PPGC Editor: Peter Brown – administrator@perdiswellparkgolfclub.co.uk Assistant Editor: Chris Williams – chris@shadowcleaning.co.uk Issue 15

www.perdiswellparkgolfclub.co.uk

PPGCNEWS

JANUARY

2016 YOUR MONTHLY PPGC NEWSLETTER ISSUE 15

Happy New Year...and Onward

Welcome back from all your festivitiesfolks. I trust you all had a great timeover the Christmas Season but now it'stime to blow away the cobwebs andget back down to the business of PerdiGolf; whether that's just individually oras a representative of the Club.

-----Our Presentation Evening inNovember was another great successand we must thank Joe Jackson andChris Williams for organising the eventand making it just a little bit differentthis year with a few original ideas.

Social Organiser Joe Jackson releases somepent-up nerves on the night with a few nifty

moves and by throwing a few, unusual, shapeswith Candy Spangles & The Green Oyster Band!

While Joe struts his stuff, Club Secretary ChrisWilliams takes a well earned few minutes rest

(or is it just that medal that's weighing himdown?)

Well done to everyone who picked upa trophy (or more than one!! Seebelow!!) and let's now look forward toanother great golfing seasonthroughout 2016.

You've heard of The Staffordshire Hoard, wellthis is The Pat Hill Hoard On Presentation

Evening 2015

Massive thanks go to Mark Woodwardand Elaine O'Donnell for presentingthe trophies this year.

-----At the end of November we lost ourclubhouse facilities and life at PPGCchanged immeasurably and probablyforever! Your Committee continues tostrive to resolve the situation in the

best interests of the club and althoughPPGC are by no means in the 'drivingseat' we are endeavouring to procurethe best deal possible which offers uspotentially the best long-term future.We will continue to update Membersas we progress with discussions etc.with a view to realising a positive andacceptable outcome. Please feel freeto contact any of the Committee if youhave any questions and we will do ourbest to give you a realistic answerbased on what we know at the time.

-----So, onward then into 2016; a newyear, a new golfing season, a newchallenge every week and hopefullysome new names on our trophies.

This Month's Competitions

WEDNESDAYS

6th Geoff Edge Cup 513th 4 Ball Better Ball20th Geoff Edge Cup 627th Medal

SATURDAYS

2nd Bonus Stableford9th Winter League 516th Winter League 623rd Am/Am30th Winter League 7

To enter a competition after the closingdate or to cancel your entry pleaseTEXT (preferred) or phone the clubmobile on :

07925 276 097

Know Your Course?

Which hole is this?

Answer on Page 4

Perdi Monthly Winners &Results

Wed 4th – Geoff Edge Cup Rnd 1Stephen Baylis (10) 38pts

Sat 7th – Par CompetitionSteve Griffiths (17) +1

Steve Griffiths – Winner – Par Comp

Wed 11th – Geoff Edge Cup Rnd 2Dennis Morse (14) 38pts

Sat 14th – Winter League 2Ade Day (11) 40pts

Wed 18th – Geoff Edge Cup Rnd 3Adrian Burbridge (17) 39pts

Sat 21st – Texas ScrambleRichie Ryder / John Fogwill /Norman Vernalls / Barrie Hope (5.0)Nett 54

Richie Ryder / John Fogwill / NormanVernalls / Barrie Hope – Winners – Texas

Scramble

Wed 25th – MedalPhil Kupfer (7) nett 67

Phil Kupfer (again!!) - Winner - NovemberMedal

Sat 28th – Winter League 3Steve Williams (7) 36pts

Burbridge Ace

Adrian Burbridge Aced the 4th

During our November Medal (25thNovember 2015) Adrian Burbridgemanaged a magnificent hole-in-oneon our 157 yard, par 3, 4th hole.Burbridge said after recording his firstever hole-in-one, “I wasn’t sure if myball had finished right behind the holeor run well passed because theweather was appalling and visibilityvery poor. I knew I’d hit a good shotbut it was only as I got to the greenthat I could start to celebrate theachievement when I saw the ballsitting halfway in the hole restingagainst the flag-stick. As the R&ARules stipulate the ball has to actuallybe in the hole I very carefully stoodthe leaning flag-stick upright anddown she went – my first ever ‘ace’!!”

Burbridge, at the time three weeksshort of his 65th birthday, has onlybeen playing golf for approximately 5years; having played indoor andoutdoor bowls to County and Nationallevel since 1984 and very used tobeing amongst the winners on the flat‘greens’ all over the country,Burbridge decided to try his steadyhand at golf and it wasn’t long beforehe found his golf handicap comingdown on a regular basis. Nowplaying off a handicap of seventeenBurbridge draws on his steely nervesand competitive nature to calmlynegotiate his way around the golfcourse and over the last couple ofyears has found winning still comes

naturally. When the adrenalin rushfrom scoring a hole-in-one wouldadversely affect most golfersBurbridge typically held himselftogether and went on to finish a verycreditable second in the Medalcompetition.

Adie's Hole-in-one Ball

December's CommitteeMeeting In Brief

Please Note : It is important to state that thefollowing issues were discussed but are stilltentative and for information only until theMinutes Of The Meeting have been formallyaccepted and signed off in January.

-----James Leaver from RavenmeadowGolf Club joined us for the the earlypart of December's Committeemeeting. James had offered his timeto give us the opportunity, as aCommittee, to participate in a miniQuestions & Answers forum to profferhis understanding of some of thepending issues concerning theproposed golf course merger.

James was open and frank about thesituation as he understood it at thetime.

James stated that Ravenmeadowand its Members were happy andoptimistic about the proposedmerger.

It is not James' (Ravenmeadow's)intention to be dictatorial during thisexercise and ensured us that anydecisions made or actions carried outwould be to the benefit of all partiesconcerned and that PPGC will beaccommodated with relish and termsand conditions would be based ontwo-way discussions between Clubs.

Ravenmeadow is, of course,operated as a profit making business

The Sunday Crew (well, at least some of them)....and TheirStory Of Survival and Regrowth

(l to r) Rob Brookes, Barrie Hope,John Griffiths, Jamie Newton, Mark Keeling, Mark Purser, SteveWilliams, Ade Day, Steve Bidgood, Steve Griffiths, Geoff Jones, Joe Jackson, Phil Kupfer, Collis

Fisher, Geoff Nunney, Norman Vernalls, Dave Phillips, Steve Kupfer, Phil Lane

The Sunday Crew aka The Tolly Boys

With the closure of the PPGC bar/clubroom recently, I was taken back to whenTolladine Golf club closed its doors for the last time.

Over the years both golf courses, Tolladine and Perdiswell, have provided avenue for so many good memories, much debate and great friendships. It is verysad now to see them stripped of their golfing past as time moves on andcircumstances change.

A strong tradition at Tolladine was the “Early Sunday Morning” game and whenthe Club closed a number of us were eager to continue the tradition. We looked atPerdiswell Park as a local alternative. For a number of weeks six to eight 'TollyBoys' turned up a Perdiswell and 'paid & played', enjoying the course and theaprès-golf bar. It was quite a change to play on the flat after the hills we had beenused to at our original home track.

It quickly became obvious that as well as being a genuine test of golf, Perdiswelloffered great value for money and we soon adapted to our new Sunday golfinghome. This prompted some of our group to take the plunge and join PPGC,although some needed more time to decide to 'come over'.

The “Tolly Boys” had arrived and steadily, as more joined the Perdiswell throng,the allotted Sunday morning tee slots were regularly fully populated such that the'Early Sunday Morning' tradition not only continued but thrived and became therule rather than the exception at Perdiswell as a natural evolution took place.

We continue to play as a kind of Sunday Society quite apart from PPGC with ourown competitions, our own handicapping system and a fantastic competitiveatmosphere that we strive to maintain and intend to continue regardless of thecurrent uncertain future at Perdiswell Park.

Geoff Nunney (on behalf of 'The Tolly Boys')

and as such James has to ensurethat any decisions made do notconflict with or weaken the businessmodel. Ravenmeadow is operatedwith an ethos that offers “affordableand value for money golf” and thatwill not change.

With respect to membership fees etc.James realises that there somedisparities between the two clubs atthe moment. He stated thatRavenmeadow cannot compete with'Council subsidised fees' etc.. He iscommitted to find a solution to 'evenout' any anomalies such that allMembers receive comparative deals.This is an on-going process which hewill be working on over the next fewweeks.

James endorsed our belief thatPPGC should continue to take apositive active role in expediting the'merger'. It was agreed that April 1st

2016 should be the target date for thetwo to become one and stressed thatalthough ultimately WCC would haveto agree the date both PPGC andRavenmeadow should strive toencourage the early date.

James thought it would no problem totake on our voucher scheme in thePro Shop but as Ravenmeadowcurrently do not operate a similar barvoucher system he would look intohow something might possibly be setup to accommodate bar purchases.

James was asked about what leaseterms had been arranged betweenRavenmeadow and WCC. Jamescould not divulge details of terms,conditions and costs but commentedthat Ravenmeadow already leaseapproximately 80 acres of land fromthe land owners and the new leasewith WCC would represent anotherapproximately 40 acres.

Initially any lease with WCC wouldrun for the expected term of theproposed culvert work on Perdiswellplus post-earthworks recovery timeetc. and that was thought to be in theregion of 12 to 15 months fromcommencement of works.

Although fully aware of the existenceof PPGC it appeared that WCC had

totally misunderstood the needs andrequirements of a Golf Club,seemingly initially only assessing thefuture in terms of a Local Authorityoperated Golf Course.

James was thanked for his time andinput and he reciprocated and left themeeting.

-----Much of the meeting concerned thefuture of the golf course and PPGC :

A strategic document initially draftedby Barrie Hope was discussed atlength. Barrie had listed threepotential options for 'a way forward'based on information provided byWCC thus far. Option 3 wasconsidered to provide the best line ofapproach as it clearly 'put a stake inthe ground' as far as PPGC wereconcerned and categorically statedthe wishes of the Club and left nodoubt about our preferred targetdates and expectations and gavereasons for our strategy.

The Options were put to the vote andOption 3 was accepted and BarrieHope was tasked with drafting andexpediting a letter to WCC.

-----It was agreed that when more'concrete' information is available itshould be made available to theMembers through the usual channels.It was also agreed that, whenappropriate, a meeting with Membersshould be convened to present thecase for merger.

-----For information it was confirmed thata secure storage lock-up at StorageKing had been arranged to houseClub assets such as honours boards,trophy cabinets and other items at amonthly cost to the Club of £57 untilwe have a more permanent home.Currently just two 'Officers' of theCommittee have access codes etc..

-----The main organisers of ourPresentation Evening 2015, JoeJackson and Chris Williams, werethanked and congratulated for theirhard work in arranging andconducting the awards ceremony andevening of entertainment that onceagain had proved to be a greatsuccess.

Know Your Club Members?So, who's this then?

Turkey, Tinsel and ChristmasCheer

December 9th was the date of theWednesday players' Turkey Trot;superbly organised once again byGeoff Edge the day kicked off with ashotgun start which meant playershad plenty of cooling off time beforere-grouping at The Blackpole publichouse for our Festive 'bash'.

A very decent turn-out of twenty-seven Turkey Trot combatants tookpart in the festivities as the (mainly)Wednesday lads and lasses got theirChristmas celebrations off to a greatand very cheery start.

Know Your Course? The 2nd