Captain’s Corner

Welcome to the new club year. I hope that you all enjoy today's Turkey Trot, and have a great Xmas and New Year. I am hoping you read this before Ronnie hands you a glass of 'Rusty Nail', otherwise you may be having difficulty focussing by now.

The year is going to be a busy one, with all the normal golfing events, a few new ones, and hopefully more social events.

Let me start by covering some of the things booked so far:- Weekend away to The Dorset Golf and Country Club on 9-11 March, Awayday to Calcot GC on June 6th and Club Tour to Portugal 22-29 September.

We are also arranging a number of 'Society days' to other golf courses, and some social events. I will be continuing Jim's innovation of a Captain’s monthly newsletter on the web and on the club noticeboard, and will update you on progress on these events in the newsletter.

This years charity is the Cystic Fibrosis Trust. Cystic Fibrosis is the UK's most common life-threatening inherited disease, with over 7,500 sufferers. The Trust has provided finance to enable medical researchers to make headway over the years, and is about to trial Gene Therapy, which should be a major breakthrough in treatment.

Finally, we have a great club with great members, but if any member has ideas on how to improve, please feel free to see me at any time.

Have a great year!

Alistair Smith

Dates for your 2007 diary

Night Golf – Downshire - Friday 2^nd Feb
Away Weekend – Dorset Golf Club – 9-11^th March
Club Away Day - Calcot Golf Club – near Reading – Wednesday June 6th
High Handicappers match against Aylesbury – Sat 18^th Aug
Seniors Open - Wednesday 13^th June, for players 55 and over.
Overseas trip 2006 – Portugal - 22-29^th September

Latest News

A month or so ago Chris Hedderman spent a full day hitting golf balls on the driving range to raise money for Children in Need. Chris managed to hit over 3000 balls during the day which was an incredible feat. He ended the day with very blistered hands and tired muscles and he was unable to play golf for a couple of weeks afterwards. He has raised a lot of money for the charity but I am sure he would welcome any further donations from club members. So please pop in to the shop and see what the total is so far and give him a donation.

AGM News

At the AGM on 23rd Nov:

Jim Spencer presented The Windsor Cancer Hospice with a cheque for £1000.
The issue of slow play was brought up (see later in the newsletter).
The annual subscription was increased from £66 to £68.
It was agreed to organise a Seniors Knockout.

Winter Rules

“If a player's ball lies on a closely-mown area through the green the player may mark, lift and clean his ball without penalty. Before lifting, he must mark the position of the ball. The player must then place the ball on a spot within six inches of and not nearer the hole than where it originally lay, that is not in a hazard or on a putting green.”

“Closely mown area” means any area of the course, including paths through the rough, cut to fairway height or less.

EHGC Newsletter – Volume 6, Xmas 2005

Page 2 of 2

Slow Play

Slow play has been a problem recently and the committee were requested at the AGM to take whatever steps it deemed necessary to remedy the situation.

It is the responsibility of each individual player to ensure that he maintains a reasonable pace of play, and we have produced a list of simple steps which we can all take. This list is being distributed with this newsletter and we would ask you to please read it, and bear the suggestions in mind both during the Turkey Trot and during all competitions.

It will become club policy that “Ready Golf” prevails. In effect It is not necessary to tee off or play in rotation, if someone is ready just play. It is not match play and we do not need to adhere to this etiquette, especially as this will speed up play. Please however bear safety and the group in front in mind.

The committee have decided to amend the rule passed at last year’s AGM to be that any group finishing more than 20 minutes behind the group ahead be liable to a slow play penalty throughout the year. Conditions on the day are the same for EVERYBODY. This will be applied sensibly taking into account groups let through, and victims will have right of appeal to the committee.

We don’t want to have to restrict the number of players in our competitions, however during November, when the leaves are down and the time is restricted we will reluctantly resort to this. We will discuss the possibility of using dual tee-times (1st and 10th) with the Complex to limit this.

With the above in mind penalties for No-shows and Late call-offs will be rigorously enforced. Please bear in mind that by behaving in this manner you are depriving someone else of a game for no reason.

The November Medal will be changed next year to a November Stableford.

We will be re-introducing the “Red Dot” system during the Winter Months. For those of you who are relatively new to the club, this is where one player in each group is allocated responsibility for maintaining that group’s pace of play. The designated player would normally be an experienced member of the club and is expected to set an example and take whatever steps necessary to ensure the group keeps up with the players ahead.

Finally, please remember that new members playing for their handicap do not have to complete every hole. Once they are two shots over par on any individual hole they can pick up their ball, as the maximum they will be allocated is a double bogey for h/c assessment.

The Vice Squad

It gave me more pleasure than you could imagine when Alistair asked me to stand as his Vice Captain. I have been a member of this club for four years now and have enjoyed every minute. The way I view this is that it now gives me a chance to put something back into the club. The previous formats for competitions, tours, away days and weekends have always worked very well, which is a great legacy from past captains and committees, so to quote an old adage “why fix it if it ‘aint broke”! Having said that if anyone has any new ideas please do not hesitate to speak to either Alistair or myself.

I am sure I will be playing golf with many of you this coming year and look forward to meeting new members on the course. The first event I will be assisting with in the capacity of Vice Captain will be the Turkey Trot. This as always will be great fun and my advice to new members is take it easy with Ronnie’s ‘rusty nail’ (could make your game better or maybe worse, as was my experience), so I’ll see you all on December 16th.

Best regards Chris Joseph

Chris Joseph and friend?

Spain Trip 2006

This year’s tour was attended by 30 golfers and 12 non golfers (partners and guests). It was a very successful tour and the weather was great for the whole week. We played golf on 4 different courses during the week each offering very different challenges. Congratulations to the overall winner of the individual competition for the week, which goes to Mark Hillman (who was in 7th place at the start of the last day).

Everyone managed to turn up with the correct colour tee shirts each day (well done to all) although several players missed the early morning coaches and had to make their own way to the course.

Jim Spencer, Tour Captain 2006