Latest News from Donnington Valley Golf Club

LATEST RULES

In order to keep you up to date on the new rules and regulations about golf and in particular non-conforming drivers and the New Rules of Golf 2008, why not check out the information on the R & A website by logging on to the web address below:

www.randa.org
The information can be found on the home page.

COURSE UPDATE – FEBRUARY 2010

Snow, snow, snow – what a start to the year!!!!!!!!

Although I am sure we all enjoyed the novelty of snow it soon wore off & I and the course are glad to see the back of it.

Thank you for your many kind comments at the recent AGM about the course, these mean a lot to me & I pass these comments back to my team too.

GREENS
Despite the greens being healthy prior to the snow & ice they now have some fusarium (disease) which I was expecting due to a prolonged period of bad weather. A contact fungicide is being applied to keep this under control.

We will be continuing to hand cut at 6mm when conditions allow.

Some aeration work will be undertaken later in the month after the disease has been brought under control.

FAIRWAYS
The winter slitting programme continues to work well with all surfaces remaining firm and quite dry. These will be slit again before the start of the main playing season.

TEES
A liquid feed of iron will be applied to improve plant health, which will probably lead to a blackening of the tee surface, so do not be alarmed this is to be expected and is quite normal.
The verti-draining carried out down to 7 inches again was very successful & the surfaces are standing up well to the wear. Again for the second year there will be no temporary teeing mats in operation, though there may be some grass tees introduced prior to the season on the short holes to ensure the main tees are in prime condition.

TRAFFIC CONTROL MEASURES
These will remain around the course, which I hope all golfers will continue to follow, to enable trolleys to be used as much as possible throughout the winter and to move damage away from the main playing surfaces.

WINTER PROJECTS

Please see the additional notice regarding the above items, which unfortunately are a little behind where I would have liked, obviously due to the snow & ice.

Wishing you all a great 2010 golfing year.

Alastair Higgs
Head Greenkeeper

HANDICAPS

Handicaps
For all those people who don’t have a handicap, but would like one, then all you need to do is get 3 cards marked and signed by a member with a handicap and submit them to the competition committee and you will be allocated a handicap in accordance with CONGU (Confederation Of National Golfing Unions). Either leave the cards with Peter Smith or put them in an envelope and leave it on the mail board at the club.

CHANGES TO THE UNIFIED HANDICAPPING SYSTEM (UHS)

• To have an ‘Active’ handicap members must have played in, and completed, at least three handicap qualifying events, during 2009 and then every year although the number of handicap qualifying rounds needed is likely to increase at some stage. For those who don’t, from 1st January 2010 their handicaps will become ‘Inactive’ and on handicaps lists and handicap certificates an ‘i’ will show and be applied automatically by our computer system. Removal of this marker can only be achieved through playing and completing three qualifying rounds.

• ‘Inactive’ handicaps can be used for social golf and any competitions where an ‘Active’ handicap is not a condition of entry – it is likely that entry to ALL competitions will require an ‘Active’ handicap in the near future. Through the summer there will be some monthly ‘Handicap Qualifying Events’ open to all Members to enable them to obtain the three rounds needed and they can mark score cards as usual. Men will play from the yellow tees in these Events and Ladies from the red tees as usual. Full details will be published soon. It’s also a great opportunity to obtain a handicap if you don’t have one at present.

• The three qualifying scores must all be achieved in the same calendar year. In 2008 there were 177 members who played less than three qualifying competitions that year – why not join in?

• A Central Database of Handicaps (CDH) is being launched this year which will allow access to other clubs handicap databases and speed the reporting of ‘away scores’ from other clubs competitions in which our members have played.

• If you have questions please ask any member of the Competitions & Handicaps Committee.
March 2009.

USE OF LOCKERS

Please note that the use of lockers in the changing rooms are only for the period you are playing golf. It appears that many members are simply keeping a locker occupied at all times therefore preventing other members from being able to use them.

In order to stop this, the lockers will be emptied of their contents on a regular basis, at a time when no lockers should be being used i.e. early mornings. The contents will then be labelled and stored for collection by the owners on their next visit to the club, which will cause inconvenience for those people.

In order to prevent inconvenience of this nature and allow use of lockers for all people, please only use lockers when you are at the club.

HOW DID I DO?

I am pleased to advise you that we have now set up access to the ‘How Did I Do?’ website, which enables you to do the following

From the comfort of your home or work:

• Check how you did in a competition
• See what effect a good or bad score had on your handicap
• View the forthcoming main golfing fixtures

All you need to do to access the site is to log on to the following site: wwww.howdidido.co.uk. Then search for Donnington Valley under courses and you will need to register yourself. The rest is simple!

HAVE WE GOT YOUR DETAILS CORRECT?

If you have recently moved house, changed telephone numbers or changed e-mail address, please can you let us have your new details, so that we can communicate with you quickly and efficiently.

Please inform us either in writing to Chris Small, by phone on 01635 568 140 or e-mail us at: golf@donningtonvalley.co.uk

Happy Golfing to you all

Peter

Peter Smith

General Manager/Secretary

Direct line: 01635 568 144

E-mail: petersmith@donningtonvalley.co.uk