Dear Members

I wanted to send a note out on some of the current issues at the golf club. I understand the current situation is affecting us all in different ways and frustrations are beginning to grow as we move through the pandemic. However I am beginning to become concerned that all the good work that has been done over the past 4 months is beginning to be undone. Therefore I want to address a few of the points that seem to be the current hot topics.

From me personally, I felt really proud of how we got back to golf and moved through the process steadily and professionally. But now the frustrations seem to be growing day by day and some are forgetting we are still in the middle of a pandemic and have restrictions to contend with.

I myself am completely gutted that I can't host certain events such as my first Dupree. But the good times will return and I can't wait! I apologise if this comes across as a bit doom and gloom!

Booking System + Start Times
I have said this in many communications before, but the Booking System is here because it has to be. We have no choice in the matter currently. England Golf and the R&A have been very specific that every golf club needs to have a booking system in place to ensure social distancing is being followed, and all golfers can be tracked and traced if an infection was to spread.

I appreciate the system itself can sometimes be very clunky and not handle the overload of tee bookings at peak times. I am constantly logging the issues with V1 and hopefully they will improve as we move forward. They never expected the amount of golf clubs to begin using the booking system all at once.

The start times for golf in the morning has also been mentioned. This is in place to allow the green staff to get ahead of golf and work safely. It also means the efficiency they are currently working at is far beyond what they were achieving. I hope you are noticing this within the course. You will be hard pressed to find many private member courses at the standard we are, that do not have start times in the morning for golf.

Weekend Mornings
Probably the biggest issue at the moment is members trying to book weekend morning slots. The positive we have as a golf club is the amount of weekend golfers that play in competitions. The negative side of this is the overload of tee times for the peak morning slots. As mentioned before I am speaking with V1 to try and improve the system. However, it is quite clear that some members are 'playing' the system in the mornings. Once a tee time is clicked into, it is locked for 10 minutes so you can add in names without having to rush. The issue with this is, when a 4 ball are all going for different times, you are locking all of these tee times for your fellow members. Common courtesy to other members is all we are asking.

Competition Golf

Upon starting competition golf we wanted to ensure all members could get out on the golf course on any day, hence the competitions such as 4BBB, Texas Scrambles and Greensomes.

We are aware the want now by many is for board competitions to return. We will still be looking to get a good chunk of these played to ensure the presentations for all sections come the end of the year will be worth while.

However it is important to remember it was only just over 2 months ago that we were not even playing golf, the fact we are now planning for competitions and quaffers later in the year is fantastic! Hopefully over the next week we will be sending out the competition schedule taking us up to the end of November.

Bar Re-Opening
Re-opening the bar has probably been the most difficult tasks that COVID19 has given us. In the ideal world I would of brought all the staff back and opened 7 days a week, providing food and beverage. But when we got to the end of the year and we were sending out the accounts showing huge losses, would you of thanked me? The plan with the reduced offering was to be able to do this bringing back 2 members of staff. This meant the amount we had to sell to cover the costs were less. Even with 2 members of staff, we are only covering the costs slightly.

Speaking with other GM's who went more aggressive with their opening, they are now regretting the decision and looking to pull it back. We are seeing around 40/50% of the golfers on the tee sheet coming upstairs currently.

I am working on the figures daily and planning when to increase the offering upstairs. It will not be long until we are back to some sort of normality, but I will not make any decisions that will put the golf club at risk financially.

Roll-Up Golf
Though the booking system needs to be in place and has its advantages, the one thing it means we have lost is roll-ups. This is one of the great traditions in golf and I am aware we have a few that are well supported.

Though I can't promise anything currently, what I would like is to get a better understanding of our roll-up groups.

Within your group can you please nominate an organiser to get into contact with me. I need to know the average amount in the group, the day and time that you usually play. Thank you.