Hello one and all,

We hope we are all well and enjoying the windy, but sunny weather. This week has once again been a blur with the club still so busy, it normally goes quieter around this time of year, but no sign of that yet!

This week we have 1205 words to talk you through, which sounds a lot but it really isn’t! Sit back relax and enjoy.

If you fancy a round book online here.

Triple Dutch

Sunday 15th October might well go down in history as one of the best days ever here at CMGC. The Triple Dutch tournament organised by Henk Stheeman’s daughters Jessica, Natalie and Emilie; that saw 84 playing and 102 upstairs for the prize giving and lunch.

The weather could not have been much better with glorious sunshine throughout. The greenkeepers had also performed miracles getting the course such good condition for mid-October.

The reason for this event is that 20 years ago we had a young golf Professional Marcus Knight at CMGC who was offered a job in Switzerland. He then landed the Head Professional position at one of Switzerland’s most exclusive and elite Golf clubs, Golf & Country Club Schönenberg. While working at Schönenberg Marcus became great friends with long-standing member Henk Stheeman. Our own Sam Pain worked two summers in Switzerland with Marcus whilst doing his PGA training and also became good friends with Henk.

Marcus invited Henk over to CMGC and he immediately fell in love with our beautiful course and the friendly and relaxed manner in which CMGC is managed. Sadly in 2016 Henk passed away and during the Summer of 2016 Henk played his last ever game of golf, not at Schönenberg, but at CMGC!

The day was sponsored by the ladies in memory of their father Henk who came over from Switzerland to play CMGC on a regular basis. The family were extremely generous to the club’s members with breakfast, over £1000 worth of prizes, a half way bar, canapés and a 2 course lunch with 200 pints of Robinsons cider, which did not take long to get through! All sponsored by them. There was a nominal entry fee of £5, which went straight to the junior fund to help support them in 2018.

The competition was a Texas Scramble; some great teams were out their all vying for victory. There was also a very special flag position on the 6th of Badgers Sett with 5 flags there, yet that did not stop many from still hitting the water!

Now for the results, and it was very close. Jack Severn, Scott Severn, Harry King and Charlie Edwards won the lowest gross on count back. Favourites Ash Cook, Adam Cook, Matt Fairman and Lewis Hodges were third with a 57.1 nett, second was a team no one thought we be in the mix but they showed how good golf can be when the putts roll in, Graham Pain, James Pain, Christian Thomson and Sara Pain finished on 57 nett to get second place just missing out on winning on count back.

The winners with a better back 6 holes on Foxes Run were Bryan Colley, Dave Gordon, Ian Davies and Dave Smith.

The ladies and their families enjoyed the day so much they surprised us all by saying they will be coming back in 2018 and 2019 to do the event again and making it a true Triple Dutch trilogy.

Greenkeepers update

As ever at C.M.G.C we are always looking to improve the golf course and on Monday 16th October we booked a day with Paul Woodham from the STRI Group. STRI are the world’s leading authority on the design, construction and maintenance of golf greens and courses. They lead the industry in providing advice on the latest techniques, products and machinery to use across the course.

Paul spent the whole day with the greenkeeping team along with Graham and Tom. We spent the day going through every hole individually, as well as taking soil samples from the greens and tees, checking moisture levels, checking green firmness, bunker layouts, bunker positioning, tree positioning and plantations, whilst discussing the latest techniques and technologies available in the greenkeeping world. It was a really enjoyable and informative day and it was great to get an expert set of eyes on where we can improve and what we are doing well.

Paul will send us over a full report in the coming weeks, as we set out our plans and priorities for the next 3- 5 years. Paul was pleased with the root zone on our greens, our regular programme of top dressing the greens and it was also great to hear that our bunker sand and sand depth are what they should be.

As well as this greenkeeper Cameron Dunn has just enrolled on his NVQ Level 3 in greenkeeping. Cameron is a great asset to the team and will further develop his skill set and knowledge within the industry by completing this qualification. This qualification will take between 20- 24 months to complete and we are extremely pleased to see Cameron have the drive and enthusiasm to take on this course.

Captains Drive In

Don’t forget the Captains Drive in is this Sunday! The new captains were sworn in at the annual AGM on Friday and Sunday they drive into office. It would be fantastic if as many members as possible could sign up. It is an 8.30am shot gun start with a meal after. Entry is just £5 per person including spot prizes and a guess at the Captains’ Drives. They hit their shots at 8.15am, so don’t be late.

Jamie sent me this asking to round up the troops.

“If I am going to be embarrassed with the best duff shot ever, it may as well be in front of as many people as possible!”

Call us on 01299 271112 to sign up or email here.

Calling All Night Golfers

We are now chasing up deposits for the night (£10 per person) it is going to be a brilliant night we have over 100 playing!

Please call the golf shop on 01299 271112 to pay and guarantee your place.

Next Big Open

Our next big open will be the Christmas Open on December 8th 2017. The entry is £60 per team of 4 including prizes, coffee, mince pies after 9 holes and a set meal after. As it is in the winter and light is a rare commodity, it will be a two tee start between 9am and 11am. There are twenty teams down at the moment at it is limited to 30.

Get your entries in sharpish via this link.

Have a great golfing week everyone and if your looking for a game or lessons please get in touch.

The CMGC Team.