MapperleyGolf

Housing Developments

2011-09-20T06:29:00.001-07:00

Well, after a flurry of activity, things seem to have settled down a little. There is still a couple of weeks (until 3rd October) to make your comments direct to the Council, which you can do most easily through the Council website. The purpose of this post is not really to provide any further information, but to give you a spot to comment, if you would like to. Please feel free to add your views below.

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Saturday morning comp slots

2011-06-07T01:19:00.001-07:00

Anyone who plays Saturday comps will be aware that the half-hour slots have reverted back to the previous system of hour (OK, 50 minute) slots. In committee, it was a fairly uncontroversial move - some people said that the half hour slots limited the number of people they got to play with, and one of the great strengths of our system is that over the course of the season you have the chance to play with a lot of different people. One person said they had been drawn with the same partner three weeks in a row. That wide group makes it easier for new members to integrate into the club, they never feel as though they are intruding into a well-established group.

Since we went back, many people have said that they preferred the half hour slots. It takes away some issues both for them and the pro and the comps chairman . For the member, it means that you don't have to know exactly what time you are off, because there is only a half hour variation and you can just turn up twenty minutes before the start of the slot, the pro is not inundated with phone calls to check on times (though the web site should have the details), and the comps chairman who is making the draw doesn't have to worry about people wanting an 'early' or 'late' slot, the draw can be completely random.

So, what do you think? Post a response below, or email Martin Millichip competitions@mapperleygolfclub.org with your opinion.

Great Start for Mapperley Juniors

2011-04-11T11:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the first match of the 2011 season, and we had a beautiful day to host Ruddington Grange in Division 1 of the Junior Interclub League.

Under new Captain Sam Buck, we recorded a 3 1/2, 2 1/2 victory. Daniel Dunsby won his match very comfortably 8&7, Paul Dickson made his 4&3. Steve Allsop held his nerve to drain a tricky six-footer on the last to claim his game 1 up and the match for the team. Special mention to Jack Redwood, who only joined the club last week, but brought an active handicap with him. Drafted in at the last minute and probably knowing the course no better than his opponent, to whom he was giving two shots, Jack kept it going right to the last green.

We are again a very small squad this year, we'll need everyone's commitment all the time if we're going to stay in the top division. A great start though! Next match is Trent Lock, again at home, probably Sunday 15th May.

Food - Mapperley chocolate fudge cake, for the win!

Medals

2011-03-21T05:52:00.001-07:00

A snippet, and don't let anyone tell you that we don't try and educate you at Mapperley Golf Club. Do you know why a Medal competition is called that?

In the late 18th Century, a competition was inaugurated at Blackheath Golf Club in London, said to be the oldest golf club in the world. The lunch club, known as the Knuckle Club presented the 'Knuckle Club Medal', which is a strokeplay competition which is still played for every year in the Spring. First competed for in 1769, it is the oldest golf trophy in the world, and more importantly, has given us the word 'medal' for a stroke play competition. There's a picture of the medal on the Blackheath website.

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More pics from the tenth

2010-12-16T08:08:00.000-08:00

Again grateful to Gordon for the pics. Work progressing! Click on each pic to see a larger version.

Captain's Report, December 2010

2010-12-16T02:41:00.000-08:00

‘In the bleak mid winter frosty winds made moan
Earth stood hard as iron water like a stone
Snow had fallen snow on snow’

And so the Captain’s diary gets emptier and hence my report gets shorter.

The annual Children in Need Charity Day was held on the 12th of November and was, as usual, well attended and great fun to be involved in. The club’s thanks go to Mick, Jack and Ron for continuing to organise this event as it reflects well on Mapperley Golf Club as well as raising considerable funds for Children in Need.

The following day I enjoyed attending the club’s annual Dinner and Dance. This was a well attended and well organised event and my thanks go to the Lady Captain for her major contribution to organising the evening. I would like to thank the members and guests who attended and hope that they enjoyed the evening as much as Lynn and I did.

Sadly this year, due to the bad weather, we had to cancel the annual Cheese and Wine evening. This is when traditionally the proceeds of the Captain’s Charity are handed over to the recipient charity. The event also affords the Captain the opportunity to thank the many helpers that work during the year towards the charity. Having been denied that occasion I shall take this opportunity the record my thanks to the following people.
Throughout the year I have been grateful to Lynn and her team of ladies who produce cakes, sell raffle tickets and staff the half way house. Not an easy job but thanks to them one and all.
The main charity event of the year is obviously Charity Day, which involves contributions from many of the members. I cannot name them all but my thanks go to all who played in the competition, those who sponsored the holes, the many who donated prizes, the ladies who baked and sold cakes, Martin for the publicity, Brian Robinson for his auctioneering and all the others who helped on and around that weekend.
Special mention needs to be made of Trevor Smith and Brian Bancroft.
Trevor is a wizard at producing donations and prizes for the auction. Without him the auction would not work, thank you Trev.
Brian Bancroft masterminds the whole event as well as running the betting board and selling raffle tickets on the day. Without his wealth of experience it would be so much more difficult to organise the day at all so thank you Brian for a great job well done.
As the proceeds of the charity could not be handed over on the 2nd I have sent a cheque for four thousand pounds to this years Captain’s Charity.

My and the cubs thanks go to Linda and Graham Bird who organise the club decorations for the festive season. Thank you.

Yesterday saw the annual Children’s Christmas Party, a wonderful affair that reflects very well on the club as well as bringing so much pleasure to so many children (and adults).
My thanks go to Nick and I think on this occasion especially to Danielle for a super afternoon enjoyed by all who attended.

I am sure Alistair is going to mention it but the clubs thanks go to Geoff Mantle for the great job he has done in decorating the junior locker room. It is now a room to be proud of.

In closing I would like to wish all the members of the committee and the whole membership of Mapperley Golf Club a happy Christmas and a successful and safe 2011.

Ken Shaw
Capt MGC

Developments on the Tenth

2010-11-30T13:19:00.001-08:00

Some pics from the redevelopment of the tenth hole! Grateful to Gordon Watt (Gordon in the shop) for the shots. Anyone who is free to lend a hand with the re-turfing, please contact Daryl or Mick Mulhern.

EGM 29th November

2010-11-30T09:32:00.000-08:00

The 29th November saw an EGM to consider a couple of issues and proposed rule changes: we needed to make some changes to the club rules in light of the new Equality Act that became law as of 1st October, mainly to do with rules that limited the gender makeup of the General Committee. The rules that needed changing are listed here, and the new club rules as amended by the meeting are accessible via the 'members' tab on the main club website, or from this link. The rule changes were passed unanimously.

The other proposal was to move the subscription year from a January renewal to an April renewal. The General Committee felt that this would relieve the financial burden on members trying to find subscription money soon after Christmas and would potentially aid recruitment and retention of members. It would also move the subscription year to the point at which many people are actively looking forward to a summer on the course rather than having the hatches battened down in midwinter. It would require 2011 subscriptions to cover 15 months rather than 12, however, and a number of options for people to manage their subscription payments were proposed. Points were made both for and against the motion. In the event, the 'anti' arguments proved persuasive to many members in the room, and a split vote saw the proposal fail to reach the two-thirds majority required and so the subscription renewal point will remain as at present at 1st January.

Members are welcome to comment on either of these issues, either below as part of this blog, or using the usual feedback card mechanism.

Pitchcare Magazine Features Mapperley Greenkeeper Daryl

2010-11-29T07:38:00.000-08:00

Just so you know that Mapperley Golf Club is at the cutting edge of green developments (see what I did there? cutting, green....oh, never mind), Daryl Keen our head greenkeeper was featured in this month's Pitchcare magazine, extolling the virtues of something called Velvet Bentgrass. Apparently it needs less maintenance than meadow grass and looks and plays great.

Have a read for yourselves: http://www.pitchcare.com/magazine/velvet-underground.html

Equality Act 2010

2010-10-07T02:20:00.000-07:00

This new Act of Parliament came into effect from the 1st of October 2010 and will apply to all golf clubs. The main provision of the act directly affecting a private members’ golf club is to make it unlawful for management of any private members’ club to discriminate against any individual.

To study and help us better understand these new arrangements the General Committee earlier this year agreed to set up a small ‘Steering Group’ from its number with additional representation from our Ladies Section organized under the chairmanship of Mr. Garry Wilkinson.

The first steps of the ‘Steering Group’ was to examine our constitution, rules, bye laws and procedures and to immediately discontinue any arrangements that could be described under this new act as discriminatory.

At MGC we have a long admirable history of incorporating into our practices and procedures rules that permit the participation of all our membership and their sections in the collective management of our club. We now under these latest reforms need to include practical systems that consent to equal access to all categories of membership to our facilities.

To achieve this we plan to introduce only two categories of membership a six day membership which will operate from Sunday to Friday and a seven day membership. Juniors under the age of eighteen are not affected by these structural changes so their category of membership will remain unchanged.

The MGC annual competitions fixture list will remain fully operational for Saturday competitions and will be open to all seven day members.

Between now and 2012 the government will be taking additional formal soundings on age related subscription concessions and will advise golf clubs of their longer term views on this subject in due course. Therefore, it is anticipated that some level of age and service related concession will continue until further notice.

These are fundamental structural changes introduced by government legislation to the management of our sport all of which demands our complete compliance.

Issued by Mr. Garry Wilkinson Chairman MGC Equality Steering Group on behalf of the general committee 8th October 2010

Mapperley Assistant Pro Tim Newham wins Midlands Order of Merit!!

2010-09-28T02:38:00.000-07:00

We are delighted for our Assisitant Pro Tim Newham, who has carried off the Midlands Order of Merit (OOM) for 2010, going one better than 2009's excellent second place.

The OOM is played over six events through the season, and Tim won two of them outright, July's Ruddington Strokeplay, which he won with a 68, and the Sky Caddie Midland Assistant's strokeplay at Buxton. An Assistant pro can play in the OOM events during the three training years and for three years after qualification, which means that there are in any one year more than 2000 players eligible!

Tim is currently more than 700 points ahead going into the last event of the Nottinghamshire Assistants order of merit, guaranteeing him that title too. He is also in with a shout in the main Professional Order of Merit, currently lying in fifth place. But that's not all: Tuesday 5th October sees Tim in the semi-final of the Notts Assistants matchplay. If he picks up that title it will be the third year in a row.

Winning the Midlands Assistants OOM is a great springboard to next season: It gains him automatic entry into every one of the main Professional Order of Merit events throughout the region, normally requiring pre-qualification. The top 30 players each year keep their cards and the top two gain entries into European Tour events and the chance to play against the élite.

Tim says his game is getting to where he wants it to be: 'I was +3 as an amateur, but went through a period where I was playing well in practice but not putting it together in tournaments. Working hard towards my PGA qualifications didn't help either. Now, my game is back where it needs to be, I'm practicing hard and looking forward to next season'.

He goes on, 'putting for me is the key to my round. Tee to green I'm very solid. If I putt well, I can put together a great score'.

Tim reached the semi-final of the English Amateur championships twice so he knows he can go out and play against, and beat, some of the very best. All at Mapperley Golf Club wish him the very best for 2011.

Standard Scratch

2010-06-09T02:57:00.001-07:00

If you look to your right when you come into the clubhouse, there's a new certificate posted up. Our standard scratch has been reassessed, and has been raised to 71, in line with par. Norman Wells went around with the assessor, and it sounded like an interesting process, with distances from the tee that a scratch player might achieve being measured and the difficulty of an approach shot being assessed to decide how hard it might be to make par.

Under competition rules, the Competition Scratch can only vary away from Standard by a certain amount, which in practical terms should mean that we've all got an extra shot to avoid the dreaded 0.1!

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Burton Joyce Football club

2010-04-27T09:55:00.000-07:00

We have sponsored Burton Joyce FC this season - here's a short update on how they've been doing. Sounds like a great season so far, with the chance of honours at the end of it:

Burton Joyce Football Club play in the Nottinghamshire Amateur Alliance (NAA) Premier Division and with just four league games to play sit in third place with games in hand on those above them. A remarkable undefeated run at the end of last season saw Burton Joyce promoted to the Premier Division and the continuation of that has led to them being amongst three sides able to claim the title. That unbeaten run began in January 2009 and it took over a year for “BJ” to come up against a side with the capabilities to defeat them. As well as being a good bet to take the league title, the Green Army, led by Darron Ward, have made their way to two cup finals and hopes are high of achieving a very impressive treble come mid-May. The first of those cup finals is the NAA Senior League Trophy at Dunkirk FC on Thursday 29th April, where BJ will face one of the other sides challenging them for the title, Santos. The second cup final, again at Dunkirk FC, is on May 11th and sees Darron Ward's men take on Nottinghamshire Senior League side Awsworth Villa Reserves for the Nottinghamshire Junior County Cup. Whether or not Burton Joyce win all three of the trophies that they find themselves chasing one thing is for certain this has certainly been a great debut season in the NAA Premier Division.

Inactive Handicaps

2010-04-25T07:43:00.000-07:00

We had one of those 'law of unintended consequences' moments last week. In the am/am on Saturday, one of the teams put in a fantastic 96 points, only to be docked 14 of them as one of the team had an inactive handicap. It's a shame, especially in a team game, because of course all the team members suffer because of the one 'inactive' one. This instance was a particular shame because the guy in question only joined late last year and so didn't play in enough qualifiers last season, then played all winter in the non-qualifiers and was caught out very early in this season because he didn't realise his situation. It's a good rule in general, it makes sure that everyone is playing off a genuine handicap.

Just to clarify: It is a condition of entry for all Mapperley Golf Club competitions that members should have an active handicap. Members without an active handicap (at least three cards from qualifiers during the previous season) can play in qualifiers, but they won't be charged a competition entry fee and they won't be eligible to win prizes until they have put in three cards. Also, you can't carry over a card from the previous season - putting in one from last year and two from this, you have to put three cards in within a single playing season.

We have more than 100 members with inactive handicaps. If you are one or know one - lets get three in!

Result of Membership Course Change Ballot

2010-04-15T03:19:00.000-07:00

The votes have now been counted and the results were:

In favour - 77 votes
Against - 267 votes

The official communication from the General Committee will be posted on the club noticeboards and on the website. Thanks to Messrs John Haywood and Bill Wile for organising and scrutineering the count.

Ladies Charity Day raises £750

2010-04-14T02:51:00.001-07:00

The Ladies Charity day on Tuesday 13th April was a Texas scramble, with upwards of 80 ladies playing and taking part in the raffle to raise money for this year's Lady Captain's charity, Sutherland House school for autistic children. At the end of the day, Jane Davis, Lady Captain, presented a cheque for £750 to Darren Worthy, fundraising and communication manager for NORSACA, the charity that runs Sutherland House School.

Members Ballot on new course layout

2010-04-01T01:24:00.000-07:00

We are at the end of the ‘original layout’ trial period, during which we hope all members have had the opportunity to play Mapperley Golf Course in the way in which the Course Architect originally envisaged. A ballot will now be held on the proposed changes.

NB: The ‘old’ cards we have been using have ‘old’ stroke indexing on them. While we have been making use of these cards for convenience’ sake during the trial, we are not looking to change the indexing of the course as a direct result of this change, if adopted, and indexing should be ignored when casting your vote.

There has been feedback from members, some formal but the majority informal, the main points of opinion summarised below:

In favour of the change: The flow of play is improved, with a more efficient movement from second to third, ninth to tenth; the front nine will end within easy and safe reach of the clubhouse; a safety risk is removed as people no longer need to walk along the path behind the conifer hedge, and they no longer need to wait for people to putt out on what was the second hole or wait for the third tee to clear before leaving the ninth; a view down the third means that it is easy to see when it is safe to play; the conifer hedge alongside the ‘previous’ second can be removed and more attractive planting introduced, and it is felt that having a ‘tough’ ninth hole puts it at a better position within the round than as the second. It should also spread play out to reduce the queuing on the 11th tee during summer competitions.

Against the change: We are introducing a further climb to what is already a hilly course; we are introducing an area of heavy traffic around the half way house, worse than under the original course layout because the halfway house has moved from the 11th tee area; there are additional areas where players have to wait as they move from the first to the second tee and from the eighth to ninth; teeing off on the second while people are on the halfway house patio affects their ability to enjoy a conversation; playing a ‘tough’ ninth immediately after a break can make it harder; there are no ‘long iron’ or ‘fairway wood’ holes until the fourth, affecting rhythm; the criss-crossing could make it confusing for visitors. There will be a cost, however small, and some members wonder whether money could be better spent elsewhere; There is also a sense that the course was changed away from this layout some years ago to deal with problems perceived at that time, so why change back?

There has been lively debate both within and outside committee meetings. On the basis of the feedback, and of experience of playing the layout, it is the strong recommendation of the General Committee that the trial is deemed a success and the ‘original layout’ (shorter second hole) be adopted (votes were 11 in favour, four against). Paths will be introduced for walking, trolleys and buggies to make sure that the routes between holes are safe and clearly marked, and all work can be undertaken by our own greens staff and within our own physical and financial resources.

Ballots will be held after the Easter holiday weekend on the following dates:

Wednesday 7th, Saturday 10th, Sunday 11th and Tuesday 13th April. Members may vote on any day that is convenient to them.

Reverting to the old layout (temporarily?)

2010-04-01T01:12:00.000-07:00

Because of the rain we have had over the last couple of days and the consequent condition of the temporary path, we are immediately reverting to the 'usual' course layout (long second hole), for safety's sake.

This doesn't affect the balloting dates or balloting mechanism.

New course layout - members ballot

2010-03-31T06:59:00.000-07:00

For the month of March, Mapperley has been experimenting with an alternative course layout that is closer to the way that the original course architect designed it. In essence, with the second and ninth holes swapped over. There is no doubt that there are pro's and cons, as with any change, and now we have reached the end of the trial period, members will get the chance to vote on the idea. The voting days have been set out as 7th, 10th, 11th and 13th, to try and include a seniors', men's and ladies day (plus a Sunday), although all members are welcome to vote on any of those days. We'll be organising something of a rota among the committee to try and make sure that as much of the day is covered as possible, though we hope that everyone will come in and vote after their round, if they are playing, so that the experience is fresh in their minds.

There will be a ballot paper which should be unambiguous (recognising that the term 'original layout' can be read two ways!), and a document that sets out the gist of the perceived pro's and cons based on the mostly informal feedback from the members. That text will be posted on here once it has been made public inside the clubhouse.

Some strong feelings have been expressed both ways, and it will be interesting to see how the vote goes. You can have your say below.