Dear Golfer,

From Simon Fowler, General Manager: I hope you have enjoyed the recent glorious weather and have been able to get out on the golf course. If you are heading out to play, please don’t forget to pick up a pair of gloves in the unlikely event you need to use a bunker rake.

The good news is that the clubhouse will be open again from August 1st and we will have a new menu of light seasonal dishes (see below) as well as drinks from the bar to tempt you to try. We will also be continuing with our BBQ service on selected days.

Club operations

The team at Get Golfing have been working hard to transfer the information from Crown Golf in relation to your direct debits/membership fees. There are lots of legalities around this but we are nearly there! Each member will receive a communication early next week about their membership. If you do not receive anything, please do get in touch with us at the Club and we will be on hand to help sort any issues.

We have also been busy reconciling the bar levy and pro shop vouchers into one place. We are pleased to announce that the new ‘Club Cards’ have arrived on site and we are adding all of historic levies to them. Again, these will be ready early next week, so please pop into the club to collect the cards and check on your balance. These can be used for food, beverage and golfing equipment, giving former “Crown Golf” Members 10% off standard prices.

Course maintenance

From Ross Cook, Courses Manager: Since reopening the course after lockdown, we have seen a golfing boom, plenty of new faces around and the usual suspects out most days. It’s great to see the course so busy again after the very surreal lockdown period with only three greenkeepers on site and not a golfer in sight.

I have been very pleased with how the golf course has come together in the last six weeks after operating through June with only six green staff. Since GetGolfing took over, we have increased to eight staff, which has allowed us to increase the quality of all the playing surfaces.

The greens have had great feedback from members and visitors alike and the club championship saw them reach speeds of 11ft, so scoring was at a premium. Our fairways have a linksy feel, rewarding good shots with plenty of distance. Members might be pleased to learn that we have recently invested c £20,000 in a Wessex CRX320 mower that will cut all our long rough down.

In the lead up to the championship, we added 30 tonnes of much-needed sand to the greenside bunkers (during lockdown they were deemed non-essential maintenance). We have also squared the tees off, returning them to their original design, which will give us plenty of space to move tee markers around to lessen wear. There is the added bonus that they now look more atheistically pleasing. 

Lockdown forced us to make the approaches smaller this year to help keep on top of the maintenance but Members should be aware that this is not something that will continue. Our plan next year with the approaches is to increase the width of the collar and introduce run off areas where the land allows. We will also invest in getting the approach sprinklers working again. This will allow us to granular feed and apply wetting agent to these areas and so vastly improve the playability and look of the green surrounds. 

Greens maintenance this year will start on August 10th and last for one week. There will be temporary course closures in place while these works are carried out. We will be double scarifying at a depth of 6mm, topdressing, punching 10mm holes, topdressing again, overseeding and fertilising. With weather on our side, I would estimate the greens will be back to their best 10 days later. 

Finally, I would like to say we’ve all really enjoyed getting back to normal and the busy competition schedule is something that gives us a great buzz. It’s brilliant to hear about all your positive experiences on the courses and it makes all the hard work and early wake-up calls worth it. 

Competitions

• August 1st — Saturday League 5; Waterloo
• August 2nd — TCL Sunday Q7; Wellington
• August 3rd — Seniors Championship Day 1; Wellington & Veterans Vase Day 1; Wellington
• August 4th — Ladies Medal LOOM; Waterloo
• August 5th — TCL Wednesday Q9; Waterloo
• August 6th — Seniors Championship Day 2; Waterloo & Veterans Vase Day 2; Waterloo
• August 8th —RLT – Day 1; Wellington & Ladies Vase Day 1; Waterloo
• August 9th — RLT – Day 2; Waterloo
• August 10th — Roll up; Wellington
• August 11th — Ladies Vase Day 2; Wellington
• August 12th — TCL Wednesday Q10; Waterloo
• August 13th — Roll up; Waterloo
• August 15th — Saturday League 6; Waterloo
• August 16th — TCL Sunday Q8; Wellington
• August 17th — Monday Stableford OOM; Waterloo
• August 18th — Ladies 9 Holes (& BBQ); Waterloo
• August 19th — TCL Wednesday Q11; Wellington
• August 20th — Roll up; Waterloo
• August 22nd — Wildmoor Cup Day 1; Wellington
• August 23rd — TCL Sunday Q9; Waterloo
• August 24th — Roll up; Wellington
• August 25th — Ladies Stableford LOOM; Waterloo
• August 26th — Seniors Summer League; Wellington
• August 27th — Midweek Medal OOM; Waterloo
• August 29th — Wildmoor Cup Day 2; Waterloo
• August 30th — TCL Sunday Q10; Wellington
• August 31st — Bank Holiday Texas Scramble; Wellington

Junior news

We are getting a steady number of new Junior Members and we are looking to grow this section as the future lifeblood of the club. We are very keen that they learn the etiquette of golf both on the course and in the clubhouse, so they will be put under the watchful eye of Pros. If you know of any young person who might be interested in joining, please pass on details of our new Junior Membership category, which is not only FREE but offers a variety of discounts on food, drink and in pro shop. More details are here.

Best wishes from everyone at Sherfield Oaks Golf Club.