Upminster Golf Club April 2010

UPMINSTER GOLF CLUB 

APRIL 2011 

NEWSLETTER 

After some exceptionally bad 

weather before Christmas, 

2011 has been much kinder to 

us and there has been a noticeable 

absence of temporary 

greens. I am now keeping my 

fingers crossed for some good 

spring growing weather so that 

we see the benefit of the work 

carried out on the course during the early 

months of this year. 

Due to the bad weather the Yuletide competition 

was rescheduled for the end of January. The 

competition was very well supported with a great 

atmosphere in the Clubhouse afterwards for the 

prize giving, and pro’s draw. The winning team 

was made up of Peter Crump, Jim Rook, Roger 

Edwards, and Denis O’Sullivan. 

The social events over the winter period have 

been very well attended and great fun. I would 

like to thank Sue Adlington and her team for 

their hard work and also Mark Grant and his staff 

for providing us with exceptional food. 

There will be two social events this year that are 

not in the diary. These are the Charity Quiz 

evening (Friday 8 th July) and the Charity Race 

evening (Friday 5 th August), both in aid of St. 

Francis Hospice, the chosen charity of Joan and 

myself. I would ask members to please support 

these functions, if possible, and help raise money 

for a worthy cause while having a good time. 

Notices will be posted in the clubhouse informing 

members of the details. 

CAPTAIN’S REPORT 

The Marc Etherington Golf Day on 2 nd March 

was extremely successful and very well supported. 

The format was better ball off ¾ handicap. It 

was won by Richard Vickery and Andrew Cooper 

with a staggering 48 points. The purpose of 

this day was to raise funds to help Marc compete 

on the Euro-Pro Tour. I am pleased to 

report that Mark qualified at Stoke-by-Nayland 

and went on to the next stage at Frilford Heath, 

where he achieved full playing rights. We will 

keep you updated as to his progress. 

Our Mail on Sunday team, Captained by Colin 

Wardley, were drawn away to Orsett in the first 

round. Upminster lost 3-2, in what, was a very 

close match. 

Our Senior’s team, Captained by David Hall, 

were drawn away to Thorndon Park in the first 

round of the Essex Senior’s Team Championship 

this year. Despite some very close games 

Upminster were knocked out. 

Andy Wright won his match 2&1 in the first round 

of the Essex Matchplay Championship (Alan 

Lockwood Trophy). The match was at home 

against a member of Langdon Hills. Good luck 

to Andy in the next round. 

I would like to wish the rest of our teams every 

success in their competitions this year and ask 

members to go along to the matches and lend 

their support. 

There is increasing concern amongst the membership 

that the pace of play is unacceptably 

slow at times. Since I have been Captain, 

numerous members have approached me with 

regard to slow play and expressed their views 

and ideas on how play can be speeded up. 

Various initiatives have been discussed at Committee 

but, in the first instance, I would appeal to 

all members to be aware of their position on the 

course and keep up with the group in front. 

We are now coming into the golf season and I 

look forward to playing with as many different 

members as possible so please put your names 

up with me on the start lists. 

Finally I would like to thank you all for your 

encouragement and support so far. 

Have a great summer. 

Captain 

Brian Woolnough

LADY CAPTAIN’S REPORT 

Nearly half way through my year as 

Lady Captain already. After all the 

snow and course closures the days 

are eventually getting warmer, the 

evenings lighter and the golfing season 

is about to start. 

In spite of the bad weather we had 

some fun social events. The Ladies 

Xmas Dinner was well supported and 

my thanks go to Mark, David, and all 

the staff and to Lesley Mumford and 

Lesley Cresswell for entertaining us so well. The children’s 

Xmas party also was a great success and Brian and I were 

delighted to meet Santa and be given a present along with 

all the children. 

The Ladies have only played a couple of matches so far 

this year. Unfortunately the Mail on Sunday team lost 

1½ -3½ to Orsett at Orsett, but Gill Cook and Barbara 

Treble have won their first two rounds of the Daily Mail 

Foursomes against Romford and Mardyke Valley, well 

done to them and good luck to them in their future rounds. 

Congratulations also to Doreen Adams for winning the 

Grandmothers Cup and also to Debbie Herrington for 

winning the Adams trophy. 

Good Luck to Gill Woolnough and her Silver Shield team, 

Lesley Mumford and her Silver Trophy team, Maddy Owen 

and her Bronze team and Sally Copping and her Harris 

team. Lets hope we can win something this year. 

We have been privileged to be asked to host the Essex 

Ladies Championships this year. This will take place from 

Friday 20 th May until Sunday 22 nd May. This is a chance to 

see the best Lady golfers in Essex playing, and I will be 

very grateful for any offers of ball spotting over the 3 days. 

Brian and I have managed to reach the final of the Mixed 

Winter Knockout. It has been very relaxed and enjoyable 

playing with him and I hope a good omen of things to come. 

We did finish runners up to Peter & Wendy Fox, very well 

done and congratulations to them. 

There will be a ‘ladies that lunch day’ in aid of St Francis 

Hospice on Monday 18th July for any ladies and their 

guests who would like to go. 

Finally I wish you all good health and good golfing in the 

coming months 

Lady Captain 

Joan Little 

CHAIRMAN’S UPDATE 

Doreen Adams, Joan Little and Debbie Herrington 

I am pleased to say that the club goes from strength to strength with an additional 54 members joining in the past year. 

We have engaged 2 replacement greenkeepers in Michael Morreale and Damien Biggs who are both proving to be assets 

to the greenkeeping team. Our course is in the best shape this year for April and it is getting better week on week. Well 

done to the Course Committee and the greenkeeping team under Doug Fernie. 

We have decided to trial removing the white lines at the front of the greens for 3 months. During this time as always it 

would be helpful if you could steer your trolleys around the fringes. 

Many improvements have been made to the Ladies upstairs facilities and a project to replace all of the lockers in the 

outside locker rooms is underway and will be completed by the end of May. They will be finished in light oak and will be 

of a much larger size. A sample will be on display in the clubhouse during the week commencing 26th April. 

I am looking forward to this year’s golfing and bowling season. 

J R Potticary 

Chairman

The Upminster Bowls club held its annual general meeting 

on 23 rd November 2010 & the following were duly elected 

President & Secretary Sandy Dron 

Vice President Colin Coe 

Captain Peter Drewe 

Vice Captain Eric Collier 

Treasurer Roger Saunders 

Match Secretary Tony Picton 

At the Romford & District Bowling Association held on 

Tuesday 7 th December 2010 Upminster’s Bill Mitchell was 

elected as Junior Deputy President for 2011 so this will 

mean that in 2013 He will become President of the Association. 

In addition Sandy Dron was re-appointed as Treasurer 

of the Association. 

LADIES SECTION 

BOWLERS 

It has been decided that the bowls green will open on Easter 

Saturday, 23 rd April,which is also St. Georges Day & the 

cheese & wine pre season social will be held on Good 

Friday, 22 nd April. 

Colin Coe has been granted a place in the Essex County 

Ashford Cup trial which is due to be held on 15 th May & this 

year is being played at Liberty of Havering Bowls Club so 

we wish him well as it is the first step towards obtaining a 

county badge & thus representing Essex at bowls. As our 

county has over 1,000 members, the competition is fierce. 

Sandy Dron 

Our season opens on Saturday 23 rd April with the usual Pre Season Get Together on Friday 22 nd April. We are very 

pleased to announce that we have had 6 new applications for Bowls membership from both golfers and social members 

and we look forward to welcoming them into our Bowls Section. We are having two Welcome Afternoons on Saturday 

May 7 th and Saturday June 4 th and if there are any other golfing or social ladies who would like to try their hand at a game 

of bowls, please come along and enjoy the afternoons. Congratulations to Jennifer Spearman-Adkins and Frances Drewe 

who have attained their second stage Coaching Certificate and they will be available to help with coaching throughout the 

coming season. This year we have entered 1 Pair, 1 Triple and 1 Four into the County Competitions and we wish them 

every success. 

ACTIVE/INACTIVE HANDICAPS - WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT? 

In 2010 the Council of National Golf Unions (CONGU) 

introduced a ruling whereby the handicaps of those who had 

not completed three qualifying competitions in a calendar 

year would be deemed to be ‘Inactive’. The idea was to stop 

people entering open competitions with a false handicap by 

playing lots of golf but not in qualifying competitions, so their 

handicap was not a true record of their skill. 

Now, if you always play in plenty of qualifying competitions 

throughout the year you have no worries as for the following 

year your handicap will automatically be designated as 

‘Active’. 

To help those who find it difficult to compete in competitions, 

CONGU now allow ‘Supplementary Cards’ to be submitted. 

The beauty of these cards is that they are considered as a 

qualifying card and also will affect your handicap as in a 

normal competition. They have laid down rules as to how 

these are to be played and there is a notice on the main 

board in the Stone Lounge stating these rules. 

If you are unable to complete the three qualifying competitions 

and or Supplementary Cards required then from the 

beginning of the next year your handicap will be designated 

‘Inactive’ and a little ‘i’ will appear against your name on the 

handicap list and on a handicap certificate. I would mention 

that cards completed in one year cannot be carried over to 

the next. To regain an ‘Active’ Handicap you must either 

compete in three qualifying competitions, complete three 

Supplementary Cards, or a combination of both during the 

present calendar year. Having done that, you will not only 

have an ‘Active’ for that year but also for the next! 

The Men’s Section of the Club has tried to make it as easy 

as possible for players to regain an ‘Active’ handicap. They 

may play in any singles qualifying competition, but if it is a 

cup competition they are not permitted to receive a prize. 

Any player, whether ‘Inactive’ or ‘Active’ can submit any 

number of Supplementary Cards but not more that one per 

week. Players with an ‘Inactive’ handicap cannot compete 

in any team competition or knock outs. 

Dennis Broadway 

Competitions Committee 

If you have a ‘no score’ on a hole in a medal carry on and complete the rest of the holes. It does mean that you will have 

a ‘No Return’ for the competition but the score will still count for handicap purposes. The ‘blob’ will be counted as a two 

over your nett par, so if you have otherwise had a good round you could finish up in your buffer zone or if you have had a 

very good score then possibly a handicap reduction. 

Dennis Broadway 

Handicaps & Competitions 

YOU HAVE ‘BLOBBED’ A HOLE IN A MEDAL - DON’T GIVE UP

Jodie Dartford 

Professional 

The Club’s Entertainments started off the New Year with a 

well supported quiz night, and was followed later in January 

with the ‘Cockney Night’. It was a fun light hearted evening, 

with hot ‘cockney style’ buffet and the entertainment was by 

Gordon Bennett. 

In February we had two very well supported and and enjoyable 

‘Valentines Dance’ evenings, with ‘Robert Craig’ 

crooning his way round the tables to all the ladies, followed 

by dancing until midnight. 

In March again we had a well supported quiz night with lots 

of great raffle prizes, and this was followed at the end of the 

month with our 

‘James Bond Secret 

Agent Party’. This 

was a sell out, everyone 

who came 

adorned either their 

best evening wear 

or Bond themed 

costume. We had a 

fabulous menu and 

the Roulette Table 

was a huge draw to 

many, just playing 

for fun, there was a 

brilliant atmosphere 

all night. 

EVENT DATES APRIL NEWSLETTER 

Friday, 8th July 

Friday, 5th August 

UPMINSTER 

GOLF CLUB 

PROFESSIONAL 

We have now reached the start of the golf season. The season could not have started any better, with the 

beautiful sunshine and warm weather. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the members who 

supported Marc in his Golf Day. It was a very successful day which I hope you all enjoyed and I will keep 

you updated with Marc’s progress throughout the year. Life in the shop is now becoming busy with all the 

stock out on display, so please come in and take a look. Finally I would like to wish all of the members an 

enjoyable and successful golf season. 

ENTERTAINMENTS 

Charity Quiz Night 

Charity Race Night 

FUTURE NEWSLETTERS 

The April quiz was the best attended quiz so far, a record 

‘25’ tables. 

The Entertainments Committee would like to thank all the 

members who have supported the functions so far, they are 

only successful with their continued support! 

This newsletter and all future newsletters will be available from our website or hard copy in the Clubhouse lounges. 

The next newsletter will be issued in July. If you have any news, functions, results relative to the Club please e-mail or 

hand it to the Secretary. 

Tel: 01708 222788 

E-mail: secretary@upminstergolfclub.co.uk 

Website: www.upminstergolfclub.co.uk

Upminster Golf Club April 2010

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