Golf Committee Chairman’s Update
Following my last report in July I am happy to announce that Laura Weatherill and Helen Maguire have been elected to join the Golf Committee. Laura and Helen replace Gunilla Huldt and Caroline Leslie, who I would like to sincerely thank for their commitment and contributions to the Committee and to golf in general at Roehampton Club. I would also like to thank the Members who were able to join the Annual Meeting of Golfers (AMG) last weekend, where in addition to the topics I will cover here, we thanked Paul Taylor and Patricia Morgan for their year of excellent service as Captains to the Men’s and Ladies’ sections and for their commendable efforts for their chosen charity, Regenerate. As you undoubtedly know, Paul and Patricia have been succeeded by Simon Butler and Charlotta Lyckeus, who will now also join the Golf Committee for this upcoming year. Good luck in your captaincies and I look forward to your insights and contributions to the Golf Committee.
I would finally like to thank the Committee for supporting my re-election as Chairman for another term. Needless to say, I am extremely honoured to hold the role and will always aim to lead the Committee with the best interest of the overall golf membership in mind. I will also continue to communicate all significant golf-related developments and decisions to you through these Recorder contributions so that you remain regularly updated. I of course also hope you feel free to approach me with your feedback, thoughts and concerns, either in person at the Club or by contacting me at nielsverbeek2004@yahoo.com.
10th hole update
I am happy to report that the wait to utilise the new 10th tee is almost over. Our external contractors, Hi-Nets, are at the Club this week to install the netting which will run alongside the tee and which will act as an immediate safeguard for wayward shots that might otherwise leave the course boundary. As you know this was a concern that needed an urgent remedy, particularly given the busy nature of Priory Lane and the location of a school not far down the road from the tee. The net will take roughly a week to install so we will need to utilise a temporary tee for a short period of time. The supporting poles will be latticed but will be painted green in line with other poles and nets around the course. The Club will also retroactively apply green paint to the new poles behind the 12th green, which had to be installed to protect the heavy traffic at the intersection between Priory Lane and Clarence Lane.
Golf Practice Area and Sports Shop
Since my last contribution we have made further progress on the Indoor Golf Centre and Sports Shop. The Golf Committee and Golf Practice Group recently met with Steve McDonald, Director of our new vendor Sports Clubhouses, to hear about the latest developments on his design proposal. Following a lengthy discussion, a proposal was made to combine the Indoor Golf Centre with a new golf specific pro-shop located in the current driving range. The current Sports Shop would receive an independent refurbishment and would then eventually specifically serve racquet sports and croquet only. We have already finalised a topographical survey of the proposed area and are now awaiting the outcome of a sub-terranean survey which aims to confirm the viability of the soil foundation for the new building facility. As previously mentioned, we already have pre-planning permission from Wandsworth council for an earlier submitted structure, but any new designs would now still need further approval. The new concept will also require final sign-off from our Board following a full accounting of how the expected costs fall within the current budget, factoring in the intended refurbishment of the Clubhouse over the course of the next few years. All that being said, I am hopeful that Roehampton Club will have a state-of-the-art Indoor Golf Centre and Pro Shop, with adjacent short game area and putting green by mid-2024.
Golf booking restrictions
I have received multiple communications from Members who believe the advance booking restrictions three days in any weekly period) are unfair to full paying Members compared to five-day Members. I tend to agree this is commercially inequitable, but regrettably at this point we are limited (through IntelligentGolf) in our ability to properly address this. There were some helpful suggestions made at the AMG last weekend, which we will take on board, but unfortunately this matter is not likely to be resolved over the winter months when day light becomes particularly scarce and the necessity for the utilisation of IntelligentGolf is more pronounced. Nonetheless I consider this a matter of importance and will work with the Golf Committee to strive to find a suitable solution over the course of the next few months.
10th tee booking (nine hole only)
Over the past year we have similarly received frequent questions around why the Club is not willing to open up the 10th tee for morning nine-hole bookings. This would clearly create booking capacity for the remainder of the day, particularly now that we head into a period where we lose almost three hours of booking slots. I’m pleased to report that starting on Monday 31st October we will trial this concept by opening up the 10th tee for nine-hole only morning bookings on Mondays and Fridays only, between 8am and 9am. I would like to particularly thank Peter Bradburn (Course and Grounds Director) for this opportunity, as the principal reason we had restricted this to date was to not disturb (and consequently protect) his staff who at that time are generally hard at work on the back nine preparing the course for us. So if you intend to utilise this new opportunity, please be cognisant and respectful of the greenkeepers at all times.
Stroke Index review and new tee box markers
Following the transition to the World Handicap System (WHS) you will have undoubtedly noticed that one of the residual side effects is the stroke index consolidation per hole as there are no longer different stroke indexes applied to different tee boxes on the same hole. This means that a review of the stroke indexes across our 18 holes has become warranted and I will present my analysis at our next Golf Committee meeting, from where we will discuss any potential impact and next steps. I will keep you posted on developments, but I certainly would not expect any movement on this until next year. We are also likely to change the colour coding assigned to different tee boxes, as we move away from any gender associations and transition to a world where we simply chose to play golf courses based on the length you are comfortable playing.
