We have seen a good start to summer with the weather and with it the golf course is forever improving. Our green keeping team have been busy working on the bunkers with new sand and improving the greens. We welcome a new addition to the team, Tom Collins with his wealth of experience as our new Head Green Keeper.

Our green keeping staff have made dramatic improvements on the course with attention focusing on our tees and greens, and a winter programme concentrating on the greens to bring the greens up to another level and with the summertime upon us this will enhance the playing service of the greens.

The Golf Reception has also seen some changes with a new Teaching Professional, Matthew Stewart. With several years coaching at various clubs in the UK and abroad Matthew has already made an impression with the members offering his teaching services to cover every aspect of the game. A Junior Academy is held at weekends for ages 5 to 17 for all abilities and during the school summer holidays he will be holding a Summer Camp every Thursday morning for 5 weeks.

Matthew is also a ‘Certified Class A Club Maker’ so if you have dusted off your golf clubs after the winter and found they are not in the best of health then Matthew can re-grip, re-shaft and make any adjustments all on site.

We are now holding a small stock of golf bags, pencil bags, waterproof suits and accessories to cater for the golfers needs at reasonable prices.

The golf reception is now being looked after by Kerry McCallum who has several years of experience in the golf and leisure industry. For membership, society, corporate events and tee times she can provide you with the information you need.

This year’s Captains Roll Up started on Wednesday 22nd April and will be held every Wednesday from 4.30 – 6pm until the clocks change back. The formats will vary every week and there will be prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. Handicaps are not affected as this year the roll up is purely for fun!

Many competitions are organised throughout the year and will continue with the support of the members. Information is always available on the competition board outside the golf reception.

Golf Reception Team

Dear Fellow Golfers

Well here we are folks, dark winter evenings, a credit crunch and Christmas just around the corner. You have to love UK don’t you??! We have reached the time of year where golf (for some of us) takes a back seat for the low season in a bid to charge the batteries for the 2009 season. Enough of the doom and gloom, I have added some light hearted reports for you all to catch up on.

CGU Matches
October saw the return of the Frank Wills Salver and the Cornwall Bowl. The first round of the Frank wills salver saw Roserrow drawn against Trethorne at Lanhydrock Golf Club. The result could have gone either way. Our boys however came through in the end and with an excellent 3-2 victory. Bring on round 2!

The following weekend was the turn of the Cornwall Bowl Team who faced a strong Lanhydrock team at Bowood Park. The result, a 4-1 victory for Roserrow. Fantastic effort gentlemen. In to round two now and unfortunately this was as far as it went for both teams. The wills guys put up an epic battle against a very strong Newquay outfit. Only to be beaten 3.5 – 1.5. The Bowl guys also came unstuck against Clowance in what was also a great match. Eventually going down 3-2. A great effort nonetheless for all who took part.

Presentation Evening
The annual dinner and presentation of trophies took place on Saturday 15th November here at the club. The evening consisted of a sumptuous 3 course meal followed by the presentation. Congratulations to all the winners.

New Captains Drive In
The official handing over of the captaincies took place on Saturday 23rd November. A well supported day saw the new captains, Irene AND Chris Breckon and Duncan Cox kick off their campaign. A sweepstake was produced for the 3 combined drives measured in yards. With expectation on them, all three of them managed to get club head to ball and combined a distance of 457 yards. Steve Edwards took the pot guessing 458 yards. A good day had by all.

That’s pretty much all I have to report for this quarter. I will be back in early 2009 with an update of events for the next few months. I would like to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous new year.

Until next time – Happy Golfing Folks

Golf Manager

Dear Fellow Golfers

Firstly may I take this opportunity to apologise for the delay in getting the up to date blog to you. Instead of writing the last three months worth (yes three) I will just be compiling a summer one to keep you on track. Thereafter I will be compiling a quarterly one for the 4 seasons of the year.

The Spike Bar
I ended the last issue of the blog saying that the spike bar would be operational by the end of May. I can now happily say that this target was met and we now fully functional. As with any new project you can expect some teething problems and the bar was no different. How do we staff it? What hours do we operate? I would like to thank all the staff who have helped over the last 3 months, they are Lynne Shirley (who is now taking charge of the morning shift). Alice Coombes, Tom Coombes, Trina Frigot, Emma Russell and David Bragg. Apologies to anyone I have missed.

The Golf Course
The new tee tops have been the topic of the last few months. We have just invested in a new set of Toro single point adjustment mower units which have been a revelation in getting the tees somewhere near to where we want them. We have an Emergency Services Championship scheduled for Monday 18th August and we endeavour to have them in full play by then.

Those of who are regular players will notice the waist high wooden stakes around the golf course (no we have not lost the plot). We are simply letting these areas grow longer. This is designed to save less time on cutting unnecessary areas and more time spent on the smaller, more detailed (aesthetics if you will) aspects of the course.

The major project for the foreseeable future will be the bunkers and the renovation of them. It’s a part of the golf course that if carried out properly can make the difference to a golf course. I will keep you updated in the autumn edition of the blog regarding this issue.

Membership
We have a new golf membership structure for all aspects including some exciting new categories. The new memberships will be posted on the website in due course. In the meantime please call 01208 863000 opt 2 for further details.

Until next time – Happy Golfing Folks

Golf Manager

Dear Fellow Golfers

Well here we are folks – spring has finally sprung (apparently)! The golf course is now beginning to take shape and the tees have now been fully refurbished. Soon we will be back to normality on all fronts.

The golf course maintenance was also carried out during April which was a success. The procedure is one we don’t wish to carry out as it causes disruption to all concerned. Regular club golfers will probably relate to this as ‘Hollow Coring’ in which cores are taken from the greens leaving small aeration holes. These holes are then filled with kiln dried sand and seed. The recovery period usually takes between 3-6 weeks at this time of year depending on climate. This ran smoothly and the greens have now fully recovered. Well done guys!

The new spike bar has also been a feature of mass building work throughout April. The new bar is in place and all relevant department offices have been born of which are now in operation. The launch of the new spike bar will hopefully be around the end of May!

All in all April has been a fairly quiet one – apart from building work obviously!

Hopefully there’ll be more to report in May.

Until next month – Happy Golfing Folks

Golf Manager

Dear Fellow Golfers

I begin my March edition of the blog in a sad way. Denis Clowes, our former Captain, sadly passed away on Tuesday 4th March following his brave fight against cancer. Denis has been a Roserrow stalwart over the years and the work and effort he has put in will never go unnoticed. Since his sad passing it’s dawned on me what a fantastic asset to Roserrow Denis was. He all but ran the seniors section of the club not to mention the work he did on behalf on the main club. We will always remember Denis and as a tribute, a bench will be placed on the 11th hole with a small plaque.

I am happy to announce the arrival of David Bragg to the golf team. David will be working alongside me on the day-to-day running of the golf side of the business. He will then be operating the new spike bar which I hope will be up and running within the next 4-6 weeks. David has been a member of Roserrow since 2001 and his knowledge of the operation has been of huge benefit to us all. Good luck David, we wish you all the very best in your new position.

Out on the golf course, all the new tees have now been completed ahead of schedule and praise must go to Daniel Townsend and his team for their efforts throughout this project.

The amazing run of “Holes in One” has continued in March also. The ever popular Seniors Captain, Mr George Wass scored an ace at the 7th hole. Now I would like to say that his shot was straight down the flag, took one bounce and went in……unfortunately however that couldn’t be further from the truth. Using the natural contours to his advantage his ball trickled down the right hand bank, onto the green and dropped in!! Congratulations George, and I am assured he purchased plenty of wine at the meal!!

Until next month – Happy Golfing Folks

Golf Manager

Dear Fellow Golfers

Welcome to the February issue of the blog.

Well I have just completed 8 weeks in the new position and can’t believe where the time has gone. February has been another hectic month in preparation for the new season.

Out on the golf course the ongoing tee renovations are beginning to take shape and the front 9 holes have now been completed and are currently in the ‘knitting’ process. Some of the tees are being played from our all new Huxley all weather tees which have been a revelation to the course. We have also completed a new bunker at the rear of the 18th green in order to catch out a slightly misjudged shot.

After three short years, John Witcomb’s management agreement for the shop came to an end in February. John has provided a fantastic service to members and visitors alike. The golf shop will now be transformed into a spike bar – fittingly named ‘The Wedge & Divot’ and will be opening very soon. Nonetheless, John will still be very much a part of Roserrow’s growth and will be heading up the Roserrow teaching academy shortly and will hold the position of Head Professional.
We all wish John the very best of luck.

February has also seen 2 staff hole in one’s. Head of Maintenance Mr Ken Downer aced the 171 yard par 3 12th in the Seniors roll up day and Head Chef, Matthew (Wappo) Westlake achieved his at the 140 yard par 3 7th hole in the Sharps Winter League. Congratulations chaps – I still haven’t received my drinks however!!!

Until next month – Happy Golfing Folks.

Golf Manager

Dear Fellow Golfers

I have recently taken over the position as golf manager here at Roserrow Golf Club. At the end of each month throughout the year I will be writing a small blog on the events of the previous month. I hope you will be regular readers.

Well the year started on Wednesday 2nd January 2008. The thought of Christmas was a distant one and first day nerves were beginning to kick in as I turned into the classy Roserrow drive.

I arrived at my new desk to see a mass of paperwork that had been waiting for me. (Many thanks to Tony & Julie for this!!) I can say that the same pile and a bit more are still waiting for my attention!!

So I eventually came to the end of my first week and I must thank Ibuprofen for their help in getting me through. Thanks people, I couldn’t have done it without you.

As the minutes, hours and days passed by the rain never seemed to subside. I’m no Michael Fish but even I could tell that the rainfall statistics for January were going to be an interesting read. In fact it felt like all precipitation for the UK had gathered at PL27 6QT!!

I must take this opportunity to thank all the staff and members that have made me feel welcome during my short time here at Roserrow.

Until next month – Happy golfing folks!

Golf Manager