6th June 2025 Newsletter

Piltdown Golf Club

6th June 2025 Newsletter

Well, what a week it's been. We knew we’d be without electricity on Wednesday, what with the pylons on Golf Club Lane being replaced, but we hadn’t quite anticipated losing water in the men’s changing rooms on the same day, at the exact moment a large society descended on us.

With no power and Power Networks failing to provide the backup they had promised us for our PCs, I retreated home to heroically work from my laptop. That afternoon, I managed to send to the entire membership what should have been a simple request for information to just 35 Country members. Cue a tidal wave of confused responses and panicked calls from members thinking I'd changed their membership status while poor Phil was trying to operate a clubhouse that had suddenly reverted to pre-industrial times.

Thankfully, it all got resolved in the end and he’s now off for a few days to recover, probably just lying face down in a dark room and cursing the day he hired me. Fingers crossed things settle for a bit, the sun makes a triumphant return, and we can all return to what really matters: playing golf.

Céline

Dates for your diary

President's Prize - Saturday 21st June

Mixed Stableford off the red and yellow tees. Only a few spaces left.

Sign up here

Club Day - Saturday 5th July

We have a few spots left in the afternoon. Don't miss out! Lizzie's amazing buffet and teams of four, best two scores for the golf.

Sign up here

Summer Fête - Saturday 19th July

BBQ, bucking bronco, tug of war, sumo wrestling costumes, giant inflatable assault course, cake competition, Formula 1 simulator, giant games, darts competition and much more. Open to all members plus guests. Bring your children, grandchildren, friends and neighbours. It's going to be a great event!

Buy tickets here

	Piltdown Shield On Sunday over 50 members and guests, aged 8 to over 80, representing eight different schools in the area, took part in the 10th edition of The Piltdown Shield. In third place were Great Walstead and Brighton College. Handcross Park, which included 3 generations of Hatchers, were second. The Ardingly team of James and Jay Warwick, Steve and Eddie Jones won the day. A day to remember for Jay as he also holed a heavily borrowing 45 foot putt to win The Putting Cup. In other Junior news, Sophie Jones won the Singing Hills Junior Open with 39 pts. She finished 2nd in 2022 playing off 41, 2nd in 2023 playing off 24, 3rd in 2024 playing off 19 and finally got to the highest place on the podium playing off 11. Amazing progress.		The Ardingly Team Also congratulations to Jack Wills, Toby Cannon, Ryan Wills and Oscar Reeve, who have all been selected to play in the Sussex U16s.

			Hickory clubs Thanks to Harvey Linehan and Simon Wooderson for putting together this nice display of historical hickory clubs in the bar. They were all sold by Piltdown's first Professional and club maker Ted Blunden, whose name they all carry - more info about the clubs will be on display next to them soon. They are not yet securely fixed, so we kindly ask that you avoid handling them for now. Once they are secured, members will be welcome to handle them without needing to take them down. On this subject, did you know that Piltdown has only had three professionals since its creation in 1904? Ted Blunden started in 1912, then John Amos took over in May 1963, handing the reins to Jason Partridge, his assistant, in January 2001. Can Jason beat such longevity? Can we take many more years of his terrible jokes?

	Photo competition Well done Mike Theobald for winning our photo competition and free range balls for a year! His lovely picture of the 9th green was declared the nicest by David Cannon.

	Ladies' successes Congratulations to Carol, Annie, Julie, Swati and Patricia for beating Chartham Park and making it to the 3rd round of the Kyocera Classic...		... and to Valerie, Trish and Brenda for winning the Spring 9 Challenge at the Lottbridge.


			Welcome Mirabelle! Congratulations to Joe and Hazel for giving Hugo a gorgeous little sister - although not so little at 10.1lb! Mum and baby are both doing brilliantly.

Preferred lies

The fairways still need a bit of time to recover from a tough winter, so we'll keep preferred lies until advised otherwise. Phil will do a thorough inspection on his return in the middle of next week.

Course news

As golfers, none of us enjoys the rain — however, it has been a welcome relief during this recent spell of rising temperatures. With the combination of warmth and moisture, we now hope to see strong growth and recovery in the areas of the course that need it most.

As the weather-related stress has eased, so too has the seed head production on the greens, which is excellent news and has already improved playability. We continue our regular maintenance of the course, striving to present it in the best possible condition for your enjoyment.

On Wednesday, Lakes & Greens, our irrigation contractors, began upgrading the irrigation systems on selected tees. The work is currently focused on the 1st, 4th, 13th, 14th and 17th holes. This forms part of a rolling programme to upgrade all tee irrigation systems over the coming years.

We said goodbye to Charlotte last Friday and are pleased to announce that she will be replaced by Tom Clarke, who joins us from Royal Ashdown. Tom will officially start with us on 2nd July.

We are also progressing with the tidy-up work on the 16th and 17th, now that most of the tree stumps have been removed. I am currently reshaping the ground in these areas in preparation for seeding, after which they will be maintained as mown rough.

Next week, we plan to get the Grillo machine back out to tackle weeds in the heather and tidy up as much as possible. The machine has recently experienced some frustrating electrical issues, which we now believe have been resolved. In addition, we hope to apply a light top dressing to the greens, weather and conditions permitting.

Finally, a quick reminder: ball washers are checked and bins are emptied every Monday and Friday, and they are monitored throughout the week to ensure standards are maintained.

That's it for now! Time to put my waterproofs back on and get back out in the rain...

Matt

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