The Beaconsfield Niblick- August 24 :: Beaconsfield is a traditional Members club with a classic Harry Colt designed course that opened in 1914. The course is beautifully presented and complemented by excellent practice facilities. Visitors are welcome by prior appointment.

Beaconsfield Golf Club

Beaconsfield Golf Club
Seer Green, Beaconsfield
Bucks, HP9 2UR

01494 676545

The Board Nominations are......

I am delighted to announce the Board’s Nominations to join the Board at this year’s AGM on 12 October are David Garmon-Jones (Vice-Captain), Ros Johnstone (Ladies Captain) and Andy Codling (Green Committee).

David Garmon Jones for Vice-Captain.

David joined Beaconsfield GC in 2012 when the family returned from a five-year stint in Australia. He is married to Jane (Ladies Captain 2017) and they have two grown up children and one grandson. David was on the golf club Board between 2020-2023 and chaired the Green Committee for two of those years.

David has enjoyed a successful 40 plus year career in Pharmaceuticals, latterly as Managing Director of country affiliates for companies such as Merck KGaA and now supports clients on a part time basis with project work. Additionally, David chairs the Trustee Board at Wycombe High School. He is understandably proud of their recent ‘Outstanding’ rating from Ofsted and would like to share that achievement with two fellow trustees and members of BGC, Richard Jones and David Heeley.

David also enjoys a close connection with the Neurological Alliance, an organisation he has been a trustee of for many years. David and Jane both hail originally from the North West, they met as youngsters at Royal Birkdale and still retain country membership there.

Ros Johnstone for Ladies Captain

Ros joined Beaconsfield Golf Club in 2000 after many years living abroad.

Her background has been teaching and she has very much enjoyed teaching bridge to lots of the ladies at the club.

Ros was on the social committee for a couple of years followed by the ladies' committee and a time as bridge organiser.

Ros has been supporting Sue through her year as Ladies Captain and attending all Board Meetings.

Andy Codling for the Green Committee

Andy began his career in the golf industry, managing a range of professional and corporate events both with the PGA and independently. He later moved to sports marketing, working with The London Club in Kent, where he played a role in preparing a bid for the prestigious Solheim Cup.

In recent years, Andy is making his mark in the field of education. He currently works as the Assistant Head at Pipers Corner School in Great Kingshill, where he also teaches Mathematics. You may hear a number of the younger members and staff still referring to him as Mr Codling!

Andy’s interests span both business and education. He holds an MBA, a GTP in Mathematics, and a degree in Accounting and Economics. He is married to Louise, and together they have two children: Sophie, 11, an aspiring footballer, and Danny, 8, who is just beginning to catch the golf bug—soon, he might be outdriving his dad!

Simon Dodd

President

From the Captain

What a busy month it’s been at the club!

The Presidents v Artisans Match

This annual fixture once again lived up to expectations with a closely fought match. Thankfully The President’s team prevailed over The Artisans to regain the bragging rights for the year.

The Luke Donald Salver

This event did not disappoint, with the quality of golf being simply exceptional. A full field of U18 golfers from the south of England and beyond, competed in warm sunshine on the course presented in fabulous condition.

The 19th playing of this event, resulted in a Beaconsfield member winning the event for only the second time. This time Joshua Waldegrave pipped fellow member Dan Butteriss by the narrowest of margins, on countback, when both of them finished on an incredible 8 under par for the 36 holes.

At the halfway stage, Dan’s brilliant 65 had him leading by 5 shots from Joshua, only for a fine 66 from Joshua to match Dan’s total score at the end of the afternoon. It was a shame that only one of these two outstanding golfers could win the trophy and I congratulate both on their superb performances.

Congratulation as well to Emily Gilmour , who won the net prize and there was also room for some extra drama when young Yash Patel from Gerrards Cross holed out from the tee on the 5th in the morning.

A big thank you to Ingrid Creighton, Jenny & Simon Mouncer, Ian Boardman and Helen Morris for organizing and keeping scores on the day. Also, a big thank you to the 40 odd member ball spotters giving up their time and to Andy McFee and Janet Beal for ensuring speedy and fair play.

The Club Championship

Our second attempt to play this event, postponed due to the rain causing the cancellation of the event in July, unfortunately attracted the worst weather we have seen ……. well since the first time we tried to play the event in July!

The weather forecast was unerringly accurate in forecasting the morning deluge, so Management made the decision to reduce the event to an 18-hole afternoon shootout (much to the relief of this participant)

Even so, the event could not have been completed without industrial scale squeegeeing by the greens team both prior and during the event. Disappointingly, the 7th green was cleared of water only after I had 3 putted through the lake that had appeared and for a time, the continuing rain meant the completion of the event was on a knife edge.

However, they say that the cream always rises to the top and despite Andrew Barton’s magnificent 72 briefly threatening to upset the elite, the final pairing of Ben Quick and Dan Butteriss provided the grandstand finish the gallery were hoping for, with Ben winning the event for the 2nd time with a fine 70, just pipping Dan and new member Finn Mason by a single shot. Andrew Barton had to settle for the nett 1st prize……sadly the most instantly forgotten prize in any Club Champs!

Thank you to Judith Woods and Mary Coleman for keeping the scores on the day.

Captain & Pro Challenge matches

The final match of the summer took place this week (unless Gaz Davis and Robbie Christian decide to man up) with Chris and I taking on Mark Alghita and Jimmy Mulvoy.

Mr Alghita cemented his reputation as one of the world’s finest putters with birdies on holes 2,3, 5 & 6 to give the challengers a commanding lead. However, Chris the Pro wielding his new putter, put on a putting masterclass, not seen from him since 1979. He almost single-handedly got us back to level, before fine ‘ up and downs’ from Mark on 15 & 16 secured the victory for him and Jimmy. As for Jimmy and I….well we were largely impressed spectators!

Michael Lawson

Captain's Charity for 2023/2024

From the Ladies Captain

I am delighted to announce that Dawn Muir has been nominated to be our next Ladies Vice Captain and she has accepted the nomination.

Dawn has been a member of Beaconsfield Golf Club for 33 years. She was on the Ladies’ committee from 2017 to 2021 and was Honorary Secretary for 3 of those years, having also previously been the match organiser for the silver friendly matches.

Dawn worked as a chartered accountant until 2003 when her first son was born. Her parents were both members at BGC, as is her husband Pete, although sadly her 2 boys are showing no signs of carrying on the family tradition. She has a deep love for this wonderful club, and the Ladies section in particular, and is looking forward to assisting Ros during her year as captain.

I am sure that you will join me in wishing Dawn every success in the role.

Ladies and Seniors Competition

We were blessed with beautiful weather for a change and had a most enjoyable day. The Asian buffet after golf was excellent and the wine much appreciated.

The winners were Lesley Roberts and Steve Philpot.

Then on the 6th we changed the Ladies and Juniors to include the Seniors. Eight teams took part, and the winners were Barry Dunton, Helen Coughlin and her son Ben.

Congratulations to Lesley Roberts, who won the Raffety Vase and Janet Beal, who won the Jarvis Cup.

In County news, Alison Baker will be playing Shannon Holt in the Challenge Cup (silver singles) semi-final knockout. Sue Davies and her sister Gill have reached the semi-final of the County Greensomes knockout, and Ruth Lambert has reached the final of the Rose Bowl (bronze singles) knockout. We wish them all good luck.

Last but not least, Ella has had a busy Summer playing in various WAGR (world Amateur Golf Ranking) events, including the Scottish Women’s Open, Welsh Women’s Open, English U25 Championships, English Amateur Championship and Dutch Amateur championship. She has achieved a European Golf Ranking of 204 after just 8 events. She was also runner up in the County Champion of champions after 3 rounds of scratch knockout matches against the scratch champions from 12 of the County clubs.

Sue Goodliffe

Ladies' Captain's Charity for 2023/2024

Project Du Pré

I am pleased to confirm that the Planning Application for the Clubhouse redevelopment was submitted earlier this month in conjunction with the Heritage Report. I suspect it will be a little while before we receive any comments back from the Planners.

In the meantime, the detailed plans for the infrastructure elements are being ironed out and, members of the delivery team have been visiting other golf clubs (incl. West Herts, Walton Heath, Effingham, St George’s Hill and Fullwell) to take a look at their respective refurbishments and to see what can be learnt from their experiences.

Richard Cottrell

Chairman of the House Committee

Supper Greensomes

Like so many of the sporting events we have enjoyed this summer, the Supper Greensomes was very close and 7 pairs were in contention in the final round. 100 pairs enjoyed some friendly (but competitive) golf, supper and chat over the 8 supper greensomes evenings. The weather forced an impromptu change on one evening from 10 holes of golf to a ‘golf-themed’ quiz and supper. This turned out to be a really fun evening. Congratulations to David and Jane Garmon-Jones who demonstrated excellent golf trivia knowledge. Many thanks to Sue Schmidt and Ros Johnstone for stepping in to partner Richard, in my absence.

The trophy is won by the top aggregate scores over 4 rounds. 6 points separated the top 5 pairs. The new winners were Eilish and Paddy Kelly, who beat Lynda and Alan Cornwell by 2 points. Many congratulations to them.

This was the 30th year of the Supper Greensomes event (it was known as the Supper Foursomes event before that). It was great that we had some new members attending this year. It is a lovely social event, open to all and an opportunity to start the weekend with some friendly golf, meet different members of the club and support the club’s catering and social events.

Penny and Richard Grocott-Mason

Course Update and Rainfall

I am coming to the end of my term on the Green Committee and I thought it would be a good time to give an update on the green keeping staff, the course and the various projects that are underway in the club.

As you all know Stuart has moved on from Director of Golf to General Manager, and I feel everyone in the club is very pleased and supportive of him in his new role. The Greens Team is in a very good position with Lee March taking over the reins as Course Manager. There has been a new hire to maintain the numbers on the team with Jamie Marlow joining from Ashridge GC. Jamie has over 5 years experience and is also a tree surgeon. Welcome Jamie. Lee and his team continue to maintain and indeed improve the course in every respect. Well done to everyone involved.

We as a club have been very keen to maintain a consistent approach to the course management and improvements. We have both a 5 and 10 year plan so that we can consider what is appropriate and affordable now in addition to projects that are achievable in the future.

The winter programme continues to enhance our course and next up will be new bunker work on the 9th hole. The new patio is now in use and the grass area between the path and the putting green will be re-landscaped in the autumn to improve that space.

We also have some major projects underway such as the practice range improvements. The planning process is almost complete and we are moving forward with specific designs for the covered bays, in line with the information provided in the member presentations. There have been many positive suggestions for improving the landing area and ball tracking systems which have been taken on board and considered for future investments as appropriate.

Project Sustainable Golf (PSG) entails the creation of water collection and storage in our fields between the course and Potkiln Lane. This is a multi year project that is expected to be self funding. We believe this project is vital to secure our water source in the years and decades to come. This project is at the Pre-App planning stage and while the council has not made a firm decision, the tone of the response so far has been positive.

We will, no doubt, continue to communicate with the members on the progress of all projects through the various presentation evenings, articles like this in the Niblick and one-off notices.

I have enjoyed my time on the Green Committee and wish Garrett Cotter and Andy Codling all the best in the future.

Mark Conway

Chair of Green Committee

(Click on the image to view in full screen)

How to rake a bunker

Chris' Corner

I hope you are well and enjoying the sunshine!

Last weeks golf clubs 4 cash day was a great success and very busy. Members who had their clubs accepted will now find the balance on their pro shop account.

We now have a 50% off sale on selected mens and womens clothing! Pop into the shop to have a look before it all gets snapped up!

We are very busy with lessons at the moment, so do book in advance to get your game looked at on the link below.

Lesson Booking | The Golf Team | Welcome to Beaconsfield Pro Shop (foremostgolf.com)

Chris, Adam and Tom

Tom's Top Tips

News From The Junior And Younger Members

This has been an exciting month for the Juniors. The Ling Trophy is a 36 hole competition, which is the Junior Club Championships. We had 22 Juniors competing in this competition this year. After 36 holes Nathan Baggett, Emily Gilmour and Fraser Creighton were tied on a gross score of 150. It was very tense and after two playoff holes, Emily Gilmour was successful and won the Junior Championships. Congratulations to Emily and congratulations to Thilanya Rajapaksha for winning the McIntosh Trophy for the lowest gross scoring girl and Christian Cotter for winning the Wisdom Salver for the best Nett score.

In keeping with integrating our Juniors as much as possible within the club, the 6th August saw 8 teams consisting of one Senior member, one Junior member and one Lady member compete against each other. Congratulations to Helen Coughlin, Ben Coughlin and Barry Dunton for winning this fun competition and to everyone who participated in this event. The matches were played in great spirits and there was a super team atmosphere and it was great our Juniors met and played with different members from the golf club.

The Luke Donald Salver competition was a huge success where we had 72 competitors from as far as Sussex, Cambridgeshire, Kent as well as several Beaconsfield Junior members compete for the prestigious Luke Donald Salver. Well done to all those who participated and thank you again to everyone for your support. There was such a positive vibe around the club all day and we have received a great deal of supportive feedback.

Prior to winning the Luke Donald Salver, Joshua Waldegrave won the Douglas Johns Trophy at Harewood Downs Golf Club. This competition at Harewood Downs is for Juniors aged 15 and under who are the best in the country. Huge congratulations to Joshua for winning both these prestigious competitions.

Nathan Baggett won the JOOM competition on 17th August. Playing off 2, he scored 42 points.

Lawrence Butcher shot a nett 68 on the 22nd August to win the Hamilton trophy.

On 25th August, James Stewart scored 39 points to win the JOOM competition.

The Junior Captains Day on Tuesday, 25th August was a fun and happy day. 18 Juniors competed in an 18 hole non-qualifying stableford competition. The fun continued with a speed putting competition and then a chipping competition, plus we had a prize for nearest the pin on the 7th hole and the longest drive on the 17th hole.

James Stewart won the 18 hole stableford competition. Senan won the speed putting competition. Nathan had the longest drive on the 17th hole and Lawrence Butcher was nearest the pin on the 7th hole hole and Fraser Creighton won the chipping competition. Thank you to Ian Boardman Helen Morris and Jenny Mouncer for all your help in making this day so much fun and also to all the Juniors for participating in this event.

The month of August has been a very busy and competitive month and it is great to see so many of our Juniors competing in various matches and competitions and events. We look forward to seeing all our Juniors at the golf club in the coming weeks and months.

Ingrid Creighton and the Junior Committee

Social Committee News

Next up from the BGC Social Committee;

25 October 2024 – Entry is now open for the Gourmet Dinner & Wine Tasting evening. This will be 7.00pm arrival for a glass of Prosecco for a 7.30pm sit down to enjoy a 5 course meal with wine pairings for each course. Tasting notes will be provided. Tickets are priced at £90.00pp and are limited so booking early is recommended. Dress code is 'Dress to Impress'!

Future dates for your diary:

6 November 2024 – Night Golf – 5.00pm 6-hole Texas scramble competition followed by the Wednesday Supper Club for those who want to stay and eat.

30 November 2024 – Turkey Trot

Social Committee

Clubhouse News

Nothing major to report apart from the team continue to receive plaudits from many members and guests for the quality of the food and service. Well done all.

Look out for the next few social and hospitality events as tickets are likely to go quickly…

Monthly Sunday Carveries – to be launched in Sept and served upstairs

Mexican Evening – Wednesday 9 October

Fine Dining and Wine Tasting – Friday 25 October

Richard Cottrell

Chairman of the House Committee

In The Golf Bag..... General Play Scores

The use of General Play scores is becoming more popular as these allow everyone to submit scores for their handicap outside of competition.

However there are a number of rules that must be followed when submitting General Play scores. Please make sure you follow these rules as score that do not follow the rules may be removed or subject to a penalty score.

The basic rules for General Play scores are as follows:

Scores MUST be pre-registered before you start your round
Scores MUST be in an acceptable format of golf – which in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales is singles strokeplay (stableford or medal).
You CANNOT submit a General Play score when playing a match, even if you putt out on every hole, or when playing better ball or team competitions.
You must have a marker to verify your scores
You must play under the Rules of Golf – no gimmes
The course must be suitable for score submission – no bucket holes, no more than 2 temporary greens

The preferred (and easiest) method to submit a General Play score is to use either the IG App or the MyEG App on your phone. You can use the IG App for a score at Beaconsfield, and the MyEG App for a score anywhere in England, Scotland Ireland and Wales. You MUST register your intent using the App BEFORE you tee off on the first hole.

If you use one of the Apps, then your marker must also have the same App so that they can verify your score after you have finished. Once you have finished your round, then enter your score on the App and then follow the instructions to ask your marker to verify the score on their App.

If you do not have either of the Apps, then you can register in the pro shop before play.

General Play Scores over 9 or 18 holes

When registering for a General Play score, you can choose to play 9 or 18 holes. If you choose to play 9 holes, this must be holes 1 to 9 and you must complete all 9 holes. If you choose to play 18 holes, then you must complete all 18 holes unless there is an acceptable reason, which must be one of the following:

One or more holes were closed for play
Fading light or weather prevented the round being completed
Injury or illness (you or your marker)

Further to the changes to WHS implemented in April 2024, the BGC Golf and Competitions Committee has decided that it is NO LONGER acceptable to submit a General Play score over anything other than 9 or 18 holes apart from the above reasons.

Players must submit 9 hole General Play scores if they do not want to play the full 18 holes. A new 9 hole scorecard will be available to make submission of 9 hole General Play scores easier.

Handicap Manipulation

There have been various articles in the press about players attempting to manipulate their handicap using General Play scores, for example having a good round and then deciding to submit the score, entering no return on holes where they actually scored, or asking a friend to verify a score that they did not witness.

The BGC Handicap committee constantly review General Play scores to check that everyone is following the rules, so please make sure you are not one of the people who has any of their scores queried.

Janet Beal

Trophy Roll Of Honour

Click here to see all the Winners for the Trophy Competitions

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