The Beaconsfield Niblick- Nov 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

From the captain

Many of you have kindly asked how my first 6 weeks have been and I can say without hesitation it’s been great so far. Even when I inadvertently used a trolley last weekend everyone was decent enough to believe I wasn’t abusing my position and that it was a genuine error! (Note to self: read ALL of Lee’s Course Updates). But a timely reminder to all of us to carry if you can as it really will help preserve the course. The condition of the course itself is nothing less than amazing to me; to be able to play ‘proper games’ rather than just get some fresh air/exercise in late November/December is excellent. So big thanks to Lee and the team who keep the course open whenever they can with their dedication and hard work.

We had a great turnout of around 30 at the recent 50 Year Members Long Service Celebration dinner which was a lovely evening primarily thanks to Ken Rumen’s entertaining quiz (watch out Steve McAdam) on BGC history. After the quiz, some of the BGC veterans recalled some of their own personal stories which was very amusing. Congratulations to the three 50 Year tie recipients who were unable to make the Captain’s Dinner; Richard Beacham, Nick Fitrzyk and Mike Wisdom.

Last weekend was the Turkey Trot and I believe that broke a few records. The warmest Turkey Trot ever with temperatures of 12°C and the maximum field of 100 members. The winning team was Peter Lynch, Charlie Dunn, Mark Alghita and Martin Murphy with 95 pts – well played guys! We also had a very green elf in the field (David Gray) who was a standout winner of the best dressed man competition whilst Louise Corrin won the Ladies best dressed prize. Thanks also to all who maintained the festive spirit and kept their Christmas jumpers on in the clubhouse despite the temperature!

I would like to thank everyone for their understanding and positive attitude to holding the lunch on two floors following the restrictions introduced by last week’s Fire Risk Assessment. The Board will communicate further on the restrictions and future events once we have seen the written report.

Best of all, the Turkey Trot raised £1,003 from the raffle and mulled wine sales for the Captain’s charities so thank you to all.

Which segues nicely into the 100⛳️fore £100k Charity Day for Breast Cancer Now and Prostate Cancer UK on June 23rd 2025. This is going to be a very major event with 32 golfers playing 100 holes starting at 4.30am and finishing at dusk (hopefully). We have many celebrities taking part such as Scottish rugby internationals Kenny Logan and Craig Chalmers, Alan Lamb the England cricketer, and Gabby Logan will be here on the day as well. More celebrities are invited and I will update each month as the list of participants expands as they confirm. Beaconsfield even made the Sunday Times with a mention in the article on Craig Chalmers on Nov 15th – see here.

On the day, there will be a Putting Competition and a Silent Auction with some really exciting donated prizes and best of all, we are aiming to get a ‘Man Van’ mobile Prostate Testing facility at the club all day for those of you who keep putting off that PSA test! With 1 in 8 of us getting either Breast Cancer or Prostate Cancer that’s over 100 BGC members who will be affected so please support this event as much as you can! We have 170+ caddie slots to fill so please let me know when you can help.

Finally, congratulations to Peter Tanner who had a Hole-in-One at the 7th last month. Well done Peter.

Have a wonderful Christmas,

David Booker

Captain's Charity for 2024/2025

From the Ladies Captain

November has been fairly quiet on the golf front. We have to congratulate Nicky, Penny, Nuala and Anna for a fine performance playing in the dark. The good scores achieved in our 4 Clubs and a putter competition make me wonder whether we need so many clubs in our bags!

We welcome Victoria who is now joining us in our committee meetings. It is helpful to get instant responses from both herself and Stuart.

Kay Lubek is running a twice monthly social bridge session during the winter. This is proving very popular. Thank you Kay. It is lovely to see the more experienced players helping the newcomers with kindness and patience.

The Christmas decorations went up on 29 November. The Ladies committee, Victoria and the new members Susan Jackson and Anne Fowler were there to help. Maureen Murphy and Carol Isaac guided us all as they do every year and we all hope you approve.

Ros Johnstone

Ladies' Captain's Charity for 2024/2025

Project Du Pre

Further to successfully receiving full planning approval for the Clubhouse plans, we are finalising the detailed designs and analysing the associated cost implications.

More recently and following guidance given during our regular Fire Risk Assessment undertaken by UK Fire Consultants Ltd we were advised to restrict the number of people on the first floor to a total of 60. We have yet to see the written report. Once we have this, we will analyse its implications and feed the conclusions into our plans and the Fire Risk Strategy that forms part of the Du Pre Project. All remedial building requirements necessary to meet the guidance will also have cost implications for the project.

We will be better positioned to provide much more clarity in the New Year.

Richard Cottrell

Chairman of House

Meet the Team - Jamie Marlow

It was probably inevitable that our newest Greenkeeper Jamie Marlow, would thrive in a forestry career. A lifelong Nottingham Forest fan, Jamie was destined for a job surrounded by trees.

Jamie had a good grounding in forestry matters at De Montford University. This led to him becoming Woodlands Officer at Dacorum council in Hertfordshire. Jamie then had a series of jobs working for private companies, councils and latterly for himself. I particularly enjoyed hearing about Jamie tackling massive London Planes. I admired one recently in Bloomsbury Square, they are big!

This type of work takes its toll on the body, so Jamie has now embarked on a new career in greenkeeping. He joins us from Ashridge and is really enjoying his time with the team.

Jamie is a delightful man, with great experience and skills that will benefit our golf course. Although Jamie’s job involves the whole gamut of greenkeeping activities, he has been impressed by the variety of trees on our course and how well planned the tree planting has been.

This father of three also manages to squeeze in recreational running when he can. He has good pedigree, having completed 30 marathons and 10 ultra marathons. He once ran 100 miles nonstop along the South Downs Way.

A final note on Jamie’s keenness to develop himself, he now helps to prepare the Watford football pitch on match days. I’m not sure if he wears his Forest scalf while doing this but it certainly proves he’s a pragmatist!

David Garmon-Jones

Course Update and Rainfall

I am sure everyone, members and guests alike, have appreciated the condition of the course over the year. Credit for the condition of the course go to Lee and his Team who on a daily basis must make hard decisions to ensure that this condition is maintained. No one likes to see the course closed after periods of heavy rainfall, or the greens being hollow tined in the summer months, but these decisions are essential to maintain and improve the course now and into the future.

Now that we are heading into the Winter months, we are looking to remind ourselves of the things we as members can do to help ensure the condition of the course is maintained at its current standard, ready to blossom again in the Spring.

We all need to remember the blue and white posts by the greens are there for a good reason.

Golf, especially for club golfers, is a game that is self-policed by the players and their playing partners. If you saw a playing partner breaking a rule of golf, then this would be picked up by their playing partners. Could we all please look to adopt a similar approach should you see a playing partner ignoring the course direction provided by the Greenkeeping Team to protect our course.

With this in mind, we should all remember to adhere to the following;

Please carry your bag if possible.
If we must use a trolley, then a lighter bag will have less impact on the playing surface.
Please keep trolleys on the paths.
If we land near, or on the Green, there will be a pitch mark. Even if we can't find our own pitch mark, please look to repair a pitch mark on the green.
Adhere to all traffic management posts and ropes. Please walk round, not through or over.
If you need to remove any posts or ropes to play a shot, please replace them after the shot.
The posts are put in place to maximise the turf quality, helping you to play from around the greens.
Avoid taking your trolleys right up to the edge of the tees and greens.
Stand on towels on the putting greens when practicing for long periods of time.
If you hit a shot into a practice green that leaves a pitch mark, please repair it.
Enter and exit the bunkers at the lowest point, avoiding walking down and causing damage to the faces.
Walk around the outside edges of the greenside bunkers.
Avoid walking on visibly worn and wet ground.
Tap your golf shoes to remove ice before walking onto the greens. This will help maintain the quality of the putting surfaces.
We should all look at the terrain and decide, based on our physical capabilities, the safest route around the course.
Remember to avoid walking on severe slopes in wet weather. It is sensible to take flatter routes, even if this means walking slightly further.

Here is a friendly reminder of the main messages to help us all enjoy our golf over the Winter months;

PACE: Keep the speed of play up.

PITCH: Make sure you repair pitch marks.

PENCIL BAG: Carry over the Winter months if you can.

Garrett Cotter

Chairman of Green

(Click on the image to view in full screen)

Chris' Corner

We have now got our stock in the shop for AW24, which looks great! We have also got some new pieces from J Lindeberg on a trial, the midlayers are available at £109.99 with a FREE J Lindeberg cap included, swing by to check them out!

We are also running a new promotion on a UNDER ARMOUR Waterproof suit, trousers and jacket for a combined price of £199.95, saving a total of £30. The waterproof jackets are also logo'd up so you're able to represent Beaconsfield in all weather!

On the subject of Sales we have a big SALE now on in the shop before Christmas.. perfect timing!!

There will be no instructional video from Tom this month as he has been away, he's been in Arizona enjoying some sun and even managed to play some golf.. however he did capture a nice birdie on the 4th hole Par 5 at the Wigwam Resort Golf Club in Phoenix. He said he hit driver and a 6 iron, the ball must go a lot further over there... see below for some great pictures.

Chris, Adam and Tom

In the Bag.... Bunkers

This month I thought I would talk about when and how you can take relief when your ball is in a bunker.

When is a ball IN the bunker?

Firstly it is worth review the definition of when your ball is IN a bunker. A bunker is defined by the level of the SAND in the bunker. If your ball is on the sand, or even part of the ball is touching the sand, then it IS in the bunker. If your ball is on a soil or grass face of the bunker, your ball is in the general area, not in the bunker.

Leaves in a Bunker

If there are lots of leaves in a bunker you can search for your ball amongst the leaves - if you move your ball during the search then there is no penalty, but you must replace the ball where it was.

If there are some leaves in the bunker, but you can see your ball, then you can move the leaves, but be careful as if the ball moves you get a one stroke penalty and must replace the ball.

Temporary Water in a Bunker

If there is temporary water in a bunker which affects the lie of the ball, your stance or your area of intended swing, then you can take free relief from the water:

Find the nearest point of relief IN the bunker and no nearer the hole where there is full relief from the temporary water, or if there is nowhere with full relief then the maximum possible relief
Drop a ball within one club length of the nearest point of relief, no nearer the hole then the nearest point of relief and IN the bunker

However, if there is nowhere IN the bunker where you can drop, then your only option is to either play the ball as it lies or take relief for ONE stroke penalty back on line outside the bunker keeping the location of the ball between you and the hole.

GUR Bunkers

If a whole bunker has been marked as GUR or ‘out of play’ then the bunker loses its status as a bunker and becomes part of the general area, so you can take free relief in the general area.

If part of a bunker is marked as GUR, then you can take relief from the GUR, but must drop in the bunker for free relief, following the steps detailed above for temporary water.

Movable Obstructions

A movable obstruction is an artificial item that can be moved, for example a rake. You can always move movable obstructions away from your ball, and if the ball moves there is no penalty and you just replace the ball. If the ball will not stay where it was, then you find the nearest place no nearer the hole and in the same area of the course and place the ball.

The problem you may have in a bunker is that if your ball is up against a rake which has been left close to the edge of the bunker, you may find that when you replace the ball it will roll further into the bunker which may be closer to the hole and you may not be able to find anywhere to place the ball in the bunker, no nearer the hole, where it will stay at rest (you are not allowed to push the ball into the sand).

In this case, your only option is to take unplayable ball relief and your only options will be going back to where you last played (stroke and distance) for one stroke penalty, or back on line outside the bunker for two stroke penalty.

A plea for people to take care when replacing rakes in bunkers - please make sure you don’t put the rake where it could result in another player having to take penalty relief!

Embedded Ball

Just a quick reminder that you DO NOT get free relief for an embedded ball in a bunker.

Janet Beal

Trophy Roll Of Honour

Click here to see all the Winners for the Trophy Competitions

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