1. 2019/20 Club Captain, John Watson

John Watson has now taken up the reins of Club Captain for the coming season. I'm sure everyone would like to thank Dean Mountain for his tireless work in the role last year and wish John every success this year. You can read John's welcome message here

2. Greens - Latest Update & Minutes

Andy Booth has published the 29th March Greens update. Please click here to read..... the January Greens minutes. Please click here to read.....

3. Gary's 'Tips from the Pro'

New R & A 2019 Rules of Golf Guide here

Trolley and buggy use - and the damage they can cause if correct etiquette not followed., please click here to read.....

4. R & A and 'Pace of Play'

The R & A have spent a lot of time researching and trying to improve the 'pace of play'. Every member can do one simple thing to speed up a round, which is being ready to play their shot. The following is an extract from the R & A pace of play manual:

The main criticism levelled against slow players in The R&A’s pace of play survey was that such players were not ready to play when it was their turn.

Being ready to play should be very easy. While taking care not to distract other players or compromise safety, all that is required is that a player should do the following while waiting for others to play:

1. Walk efficiently to the ball putting their glove on in the process
2. Assess the shot, including any calculation of distance the player wants to make, or line up the putt, and
3. Make a decision on club selection

It is even more important that the first person in a group to play carries out these tasks promptly.

Considerable time will be saved during the course of a round if players do these things efficiently and non-intrusively while others are playing. The frustration comes when a player stands by their ball watching others in the group playing, and only when it is their turn do they begin to prepare for the shot.

Combined with an efficient pre-shot routine, the seconds that can be taken off each stroke by being ready to play, multiplied by the number of strokes played each round, multiplied by the number of players in a group, can have a massively positive impact on the time it takes to play a round of golf.

For example:

• Each player in a four-ball takes an average of 5 seconds less to play each shot
• Each player plays 80 shots
• 80 shots x 5 seconds x 4 players = 26 minutes and 40 seconds

That means that, ignoring all other variables, the four-ball would play in 26 minutes and 40 seconds less time simply by shaving off an average of 5 seconds per shot