Welcome to the February/March 2025 edition of the Bondhay newsletter. 2025! What a start to the year. Closed for 13 days due to the snow, someone ran into the height barrier causing it to buckle and collapse, the motor on one of our tractors has is looking irrepairable, and one of the water pipes above the function room has burst causing water damage to the function room and corridor. This year can only get better!
I want to start by saying good bye and thank you to Rachael, our Accounts Manager. All Accounts and Membership enquiries will be handled by Josh for the forseeable future. We also say goodbye to Kelise from the Bar team who is moving into a new sector.
The next 12 months will see us to continue to grow our membership and renovate and rejuvenate the Clubhouse and the Course.
I have taken the time to look back over and review the business over the last 12 months. This review will bring about change to the way in which we do business in 2025. In a number of my previous newsletter updates I have openly discussed the amount of personal money that has been invested into this business, particularly in areas such as the Greens equipment, Trackman Range and the Halfway House. This is a privately owned course which has to pay VAT on all memberships and golf related sales as well as events and some elements of hospitality. This puts us at a financial disadvantage to clubs that are council or member-owned. It is imperative that we continually review what we do to ensure that we are profitable and offer the most effective, efficient and cost-effective service. Our priority will continue to be the Golf.
The Halfway House still remains relatively unused by members during the winter weekends, when visitor numbers are low. It is not cost effective for us to continue to open this facility every Saturday and Sunday despite having been put in place at the request of members. We will open this facility less frequently in the winter and moreso on weekends during the spring and summer when we are hosting societies and visitors as well as members. Drinks and snacks are still available from the Pro Shop and Clubhouse in the event of the Halfway House being closed.
Unfortunately, someone has driven into the height barrier at the top of the driveway. The crash resulted in extensive damage. As yet, no one has come forward and admitted that they have caused the damage which is extremely disappointing. We are awaiting a quote for the repair or replacement of the barrier until then the security of the club is compromised leaving us vulnerable.
I have reviewed cost of all of our memberships for 2025 and been left with little choice but to implement a small increase. Our last increase was in 2023 and feel we are still competitively priced and offer an array of memberships that cater for all age groups and for those that require some flexibility. We do not charge a joining fee and now provide a number of payment options. We have seen an increase in the Yorkshire Union fees and the England Golf subscriptions this year which are included within the membership price. The cost of seed, sand and fertiliser etc for the maintenance of the course has all increased in price, plus staff costs increased in 2024 and are set to increase again in April 2025.
I am aware that some members are asking what they are getting for the increase in their membership. It’s a comment that frankly frustrates me. The cost of near-enough everything has increased putting a significant strain on the operating costs of the business — food and drink supplies have increased, fuel, insurance, electricity…I could go on. Many of these are hidden costs, relatively unseen by the member, however, needed for the day to day running of the club.
On a positive note, the days are getting longer and slightly warmer. This gives us more tee times for members and visitors. Spring is just around the corner.
Lisa Hardisty - Managing Director
First of all thank you to all the members who have contributed towards my two chosen charities over the last two months, these being Rain Rescue and Thornberry Animal Sanctuary. The Captain’s Handover and Christmas bash raised £500. I have visited both charities and gifted £200 each along with a boot full of dog and cat food from the remaining monies! Diane and I really appreciate your support.
Firstly 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 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). Thank you to Bondhay management for being so generous and helpful on this special day. Hopefully you can pop the date in your diaries.
Fixture Calendar - all now live on the Bondhay website for the forthcoming season. Thank you to Barry for pulling all the detail together!
The next Bondhay Committee meeting is Thursday 13th February. If you have any points you would like raising you can either put in the suggestion box on the notice board or e-mail myself at markdiane01@outlook.com. All members submissions will be discussed.
And finally well done to John West for winning the Shotgun start Saturday 1st February with a superb score of 40 points.
Good luck to all the Bondhay teams this year and all the individual members, I hope you all have an enjoyable and fun season.
Mark Higfield - Club Captain
Having conducted the annual handicap review, I’m pleased to report that there are no adjustments to make. The report by Golf England provides a list of players to review based on a very basic algorithm and whilst 6 players were on the report, further analysis concluded that no further adjustment was required.
My ask for 2025 is for all members to submit their cards when they play, using the England Golf app. However, it would be even better if you allow our Pros to do this when entering your competition scores. It would be great to see a further uplift in our tournament numbers during the 2025 season as it really does help on so many levels.
This leads nicely onto my final point and the summary of our competition scores for 2024. The scores confirm that our handicaps are right, it should also encourage everyone to enter competitions as clearer they are run fairly with everyone in with a chance of winning.
Despite the foul weather during January, it’s good to know we are edging closer to the start of another golfing season.
Phil Bonewell - Handicap Secretary
It’s not long now until the Golf season starts, hopefully the weather will be kind and we can get off to a good start.
You will notice the greenstaff have been busy removing trees around the course through the winter, mainly on the 4th, 5th, 7th and 11th. The main reason for the removal is for daylight and airflow around the playing surfaces. With the ban on curative fungicide and the uncertainty of the future of the remaining preventative fungicides, it’s important to get as much light and airflow to the greens as possible to try and help reduce turf diseases. The aim each year is to widen the tree line around the fairways and make the holes wider which will make the holes more enjoyable to play and fair. Tree removal will continue until the beginning of March then all stumps will be removed and the areas seeded.
Greens maintenance will start on March 3rd. Greens will be micro hollow cored and dressed with sand. Hopefully the weather will be on our side and we can get it all completed in the week.
The greens will also have a application of granual fertiliser applied to help with recovery. When the soil temperature is right all greens will be drilled with seed this will help fill any remaining disease scars.
As always, please repair pitch marks, replace divots and rake the bunkers.
The golf season is fast approaching us. I hope you all have wintered well. Some updates for the 2025 season, our new range of TaylorMade QI35 drivers, rescue and fairway woods are now in stock, along with the new range of ping G440 woods and irons. Feel free to come try them on the Trackman Range, just contact either myself or Tom to book you in for a fitting.
Motocaddy is launching a new remote-control trolley this year, which is tipped to be the number 1 trolley this season retailing under £950. The launch day is mid-March, so look out for our stock coming in. There is 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. This year will be our second exclusive year stocking Druids with even louder and brighter designs due to drop in the spring and summer.
This year sees Under Armour launching a brand-new golf shoe retailing under £50 which will be in stock around March.
Trackman is increasingly popular and a good addition to the club so don’t shy away from trying it. 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 your own course Bondhay Golf Club. Pro Shop prizes will be awarded to all winners.
Come join me and Tom on bi-weekly Tuesday nights between 7-8pm for some coaching tips. Maybe we can help with that problem shot if it’s a sliced drive to a duffed chip we will try and help. The cost is just £5 and that also includes a basket of balls. Look out on our socials for more updates and dates.
We have a full range of grips in stock so why not get ready for the season with a fresh set.
Please note that all buggy users must now follow the daily rules without exception. Those with disabilities may use a single ride-on unless otherwise stated in the daily conditions update. Please see social media or the blackboard outside the Shop.
Feel free to pop in for a friendly chat with Clive I’m sure he won’t let you get a word in or even chat to Tony - his specialist subject is football (not sure why being a Notts County fan though). On a serious note, they are both a great addition to the pro shop staff so say hello to them next time you’re passing.
From myself, Tom, Clive and Tony, we wish you all the golfing success in 2025.
Barry Hurt - Head Pro
As this is the first newsletter of 2025, I’ll start by wishing you a belated Happy New Year! Our thanks as always for everyone that supported Bondhay in the last 12 months—our work will continue to ensure we’re a top class course and venue for years to come. This year starts with further investment into our facilities and, as Lisa touched on, a more strategic approach into the sustainability of the business. At the time of writing, the Clubhouse main bar is undergoing much needed a paint refresh, bringing it in line with newer Bondhay colour scheme. The second phase will be to revamp the bar frontage with new panelling, before exploring some new furniture over the coming months.
A warm welcome to all the new members that have joined over the last few months, thank you to those that have renewed for another year, and best wishes to those that are hanging up their golf shoes or looking for a new challenge elsewhere. The initial feedback and comments from people that have joined recently has been very warming and shows that we’re moving in the right direction, which is extremely pleasing.
A reminder that we offer a range of different membership types to suit everyone’s individual requirements. The popularity of our Associate Memberships (sometimes known elsewhere as ‘affiliate’ or ‘flexible’) is rocketing as people opt for something more suitable around work or if they don’t intend to play multiple times per week, for example.
After a recent meeting with BRS/GolfNow who provide our booking and membership software, I am hopeful that we will see further modernisation of our systems, thus making our members’ experience much more efficient and seamless. I will be testing their point-of-sale (POS) software in the near future which would allow us to finally integrate voucher accounts and allow you to top-up and view transactions in the BRS App. I don’t want to get hopes up too much just yet as the system will need to be right. They are also offering us an integration to GolfGenius, which again will be subject to testing, but the demo I was given was very promising. The final feature, one that will save a lot of admin at our end, is the ability to assign ‘credits’ for rounds for Associate members, who up to now we have had to manually manage on paper. This would allow them to book via the App with rounds automatically deducted, plus the ability to top-up the membership when it runs low or comes up for renewal (this type of membership works on a number of rounds rather than being unlimited). I will provide further updates via our usual channels or the next edition of the newsletter.
The fixture calendar for the year is now available on the website and will be published as always on our social media channels and in print format around the Club. We’re in the process of setting up online sign-up for this year’s Opens, but you can enter in the Pro Shop in the meantime.
This year’s Club Captain Mark Highfield has chosen to support two fantastic local charities in Thornberry Animal Sanctuary and Rain Rescue. Thornberry will be hosting their very own charity golf day here at Bondhay on Friday 9 May 2025 and your support would be hugely appreciated. I will publish the event details and how to enter on our website in the coming weeks. Please also get behind Mark’s Captain’s Charity Day in July that he touched on in his update. All proceeds are going to great causes.
Some other golfing events you may want to take a look at include:
In recent months, I have taken the time to review and revamp our membership and sponsorship offerings for corporate customers. Already we’ve welcomed a handful of new corporate membership clients in the last couple of months. Membership for companies and organisations offers competitive rates over a set period of time or number of rounds, perfect for team-building with colleagues or entertaining clients.
A range of Sponsorship packages are on offer with placements available on holes/tees, the website, club competitions, internal poster frames, and on the Trackman Range via in-bay monitors or outside banner placement. Between our physical and digital placements, you’re guaranteed to be seen by thousands of potential customers across our golf and events client base. Thank you to MBM Electrical for becoming our first new sponsor, having taken up a year’s spot on the first hole alongside some screen time on the Trackman Range (you may have seen their ad on January’s Pin It competition). Contact me to find out more about Corporate Membership or Sponsorship.
Our Function Suite diary is filling up fairly quickly for this year with a number of different events and celebrations coming up. If you are looking to host a party, wedding, christening, wake, dance class, awards ceremony or anything else that could utilise the space, don’t hesitate to reach out. We have some great room hire offers available at present and offer on-site catering with homemade food.
As ever, your comments, ideas and suggestions are always welcome so please reach out if you have anything to contribute. I look forward to touching base with you in our next edition which will be out at the much-anticipated official start of the golfing season.
Josh Clarke - Marketing Director
