Golf Committee Chairman’s Update
Course condition
This winter has seen periods of significant rainfall (twice the yearly average) followed by heavy frost, particularly in January. This has regrettably led to decisions to either close the course altogether or require substantial amounts of temporary greens. I appreciate that there have been times where it seems surprising that Roehampton Club reverts to temporaries, particularly when we hear stories of other Clubs without any restrictions, but I am assured by Peter Bradburn (Course and Grounds Director) that these decisions are not made lightly and need to be kept in the context of differences in playing surfaces (we have clay, not sand based green foundations that drain differently) as well as substantial differences in footfall, particularly during the week. It is imperative for Peter and his team to protect the grass roots on the greens to ensure the optimal playing surfaces we all expect in the spring. In doing so, the team checks the depth of lingering frost under the surface of each green each morning, where the biggest threat to the health of greens is unseen frost that causes detachment of grass roots following excessive play. Course condition and preservation techniques were discussed at length at our Committee Meeting this past Tuesday, and following a recent period of warmer weather, I am hopeful that the course will fully open shortly. That being said, should we need to revert to temporary greens in the future, the Committee would like these to be of higher standard (cut slightly lower and more clearly defined) and have made a suggestion to utilise holes that are somewhat larger in diameter to make putting on temporary greens generally more enjoyable.
Stroke indices and tee markers
Following the introduction of the new World Handicap System in November 2020, you will undoubtedly have noticed that the holes at Roehampton Club no longer have separate stroke indices assigned depending on the tee box you are hitting from. This change facilitates and encourages competitive play between tee boxes, and I would expect to see more competitions going forward that take advantage of this, particularly the knockout/match-play formats of the game. However, what this has required is a need to re-index the holes on the course to ensure that they most accurately reflect the difficultly of each hole, as played from each tee. The Committee has analysed this by taking competitive scores from each tee (measured in relation to par) and has determined that there are nine holes that will have indexes that require adjustment.
In addition, as previously mentioned, the Committee has now also agreed that we will change the colour scheme of the tee boxes to move away from any gender-based associations with the traditional white/yellow/red tee markers.
Both the new stroke indices and new tee marker colour scheme will be implemented by Monday 13th March, in time for the summer knockout schedule.
Golf Practice Area and Sports Shop
The Golf Practice Group (GPG) sub-committee is continuing to make excellent progress with the Indoor Golf Centre (IGC) design, and we are now very close to re-submitting our application to Wandsworth Council for approval. The plans were recently required to be updated to ensure that the building did not exceed 1,000 square metres, which would avoid additional planning permission and oversight (and associated cost and delays) from the Greater London Authorities. We have been working closely with our vendor, Sports Clubhouses, to narrow down the specifics on the design, and expect to complete this in the next week or so. We are also looking to establish a partnership with Trackman, who are at the market leader in simulated golf technology today, to ensure that we optimise our set-up and remain at the forefront of simulated golf innovation over time.
I will be sure to include a visual of the finalised plans in my next contribution, but to recap where we are, we are looking to develop an exceptional two-storey indoor golf facility which will include as many as 13 spacious simulator bays as well as a dedicated golf pro shop and indoor putting facility. The IGC will be next to an outdoor short game facility with two dedicated greens for putting and pitching/bunker play. The primary purpose for the new facility is to provide Roehampton Club Members with a convenient location to improve all aspects of their game (including the long game) while also offering an ideal set up to encourage the social aspects of the game (simulated competitions, child-friendly games etc.). The support of the Club and the Board has been fantastic to date, and I am optimistic that we can get to a point where construction can begin later on this year, and we can hopefully begin to enjoy the new facility sometime in 2024.
Drop Zones
You may have already noticed that there are new drop zones to the left and right of both the 7th and 12th greens. These have been implemented to remove any ambiguity around where to drop balls that enter the G.U.R. areas associated with these holes. Particularly the 12th, with the new netting behind the green, can lead to questions around drop area should your ball end up behind the net or up against the beam in front of it. The new drop zones will make it clear where the golfer is expected to drop their ball, with no penalty incurred. In addition, the Committee has decided to implement an additional drop zone to the back of the area between the third hole and the 15th tee box. This tends to be a dangerous location, and to discourage wayward tee shots in this direction, we have decided to implement a drop zone at the very beginning of this G.U.R. area on the third hole. Going forward, regardless of where your ball may have entered this area, players will be expected to drop their ball in this new drop zone. Please be on the lookout for a detailed message regarding these new drop zones in the coming days.
Final thoughts
I wanted to congratulate the ladies’ Pearson Team on yet again making it through to the knockout stages of the competition. We all hope you can make it all the way to the Finals again and perhaps go even one better than last year!
I also wanted to thank Ricky Pharo and his team for the effort they have put in to provide an excellent programme for both Junior Academy and Cadets (under 18s) at Roehampton Club for this summer. Ricky and his staff go out of their way to provide training, competition and social outlets for our younger Members, so I encourage those of you with children to contact the pros to sign up for a whole host of exciting opportunities in this regard coming up.
Finally, and as always, I encourage you to keep up to date with further developments by reading the minutes of the Golf Committee which are available on the Club website under ‘The Club – Committees and Minutes’ and to feel free to email me with any thoughts or concerns you may have.