Plugged lie in the rough

The current wet weather and winter conditions mean we are playing preferred lies and 'embedded balls' in the rough. In layman's terms this means that a player with a ball plugged in the rough and still in the original hole can take free relief. The procedure is
1. Inform your playing partner
2. Mark the ball
3. Pick and clean
4. Drop (shoulder height) no nearer hole.

You must never, ever just roll it out of the pitch mark .. the penalty would be 2 strokes.

Ladies AGM 2011

The Ladies Section held their AGM in the Clubhouse last night and the event was well attended. Reports were given by the officials and committee members and then the Captaincy was transferred from Yvonne Welch to Anne Hope. We wish Anne a successful and rewarding year as Lady Captain. Anne announced her Vice-Captain for 2012 as Barbara Newman. Congratulations Barbara. There were 2 committee members and one other member standing for the 2 vacancies on the committee so a vote was necessary and the 2 committee members were re-elected. Betty Bainbridge stood down from the committee and she will be greatly missed.

Yellow Balls

A small incident this morning illustrates the peril of playing with a yellow ball on the first hole. The first hole is normally littered with stray range balls, something as members we are all accustomed. It was the Vets 9 hole matchplay competition and Joan King was playing her match teeing off from the winter tee box. Neither player reached the fairway with their tee shots and Joan walked up to her ball in the rough and instinctively picked up an adjacent yellow ball and threw it onto the range. Oh dear !! it was actually her opponents ball and the result was a visit onto the range to retrieve the yellow ball accompanied by lots of laughing and giggling.

Presentation Night

Our annual Presentation Night will be held in the clubhouse on Friday, 25th November 2011. The trophy and medal winners for the men's, ladies and juniors will be regognised for their success during the year and you are invited to attend and be part of this club event.

Samantha Taylor for England!!

Our congratulations go to Samantha Taylor who has been selected by the EGU/EWGA for training which is aimed at providing targeted support to England's most talented young golfers. Sam was chosen for one of only 10 places available for boys and girls in Northumberland, Cumbria and Durham at a trial at Matfen Hall Golf Club.
She will receive top class coaching from specially selected England coaches, a complete package of sports science support including bio mechanics, strength and conditioning, psychological training as well as a NVQ grade in sporting excellence. The selection criteria states "Any player selected to be part of the England Futures programme will not be an ordinary player. They must possess the drive and commitment to to do their best both academically and within their golf training" ........... and the programme "is exclusively available to those young people who have demonstrated the necessary talent and skill required to suggest that they have a realistic chance to make a career from playing golf, either for England or as a playing professional" .... wow!!!! well done Samantha.

St Andrews for Sam Taylor

Samantha Taylor has had an eventful week with her entry into the St Andrews Junior Ladies Open which started on Monday with a qualification round on the Strathtyrum course where a gross 75 saw her qualify for the Open Quaich Competition starting on the Tuesday. This was a knock out phase and a 4 and 2 victory saw her playing in the semi finals on the Wednesday. Samantha won again in the semis 1 up, to win her way to the finals played on the Old Course on Thursday. Unfortunately Samantha lost the final, but a great week and a great golfing experience. The photograph of her on the Swilcan Bridge was taken on a sunnier occasion. Samantha's match was played in heavy rain and mists ... well that's golf for you !!

Club Champions

Just in case you missed the news on the website or did not click the link to the photographs ... the 2011 Club Champions are pictured holding their trophies after winning two magnificent 36 hole finals.

Age

I was playing in a 4BBB competition on Thursday and after the competition I sat and chatted with Danny Hall and his playing partner Alan Davison. They had shared a buggy for their round of golf and we were sat discussing the round of golf (as golfers do!), when I did the maths and realised that their combined age was 165. What a sport when you can be still competitive at such magnificent ages.

The Connie Burton Trophy

Samantha Malone is pictured receiving her trophy from the Ladies County Captain, our very own Heather Stonebank at Parklands last night. Samantha won this trophy in the County Championships at Arcot Hall on 1st June 2011 returning the lowest net score over the two qualifying rounds with an 87 + 82 less handicap = 141. Winning the Connie Burton Trophy is a superb achievement for Samantha at such a young age. Well done Sam.

President's Day 2011

It was another very successful President's Day for Danny Hall and the 152 players who enjoyed a fun (or serious?) team event and some super prizes. The event was graced with some good weather and a well attended presentation saw the winning teams collect their drivers from a happy President. Full results are available on the Club website (for another 5 days) and all photos are visible on Flikr (see link on the club website home page). Thanks to all the helpers before and during the event.

Refer a new member during June

There is a new referral scheme in place this month and the reward is a pair of G&P tickets to Ladies Day at the races ... see the attached poster for details.

General Manager Announcement

Announcement from Simon Lane, Executive Dirctor ......

General Manager Announcement

"I am delighted to announce that Mr. Joe Fleetwood will be joining us as the new General Manager of Parklands from Monday 4th July.
Joe currently lives in Southport, Merseyside but will be relocating to the NE with his family this summer. Joe is an experienced operator having headed up both retail and leisure businesses as a General Manager for the past 4 years. He has also worked in management roles at Formby Hall Golf Hotel & Spa and at the Tytherington Club – part of the Club Companies Golf portfolio. His knowledge and experience of golf operations and membership will be a huge support for the team at Parklands.
Joe is a scratch golfer and I know you will see him on the course regularly. He is absolutely delighted to be joining the team at Parklands and is looking forward to getting started.
I am sure you will join me in congratulating Joe and welcoming him to the team."

EGU Members Handicap and Benefits Card

Members Handicap & Benefits Card Please ensure your men's section is aware of the EGU Handicap & Benefits Card. By registering at www.englishgolfunion.org/members, they can receive a personalised card displaying their lifetime ID and receive many discounts and offers from EGU
partners; including up to £150 holiday vouchers and a great subscription discount from Golf Monthly.

The card and benefits are free for all your EGU members. If you need more information or would like us to contact your members on your behalf to ensure they receive their card just call our members team on 01526 354500.

PGA Seniors Championship - Marshals

The PGA Seniors Championship at Slaley Hall is on June 9th to June 12th and the organisers are looking for volunteers to be Marshals and Caddies. If you fancy volunteering (you'll miss President's Day on the Sunday) let me know and I will provide the details.

Congratulations Samantha

Well done Samantha Taylor in winning your way through to the final of the Northumberland Junior Golf Association Girls Matchplay Championship. Samantha lost the final to Nicola Haynes but a superb achievement to get to the final. Well done.

Parklands Ladies win at County Meeting

There was a superb showing by the lady golfers from Parklands at the Northumberland Ladies County Spring Meeting at Blyth Golf Club. Maureen Jenkins won the Clarence Smith Salver for the best category 4 round with a 96 - 22 = 74, with Deborah Welch second. The Mary Percy Salver was won by Cynthia Willits for the best category 5 round with 104 - 31 = 73. Deborah Welch won the Mildred Adamson Trophy, best gross cat 4,5 with a 96 and the Parklands team of Maureen, Deborah, Pat Bainbridge and Kath Morpeth won the team shield, The Grace Storey Trophy. Congratulations Ladies and Well done to you all.

Will change to SSS affect the CSS?

So will the change to the SSS from the white tees (69 to 70) change the Competition Scratch Score for the Men's Competitions? This question has already been asked and with the calculation having so many variables I decided to test the new SSS over the last 4 men's competitions where the CSS has been 69, 70, 69 and 69. The results with the new SSS would have given 70, 70 69 and 70. So on two occasions it will have been 1 shot easier for players to play within their buffer zones and those players who were cut, the cuts would have been greater. Great news for the rest of the season.

Course Standard Scratch SSS

The County Union re-assessed Parklands Golf course last week for the first time for a number of years. The assessment looks at the difficulty of the course relative to par, so for instance the par for our course from the yellow tees is 71 but the SSS is only 68 and the re-assessment made no change. However from the white tees the SSS has increased from 69 to 70. This reflects the increased difficulty of playing the course from the white tees with smaller greens, narrower fairways and lots of tree growth, not to mention the strategically placed bunkers on the 2nd and the 7th. Lets see how it affects the CSS calculation over the coming months.

Lockers -who owns them?

Who owns the 106 lockers in the Men's locker room? You would think that we, the Men's Committee would know, but the reality is that many members swap them and sell them but don't tell us about the transaction. Occasionally members leave and abandon them and these need to be reclaimed and used by current members. So during April I have been conducting a survey of locker ownership and to date I have had only 46 replies ... so next month I will have to put notices in each locker and if that fails the lockers will be immobilised. Come on guys make it easy ... its for the benefit of the members with 300+ males and only 106 lockers. Help us to help the members.

Greenkeepers on Facebook

If you are a social network user, you can follow the notices from the greenkeepers on Facebook and keep up to date with their daily missives ... yesterdays for example was a reminder that this is a 3 day week for the green staff and therefore all the usual work may not get completed, so please be considerate ....

Is it something I said?

It's not that I'm paranoiac but is someone trying to tell me something ... I turned up for my 9.30am tee in the Men's Competition on Sunday morning only to find that the two players that I was drawn to play with did not turn up for their tee times. Is it something I said? And then yesterday I went to put the Men's draw for Sunday on the Internet, happened to look for my name and it was not there. I had been missed off the draw for the second time in 4 weeks. They are out to get me ...............

Refer a Friend

If you would like a couple of race tickets to the premium events at Newcastle Racecourse then refer a friend to join Parklands Golf Club and you get a pair for free ... anytime during April. See the attached poster for details.

Missing Pictures

If anyone has tried to access the photographs stored on the web at Fotopic (where we store the Presentation Evening, Captains' Day and President's Day photos). you will note that the site no longer exists. Apparently the parent company in America has gone into liquidation. Because over 50% of the worlds on-line photos are stored on their servers it is anticipated that the service will be bought by another company and re-instated ... so watch this space.

English County Cards for 2011

I am now in possession of a number of 2011 English County Cards which are on sale to members of Parklands (male and female) for the bargain price of £10 each. You must be 18 years or older to purchase the card but it enables you to play at over 900 clubs throughout England for a half daily rate green fee. Most of the clubs within the Northumberland and Durham counties are part of the scheme. So stop me and buy one.

The Vets County Cards are also on sale. The Vets card is available to male members 65 years and over and is for the Northumberland county area. Brian King is your first port of call if you wish to purchase.

Our congratulations go to Samantha Taylor who has become the Girls Junior Captain for 2011 for the Northumberland Junior Golf Association. Samantha took over the office at the Annual General Meeting and prize giving which was held at the City of Newcastle club on Monday evening. Well done Sam and good luck for the year ahead.

Where have you been?

So where have I been for most of February? Well nowhere really but I have been neglecting the blog and therefore there has been precious little news to read here ... so I must try harder to keep the blog readers up to speed!!

Tee Time Booking Procedures

A message from David King :- "As I reported on Sunday night at the AGM, it is a requirement that prior to Teeing off, all members and non members must report into the professionals shop. There will be notices posted to this effect positioned by the first tee, information board and in the locker rooms. When members ring up to book times, the shop staff will also advise them of the procedure."

Men's AGM - Sunday 30th Jan 2011

The Men's Annual General Meeting was held last night in the Clubhouse. I am not sure if it is a sign of the times, but the attendance was to say the least moderate and to be more accurate, pathetic! We struggled to make a quorum ie 20 voting members, and if we had failed to do that, we would have to abandon the meeting and rearrange the event next month. We got there, but it was close. The few members who did make the effort were rewarded with reports from the Chairman, Captain and Treasurer. Two new members of the Committee were elected, Terry Mann and James Dowdell. Colin Davison was elected as Men's Treasurer and I was elected as Men's Secretary. The AGM also witnesses the change of Captaincy with Brian King handed the Captain's tie to Brian Rutherford who in turn announced his Vice Captain for 2011 as Graham Bell. Congratulations to all concerned.

Presentation Night

The re-arranged Annual Presentation Night was held last Friday in the Clubhouse and the event saw lots of prizes awarded to our ladies, men and juniors. The evening was reasonably attended with the majority of the prize winners making the effort to collect their winnings from the 2010 season. The Player of the Year award for the Men went to Rod Armstrong for his superb results and golfing achievements in 2010 and the Most Improved Player was Wayne McCulloch. Well done to all those concerned and good luck for the 2011 season.

Course Conditions

I have been asked where the greenstaff post their day to day information about the condition of the course and how members would find such information. The first area is on Facebook ... you need to be registered and then search for 'Parklands Golf Club' ... pick up the reference and then add them to your list of friends and 'voila' you will get all the postings to your home page as soon as the greenkeepers punch in the info on their mobile phone. The second area is on Twitter, where again you need to register and then search for 'landsgolf' and then click ... follow ... and any tweets they make will be shown on your home page.

Closed by the wet and the cold!!

I've just read the following missive on Facebook from the greenstaff .... "Course Closed! After heavy overnight rain and ice areas melting, the course is unplayable, and not looking good for the rest of the week, with the weather forecast!"

Lets hope the forecasters have got it wrong ....

Club Presentation Night

The re-arranged Club Presentation Night will be held on Friday 28th January 2011 commencing at 7.30pm in the Clubhouse. If you are a trophy winner, please note the date in your diary and let us know if you are attending the event.

Yippee - its open

The New Year has started and the course is OPEN ... well nine holes are but its a start ... we are on winter greens and there is no playing from the fairways (place in the semi) and the ground is still frozen .... but its open to play golf and that's why we are members. So fingers crossed for a slow thaw and drying winds ....