Chairman's Blog - August 2018
Well, here we are again! Why is it the summer months seem to fly by and the winter months drag on forever? Anyway (touch wood) we are still being blessed with reasonable weather, although there was some disruption to Lady Captain’s second round. Congrats to Pete Jolleys (yes really!!) and Christine Seed for winning the respective Captain’s competitions and thanks to everyone who competed (irrespective of the weather) making these special occasions for Phil, Hilary and their family and friends!
The Summer Ball was a fantastic social evening (as long as you didn’t have an early Sunday tee-time); the food was good and the group provided excellent entertainment. While the main social events remain well supported (and will continue in 2019) we have tasked the Social Committee with coming up with some fresh ideas/events in 2019. We are rightly proud of our clubhouse and sociable membership so hopefully you will try out any new events in 2019 while continuing to support the popular social functions.
I promised to start some 9-hole, midweek competitions for working members who struggle to get any competitive golf in during the week. While I met that promise I realise there were teething problems. We’ve worked through the issues and will be incorporating these events into the 2019 calendar, alongside the usual weekend competitions, mixed entry competitions on Sundays and elongated midweek comps which remain extremely popular.
We held another successful (if soggy) 18th Hole Challenge last Sunday; thanks to all who persevered in the damp conditions, Craig for running the event and Stu Dix for providing the evening entertainment via a karaoke. Once again it was great to see members enjoying themselves in the clubhouse on a Sunday evening. Our final Golf/Social event of the year is on Sunday 30th September when we are holding a 9-hole, 4 person shotgun event, followed by breakfast in the clubhouse and the opportunity to watch the final day of The Ryder Cup from France. More details on this event will be issued soon!
The Open Day is being held on 23rd September which will see the launch of our new 2019 packages through which we hope to recruit a significant number of new (and returning) members for 2019 (please encourage friends and family to attend). The packages will be on display in the clubhouse next week. Following that, in early October, we will be holding a members forum where we will provide a mid-year review on progress throughout the golf club, a finance update and our future plans. This will be your opportunity to contribute to this process and ask questions of the board. (More details on this will be issued soon).
While there have been some interesting activities in and around the club recently (tree-pruning, excavations and electricity power-downs) the main focus of the membership is always the condition of the course. While we all enjoyed the prolonged dry, hot spell any un-watered areas of the course took a battering. The work required to recover the affected areas is already in train and I hope you’ve read Matt’s informative blog on the team’s plans for addressing this over the coming weeks. Thanks again to Matt and his team for maintaining excellent playing surfaces which are the envy of many other clubs.
Finally, I’d like to congratulate Gill Roscoe on winning the LLCGA Frances Smith Trophy and wish the Ladies Handicap team all the best as they compete in the North West finals at Swinton Park on 5th September. I had the pleasure of caddying on the day they won the Lancashire finals and the team were a credit to PGC in every way. Good Luck Ladies!!
Dave Brookes.
