Welcome to the April/May 2025 edition of the newsletter. Another newsletter and another new height barrier. This time we have to thank Amazon for “clipping” the barrier. We hope to have it repaired in the next couple of weeks. Please note the height barrier is now set at 2.3m, so contact the Shop or Office if you have a higher vehicle and require entry.
Spring is now here. The clocks have gone forward which means that the sun rises at 6.30am and sets at 7.45pm (at the time of writing) meaning longer days and more tee times. The weather has been beautiful over the last couple of weeks, so long may it continue.
I'm delighted to see our membership is increasing week on week and we are seeing a significant increase in the use of Trackman and our Par 3 Academy course. Members get a generous 10 day booking right which means that you have plenty of time to secure your tee times ahead of any visitor bookings. Our general rule is that we do not book any societies or visitors on a tee time before 10.30am on a Saturday or Sunday. Occasionally we will book a slightly earlier tee time start for a society. This is our prerogative and there will be a valid business reason for this decision. We still have plenty of morning weekend tee times available for members and visitors regardless of whether we have a society booked into our diary.
We value each and everyone of our members. We are always looking at ways in which to enhance your experience at the club, which is why we have a 12-month plan of rejuvenation and renovation planned. We have an open-door policy and welcome any constructive feedback or suggestions from our members and visitors. The suggestion box will be removed from the wall for this reason.
Since I arrived at the club, the Management team and I have encouraged better and increased communication with our members. We have attended committee meetings, management meetings, sent out detailed social media and email updates and contributed to this bi-monthly newsletter. We have listened to all of the issues and suggestions raised at these meetings. Many of these meetings have been attended by at least 2 members of the management team, plus our Head Pro and our Course Manager. They can be time intensive and at times, repetitive, however we continued to support this flow of information.
However, I have been made aware of a small group of members that are suggesting that the information we (our team) discuss in these meetings and via other forums are “just words” (Committee Meeting minutes are always published). Can I emphasise that this is the minority and not the majority of our membership. I am not obliged to share any information with the membership as we are a privately owned club. I do not have to justify how I spend our money or be accountable to the membership. We chose to share these updates, as we value your opinion and contribution to the club. We will always listen to your feedback but may not always agree with you. We appreciate that we still have plenty of work to do, both on the course and in the Clubhouse, but we are happy with the work that we have completed so far and have a short, medium and long-term plan in place. We are extremely grateful to have a team of dedicated and committed individuals who are passionate about the Club and the Course. We value their opinion, their work and their expertise.
We will continue to provide detailed updates via the newsletter and on our boards that are outside of the Pro Shop. We will continue to send out updates via our social media platforms and via email but will look to disband the committee meetings with immediate effect, being replaced with more direct communication with the Club Captain and Vice Captain. Our open-door policy will allow for any issues to be addressed directly with one of the Directors. A montly meeting will be had with the Club Captain and Vice Captain, so you can also voice any comments to Mark and Shane who can speak to us on your behalf.
We are still experiencing problems with golfers forgetting to rake their bunkers, repair divots and pitch marks. We would be really grateful if you could take the time to repair any pitch marks or divots while playing the course and to politely remind players in your group or any other groups to do the same. This allows our Greens team time to continue with their maintenance schedule and to prepare the course for the Spring and Summer months.
The 18-hole course has a number of lakes which are maintained by our Greens team. A couple of times a year a company comes and clears the golf balls from the lakes. They take the balls off site, clean them and return a portion of them to sell in the shop. Many of you will have lost one of your golf balls in one of the lakes. My understanding is that you can retrieve your own ball from the lake, if possible, however the rest of the balls in the lake are the property of the club. Two balls maximum are permitted for removal. There is a stated case from a recent civil case that deals with this issue. Please do not stand and fish multiple balls out of any of our lakes. This is not permitted and you will be challenged and charged by one of our staff.
At the end of last year, Pat Smith, the wife of Ian Smith, sadly died. Ian and Pat were close friends of my Dad and have supported Bondhay Golf Club for the last 27+ years. Prior to her death, Pat purchased a wooden gazebo to be placed on the course. This memorial gazebo is now on the 10th tee. Thank you Pat. You will be sadly missed but always remembered and loved.
This month we are losing Alfie from the Greens and Matt from our bar team. I want to wish them both well in their new roles.
Lisa Hardisty - Managing Director
The golf season is now upon us and we have a brilliant fixture calendar set up in anticipation of a great season for all the members and open competitions alike. As we have communicated previously we are keen to promote equality and diversity at Bondhay. To this aim our competitions and honours board events are now accessible to all sections thus supporting our commitment to making golf an inclusive sport for all. This move will ensure we have board events on the majority of weekend competitions throughout the season, so please enter and hopefully get your name immortalised forever on the boards!
Due to the current good weather we have been able to get the white tees set back up and placing only on closely mown areas allowing qualifying status to recommence.
The green keepers have been busy working on various aspects of the course throughout the winter, be it removing hundreds of trees but also work preparing the greens for the season. Hopefully the tree removal will help air flow around the greens in general and the lovely late March and early April sun should help get the grass growing throughout the course!
The Bondhay Opens should give me the opportunity to raise as much money as possible for my charities. I will also step up the charity work and increase activity as the season commences.
My Captain’s Charity Day will be 1pm Friday 11th July (shotgun start). As well as the golf there will be a meal of burger, chips and onion rings after, plus an auction and presentation. Along with Bondhay I will personally make sure we have some great prizes. The Members price will be £20 and Visitors £30 both including food and donation to charity (visitors price includes green fee).
Captains Away Day is Friday 26th September at Spring water Golf Club. The cost is £45 for golf and a two course meal. I will set up a sheet with the Pro Shop for members to sign up and support the days if possible.
To conclude congratulations to Mick Yeend and the Taskers Team navigating their first round win in the over 50s eight county knockout competition!
And finally well done to the Vice Captain Shane Turner and team for victory in the “Captain verse Vice Captain competition”. The wining team members will all receive a free pint!
Mark Highfield - Club Captain
Late March saw a lot of renovation work being carried out on the greens, scarifying to 10-15mm, plus spiking, seeding and top dressing. In early April, we’ll be dropping to an even short cut on the greens and in mid-April, another application of sand will be applied, with remaining disease scars being reseeded.
Despite regular doses of fertiliser being applied, recovery has been slow this year since the aforementioned works were done. There has been a lot of morning frosts and cold temperatures overnight, despite being warm in the day which makes things deceiving. As soon as the soil temperatures increase, hopefully in mid-April, recovery will be much quicker and the disease scars will fill in. Unfortunately the disease is circumstantial and the chemicals we used to use are no longer permitted to reduce spread. Some courses may get it more severely than others. A golf course is a leaving and breathing entity that we can only control so much and our hands are getting ever-more tied with the reduction in the amount of chemicals we are allowed to use.
The team have worked hard felling trees and stump grinding is not too far from being finished. The areas left behind have been seeded and are showing the early signs of growth, so should be fairway in no time. Please refer to the Pro shop for any updates to tree stump rulings.
Further repairs to the irrigation system and machinery have been carried out (still with plenty more to do) so we’re ready to go as things kick in.
After a fair while on temp to allow for some recovery, the 11th green is now back in play. The team recently relandscaped much of the left hand side with removal of overhanging trees and shrubs. I’m sure you’ll agree this now looks much tidier, and we have a better base to avoid further damage with the area opening up to sunlight and airflow.
Thank you for your patience and understanding with the works we’re undertaking. Once we get the grass growing our next worry will be staying on top of cutting it! If you have any questions or would like any more information, you can contact me via the Office or grab me out and about on the course.
The golf season is in full flow now and I hope you are all looking forward to the first major of the season — The Masters!
Our new range of TaylorMade QI35 drivers, rescue and fairway woods are now in stock, along with the new range of PING G440 woods, demo irons and wedges. So feel free to come try them on the Trackman Range, just contact either myself or Tom to book you in for a fitting.
We also have a PING Demo Day booked in for the 6th of June between 12pm and 4pm. Bookings are now being taken.
The new Motocaddy remote-control trolley is now in stock retailing at £999, as well as the SE Model at £499.
There’s a high demand for different brands of golf balls. The ones we are stocking this year will be Titleist, TaylorMade, and Srixon. Our Pro Shop is fully stocked with all your golfing accessories from tees to gloves to ball markers and even pitchforks for those golfers that don’t already have one. We’ll be bringing in some new kit from Under Armour, Druids and more throughout the year.
This year sees Under Armour launching a brand-new golf shoe retailing under £50 which will be in stock anytime soon.
We have a full range of grips in stock so why not get ready for the season with a new set.
Trackman is increasingly popular and we are running monthly competitions on them from a longest drive contest, bullseye challenge, nearest the pin challenge on famous golfing holes around the world, or take on the 9-hole stableford challenge set on Royal Birkdale Golf Club. Pro Shop prizes will be awarded to all winners (min of 6 Entries).
Tuesday night Open Coaching from 7-8pm is now in full flow, so pop down for some coaching tips. Work on the problem shot, whether that’s a sliced drive or a duffed chip, both myself and Tom will try and help. The cost is just £7.50 including balls. Look out on our socials for more updates.
Congratulations to Joe Chamberlain and Greg Masters for winning our first major and board event of the year Captain's Scramble with a nett 66.
Placing is still in play on closely mown areas and this will be reviewed at the end of April so keep an eye out on our notice boards for any changes.
From myself, Tom, Clive and Tony, we wish you all the golfing success in 2025.
Barry Hurt - Head Pro
First things first, thank you to everyone for their support over the winter period and to all members that have chosen to renew for another year over recent weeks. I’m sure that you are all keen for summer golf now that the ‘season’ has begun. The Management Team, the Greens Team and everyone else at the Club are working hard over the coming weeks to ensure the course is in good shape, as well as continuing with other improvements. Please be patient over the coming weeks as things start to change and grow. Ellis’ update in this newsletter provides some more information, or the door is always open if you want to provide any feedback and find out any more specifics.
A warm welcome to Yunus who has joined our bar team recently, plus thanks and best wishes to Matt (bar) and Alfie (greens) who are moving on to pastures new.
Since our last update, my role and title has changed slightly from Marketing to Operations Director to reflect a change in responsibilities that has happened over the last year or so. I’m now overseeing more of the Club’s critical functions, but also working more closely with the heads of departments for the Greens and Shop in particular. Part of my responsibilities include the management of memberships, so I immediately took to modernising and utilising our systems. The Shop team have also had some additional training to more easily assist you with queries and renewals.
The biggest change so far is the digitisation of Associate Memberships (known as a Flex Membership on the BRS system), which were previously managed using a paper card, or ‘passport’, in the Club Shop. This has all now moved on to a points-based system within BRS, meaning all members can more easily book and manage their golf and membership from the BRS App. Associates can now renew and top up their membership from the comfort of the app if desired. The points have been set up on a 1 point equals 9 holes basis (so 18 holes would deduct 2 points). For any assistance with the app, or queries about the type of membership, speak to the Pro Shop or email memberships@bondhaygolfclub.com.
I’m in the intial stages of designing and procuring our new hole signage for the Devonshire Course. I should get the initial/test one done this month with a view to roll out in May if not sooner. It’s a much needed upgrade to the mismatched signage accumulated over 20 years and will ensure that the hole information is correct. The next step will be to implement a similar style on the Academy Course and introduce some other directional signage around the course and premises.
The new hole signage is a great opportunity for local businesses and organisations to take up one of our sponsorship packages. Take up pride of place on the new installations from just £500 a year (or less for multi-year deals). We have a number of different placements available, so reach out to find out more and get a quote.
We’ve been working hard with the Pro Shop team to streamline and improve the offering in the Shop itself, as well as bringing extra value to members and the wider customer base. This includes the brand new ‘Open Coaching’ which fills a gap for adult golf tutoring. Sessions started on 1st April and will take place bi-weekly from 7pm to 8pm. Each session is £7.50 per person including unlimited balls and coaching from Barry and Tom. Junior Coaching contines to inspire the younger generation, going from strength to strength. Ages 4 to 16 are welcome on Saturday mornings from 11:30 to 12:30 for just £5 per person per session. We will be looking to launch a new ‘Trackman Party’ on the last Friday of the month from either April or May and Natalie Haywood will be back with more Ladies Coaching very soon. More details to follow.
We’re starting to see a steady increase in use of the Trackman Range throughout the week with plenty of new faces starting to visit. A reminder that all Range sessions come with use of the monitors and software included, or you can opt to hit from one of the grass bays by the chipping green. We’re putting out new challenges for you to take part in each month. For April, this is a Long Drive Challenge, a 9 hole stableford comp at Royal Birkdale and a par 3 challenge at Royal Portrush.
At the time of writing, we have two great charity events coming up being run by local organisations. Redtooth Poker are with us on Thursday 17th April in support of Sheffield Children’s Hospital. Find out more and book direct with Redtooth (redtoothpoker.com). In May, Thornberry Animal Sanctuary (who are one of our Captain’s Charities for this year) are with us on Friday 9th May for a 1pm shotgun start to raise money for the exceptional work they do with animals in our local communities. Mark and I would love it if you could get behind supporting this event. More information and entry at thornberryanimalsanctuary.org/charity-golf-day/. Courtesy rounds are available for members on both dates, but our Devonshire Course remains open for play until 12:30pm on 9th May.
Some key contacts for any queries:
I hope that the spring and summer is a good one for golf and I look forward to seeing many of you in and around the Club.
Josh Clarke - Operations Director
