Club Charity

In October Edward Richardson met with your Captain, Vice Captain and Competition and Handicap Secretaries.  At the meeting Ed explained that it is Get Golfing’s wish to support the coming together of charitable fundraising at each club. Currently, each section raises funds for the Captain’s chosen charity independently of Get Golfing and each of the other sections. The Captain’s have to work tirelessly and without support to raise these funds. While the charities are grateful for the hardwork and endeavours of the respective Captains, the actual sums raised vary considerably year to year.

Ed was proposing that we collectively adopt a different strategy for 2022 where the Club as a whole dedicate its support to one local charity. Get Golfing have hired a designated member of staff who would work with the Captain’s and the chosen charity to promote the following:

• Fundraising within the member and visitors for the local charity.
• Support the charity by creating greater awareness within the club and the local community of the charity’s hardwork.
• Use of club facilities at no cost.

What Get Golfing are bringing to the table is a dedicated member of staff to work with the Club and the charity to ensure they get the most out of the opportunity. In addition to the staff member, the initiative has the full support of the Get Golfing back office with sales and marketing which will further enhance the initiative.

Get Golfing would fund the dedicated member of staff (Yvonne Brooke – [email protected]) and train that member in the specialist field of fund raising. Get Golfing would not be charging a levy for these services. Having looked closely at this change in the structure of fundraising at Club level we believe that the following will take place:

By coming together as a club with the support of Yvonne,

1. We believe we can raise more funds for the chosen charity without having to constantly chase members for greater contributions.
2. We believe we can enhance the awareness that the charity’s good work.
3. We believe that it change the perception of the immediate community and bring us closer together.
4. We believe we can help improve the performance of the chosen charity through the support of the club and the use of our facilities.

The Committee have agreed that the charity will be St Michael’s Hospice in Basingstoke.  St Michael’s rely heavily on charitable donations costing them £5.5m per year to operate with only a 20% funding contribution from outside sources. Having had first hand experience of their services, Ed knows the work they do for the local community it vital and would love to be able to raise some funds for them.

Club News

From Andy Brett, General Manager: First of all, I would like to thank all our members & visitors for their patience during this stressful time with our staff shortages, following three members of staff being involved in a tragic car accident. We wish Jamie, Jess & Abbie a speedy recovery & I’m sure we will see them back at the club in the near future. The Club will be holding a fundraiser event for these involved, which will take place on 27th November. 

We held our Men’s Senior Open early in October, which was a great success. Thanks to all those who attended from near & far. 

We will be holding more of these events next year, so please keep an eye on our What’s On page via https://www.sherfieldoaksgolf.co.uk/whats-on/ for all our latest events.  

As we are fast approaching the festive period, we are offering fantastic packages for every Thursday, Friday & Saturday in December, which include a welcome drink, 3-course Meal & DJ. We are also offering Christmas lunch packages through the week. If you would like to book your place, please contact myself [email protected] or Julie Bond [email protected]. 

Clubhouse Improvements

This winter we will re-commence the improvements to the clubhouse with soft furnishings to the main bar and the events space. We recognise that this still has to be finished and we will be adding curtains, rugs, hanging pictures, further lighting and a second mobile bar for the far end of the function room. These additions, along with a specialist acoustic consultant will greatly improve the sound quality within the premises. In March we anticipate the extension to the patio, so that we go into 2022 in a better place that we started 2021.

Subscriptions

The improvements to the club have already started to pay dividends with significant increases in the number of golf bookings and the value of each booking. This should not be lost on the membership, as it is through the generation of visitor income that we have been able to invest significant sums back into Sherfield Oaks. Since we took over in June 2020, we have honoured covid credits and did not increase the subscription cost this year. The primary goal of Get Golfing is to deliver a quality experience to our members with excellent value for money. As we all know, inflation has started to raise it head and we have been advised that we should expect an increase in operational costs of between 3 and 5% due to increased staffing costs, energy, supplier pricing, etc.

We are very keen to resist increasing subscriptions, but have to act with an air of caution. We are therefore going to increase subscriptions (except junior members who are free), by £5.00 per month for seven and five day members, and £2.50 for intermediates. This amounts to an increase on a full or five day membership of 4% and 5% respectively. A separate email with a detailed breakdown will follow shortly. These increases only kick in when your membership renews in 2022.

Course News

October has been a funny month so far, the temperature has been unseasonably mild with nearly 20c during the day for 50% of the month. Although the rainfall figures suggest we have had slightly over our average for October it doesn’t tell the whole story as in reality its been very dry, all the month rainfall has come in 2 storms one at the start of the month and 1 at the end but in-between has been very dry. Great for golf but not for Greenkeepers, more temperature and heavy rain events make grass grow very quickly, this makes our life difficult as worms are casting continuously causing mud on the surface, which is made worse after machines have gone over trying to cut grass. I always say through autumn and winter having longer grass is better than having no grass! We have to pick our moments for mowing very carefully this time of year, too wet will smear the mud and not dry enough makes the casts go like blutac meaning big clumps of mud all over the fws. The good news is we have applied an organic fertiliser to the green surrounds and approaches which the worm population doesn’t like meaning we can keep these areas mud free and regularly mown. It would be great to be able to apply this product to all surfaces but as anything theses days the cost is massive so we will just look to prioritise certain areas that have the biggest impact on the playability of the course through the winter.

The greens are playing great, a bit slower than normal due to the mild conditions we are facing combined with the slow release fertiliser being temperature dependant as I explained last month we are now seeing another flush in growth. Bad for green speeds but good for filling in any damage caused by disease, this game is 1 big balancing act in which the difficulty is constantly changing. On the subject of disease, pressure has been high for quite a few weeks with heavy dews, warm nights, fog and minimal wind, we got through this difficult period quite well, we did have a few greens get some disease but nothing the untrained eye would notice and that has all grown out now. As  mentioned above mowing has become very challenging now as it does every year, you’ll notice that we have stopped cutting the run offs around the green this is so we can protect these areas for next year as they get wet so I don’t want machinery damaging them. We have also shortened some approaches this is where the worm problem is quite bad or where drainage is an issue so we are allowing grass coverage to increase to protect theses areas. It is only for the winter as soon as spring is back we’ll be out reshaping again.

The ditch work has been very successful this month, we have now completed everything on the Waterloo course this includes finding and exposing existing drainage outlets. The difference between the 2 courses after the last storm rolled though was amazing with Waterloo being far drier than Wellington. We have started ditching on the Wellington course at the worst part of the course around 12-15, we’ve installed a new ditch by the 13^th green and reinstated the ditch to the left of the fw. You can find a couple of videos explaining the work being carried out on the members FaceBook page. There is an awful lot of work to do on the Wellington so bare with us and please understand that this won’t be an instant win there is no miracle cure but it will allow us to get water flowing again and give us an outlet to add drainage lines into which will make it drier quicker and reduce the amount of time the Trafalgar might be needed for. On the subject of drainage we have had a new AFT trencher delivered this week meaning we can now go out and put drainage in ourselves whenever the weather is conducive. This will be in operation as much as possible through this winter and into the early spring, the plan is to attack the worst areas first so we can enjoy at least 1 golf course all year round in the short term then moving up to both courses being fully playable all year round in the next 3-5 years. It’s a massive job, the site is nearly 500acres and has been badly neglected by previous operators but I believe we have come a long way in the last 12 months and if we keep going at this pace we will achieve our target within the timescale set out above.

Other jobs on the course being completed this month are path pot holes, they have been an issue for a while but we are slowly getting on top of them, again it’s something that has seen little to no investment for a long time and there are miles of them too! The long term goal is to refurbish them all but in the short term will make good what we can. Tees are having their usual end of season full divot and fertilise to keep them healthy going into winter and finally, you all will have noticed the dreaded rope has returned! Unfortunately this is essential to keep buggy’s and trolleys away from the fine turf so we can maintain high standards of presentation and playability in and around the greens, I advise you all to follow them and put back the stakes if someone else has left any on the ground, it is in your interest to do so, the fewer trolley marks the more enjoyable the game is when trying to chip/pitch and putt around the green. Also please keep an eye out for pitchmarks, the greens during summer are firm and rarely leave ball marks but this time of year they are softer and approach shots are leaving a noticeable ball mark so bare this in mind as you approach the green putter in hand.

Proshop News

From Nicholas Darby, Golf Retail Sales & Operations Manager: The Proshop yet again has three fantastic offers for you this month!

Just a quick reminder, the Mumba Charity Buy Back scheme ends on November 30th, so make sure to get any more old logo’d gear in for £10 off your new club apparel.

Pro News

From Dan Kean, PGA Professional: Here are my FREE lessons for MONTH 

Hey all, 

Well, the long days are gone the lovely weather is in the past and winter is fast upon us! Be aware my winter offer of 3-for-2 is still active and also the monthly winter subscription. Just email Dan for details or you can visit my booking system and store here: https://dankeangolf.glflocker.com 

I hate to say the words but Christmas is just around the corner and at Dan Kean Golf we have plenty of gift card and voucher ideas which are located in the store option on the link above, giving the gift of golf to a loved one is the perfect idea for any golfer out there! 

The member NOVEMBER COMPLIMENTARY sessions are now bookable, I am now offering Sundays 12-1pm to try and attract the weekend golfer who wants to take advantage of the amazing offer from Sherfield Oaks GC.

November Sessions: 

Please sign up on the sheets on the notice board in the clubhouse or just ask any member of staff [email protected] 

From Paul Tedder, PGA Professional: Here are my FREE lessons for MONTH 

•  2/11/21 @11am – setup and swing check
• 9/11/21 @11am – Putting (holing out drills)
• 16/11/[email protected] – Bunkers – Green side bunker shot
• 23/11/[email protected] – Chpping basics & club selection
• 30/12/21 @11am – Pitching – Distance control 

CHRISTMAS GIFT VOUCHERS NOW AVAILABLE! 

The value of the voucher can be tailored to your budget 

• 1/2 hr 1 to 1 lesson £30 6 for 5 £150
• 1 hr 1 to 1 lesson £50 6 for 5 £250
• 3 x 1/2 hr + 1 hr playing lesson £150
• 1 hr playing lesson £50
• 9 hole playing lesson £80 

Voucher can be purchased by emailing Paul on [email protected] 

From Adam Glass, PGA Professional: Here are my FREE lessons for MONTH:

• Wednesday 10th November @ 11am
• Tues 16th November @ 9am

I would also like to run a lesson offer throughout November and December
which is an 18 hole playing lesson and a 1 hour lesson each month. The
offer will be strictly limited to the first 4 students and is priced at
£175 per month. 

Please contact Adam on – [email protected] 

Community Outreach

The team this month have been focusing on working with our 8 sites to adapt the Club’s charitable role within their communities.

As you’ve read, Ed our CEO would like all sections of the club to work together to support one local charity for the next three years and really embed them into our sites with awareness, fundraising and use of our amazing environments.

The aim will be to have one Group charity across all Get Golfing and then one local charity at each site that can receive great support over a sustained period of time. This should maximise fundraising and allow charities to plan and budget more effectively over a 3-year period.

We also hope that with all sections of the club working together it will integrate sections, create great social interactions, and create an inclusive and exciting program of social and fundraising events.

Captains and vice captains are currently in discussion to select the Club’s local charity and we aim to announce group and local charity partners with a January launch. We are supporting this process and will have designated resources to help sites make a real difference to the local charity of their choice.

The team are also currently

• Selecting our partner primary and special schools for 2022 that will receive an amazing package of support over the next 3 years.
• Organising our TAP/SEN program cohorts for 2022.
• Setting up our This Girl Can Get Golfing calendar.
• Developing partnerships with a wide variety of clubs and providers to broaden activities offered on our sites.

We look forward to supporting your club and if you have any ideas or links to local groups who could benefit from our support please get in touch with the team.

[email protected]

[email protected]  (East region)

[email protected]  (West region)