Beaconsfield Golf Club
Seer Green, Beaconsfield
Bucks, HP9 2UR
01494 676545
Beaconsfield Golf Club
From the Captain |
50 Years of Membership
Congratulations to Mike Wisdom on achieving 50 years of Membership.
As you can see from the below subscription notice Mike joined the Club in 1974, at the cost of £41.25p! Thankfully Katie has already issued notices for this year, so no requests to match it please!
Mike and his late wife Pat have always taken a keen interest in the Club's activites and got involved in many aspect of Club life. The Juniors play for the Wisdom Salver during their Championship which is awarded to the best nett score. Mike was Captain in 1987 to 88. Thank you for your years of membership Mike.
Project Du Pre
Voting for the Clubhouse and Practice Range Development plans is now complete and the results are in ……….!
We would like to thank the 564 Members that took the opportunity to vote of the Board’s Clubhouse and Practice Range Development proposals. Thank you also to all those involved in creating it. We will publish the full results in due course but the Board were pleased that 84.8% of those voting were in favour of the proposals. We also received some 285 comments on the proposals that we will review and consider. The hard work now starts on turning these proposals into a reality of which all Members can be proud
New Golf Season
At the time of writing this, the first major of the season, The Masters at Augusta is just over 2 weeks away, an event that traditionally represents the start of the UK golf season. However, we also have our own ‘season opener’ on Good Friday with the Beaconsfield Golf Club Team Championships. This is the opportunity for the Juniors to yet again show us all how golf should be played.
With the clocks also going forward on Sunday (apart from the clubhouse clock of course), evening golf begins in earnest next week…..exciting times!
Every season at this time, I briefly regret entering quite so many knock out competitions and wonder how I’m going to fit them all in. This problem is usually fleeting though, with a few defeats solving the problem.
Quiz Night
The recent Quiz Night was very well attended once again. As Captain, my table, as is tradition, received 24 hours advance notice of all the questions, enabling our team to achieve a very creditable 4th place, in an event superbly managed by Steve McAdam and his team…...his 15th year in charge!
The Lidgley Shield
Less encouraging was my failure to lead the club to victory against The Artisans in The Lidgley Shield. Whilst we did manage a 3-3 draw, as holders, The Artisans retain the shield, leaving this fine trophy a seemingly semi-permanent fixture on The Artisans clubhouse wall. I’m sure Mr Booker will halt this worrying trend next year.
England v Rest of The World
The England v Rest of the World team event was a very closely fought event, the result being in the balance until the final match. After a fine brunch for 52 hungry golfers, Paul Hucker called upon all his previous management experience to lead the England team to a victory by the narrowest of margins 7-6. The performance of the day though goes to the ROW player Neil Franklin who played to his age in his match (a gross 62 presumably!)
This fine victory led to Mr Hucker promptly announcing his retiring from Management and left the ROW skipper Ian Griffiths with the problem of finding a home on his dining table for yet another wooden spoon. This follows the underwhelming exploits of his beloved Wales in the recent Six Nations Rugby.
Paul Hucker (on the right) presenting Ian Griffiths with the Wooden Spoon
Michael Lawson
Captain's Charity for 2023/2024
From the Ladies Captain |
Forty nine ladies played their first medal in the sunshine on Thursday 21st, which was won by Yoshi Funaki with a great score of nett 70.
The Winter Scratch team have had a fantastic season, winning every match they played. Their final victory was against Ellesborough at home on Sunday 24th, which means they now move up to the top division next year. Congratulations and thanks to Team Captain, Heather Jackson, Carole Weir, Julie Cooper, Lorraine Whillans, Di Bovey, Irene Brien, Helen Morris, Christine Tyler, Edwina Acheson, Amanda Goodship, Ella Butteriss, Thilanya Rajapaksha and Emily Gilmour, who have all played in matches this winter.
We wish the summer scratch team good luck for their first match against Denham at home on 6th April.
The Bucks Shield is our biggest County competition and Carole Weir and Sue Mears are putting in a massive amount of work building a squad for this, with training sessions, practice matches and team meetings. The first match is on 28th April at home to Chartridge Park. If you are free, please come along and support the team.
The ladies showed off their new team colours on Monday 25th for the first friendy home match against Gerrards Cross, which resulted in a draw.
Sue Goodliffe
Ladies' Captain's Charity for 2023/2024
Project Du Pré |
The terrace furniture is now all in place and hopefully, Members are enjoying the chance to sit outside again, as the weather improves.
We are working on finalising the plants for the terrace pots and the surrounding borders. In addition, there are some tiles to be replaced by the four doors into the clubhouse, but some temporary ones have been laid to replace the previously damaged tiles.
With regards the path around the terrace, we are still awaiting final samples from the manufacturer and once these have been received and approved, replacement of the existing path will be scheduled and completed. The physical work to replace the path will take ca. two weeks once it commences.
We want to thank the 500+ Members who responded to the Du Pre Questionnaire and the results and comments are being reviewed and analysed. A summary of the results and feedback will be provided in due course.
Richard Cottrell
Chairman of House Committee
News from the Junior and Younger Members |
A few months ago, I was asked to take over from Dianne Regan to run the Junior Committee. Dianne has done an incredible job for the last 13 years and I am conscious these are very big shoes to fill. My three boys are members of Beaconsfield Golf Club and they have benefited enormously under the supervision of Dianne. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Janet Beal and Gareth Davies, who are stepping down from the Junior Committee, for their considerable contribution over a number of years.
The Junior Committee members are:
Ian Boardman, Helen Morris, Tom Evans, Jenny Mouncer, Eddie Zhang and myself.
The Objective of the Junior Committee
The objective of the Junior Committee is to encourage our 80 Junior members to come to the golf club and to not only play in the competitions, but also to enjoy all of the wonderful facilities our club has to offer.
Competitions
We will be proposing amending some of the Junior Stableford competitions, replacing some strokeplay Stablefords for Matchplay and 4BBB games. The Matchplays and 4BBB competitions may be against some of the Junior Committee team or kind volunteers from The Club, who are also keen to ensure our Junior section continues to thrive. Please watch this space for further details.
Events in March / April
We have an exciting few weeks ahead, starting with nine Juniors representing their team at the Team Championships on Friday 29th of March. In April, we have a number of Junior Order of Merit competitions as well as Chiltern League matches. Further details of these and the results will be in the next Niblick.
New Junior Members
We at Beaconsfield Golf Club are so fortunate to have many Juniors on a waiting list. 11 boys and girls have been offered membership from the 1st of April and we look forward to welcoming them and seeing them at the club over the coming weeks.
Communication
I am in the process of contacting all our Juniors to encourage them to be active members and we are proposing to set up a WhatsApp group for all our Junior members, so the Junior Committee can update / inform / encourage everyone to participate in the various events taking place over the coming months.
With Spring in the air, I wish all our Juniors some happy times on the golf course over the coming months.
Ingrid Creighton
Junior Organiser
Supper Club- Chinese Buffet |
Following three successful Wednesday supper evenings the next one is scheduled for Wednesday 17th April 6.30 for 7.00 pm. Tickets are available online and promises to be a great night with lots a various dishes on offer. Book early to avoid dissapointment as tickets are limited.
Course Update & Rainfall |
It’s all go out on the course with the team concentrating their attention on refining the playing surfaces after a long wet winter. The first cuts are always the toughest with months of wet ground conditions and soft growth to contend with, these are areas such as the tee banks and bunker faces. To achieve the desired heights of cut on theses areas it will take 3-4 cuts with different machines which will then allow us to maintain them at a summer height. The surfaces are looking firmer and healthier by the week as they continue to recover from the recent renovations. The soil temperatures have hit double figures at times which instantly kick starts the growth, although colder nights are still fairly frequent dropping as low as 3 degrees which causes everything to slow. Based on these inconsistencies, the cutting is currently being carried out as and when the ground conditions allow. As we transition through April and the soil temperatures increase and regularly remain above 10 degrees the team will move to our full summer cutting regime of:
Area Cuts per week Height of cut
Greens 7 3mm
Tees 3 10mm
Approaches 4-5 10mm
Fairways 3-4 13mm
Semi rough 3 30mm
Tee banks 2 30mm
Rough 1 65mm
(Click on the image to view in full screen)
Stuart Langhorn
Course Director
Chris' Corner |
I hope you are well and enjoying your golf.
With spring seemingly around the corner (Hopefully), we have started to take delivery of our new mens and ladies Spring/Summer Clothing range. There are some brilliant colours that we in the shop think you would look great in! Take a look at it next time you are at the club.
March and April are like a second Christmas for us in the pro shop, with deliveries daily, with the new season starting we have had delivery of all new stand bags and carry bags from leading brands Titleist, Taylormade, Motocaddy, Powakaddy, and PING. Carrying a bag in the summer is excellent for fitness, the more often you do it the stronger you will get physically.
We all like to be able to spin the ball around the greens and with our approach shots, BUT you are at a huge disadvantage if you have wedges with worn grooves. Titleist have completed tests that showed worn wedge grooves give out 2,000RPM less than a new wedge with fresh grooves. This is a significant amount! Try out our new range of SM10 and PING S159 wedges now!
The NEW BGC Team clothing has also arrived for the men and the women. Pop into the shop to get yours now. We have just done a new order for the women, which will hopefully be in within the next 2-3 weeks.
With March marking the start of the new season, it's about time you got your game in shape! Book lessons with us all below now and get started on your journey to better golf.
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Masters Sweepstake! The first Major is coming up which means we are now opening up the Masters 2024 Sweepstake. We are selling 100 boxes ( subject to player numbers participating ) - cost is £5.00 per box and can be taken off pro shop accounts. Prizes this year we have decided to change a bit to have more fun for all.. 1st , 2nd , 3rd Best Amateur Highest Score Day 1 Lowest Score Day 2 First Hole in One |
Chris, Adam and Tom
Tom's Top Tips |
Social Committee News |
The Quiz Night on the 9 March was fiercely contested with 118 members taking part. The winning team were once again Alec Mitchell and Phil Moody’s table scoring 205 points, closely followed by Richard & Helen Coughlin, Giles Taylor and Chris & Jan Collis’s table with 198 points. The Captain thanked Steve McAdam for his 15 years as Quiz Master and presented him with a gift on behalf of the members. Long may his tenure continue. The proceeds from both the raffle and contribution from the entry fee raised a total of £1605.00 for the Captain and Ladies Captain’s charity, Carers Bucks.
Future events scheduled for your diary are:
Saturday 13 July 2024 - Summer Sizzler – this will be a 12pm Shotgun start followed by a hog roast and steel band for all the family to join in the festivities so even if you aren’t planning on playing, please consider joining us afterwards.
25 October 2024 - A gourmet 5-7 course dinner and wine tasting evening.
16 November 2024 - Night Golf
30 November 2024 – Turkey Trot
Social Committee
Clubhouse News |
In preparation for finalising the new menu we conducted four different Tasting Panels where 8-10 members sampled different mix of dishes each day and provided constructive feedback to the chefs. Using this feedback, the catering team could make their final adjustments to the menu and the individual recipes.
We will be issuing a separate notification about the new menu just after Easter.
I would like to thank all those that participated for their time and contribution to the panels.
I would also, like to clear up a possible misunderstanding from last month’s Niblick where some Members seemed to feel we were inferring criticism of David Jennings and his time at the club. I can categorically confirm that this not the case. David served the Club for 22 years providing a quality and valuable service to members and was an important and invaluable member of the management team.
The issues we are working to address have arisen since David left the Club and are a result of multiple different factors.
Richard Cottrell
Chairman of the House Committee
In The Golf Bag..... Changes to WHS on 1st April 2024 |
Some notes on the changes to WHS that will be implemented on 1st April.
Handicap Index (HI) Calculation
First of all, the way Handicap Indices are calculated DOES NOT CHANGE AT ALL.
Each time you submit an ‘acceptable score’ whether in a singles competition or a general play score, the system works out your Score Differential (basically the HI that you played to) and then takes the average of the best 8 of your last 20 score differentials.
There is no change to this calculation. Your HI will not change, and changes to your HI after 1st April will be exactly the same as before.
Handicap for Competitions and Matches
The calculation for the handicap you are allocated for competitions and matches DOES CHANGE. In general, this will have little impact on your position in competitions and shots given in matches as most people’s handicaps will change by the same amount.
Standardised Par
We have also taken the opportunity to introduce standardised par, so that the men’s par with be 72 from ALL tees and the ladies’ par will be 74 from ALL tees.
Standardised par means that instead of a shorter course having a lower par, the par is the same but you lose shots on your handicap. For example, the ladies’ green course is currently a par 71, this will change to a par 74, but your course handicap will reduce by 3.
Course Handicap (CH)
Your Course Handicap is your ‘play to handicap’ target. Under the new system, which includes the Course Rating – Par adjustment set out in last month’s Niblick, you will ALWAYS have ‘played to handicap’ if you score 36 points in a stableford or net Par in a medal using your CH, irrespective of which tees you have used.
New CH charts will be posted outside the men’s and ladies’ locker rooms, and you will be able to look up your CH from all tees on the IG system and IG App.
Playing Handicap
For competitions, you use a Playing Handicap, which is a percentage of your Course Handicap – 95% for singles and 85% for better ball and team competitions.
The way the PH is calculated changes on 1st April, so that you use the UNROUNDED CH to calculate the PH. This means that you cannot just use the CH charts and take 95%, as the charts show the rounded CH. Charts that convert Handicap Index to 95% and 85% playing handicaps will be displayed either outside the locker rooms and/or on noticeboards in the locker rooms.
However, don’t worry, as IG will calculate your PH for all competitions and it will be shown on the IG App and on start sheets. Also remember that you don’t have to put your handicap on your scorecard and there is no problem if you get it wrong.
New Handicap Calculator
A new Handicap Calculator is available in the IG App so you can look up your handicap for any format of both strokeplay and matchplay . This can be found under “Handicap Record” and then “Calculator”.
You are given a choice of format of play, for example, if you select 4BBB matchplay, then you enter the Handicap Index for each player and the Tees to be used and the calculator will give you the shots.
Queries
The WHS page (found under Management) on the BGC web site will be updated with the new WHS information.
If you have any queries on the changes, please do not hesitate to contact Carole Weir, Nick Cray or myself.
Janet Beal
Trophy Roll Of Honour |
Click here to see all the Winners for the Trophy Competitions
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Beaconsfield Golf Club
Seer Green, Beaconsfield
Bucks, HP9 2UR
01494 676545
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