Gathurst Golf Club

Course Status: 1. Open, no restrictions

News

Scratch Cup & Keith Haigh Memorial Trophy

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This weekend sees us playing for the Club Championship over two days. COVID-19 restrictions will impact on the course, and also in the clubhouse.

As always, local rules of the day are displayed on the noticeboard and in the Proshop, and it is the responsibility of ALL PLAYERS to familiarise themselves with ALL of these rules BEFORE PLAYING.

On completion of your round ALL PLAYERS MUST enter their score electronically, either using the HowDidIDo phone APP, or using the touch screen in the games room. Once you have entered your score electronically please put your signed scorecard in the box provided.

This is a two-day competition and it is vital that you complete the electronic score entry accurately. Scorecards will not be checked until 24 hours after the event as a COVID-19 safety measure. Your playing handicap WILL, however, be adjusted for Sunday using the scores you entered electronically.

Concerning the electronic entry of scores and the marking of scorecards:

  1. Players must always enter their GROSS score for each hole on the touch screen or APP.
    This is the case for both Stoke Play and Stableford. The system automatically calculates your nett score or Stableford points. Failure to enter your GROSS score will log incorrect results and wrong handicap adjustments. These errors cannot be corrected until the cards can be checked manually.
  2. Under COVID-19 restrictions players are responsible for marking and signing for their own scores.
    Players must mark their own score in the PLAYER column on the righthand side of the scorecard, putting down their GROSS score in the column marked A. They can, if they wish, also put down their nett score or Stableford points, but your GROSS score is the only one which counts for the purposes of checking the results.
    You should also mark the score of one of your playing partners in the MARKER section of the card so that you are able to cross-check each other’s score.
  3. Under COVID-19 restrictions, all cards must be signed by the player only.
    Do not sign your playing partner’s card.

 

Scorecard Entry Using the HowDidIDo Phone APP

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Club systems V1 have now opened an on line score entry system for all singles competitions. In the near future they will have the same option for team events.
To enter your score you need to open HOWDIDIDO on either your mobile phone or using web browser. Only your score can be entered by this method.
Below is a guide to using this score entry system.
Cards will still need to be placed in the competitions box for ratification.
By using this system it will greatly reduce the amount of work needed to manually enter scores for everyone. We will continue to use this system even when the clubhouse has been opened. This will reduce the number of people using the touch screen.

The HowDidIDo APP can be downloaded from the Apple App Store or Google Play.

OnlineScoreEntry

 

 

Local Rules (June 2020)

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Bunkers

All bunkers will be in play for competition golf.

The ball may be lifted and placed within one club length in the bunker and no nearer the hole.

Having played your ball, the sand should be smoothed using a club.

Slits on Fairways

Ball resting on any of the open slits on the fairways may be lifted and dropped no nearer the hole and within one club length without penalty.

Golf Committee 6 June 2020

Steve “Radar” Norman’s May Photographic Tour

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“Radar” has been busy with his camera again.

Some things you will recognise, other features will be new to you, we hope you like them, Danny and his team have worked hard over the winter on these improvements.

Once lockdown has ended he will be able to complete the finishing touches on the paths and new winter tees. The work will improve course availability to those with buggies and trollies without winter wheels.

You can also catch some glimpses of new wild areas, these have been seeded with wild flowers, the areas will be spectacular when fully mature.

Some Recent Photos (April 2020)

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Whilst the country remains on Lockdown we wanted to share with you some photos of the course taken over the last couple of weeks. Most of them have been posted on Facebook and Twitter, but we know there are members who don’t use these social media platforms, so we shared them here as well. We will post more when we can.

Thanks go to Scott Rigby, Steve Banks and Steve Norman for the pictures,  we hope you enjoy them, stay safe.

Steve’s Handiwork

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As mentioned in an earlier post, Steve Norman has been taking his self isolating exercising on the course – one of the joys of living in a house so close he can almost step out of his back gate into the clubhouse.

His exercise has been to do some jobs around the course. He’s already jet washed the patio, which now looks brand new. His current exercise to repaint the marker discs, he’s doing a fantastic job.

Many thanks Steve, we all look forward to seeing the fruits of your labour “in the flesh”. For now we will have to make do with some photos.

 

Member Update, 2nd April

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Hello everyone, we hope you are all staying safe and well.

If you need help during the lockdown, please let us know. If you can volunteer to help other members, please also contact the club.

All the staff and Directors are heartened by the overwhelming support you are giving the club in this unprecedented crisis.

We’ve been working hard on your behalf to keep the course maintained, Dan, Josh, Mike and Scott are doing a fantastic job, aided by unhindered access – let’s hope they let us back when the course reopens!

Keith and Nicola continue to manage the club from home, ensuring the subscriptions can be taken and the bills are paid, juggling more balls than a lotto machine. The Directors are also working to ensure we make best use of  your subscriptions, and that the club will be able to reopen as soon as the restrictions are lifted.

Steve “radar” Norman has been your eyes and ears providing videos and photos when he can. He’s also taken it upon himself to repaint all the marker discs as his daily exercise, providing the paint as well as the labour. As you may know, Steve’s house backs onto the clubhouse, so he’s also keeping an eye on things.

Talking of photos, here are a few more Steve took today. The last one shows Steve’s ingenuity – he assures us that he’s obeying the 90 degree, which hasn’t yet been officially lifted.

Take care, we will post more when we can.

And finally, Steve Norman’s repurposed trolly / paint cart:-

 

 

 

March News

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Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the course and clubhouse are now closed for the safety of members and staff.

The office team, Keith and Nicola, have relocated to work from their homes. This has caused some disruption whilst I.T. systems were put in place, but everything should now be back to normal. Well almost, we only have a single telephone line, which Keith is manning, and the club systems are operating slower in remote mode. You can contact Keith on the usual number, 01257 255235, but there are no further options to listen to. Please be patient if you can’t get through first time.

Club has had to put Deborah and the bar staff on furlough (paid lay-off) whilst the clubhouse is closed. Dave McMullan’s cleaning contract is on temporary hold, and Dave, Mikey and the other kitchen team are not able to work. The pro-shop is also closed. This is hard on them, and we are aware that many of self-employed members find themselves in similar predicaments. Hopefully the government assistance for self-employed will kick-in soon. Even with this support, we all need to help each other along the way.

On the positive side, in line with England Golf and BIGGA guidelines, the greens staff are, for the moment, able to continue to work. Unencumbered by golfers, they are really getting to grips with the course which is looking better and better every day. Dan, Josh, Mike, and Scott are, of course, working with social distancing, cleaning protocols and other precautions in place.  You will see all the same familiar faces when the club reopens.

Some of you will have seen the video made by Steve Norman and posted to the club’s Facebook and Twitter pages. If you haven’t yet viewed it, you can do so by scrolling down to the end of this blog. The course is looking fantastic.

In the background the Directors are working hard with Keith and Nicola to ensure we keep all expenses to minimum, ranging from simple thing like putting Sky TV on hold, to speaking to our bank about securing finance over the shutdown. We are also planning to apply for help with the wage bill for those staff who are laid off. Unfortunately, we have no such help with the staff who have to work. This includes Dan and his team, if they were laid-off to take advantage of the wage support we would rapidly lose the greens and fairways. The damage would take months to rectify. The upkeep of the course comes second only to the safety and welfare of our staff and members.

With the clubhouse now closed members can’t read the noticeboards or speak to the staff and other members, communication via email and social media has become very important.

If the club doesn’t have your email, or has an old email for you, we can’t keep you fully informed.

If you want to stay in touch please ensure we have your current email address. If you know members who don’t have email or access to social media, we ask you to give them a call from time to time to keep them updated. The club will try to ring round members without email addresses, but you can all help us by doing this as well.

As you will understand, we don’t know how long the emergency will last. This means the social and golf calendar will be constantly changing. We will try to reschedule what we can, but invariably we will have to cancel some things. We already know that this year’s Victory Trophy has been postponed until next year.

We may also have to cancel/rearrange some of the Opens and Invitation days, but it will be a challenge to fit everything in.

Things WILL return to normal, Gathurst Golf Club WILL survive and THRIVE again, but we will need your continued support.

Stay Safe.

Now here’s the video we promised. Thanks go to our very own Steve Norman who is doing a great impression of Sky Sport’s Ken Brown.