Welcome to the Bondhay Newsletter for February and March 2026. After all of this recent wet weather, we’re sure you’re looking forward to spring and summer as much as we are!
During the prolonged inclement weather, it’s not surprising that the Devonshire Course is having a bit of a hard time with plenty of boggy and waterlogged areas. Some damage to the course in unavoidable, but please ensure you are playing your part by repairing pitch marks, replacing divots (where it’s possible to do so) and raking the bunkers that haven’t turned into a duck pond. Trolleys must remain off of tees, greens and their banks, as well as away from areas that have been roped off. The use of fairway mats is encouraged, but not mandatory.
Our thanks go to member Andy Hunt for taking time out his schedule recently to go out on the course to fill and repair hundreds of divots.
The Greenkeeping team have been working hard on course updates and maintenance over the past month or so, removing a handful of bunkers and removing problematic trees on the 17th to open up the area on the righthandside. Once again due to the persistent rainfall, the filled bunkers remain un-turfed as it is currently too wet for us to lay it. After the removal of a substantial amount of trees course-wide last year, they’ll be focusing on smaller areas this year to ensure that trees are felled and stumps removed in good time.
Opens
We have a fantastic range of Open Competitions throughout 2026, starting in May. For a full list of events and entry, visit the Opens page of our website.
Trackman Range
The driving range continues to be busy through the winter with many using it to keep on top of their game while conditions on the grass aren’t great. Our revised Winter Opening Times are still in effect and will be reviewed at the end of February:
Happy Hours have since been introduced, giving you 25% off all sessions/baskets during the following times:
As always, all sessions come with full use of the Trackman Range software, giving you access to live ball tracking data, world golf courses, games, challenges and more.
An Evening With Ryan Rhodes
Sheffield’s four-time British and European boxing champion will be hosting an initimate evening at Bondhay Golf Club on Saturday 11 April 2026. This is an excellent opportunity to get up close and personal with Ryan Rhodes as he talks about what it took to climb the ladder in boxing and his time now training the next generation of talent. He’ll also dive in to what it was like at the famous Ingle Gym under world-famous coach Brendan Ingle MBE, known for crafting stars such as Johnny Nelson, “Prince” Naseem Hamed, Junior Witter, Kell Brook, and Kid Galahad.
Tickets are available now at www.bondhaygolfclub.co.uk. Standard entry is at an early bird rate of £50 per person until 28th Feb, and includes a pie, chips and peas supper.
Meet & Greet tickets are available and include time with Ryan, drinks reception, signed memorabilia and printed photograph with Ryan. You’ll also get prime table seating in front of the stage for just £99pp.
Members can get 20% off tickets with the code BONDHAY20.
Voucher System
As many of your will be familiar, monies won in competitions is placed on a voucher system in the Pro Shop. The voucher system carries as a huge liability against the business that has been building year-on-year. A review has been conducted and the following changes will be made:
As of the 1st February 2026, voucher monies on inactive accounts will only remain on the system for one calendar year. You will need to actively use your voucher system within the last period of 12 months to ensure that your monies remain available. Accounts that have remained inactive for 12 months or longer will be removed from the system. Expired members will have one month from their renewal/expiry date to use any monies.
We will no longer be providing credit in the Shop. You will need to pay for an item in full – either through the usual payment methods, or available vouchers – before removing this item from the Shop. You will also need to pay for an item in full if we have to order this item from our suppliers. Please do not ask for credit as this will be refused.
Clubhouse - Eating and Drinking
We have reviewed the opening hours of our Clubhouse during the winter months. We are in the continued process of refurbishing our clubhouse and updating our drink and food menus. We still have some work to do but I think you can agree that this space is now more comfortable than ever before. Heating has always been a problem at the Club and we’ll be looking to add some more sources of heat in the coming weeks to work alongside the log burner and radiators. As with everything, these refurbishments come at a cost.
The Clubhouse bar and kitchen is barely used by our members and our visitors during the week. This is extremely disappointing. We have therefore taken the decision to reduce our hours of opening during the week other than when we have member groups such as the seniors or societies. These hours will be increased again as we get back into prime golf season.
As a management team, we are going to be taking action to ensure the offering in the bar and from the kitchen is appropriate and effective, as well as providing consistent quality. This is getting increasingly difficult due to the ever-increasing operating costs and rising price of goods, versus the very high percentage of ‘car park golfers’.
Whilst we appreciate that Bondhay is a long course and you have your lives to get back to, even popping in to grab a coffee once a week makes the world of difference in ensuring that you’ve got a clubhouse to use in the future.
Trollies and Buggies
Each morning the Greens team review the condition of the course and make a decision on whether buggies can be used on the fairways or whether they need to remain on the paths. This decision applies to private and Bondhay Buggies and there are no exceptions to the daily rule. The paths allow for the use of the course by players of all capabilities and capacity throughout the year. This rule is in place to protect the course from unnecessary damage; damage that will take months to repair. Please respect this decision and report any members or visitors not abiding by this rule to the Pro Shop or Office.
Sponsorship
Many of our hole sponsorships have now been allocated, but we have a couple remaining if anyone is interested in showcasing their business to thousands of golfers that visit us every year. Placements are also available throughout the clubhouse and on the Trackman Range. You’ll also see the addition of a TV in the Pro Shop corridor displaying adverts and notices, which is available for placement. Contact Josh on marketing@bondhaygolfclub.com to find out more.
Other than that, thank you to everyone for their continued membership and/or custom and we wish you a fantastic 2026.
Lisa, Josh & Mackenzie - Senior Management Team
Not long untill spring now and I can’t wait. Can you please do everything you can to help protect the course especially through the bad weather, this will make recovery quicker when we get into spring Repair pitch marks, replace divots and keep trolleys out of the roped areas, off tees and greens surrounds.
Winter work is still ongoing some bunkers have been shaped up into what will be grass bunkers. Please take relief from these areas untill further notice. G.U.R. As soon as the areas are suitable to work on they will be prepped and turfed.
Bunkers are: 5th green bunker, 8th fairway bunker, 9th fairway bunker, 12th fairway bunker, 2 fairway bunkers on 13th, 17th fairway bunker, Trees have been removed on 17 - all stumps will be ground and areas seeded.
Greens Maintenance will start March 2nd. This could change depending on the weather, if so a we’ll update through the usual channels. Greens will be Hollow cored, top dressed with sand, spiked and seeded. Tees will be spiked seeded and fetilized to fix the wear from winter.
Ellis Wilson - Course Manager
A massive thank you to all members and visiting golfers who have supported the three raffles held in aid of The Tom Henson Charity. Thanks to your generosity, we have raised £960.00 so far. Both the charity and I are truly grateful for your continued support.
As we look ahead to the 2026 season, here are some key dates to add to your diaries:
Unfortunately, so far the weather has disrupted a lot of golf being played this year.
The winter merit is coming to the latter stages the winner of which becomes the first name into the Champion of Champions keep an eye on the leader board as I write this Andrew Richards is playing really well and top of the leader board.
Wishing you all a fantastic year of golf and great company.
Shane Tuner - Club Captain
The 2026 golf season is nearly upon us and the start of the first golfing major of the season The Masters. This coming year in the Pro Shop, we will be stocking 3 leading brands in the market, TaylorMade, PING and now Callaway. In Stock will be their hardware such as, Drivers, Fairway Woods and Rescue clubs. They will be landing any time soon and we will have demo clubs for you to book in a free fitting with either Myself or Tom.
TaylorMade are launching their new Qi4D Range, Ping are launching their new G440K Range and Callaway launch their new Quantum Range. Also landing soon will be TaylorMade, Ping and Odyssey Putters.
Our golf ball range remains the same with the new edition of Callaway golf balls.
March time sees our new Apparel range from Puma Golf and ADIDAS Golf coming into stock soon. Unfortunately, we couldn’t stock all golfing brands due to so many on the market but don’t let this discard you from making an enquiry as we might be able to accommodate you.
27th of February sees our first of many demo days booked in throughout the golfing season with Ping and places are limited so early booking is recommended.
Myself and Tom are available for lessons throughout the golfing season either on our trackman range or on course tuition, as an extra perk you can now use ProShop credit to purchase lessons so feel free to get in touch with us.
Why not take advantage of our free loft and Lie check along with advice on your grip conditions before the start of the 2026 golfing season.
Trackman has been a great addition to your golf club, so look out for weekly and monthly competitions we are running on trackman through out the season and see if you can beat the scores set by one of the pro-shop team for bragging rights and a special prize, also I’ve set up a 9 hole Stableford competition to play the back 9 at Bondhay along with other courses to so let’s see if you can top the leaderboard.
Thank you to everyone who took part in our Xmas and New Year Raffle and congratulations to all the prize winners, if you didn’t see the live draw then check it out on our Facebook Page.
Entries for the Summer Singles and Doubles Knockouts are now open so enter through the Pro Shop as usual Closing Dates for the last entry is 29th of March.
Next year’s fixtures are finalised with a packed 2026 season ahead and the new format changes to our opens seem to be very popular so we will be running the same again for 2026 with the addition of two senior midweek opens, bookings will be taken in January so don’t delay get your tee time booked.
Dates for your Diary
Upcoming Events
Myself, Tom, Clive and Tony would also like to thank every member that has supported the Pro Shop throughout last year and long may it continue. We wish every member a successful golfing 2026.
Barry Hurt - Head PGA Pro
Preparation is now well under way for the new golf season 2026. The Honours Boards have now been updated so well done to the winners in 2025, I’m sure the competition this year will be even stronger with you all seeking to get your name “immortalised forever on the Honours Boards!”
Once again this year’s affiliation will be with Sheffield Union of Golf. This decision gives the club the opportunity to enter teams in the Scratch League and 6-18 League. Sheffield Union also runs many competitions throughout the season and these can be entered by Bondhay members subject to handicap stipulations. The committee as always will be paying for this affiliation through the members fund.
Another competition which we have entered again this forthcoming season will be the Taskers over 50s knockout tournament across 8 counties. The club has been successful once but definitely a hard one to win!
On a positive note the Notts Alliance team has made a strong start to this year’s winter league. We are currently sitting top of the league but chased closely by some serious competition.
The fixture calendar for 2026 is now live on the web site featuring many internal competitions but also external competitions such as our Bondhay Opens. (Always worth booking early for the Opens to get your preferred tee times, please see the Pro Shop to book).
And finally a big thank you to Club Captain Shane Turner and his wife for their hard work running numerous raffles throughout the winter for their chosen charity.
Mark Highfield - Club Secretary
