Starter’s Blog – May 2018

Well, here we are, a month into the new season, hopefully with the bad weather behind us.  After a winter driving up and down cardiac hill 2,428 times (approximately), it’s nice to get back to my ‘proper’ job of starter.  As you may notice from the title, the starter’s hut is no more, so now I must brave the elements on the first tee, simply to see all those wonderful drives and pinpoint accurate crisp iron shots disappear into the distance, to land serenely on the fairway (obviously there is a fair bit of artistic licence and a smidgen of exaggeration in this last comment, but we can but live in hope).  I’ve noticed a fair number of new members teeing off, which is great to see, hopefully they will join in the competitions and enjoy the encouragement, kind comments and inspiration that all competitors receive from me, in order to enhance your golfing experience.

The course has stood up well to what has been a wet and dismal winter, the greens are looking good and should be spectacular as the weather improves, so as a little reminder to you all, Please repair pitch marks, even if they aren’t yours, same goes for raking bunkers too.  we’ve got a great course, let’s keep it that way.  That’s the serious bit, well, apart from pace of play, which I shall be monitoring throughout the summer, and hopefully, you will also see  wardens out on the course as well, we all get frustrated on occasion by slow play, a bit of patience can go a long way if someone is having a bad round and holding up play (if this is you, perhaps letting the group behind through might be a good move?  I’m not holding my breath here, it’s a bitter pill to swallow for some )

Quite a few additions and improvements have been made over the winter, through the hard work of the green staff with more to come, I won’t bother detailing them, as John has covered all this in his course report, but the general opinion seems to be that we are doing the right things under the excellent management of Steve Norton, our relatively new manager (if this isn’t enough to warrant a small wage rise, or at the very least an extra bacon butty, he won’t be getting any further praise).

Obviously, being hutless, members will miss the clock and weather forecast, which were
a well received addition when I began as starter. Several suggestions have been made as to where they could be put now the hut has gone, only one was practical, the majority being either physically impossible, painful or illegal.  It’s sad to report, however, that the hut will not be replaced in the foreseeable future as ‘there are more important things to spend money on’ it’s nice to know where you stand in the order of things and I shall remain hopeful that there may be a new hut sometime before I retire from the job.

This week will see the Greenkeeper’s Cup, when all you lucky lads will be playing from the blue tees, a challenge that on a few holes will no doubt lead to tears and tantrums, I expect to see gritted teeth and clenched buttocks aplenty on the first tee, but I’m sure there will be a worthy winner appearing out of the woodwork, who will look down in disdain at the lesser mortals that struggle a wee bit.  I’ve got my money on a couple of players to shine in this competition, but then again, I thought Betamax would be a winner, so I’m probably wrong.

That’s it for this issue, I look forward to reporting on some excellent golf next time, happy golfing chaps.