Welcome to the August & September edition of the Bondhay Newsletter. It’s a lighter-than-usual write-up this time as the fixture and events calendar eases up after a busy few months, many of our teams starting to wrap up their seasons, and many societies focus on playing at their home clubs – plus a lot of people are away enjoying their summer holidays.
There is still loads to get your teeth stuck into over what remains of the summer, with plenty of daylight to get daytime and evening rounds in, a number of coaching events announced (and more to come) and the Range continuing to play host to practice and games. The Pro Shop, as always, have a competition running every day of the week out on the Devonshire Course and will be launching some small summer leagues for certain membership categories, so watch out for that.
It’s great to see that the new patio area has been well-used since it was completed, clearly providing a much more inviting and comfortable space for people. The bar are offering a range of refreshing drinks to help combat the hot weather, including the usual iced coffees, alongside new smoothies and a variety of delicious frappés.
Unless you’ve been living life with your eyes closed, you’ll no doubt have realised that the country is in desperate need of some rain – we’re not quite at desert status here, but we’ve certainly got our fair share of brown grass. The greens have held up well generally speaking, but are starting to feel some stress of late from not receiving the more-acidic rainwater. This is showing to be standard across the industry at the moment, with many courses struggling to keep fairways in action in particular. The Greens team will be working tirelessly to keep everything in as good condition as possible throughout the endless heatwaves, before moving onto the autumn maintenance schedule come September. I hate to say it, but keep doing those rain dances!
Juniors
I’m very excited to say that our Junior membership has increased significantly over recent months as we welcome a number of young golfers to both the Academy and Devonshire Course. It’s great to see more kids and teens either getting into the sport or advancing their game.
Barry and Tom continue to host Junior Coaching every Saturday, sharing their expert guidance on a range of techniques across the game. We are currently exploring further development of our Junior programme and hope to share more in the near future. In the meantime, we’d like to gauge interest in the potential return of a more formal Junior Section, so would be keen to hear from you if you are either a junior golfer that would like to take part, or a parent or member that would be interested in helping to run a Section alongside our Pro Team.
Tom and Reece are hosting two of their popular Junior Summer Camps again this August, both dates having already sold out. We are hoping to add some additional dates, so keep your eyes peeled across socials and the website for those.
Opens & Competitions
Congratulations to all of the winners of our majors over the last couple of months, including N Highfield & J Cheetham who took the Senior Open, S Chester, D Parker, M Lakin, A Carter the All Sections Open, and N Calton who grabbed the top spot at this year’s Alan Hardisty Trophy. Thank you to all who took part in this year’s Captain’s Charity Day on Friday 17 July, where an incredible amount of money was raised for the Tom Henson Charity.
There is plenty to still get your teeth into on the fixtures calendar for the rest of the year with a comp held each and every day. However, there is now only two Opens to see out 2026, with the second and final Senior Open taking place on Wednesday 19 August 2026, and the Bondhay Christmas Open (All Sections Open) on Saturday 05 December 2026, both Betterball Pairs Stableford.
Tee Times
It has come to my attention that we’re having a large amount of members book prime tee times, particularly for a Sunday morning, to then cancel them at very short notice – sometimes only 15 minutes or so before the scheduled tee-off. First and foremost, this is unfair to other members how may want to play on those times, but it also removes the opportunity for the business to sell these tee-times to visitors.
Management and the Pro Shop will be keeping a close eye on this over the coming weeks and months. Repeat ‘offenders’ may have their online booking access removed and will have to book manually via the Pro Shop.
Bunkers & Pitch Marks
I’m fed up of hearing myself talk about bunkers and pitch marks so I’m sure you are, but it cannot be stressed enough how important it is to repair your pitch marks and to rake the bunkers as you go around the course. Not only does it help with overall maintenance of the surfaces for a variety of reasons, but not doing these most basic of tasks is technically changing the playing conditions for others and leaves you open for disqualification in comps. The total time that our greenkeepers have to spend raking bunkers is ever-increasing, which is taking them away from other vital jobs around both courses – please bear this in mind.
Fishing
As I touched on in the previous newsletter, fishing is now back underway down at Bondhay Lake and has been proving an incredibly popular spot already. Set in a beautifully secluded spot on the border of Whitwell Woods, the area is fantastic for a peaceful stint of fishing, with an impressive stock of carp and other breeds to go after.
Function Room
The diary is open for hire of our function room into 2027/28 and any remaining dates this year. Our Devonshire Suite comfortably holds up to 120 for a sit-down meal and 250+ people for a mixed reception, and is ideal for parties, weddings, christenings, end of life celebrations, and everything in between. Members get 20% room hire as standard on any day of the week, so please keep us in mind.
Special Offer - Howdens
The Attercliffe branch of Howdens, who are taking up sponsorship on the course, has kindly put together an exclusive 15% discount off kitchens for Bondhay Members and Visitors, using the code ‘BONDHAY’. Thanks to Depot Manager Nick Calton, who is also a Full Member here at the Club.
New Member Offer - Nick Hodgson Fitness
I’m pleased to announce an exclusive discount of 10% with Nick Hodgson Fitness, who is based out of nearby Wales (the Sheffield one) and offers a range of fitness disciplines, such as Fitness & Strength, Weight Loss & Health Improvement, and 1-to-1 and Group Training. Due to his background and impressive list of qualifications, Nick can work with golfers on specific fitness training based on understanding of the sport, as well as the complex back, flexibility and mobility problems that can come with it.
To enjoy your 10% discount on Nick’s services, just quote your membership number when booking. To find out more, visit nickhodgsonfitness.co.uk or call 07814 848 580.
Josh Clarke - Operations Director
A huge thank you to everyone who took part in the Captain’s Charity Day. The event itself raised an impressive £1,175, and congratulations to all the prize winners. I hope everyone enjoyed a fantastic day of golf and good company.
I would also like to extend my sincere thanks to all members and visiting golfers who have supported the raffles in aid of the Tom Henson Charity. Thanks to your generosity, we have raised a remarkable £3,425. We are hopeful that this amount will be matched through a scheme operated by the bank where our Handicap Secretary, Phil Bonewell, works, potentially doubling the total raised for this worthy cause.
With the fundraising now complete, apart from the charity boxes located in the bars and Pro Shop, I would like to thank everyone once again for their outstanding support. If you find yourself with any loose change, please feel free to drop it into one of the collection boxes.
Congratulations to all the board competition winners so far this year. There are still plenty of competitions to play for, and remember that all board competition winners will qualify for the Champion of Champions event on 19th September.
Captain's Away Day
Places are limited, so please add your name to the list in the Pro Shop if you would like to take part.
Happy Golfing!
Shane Turner - Club Captain
As always thank you for entering the weekly competitions. Your support really helps the sections’ fund enabling the Club to compete in several leagues and competitions throughout the season.
The major Board competitions and opportunity to get on the honours boards are in full swing so good luck to all. As always our grand final is “The Champion of Champions”. This will be held on Saturday 19th September. The Trophy presentation will take place on the day for all Board winners with a meal paid for by the committee.
Team Performance
6-18 League: The squad have kept up their fantastic performance throughout the season and grinded out several recent tough away games. Bondhay still sits proudly at the top of Division 2. We have just a few games to go so it’s in our hands to reach Division 1. Good luck to all the players.
Scratch League: Once again the team battled throughout the season but unfortunately didn’t manage to progress out of Division 5. A valiant effort but scratch team golf is tough!
Notts Alliance: The squad went into the last match at Norwood needing to better Oakmere Golf Club on the day and didn’t fail. Team Bondhay once again stepped up and held onto the magnificent Notts Alliance Shield for a fifth consecutive year! Huge thank you to Tom Slattery and Barry Hurt our seasoned pros for their excellent endeavours, and also our brilliant amateur squad members who contributed over the 12 match season. We start again in September and can only dream of a sixth victory!
To conclude, as a club and committee it’s important that we actively manage a list of members who wish to be a future Club Captain. As an ex-Captain, I found it a great honour and privilege to represent Bondhay. If you are interested please have a chat to Barry, Shane or myself for more information.
Mark Highfield - Club Secretary
