member referral on the day as detailed below:

• £75 bar levy for referring a 5 or 7-day member

• 75 points top-up if you are a flexi member, referring another flexi member

• £40 bar levy for 5/7-day members when referring a flexi member

Arrival will be rolling from 11:30am with tea/coffee and biscuits, followed by 18 holes from midday.

Please note that if you are a 5-day or a flexi member, you will not be charged to attend, as we would like this event to be for all our members.

•

FAWLTY TOWERS COMEDY DINNER

We are holding a comedy dinner again here at the club, which was previously a success a few years ago. Round tables seat up to 10 however, we are happy to make smaller or larger tables if you would like to bring any guests with you.

Members tickets are £40.50 and for your guests it is £45, which includes a two-course meal and comedy act entertainment.

Please do let us know if you have any questions or would like to book any of the events.

Holly

CLUB UPDATE

BIG NEWS: WE’RE REWARDING OUR TOP 25 LOYAL CUSTOMERS!

Over the past year, we’ve been keeping tabs on who’s been showing us the most love at the bar - and now it’s time to give back!

We’re thrilled to announce a brand-new Members Reward Scheme celebrating our Top 25 Biggest Spenders of the year, up to the 30th June 2025. You’ve supported us, now we’re rewarding you as a massive thank you!

Here’s what’s up for grabs:

1st Place: £250

2nd Place: £200

3rd–10th Place: £75 each

11th–20th Place: £40 each

21st–25th Place: £20 each

Winners will be announced in the first week of July - so keep your eyes peeled!

These rewards will be credited directly to your levy account. To be eligible, you must be a live member as of 31st July 2025.

If you’ve been a regular over the past 12 months, keep an eye out to see if you made the list.

Thank you for your continued support – here’s to another fantastic year.

MEMBER COMMUNICATIONS

We are committed to improving the communications we send out to members and the ways we use to do this.

Along with the normal emails and in-club posters, we have recently activated the noticeboard section of the Elite App, which allows us to quickly post information and updates immediately out to all members who are using the app.

This section can be found on the main hub of the

app, as seen on the right.

Along with the noticeboard, you can also book a tee time, check your booking history and bar levy and even renew your membership.

The app can be downloaded from the Apple App Store & Google Play Store.

COURSE UPDATE

Craig Betts Course Manager

COURSE UPDATES:

Firstly, apologies for not getting a course report in the last newsletter, with a very busy start to the spring and a few changes to our operation, I hadn’t had the time to get something put together.

As you are all aware, we have had a very dry spring. With the cold and dry spring we have been facing these last few months, there hasn’t been the consistency of growth like we would usually have on the course. From February until May 2024, we had 554.4 mm of rain this year so far, and we have had 124mm by the end of May. We have been running with one irrigation pump, but this has now been ordered and will be installed in the coming weeks. We have had over 50mm in the last two weeks, and it has come at the right time to take the pressure off as we gear up for hosting our third Clutch tour event.

With the lack of growth/drought-like conditions on the course, we haven’t been able to verti-cut greens as much and as aggressively as we would have done in the past had to be careful not to stress them out, which has caused them to look puffy, with the seed heads appearing. Aesthetically, they haven’t looked right, but have been putting well, but we know they can be better. We have still managed to apply light top dressing to help keep the smoothness in the greens.

There have been some big changes with the presentation of the course, with the extension of several approaches and grass walkways from the tees to the start of the approaches.

I know bunkers have been a big talking point with several bunkers getting filled in a turned into grass bunkers on the 5th, and once established, these will still create a tough hazard. This was a decision

not taken lightly, with the condition of the bunkers with stone contamination/construction, the damage from heavy washout after a heavy rainfall. Plans are once the greenside bunkers have been refurbished, to then start on the fairway bunkers.

We are looking to start our next phase of bunker works on the second week of August. We will keep you updated with any information when this work takes place and any course disruptions.

We have had Countrywide Contractors undertaking path work on the 13th to 14th tee and had an emergency access gate at the back of the 11th tee installed. This was following a recommendation from emergency services but also to enable easier access for the bunker works later in the year which will not have to run over the whole course.

The green staff have been working hard and focusing on detail work around the course, with more regular divoting on tees, par 3 tees have now had divot boxes put on them, so please help the green staff by using them and not using them as bins. Presenting and checking the new and old bunkers with sand levels, destoning, keeping sand splash off the astro turf, etc.

As always, if you see me, feel free to stop me for a chat or clarification on anything related to the course.

Regards

Craig

FATHER’S DAY BBQ

SUNDAY 15TH JUNE • FROM 12.00 - 3.00PM

Celebrate Father’s Day like never before here at Aldwickbury Park Golf Club!

• BBQ on the terrace

• FREE drink for dad

• Option to add a round of golf on the main or short course (tee times booked separately)

• BBQ Only £22.95pp

• BBQ Only (under 12’s) £14.95pp

• BBQ & Short Course Round