Chairman's Blog - May 2019
While I wasn’t able to keep up with a Blog each month in 2018, I hope you found the ones I did manage to publish last year of interest. As the season is now in full swing (pardon the pun) I thought it was time for an update on where we are and what has happened so far. As with last year I will keep these as fairly informal updates to members each month (hopefully) in the main season. They will provide information on issues the directors are working on, significant events/results and signpost future events in the club etc.
Generally the winter was pretty kind to us and it has enabled Matt and his team to get the course in great condition as we start the main season (see the STRI report for details). The winter work programme was completed and the whole area looks tidier and it is lovely to see the natural beauty returning. We have just hosted the Rosebowl and the comments on the course from players near and far were extremely favourable which is testimony to the work of Matt’s team and our volunteers. We had 87 entrants in the Rosebowl (the most ever) and employed a two-tee start for the first time to get everybody round in time. The winner was Jack Brooks (no relation) from Mere who shot 2 excellent 66s to win by 5 shots. Congratulations to all the Penwortham members who entered, particularly Dan Morris who finished 2nd overall, plus Chris Wilding and Dave Ianson who picked up the Nett prizes. I would also like to congratulate the Scratch Team on their superb performances this winter. We have long been the whipping boys of the league but this year finished a creditable 4th. Well done to all who played under the stewardship of Adrian Collins – let’s build on this and get a top three place next year!
I would like to welcome Sean Fisher and Pete Jolleys onto the Board of Directors for 2019. We have some interesting new challenges to address in 2019 with customer service and member retention/satisfaction being a key part of our strategy. We are reaping the benefits of our increased membership and working hard to ensure that all members get to enjoy the quality on offer both on and off the course.
We are about to start the competitive season, with Board Comps in both Gents and Ladies sections in the near future. I hope you’ve all swotted up on the new rules and had time to put them into practice before the ‘serious’ stuff starts. On a slightly less serious note it is the Captains’ Charity Day on May 19th and there are still tee times available, so get your names down; it’s always a great day. We are also hosting ‘Penwortham Live’ for the first time this weekend and you will have seen the adverts about this around the clubhouse. We have also just communicated the ‘play list’ of acts appearing at PGC and they are sure to be two great nights and with wristbands still on sale from behind the bar at only £5 each it’s too good an offer to miss.
We will look to continue and build on the success of last year’s golf/social activities over the summer months. The Masters Shotgun was well attended and we will get some more dates into the calendars ASAP (hopefully an 18th hole challenge which proved really popular last year). There was a very successful wine tasting and tapas evening which was well attended and will result in a different selection of wines on offer behind the bar – well done to Rob and his team for putting on an excellent evening.
Well I promised myself I’d restrict this to one page so there we have it. Please feel free to comment on this blog (good and bad) and make any suggestions for further content that would be of interest to you. Cheers,
Dave Brookes.
