MEMBER NEWS
FEBRUARY - MARCH 2024 In this Edition | GM, Course, Pro and Events Update
AN UPDATE FROM... Stephen Norton General Manager I hope you are all keeping well and looking forward to the longer days and the better weather which will soon be on its way. WHS – Changes coming on 1st April On Tuesday 16th January, I attended a meeting at Pedham Place laid on by England Golf to explain the changes coming on 1st April concerning WHS. I know that Alan Lucas and Mike Smith from your committees were in attendance, and I am sure they will provide a full brief to everyone ahead of the implementation date.
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We are currently organising a new board to replace the existing one by the first tee and we will also update the charts on the members notice boards.
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Scores from fourball betterball competitions will now be mandatory to be entered into the system as the score may affect a player’s handicap. The system will only consider the score for handicap if it meets 3 criteria. This will be automatically worked out.
NEW Cancer Warning For Men We are working with the NHS to offer guidance for men. The blood in pee warning is part of a major new NHS early diagnosis drive. We will be placing urinal mats in all our urinals across the club in February, these lifesaving mats are to put across the message “Blood in your pee? Contact your GP practice”.
The key changes that will come in are as follows:
Passing blood – even just once – is a common symptom for bladder, kidney, or prostate cancers, which are all among the ten most prevalent cancers in the country, and generally affect men more than women.
• The playing handicap will now consider the difference between the course rating and the par. Below is an example of how it would affect a player with a handicap index of 18.0 and a player with a handicap index of 10.0:
Other common symptoms of bladder, kidney or prostate cancer include peeing very often, sudden urges or a burning sensation when you pee, difficulty, a lump or swelling in your back, under your ribs, or in your neck, or pain in the side between the ribs and the hip.
Handicap Index of 18.0
Course Handicap Prior to April 2024
Course Handicap After April 2024
Change to Course Handicap
Men
White
22
23
1 more shot
Men
Yellow
20
17
3 less shots
Ladies
Red
20
20
same
Handicap Index of 10.0
Course Handicap Prior to April 2024
Course Handicap After April 2024
Change to Course Handicap
Men
White
12
13
1 more shot
Men
Yellow
11
9
2 less shots
Ladies
Red
11
11
same
The most important message is to contact your GP if you have any concerns.
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COURSE UPDATE During January our Course Manager, Neil Crittenden, left us and so we will be recruiting a new Course Manager in due course. Whilst we go through the recruitment process, our Deputy Course Manager, Dean Wallace will be looking after all aspects of the day-to-day running as well as the ongoing project work. Within this update, we will give more information on the works still underway. Below is Dean’s update on the key elements of the golf course:
Greens Overall, the health of the greens is excellent. We have some small patches of Fusarium on various greens however this is typical for the current conditions. We have treated the greens to protect them, and these will recover well. The sword and grass density are great except for the front edge of the 1st green which will improve following the planned works. We are planning a renovation week between 4th – 8th March (weather dependent) which will ensure the greens continue to thrive with adequate nutrition and air. We will be using star tines and pencil tines to allow air into the soil and release any locked-up nutrients. We will then use our dyna core units to remove organic matter combined with a top dress to improve the green playability and consistency.
need more time spent raking them. This has meant that we are not currently able to rake each bunker as regularly as we did over the summer. We are making sure these are raked twice per week as a minimum, dependent on heavy downpours etc. We will ensure all bunkers are topped up over the coming weeks.
Tees All tees have been fully divotted using iron sand and seed. The high level of play is a challenge during a time when the grass has limited growth. Our move onto mats on five of the holes will help them rest before the spring. We are planning a granular feed and some other minor work to help these.
Bunker Projects As you will have seen, the bunker works on the 2nd and the 11th holes are slowly moving forward. Whilst the weather hasn’t been kind to us, we are now getting the turf down and the sand will be in place certainly by the end of February. Once the turf has established itself, we will reopen these for play. That will be reliant on the weather. As we have mentioned before. The land we sit on means that the blinder is the only option for controlling stone contamination and below you will see the finished bunker which now just needs the sand adding.
Fairways The fairways overall are in good condition. We currently have a minor issue with our fairway mower which has limited how much we can cut these. Please bear with us and this will be resolved as a priority.
Bunkers During the winter, the bunkers are more severely affected by the weather and thus
Continued on the next page
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Winter Tees Whilst the club has had a historic stance on always remaining on the grass tee box, the volume of play is something that we cannot overcome, especially during the winter months. This winter we have installed new winter tees on five holes which we feel suffer the most. I hope you will agree that this approach will help to protect the main tees and improve their condition in the peak season.
surface on similar paths, and we feel this is the best option. We will be doing some turfing around the path ends to tidy it up, but it is already a big improvement, both visually and in terms of its performance.
15th White Tee The white tee on the 15th is booked in to be laser-levelled by an external contractor on the March 5th. Once this is completed, the team will turf the new, larger tee box ready for it to be used in the Spring. We are confident this will be a big improvement on the previous tee box.
15th Path We are pleased to say that the work to improve the path on the 15th hole has now been completed. The gradient of the path and the need for it to be usable in all conditions made the selection of the surface critical and we are pleased with the result. The surface is a resin-bound rubber mulch laid by Redlynch. They have used the same
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HEAD PRO UPDATE Stephen Lee Head Pro
We haven’t signed any new members on a five-day membership for over three years now. At the same time, we also stopped any new golf society bookings. We also started to warn any members who were not showing up for tee times that they had booked, and suspended the booking rights of persistent offenders. During the winter months (November to February), we reduce the gap between tee times down to eight minutes to enable as many tee times to be available as possible with the reduced daylight hours.
What is the best way of getting tee time? The tee sheet becomes open for online bookings at 6am two weeks in advance for members.
BOOKING TEE TIMES Why is it difficult to get the tee times that I want? This is a question that a few of you have been asking. I do appreciate that the demand amongst the members to get tee times is very high at the moment. This started to happen as soon as we returned from the first COVID lockdown in May 2020. Members suddenly started playing 33% more golf than before the lockdown, meaning tee times were more in demand and it therefore became harder to get them.
What did we do about it? Unfortunately, this is not something we could have foreseen happening. However, as soon as we realised that the demand for tee times amongst our membership base had risen so rapidly, we stopped all new membership sales immediately.
Visitors only get to book one week in advance to ensure that our members have priority. Always check the online booking system as we encourage members to cancel their tee times if they are not going to use them, so you often get cancellations pop up nearer the time. The only other bookings that would be on our system before the members two-week booking window would be members competitions, members matches and golf societies which are limited to midweek only after 10 am and restrictions are in place on their numbers.
Some interesting stats! •
Last year 64% of all rounds played were member rounds.
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Only 5% of rounds played were society rounds.
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Members played 7,578 more rounds in 2023 than they did in 2019 despite having similar membership numbers.
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In January 2024, 79% of all rounds played were members.
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UPCOMING EVENTS
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GOLF CLUB TRADE IN EVENT THURSDAY 7TH MARCH 10AM-2PM BIRCHWOOD PARK GOLF CLUB TURN UNWANTED CLUBS INTO CREDIT Bring your clubs to Birchwood Park Golf Club Receive an instant quote on your clubs Spend your credit in the Pro Shop
Any major brands from the last 15 years 7
WHATS ON 2024
Members receive 10% discount on all events
Quiz Nights
PRICE PER PERSON
Test your general knowledge and assemble your team! January - 25.01.24 June - 26.06.24
£29.95 £29.95
fUN FOR THE FAMILY Mother’s Day - 10.03.24 Enjoy a three-course carvery PLUS a glass of Prosecco & gift for Mum! Easter Sunday - 31.03.24 We’ve got a three-course carvery, fun Easter activity trail PLUS a gift for all the kids! Father’s Day with a Faulty Towers Twist - 16.06.24 Add some comedy into Dad’s day! Enjoy a two-course lunch with a Faulty Towers Comedy act!
£37.50 Adults £18.75 5-12Y £35.95 Adults £17.99 5-12Y £49.95
A night out Two-course MEAL INCLUDED Drag Bingo - 17.02.24 Get your dabbers at the ready, and win some fantastic prizes with the fabulous Sissy Lea! Movie Mayhem - 11.05.24 Lights, Camera, Action! A night of dancing to all of your favourite songs from the Big Screen, including a two course dinner! ABBA Tribute - 27.07.24 It’s your night to be a ‘Super Trouper’. Put on your dancing shoes and enjoy all the hits! Rod Stewart Tribute - 28.09.24 ‘Da’ Ya Think I‘m Sexy’? Well come and see me!
£49.95 £49.95 £49.95 £49.95
wedding showcase Come and see the venue dressed and meet lots of local suppliers! February - 25.02.24
Book with the events team or online!
FREE
CLICK HERE
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Thank you for reading the latest Members News. Please feel free to contact us on 01322 662038
BIRCHWOOD PARK GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB Birchwood Rd, Dartford DA2 7HJ