26th September 2025 Newsletter

Piltdown Golf Club

26th September 2025 Newsletter

Finally, a much quieter week at the club! And not just because Phil is in Greece trying to resurrect his once-decent golf swing, making the office feeling eerily hushed. As the season finally winds down, our hard-working bar and catering staff are getting a well-earned breather, and all eyes turn to the Ryder Cup, which started earlier today.

There was an interesting article in the Times yesterday about picking the right pairs for the various formats: according to Justin Rose, it's not so much about how one plays golf, but more about "not feeling like you have to say sorry". It's so true! We play a lot of foursomes at Piltdown and just as in other team sports (I won't mention Padel), the right pairing has as much to do with temperament as with skills. A good pair is one where both players can swing freely, without the burden of worrying about letting the other down. The article gives the example of Tony Jacklin pairing the great Seve Ballesteros with 20-year-old Paul Way in 1983. Seve was unimpressed at first, complaining he had to “tell the boy everything”, but young, fearless Way was one of very few players who wasn’t intimidated by the legend, and together they became a formidable team.

With such a wise Captain at the helm, surely Europe can't lose! Have a great weekend, whether you're playing or watching golf, or both, as I intend to do. Céline.

	Men's Dinner Captain Cox was on top form at the Men's Dinner last Friday, and gave an excellent speech thanking everyone for their support during his year. He introduced his guest speaker, Mr John Blackwell, who for 3 years was the leader of the Red Arrows display team. He entertained us all with funny stories, near misses, and embarrassing moments during his career. Very enjoyable. Lizzie and team received a lengthy standing ovation, not only for the superb food on the night, but for the consistently excellent dishes we’ve been lucky enough to enjoy throughout the past year. In his "Captain's Corner" later in this newsletter, Robin is too modest to mention his "Dinner Cup win" on Saturday. This event is only for the hardy, as it falls on the morning after the boozy men's dinner. Four pairs took part - and Robin, together with partner Chris Strong scored a very good 35 points in foursomes, which was good enough for them to be victorious. Well played.		Luke Crampton - Club Champion 2025
	David Griffiths - Spring Trophy		Bob Adams - President's Cup
	Tsol Keoshgerian - Lewis/Taylor Trophy		Mike Theobald - Prince Cup
	Charlie Pountney - PGA Trophy		Charlie Dawson - Burton Salver

	Well done ladies! Congratulations to Brenda, Valerie and Trish for winning the SCLGA Autumn 9 Challenge at Rustington on Monday with an excellent 39 pts, beating Cowdray Park on countback. They also won the Spring version of this event - a fantastic double!

	Course update There’s been plenty of activity out on the course this week as the team continues their autumn maintenance programme, all aimed at improving playing conditions and preparing the course for the months ahead.		Fairway Tining: Deep solid tining of some of the fairways is well under way and will continue into next week. This essential work helps improve drainage and encourages stronger root development, ensuring healthier, more resilient turf through the winter and beyond. Fairway Height Adjustments: We’ve now begun the process, as mentioned by Phil in last week’s newsletter, of incorporating the two narrow strips currently cut down the sides of each fairway into the fairway itself. The definition is already starting to show. We’ll continue this work next week in a way that minimises stress on the turf. Heather & Tree Management: We’ve begun tackling the silver birch invading the heather areas in front of the 3rd tee. This will help the heather to thrive and maintain the natural character of that part of the course.

	Piltdown in the Community One of Phil's good friends and neighbour runs an Old People's Home. He was recently renovating the garden, and he has a resident with dementia who used to love playing golf. Phil was delighted to donate a couple of our old flags and hole cups for them to use to set up a little putting course in the new garden. Here is a picture of one very happy and grateful chap who now gets to enjoy a little bit of fresh air and putting every day.

Welcome to Piltdown!

At the last Board Meeting we admitted 6 new members. They are:

Alan Bigley, Hugh Williams, Roger Fidler, John Palmer, Dan Wade and Sally Gomer.

If you bump into them in the coming weeks, please say hello and make them feel welcome.

Captain's Corner

Almost definitely my last epistle.

For those of you who weren’t at the men’s dinner last week, a quick precis of some of the points that I made.

It’s been a great year from my perspective, and very enjoyable.

We managed to introduce the Slim Pins both on the course and the putting green. Your generous donations helped to fund these for the club to the tune of £1600. Thank you.

The club raised around £11,500 on Club Day which will go towards totally renewing the practice nets, both in quality and in style.

Thank you for your generous support. The Charity Day raised around £6000, and between us Carol and I have raised approximately £10,000 over the year to be split between our two selected charities.

The golf has been good with some excellent performances, and particularly encouraging seeing juniors performing well.

Thank-you to Matt, Lizzie, Emily and all your teams for producing the quality in your areas that help to make Piltdown what it is.

As I sign off I would like to thank you all for the immense support that I have felt and received over the year, from you the members.

Very much appreciated . Thank you.

Good luck to next year’s Captains. Wishing you both a successful year.

best regards,

Robin

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