Captain's Blog (2020) #6

Captain’s Blog No 6, (4.06.20)

We have now enjoyed 3 weeks of social golf played in amazing weather conditions and it has been obvious how much everybody has enjoyed and valued the freedom of the golf course. Government’s further relaxation of the lockdown has enabled us to move to 3 and 4 balls and we are about to start playing competitions but of course things are still far from normal and we must continue to abide by the social distancing, play safe, stay safe rules.

While golf itself is resuming, social activities which are such a big part of normal golf club life remain effectively locked down. Part of my role as Captain is to promote the wider aspects of golf club membership. This is clearly very difficult in the present situation. Under these circumstances I am very pleased with the great response to the ‘not the captain’s drive in’ taking place on June 13th. Thank you to everyone who has booked in. 

A few more details;

Not the Captain’s Drive In - Saturday June 13th
This is a charity event in aid of Prostate Cancer UK (this year’s Captains Charity)
An individual stableford competition played off full handicaps, open to all members
There is no entry fee but players are asked to make a donation to the Captain’s Charity via either my Justgiving page – www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/david-hughes-183 or by bank transfer to my charity account - PHGC Captain’s Account, 20-51-08, 53148041

The response has been fantastic with over 100 entries so far, there are still places available. We are currently working to consolidate teetimes into the 07.00 – 13.00 time period to reflect the change from 2 to 3 ball. If you want to play outside these times please contact the club to discuss available times.

There are 3 separate competitions, Ladies, Men Div1, Men Div2. In each case there will be prizes for the first 4 places. Separate nearest the pin competitions for Ladies and Men on the 9th , plus a ‘beat the Captain’ Challenge also on the 9th. All prizes will have a distinct Welsh flavour reflecting my proud Welsh roots!
Hopefully it will be a great day!

I also want to announce 

The Captain’s Matchplay Challenge

Due to the pandemic most of this year’s matchplay competitions have been cancelled. So I am issuing a Matchplay Challenge to everyone. For a small donation to my charity I invite all members to compete against me in a match, singles, pairs or mixed pairs (normal matchplay rules). In the case of pairs and mixed pairs I will find a suitable partner (Lady Captain, Vice Captain, Isabelle or other).

If you win, I will match your donation and you will be entered into a draw for a fourball voucher. At the end of the season there will be a prize for the individual or pair who achieved the best result.
I suggest a tee time between 4 and 5 on Thursdays and Fridays as standard but am happy to play at other mutually convenient times. If you would like to take me on, contact me either by email davehughes1954@btinternet.com or text me on 07801 036632.

Looking forward to some great matches!

Going forward, hopefully over the summer some element of golf club social activities will resume. In the meantime I look forward to seeing you out and about on the course. 

Stay safe
Dave

Captain's Blog (2020) #5

Captain’s Blog No 5, (19.05.20)

Back on the golf course, fantastic! It has been really lovely over the past few days to get back on the course and great to see so many of you out and obviously enjoying the opportunity to play golf. A huge thank you to everyone at the club who have made it possible. The green staff for preparing the course, what a transformation since the last games in mid March; the shop staff led by Rachel for preparing and operating the play safe, stay safe protocols and to all members for sticking to the rules! Everyone I have spoken to (from a safe distance) has been very positive and felt very safe on the course.

Future plans are clearly dependent on the wider ‘pandemic situation’ and government rules but the plan currently is to stay with the present operating protocol (2 balls, 10 minute tee times and social golf) until the end of May. After that we hope we will be able to introduce some competitive golf. The club is planning to re-introduce the reserved tee times for seniors on Tuesdays and the Ladies on Thursdays in the first week of June with the first Ladies competition on June 4th and the first Men’s competition on Saturday June 6. The Ladies’, Seniors’ and Men’s committees are currently preparing revised schedules. At all stages safe procedures that ensure minimum risk will be put in place.

I think, as a club, we need a big event to kick off the season. So, I intend to run a charity event on Saturday June 13th. 

Not the Captain’s Drive In

Individual Stableford open to all members*

Reserved Tees from 7:00 to 1:00

No entry fees, donations to the Captain’s Charity

Lots of prizes, with a strong Welsh flavour!

Captain’s Par 3 challenge on the 9th 

Tees can be booked online, booking will open from 7:00 am on Friday 21st May. Initially booking will be for 2 balls but if further relaxation of procedures before the day permits, this will be increased to 3 balls. If all the reserved times are taken, members are welcome to play in the event anytime on the day (it won’t get dark until almost 10:00 pm!). It would be great to get a big turn out to give the season some real momentum, please sign up!  
*Event is open to all 7 day, 5 day and flexible members

A word about my charity, Prostate Cancer UK. This is a charity that will be well known to many members and one that is prominent in many sporting circles. As some of you will know I was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer in April last year. Thankfully I had successful, if rather unpleasant, surgery in June and while there is a significant chance that I will require further treatment in the future I am currently free of any evidence of cancer. 

Prostate Cancer UK is a charity that is personally very significant to me. Prostate Cancer is a frighteningly common disease, apparently 1 in 8 men will suffer with it at sometime! Consequently many other members will have had to deal with it and inevitably it will affect more in the future. The good news is that thanks to charities like Prostate Cancer UK who support R&D into improved diagnostics and treatments, outcomes for men with prostate cancer are ever improving. 

There is a huge amount of information, support and advice available for anyone who is concerned about or affected by Prostate Cancer. I am very happy to help to point people in the right direction or to talk about things if that would help.

So Prostate Cancer UK is a charity that is hugely relevant to the demographics of PHGC, I know that as always members will be generous in support. In advance, thank you.

Donations can be made either via my Justgiving page;
www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/david-hughes-183
or direct to the ‘Captain’s charity account’;
PHGC Captain’s Account, 20-51-08, 53148041

Other news; I have provisionally re-booked the Captain’s away weekend to Patshull Park for Sun/Mon Sept 20/21st. Obviously, this is conditional on the situation nearer the time.

Look forward to seeing you on the golf course in the coming weeks.

Dave

Captain’s Blog (2020) #4

Captain’s Blog No 4 (12.05.2020)

As with previous blogs I must start by hoping that all members and their families are well and managing to keep busy and positive during this very strange and worrying period. Isabelle and I have settled into something of a routine, taking things slowly, daily walks (we’ve been so lucky with the weather!) and eating plenty of cake! Despite shortages of key ingredients resulting in one or two ‘very interesting experiments’,

Isabelle has excelled on the baking front. Her latest masterpiece was a wonderful coffee and walnut birthday cake for me yesterday. Just for the record I was 66 yesterday and this birthday was certainly different.
Apart from eating birthday cake, the last 24 hours have been dominated by news that the course is reopening on Wednesday. Isabelle and I are booked to play at 10.20! The golf club WhatsApp groups have been in meltdown. Clearly there is a huge pent up demand, I understand all tee times are booked on Wednesday with the rest of the week filling fast. So, while many of us are exciting about being able to play golf, a word of caution. In the current circumstances there have to be very many restrictions and changes to the normal protocols associated with golf. The club has issued, to all members, a ‘play safe, stay safe procedure’. It is absolutely vital that before going to the club everyone is clear about the new rules and when at the club follow them to the letter. Please avoid any actions that could put yourself or others at increased risk.

While the government’s outline map for moving out of lockdown provides some light at the end of the tunnel we are clearly not out of the woods yet (sorry about the mixed metaphors!) and in many ways as restrictions are relaxed we are entering potentially the most dangerous phase. In such circumstances many of you may feel that it is not appropriate to restart playing golf. Of course, everyone must make their own decision, particularly reflecting their own circumstances. I know everyone associated with the club will fully respect those who decide now is not the time.

The pandemic has totally decimated the normal golfing schedule and the initial return is purely for social golf. However, the 3 competition committees at the club (Gents, Ladies and Seniors) are keen to restart some competitive golf when appropriate. We are meeting with Richard (via Zoom) on Thursday to discuss things and hopeful put together some tentative plans. We will keep everyone informed of the outcome.

As Captain I am keen that as soon as circumstances allow we try to organise some of the usual charity and other Captain’s events. I know Karen is keen to organise events for the Lady’s section. Unfortunately, events that involve shotgun starts and post golf social interactions are likely to off the agenda for some time. Despite these restrictions if competitive golf, even in a limited form, can be restarted I hope to organise some Captain’s events as soon as practically possible. Watch this space!

Sadly, one event that I can confirmed has been postponed, is the Captain’s away trip to Patshull Park. This was scheduled for 28/29th June. Patshull confirmed this week that this will have to be postponed. I am hopeful that this can be rearranged, maybe in September. Over 30 members have paid a £25 deposit, and a few have paid the full £125. While I can carry these payments over, if anyone would like a refund please send your bank details to me at davehughes1954@btinternet.com

It’s likely that the next couple of weeks will see not only the return of some action on the course but also increasing clarity about the future activities at the club. So hopefully, in the next blog I will be able to report on these. Until then, I look forward to waving to on the course. Stay safe.

Dave

A message from the captain

First and foremost, I hope all members and their families are keeping safe. Isabelle and I and the family are all fine if a bit frustrated!

Many of you will be aware of the regular ‘challenges’ being organised by Karen, our Lady Captain, and in particular the ‘2.6 challenges’ carried out over the past few days as a substitute for the sponsored walk on the Clwydian range that had been planned. It was great fun taking part in our particular challenges and more so hearing about all the other, very imaginative, activities undertaken by everybody else.

Congratulations to Karen and all members who are participating in the challenges and supporting her charity. Our first 2.6 challenge, on Sunday 26th, was to get up early (6.00) and see how long it took us to identify 26 different birds.

It was rather a murky morning so identifying ‘lbjs’ in poor light was a real challenge. We got our 26 species by 8.45 and returned home to enjoy a hard-earned bacon sandwich. For the record (for anyone who is at all interested) the first 26 species we saw were:

Great tit, blue tit, long tailed tit, coal tit, crow, rook, jackdaw, goldfinch, blackcap, linnet, dunnock, nuthatch, white throat, lapwing, starling, swallow, house martin, chaffinch, wood pigeon, collared dove, magpie, jay, robin, blackbird, chiff chaff, wren.

For many of us food is an even more important part of our lives during the lockdown so the ladies’ section are planning to put together a Pryors Hayes Lockdown Recipe Book and would welcome contributions from all members. If there is any delicacy you have particular enjoyed or recipe you have perfected during the lockdown please send details to Karen, karengreen150@icloud.com.

The lockdown has been made more bearable by the amazing weather, it would have been a great start to the golf season! This has enabled us to get out for daily walks and probably more than at any other time have observed spring unfolding day by day.

We have seen trees and hedges gradually come into leaf, wild flowers become increasingly profuse (the blue bells in the Barrowmore woods are now at their best), surprizing numbers of butterflies on the wing, farmers progressively fertilizing, ploughing, harrowing and sowing their fields with the first shoots appearing a few days later and of course spotting the return of migrating birds. I feel I have connected with the natural world more than at any time since my childhood.

While that’s very positive, there are many things that I’m missing. One of those, of course, is playing golf. It’s not clear how or when the lockdown will be eased, and it appears likely that some restrictions to everyday life will continue for a significant period.

But hopefully, within the next few weeks there will be some easing and maybe we will have the opportunity to return to the golf course. Let’s hope so! This afternoon I spoke to Richard, he asked me to thank everyone who has renewed their membership, he really values your support. The finishing touches are being put to the clubhouse extension and much work is continuing on the course.

All the bunkers have been refurbished and additional drainage installed in a number of locations. A few members have been spotted walking across the course in recent times who will be able to confirm that the course looks great.

All the best and stay safe.

Dave