Hello golfers,
With the US Masters just around the corner it's great to see the club buzzing with keen golfers, to see the grass being mown and the ball rolling nicely.
Car Parking
Some of you may have noticed the obvious downside of this as the car park can become quite congested at popular times. However, over the past few weeks considerable time has been spent investigating the best system to cater for parking space demand and the solution required involvement from the young boffins at the London Motor Transport College combined with the renowned MIRA test facility in Leicester. Thanks to all involved and hopefully you will appreciate the surprisingly high cost of this research due to the mathematics and modelling involved and see the difference when you next come to visit the club.
It all relates to the turning circle of different classes of vehicle to fit into the varying 'nooks and crannies' of our car park. Basically, the solution is that vehicles with a turning circle closest to that of a London black cab, which have the tightest circle on the road, will have the largest choice of spaces. Those with the poorest turning circle will be limited to fewer spaces, and for instance, won't be allowed to park in the areas closest to the greenkeepers sheds during British Summer Time. The car park has been split into four 'Zones' and all the vehicles into four 'Categories'. A graphic is being produced which will go on display to show the different zones.
Category 1 - Motorbikes, Smart cars, vehicles up to 1.5L engines and/or no longer in length than a Ford Ka or Vauxhall Corsa can park anywhere in Zones 1,2,3 or 4.
Category 2 - Vehicles from 1.5L or longer than a Ford Ka or Vauxhall Corsa can park anywhere in Zones 2,3, or 4.
Category 3 - Vehicles of 2Litres or more, or longer than an Audi A4 or Citroen DS4 can park in Zones 3 or 4.
Category 4 - Vans, trucks, or any estate car or MPV can park in Zone 4 only.
To maximise spacing the parking bay lines will shortly be re-painted, thereby reducing the width of the spaces quite dramatically. To allow this, all you have to do is to park 'top to tail'. i.e If there is car parked facing outwards, then you would need to park facing INWARDS on the right hand side of it, as close to it as you can. Neither cars would be accessible by the passenger door, but the driver side would have plenty of room. If everyone does this, there should be room for another 34 vehicles in the car park of any size, or a huge 58 extra category 1 vehicles simply by adopting the new policy of 'All Parking Respectfully Inside Lines'.
The difference in how many extra category 1 vehicles that can be accommodated compared to the other categories is the reason why it would make sense if EVERYBODY could ensure they move up at least one category towards Category 1 when they next purchase a car.
Unfortunately, at the moment there are not enough Zone 3 and 4 spaces for the predicted number of members and visitors with those size vehicles, so you will need to request a Zone 3 or 4 permit and there may even be need to require permits for the Zone 2 vehicles in the future, these can be obtained from the Pro Shop.
Parking on the grass by the entrance to the car park is for any category vehicle and doesn't have a zone classification at present - the policy here is to use it as a "Facility Overspill Outside Lines System".
Hopefully this all makes sense. The zones will change in British Winter Time as the club gets quieter and the only exceptions to these rules for parking are for the Pro Shop staff, as have never had our own space and we can park wherever we like now and in any size vehicle which is lucky for me as I'm hoping to get a long Transporter van soon :). Click here to let me know your thoughts.
Calm after the Storms
After the storms of Sunday night which completely flooded parts of the course, it was great for the juniors to be out playing and to also have the first Tuesday Social Golf of the year. This year we are having an Order Of Merit on Tuesday nights with your best 6 scores counting for the first 10 weeks. Points are awarded to the top 9 scores and there is 1 point for playing each week. This week there were 31 players with 12 of them scoring 17 points, here are the winners:
1st Stuart Beaman 18 pts £14
2nd Maurice Braden 18 pts £12
3rd Holly Hunt 17 pts £10
4th Nathan Cooper 17 pts £8
5th Mike Mason 17 pts £7
6th John Nicholls 17 pts £6
7th Matt Wilkes 17 pts £5
Captain Pro Qualifiers
Good luck to everyone playing in the Captain Pro qualifiers this weekend. The best 4 Better-Ball medal scores from Saturday and Sunday qualify to play against the Captain and I during the year, receive a free meal at the Captains Dinner and any pair that beat us play off for a trophy at the season end.
Last weeks Academy Night
Thanks to everyone who came along to my latest Academy night last week. A total of 60 golfers have been to the club to discover how they can diagnose their own ball flight misses and 'HIT THE NEXT BALL BETTER' with the (+) and (-) system. I explain to everyone that it makes more and more sense as the evening progresses and by the end of the night everyone's questions and comments are spot on - they really GET IT!
I'll be holding another night at the end of April so look out for the date in the newsletter if you'd like to come along, there is no charge to attend. Why am I doing these seminars? - I see part of my role at the club, and indeed to the game of golf in general, to engage and inspire golfers to play more, play better and enjoy their golf, plus it's good revision and training for me too.
Here's a couple of testimonials from this week:
"Gave me a new insight into my swing and enabled me to focus on adding one thing that I could do easily . Shot 44 points the next day and took the money! Very worthwhile two hours." - Jon Brookes
"Many thanks for once again a very enjoyable and enlightening academy session... I don't know any other golf teachers locally who understand this philosophy at all, let alone to the extent that you do." - Visitor
"Really enjoyed yesterdays Academy Night. Sounded complicated to start with but as you stated it would become clearer as we progressed. It certainly did and the more I thought about it the more logical it became. Just one downside though - not a lot of work done today as most of it spent thinking about my swing (or at least the impact!!)" - John Nicholls
"It was very interesting to see how many different swings there are and how they get the club back square at impact. Your seminar made it sound easy to correct our faults." - Nigel Metcalfe
Look out for these other clinics and golf experience days in the near future
Short Game Clinics, Putting clinics, Putting Tournament, Super Demo Days, 10 Yard challenge, golf days away - all to come in 2016 !!
