Another strange week of weather this week. Monday and Tuesday were glorious, but then the rains came again early Wednesday morning and there were some really heavy downpours. Who would want to be a greenkeeper?
The rain led to very difficult conditions in the Ladies' Autumn Meeting, and Aileen Greenfield deserves a special mention again for another excellent round of golf. 5 birdies in a round of 73 in torrential rain was a great effort. Well played. Sadly day 2 had to be called off, but the ladies still enjoyed a magnificent buffet described as "The best one ever".
All the winners are pictured below - looks like they had a great time.
Annie Dixon, Bronze Salver; Becs Dawson, Hughes Cup, Hamilton Russell Cup and Summer Foursomes; Swati Patel, Englehart Salver; Aileen Greenfield, Scratch Cup and Autumn Scratch Cup; Hilary Humphry-Baker, Hawes Cup and Ladies' Past Captains Decanter; Alison Newnham, Bronze Salver; Jane Murray-Brown, Jubilee Vase; Carol Hartley, Enid Adair; Moira Taylor, Jubilee Bowl.
Men's Invitation
A great day was had by all last Saturday when 38 members invited 38 guests to our Invitation Day.
Our top 3 pairs were:
1) David Finlay & Ben Searly from Pyecombe with 44 points
2) David Munro & David Morgan from Sand Martins also with 44
3) Joe White & Matthew Evans from H Heath with 41 points.
Anthony Miller Trophy
Congratulations to Freddie Hatcher and James Cockburn for winning the Anthony Miller trophy. This is a foursomes high/low competition, so it's great to see our juniors experiencing different, more challenging formats.
Well done!
Course work
Following on from John Turzynski's email re the heather, members will be delighted to see the work that has been going on to start getting back on track. It is very time-consuming. The pictures on the right are before and after this week on the 13th banks. It took 2 people almost 2 days from start to finish, and it's not that big an area. This was imported "clean" heather about 6 months ago, and you can see how quickly it becomes infested.
Matt has asked me to let you know that the new steps on the 13th are now in use. The heather is still GUR.
Academy scramble
The Club has been doing a lot of work to encourage more women to take up golf in the last couple of years. Most notably, we set up a three-month Foundation course for complete beginners, who can then join our popular Academy to continue on their golf journey. As a result, we now have 69 female members in the Academy.
To encourage them to go out on the course, which can be a bit intimidating for those new to golf, we organised a scramble with some of our members last Sunday. 21 Academy members and 7 full members took part, everyone had a great time and we were delighted to witness some excellent and promising golf. We will be running more of these events in the future, and if you have a sister, daughter, cousin etc. who is interested in getting into golf, tell them to get in touch with us! We have another foundation course starting next week, but already we have a few signed up for Spring.
Pyecombe Pitcher Success
Congratulations to Derek Elphick and his team who have reached the knock-out stages of the Pyecombe Pitcher. Needing a result against a very strong East Sussex National team in the final group stage match, Piltdown managed a 2.5 all draw. This left us tied at the top of our table with ESN, one point ahead of Cowdray Park.
We now face Mannings Heath in the semi-final, to be played on neutral ground at East Sussex East Course on Sunday 14th September. Tee off from 2.30
Good luck team.
The Social Revue - Save the Date
The Piltdown Players have started rehearsing their next show - "Much Straining". It is set to run for 5 nights from Tuesday November 25th to Saturday November 29th.
The evenings will be the usual dinner on arrival followed by comedy and music sketches. Start planning your visit and getting your friends together!
Lost club
A visitor lost a Mizuno 8 iron last weekend - men's, graphite. Did you pick it up and put it in your bag? If so, please let the office know.
Captain's Corner
Maybe the last of this Captain’s Corners as we approach the Club Charity day on Saturday.
Thank-you to those who have already given generous donations to the charities, and volunteered to help and provide light refreshments on the day. Much appreciated. (KSS requires £56k each day to function).
Air Ambulance KSS will be in attendance on the day selling mulligan balloons for £5 each (cash), which you blow up and attach to your golf bag, then burst when you wish to use them. (Only one per person allowed)
We also have a couple of surprises in store, on 3rd(stream) and 11th (valley of death) holes.
So please bring some cash with you. Hopefully you won’t need the full £10!
Also featuring beat the Junior Captain, Ryan Wills on 18th. Those who enter will also go into a Golf Escapes draw for a holiday in Costa Navarino organised by Piltdown member Chris Martin.
Look forward to seeing you all on Saturday, and thank-you again.
