THE CAPTAIN’S WEEK Firstly, can I congratulate Linda Anderson on her election as the new Lady Captain. I very much look forward to working with Linda over the coming months and welcoming her to the next meeting of the General Committee. I should also thank the out-going Lady Captain Ann Gems for her contribution over the last year. While Ann has handed over the Captaincy to Linda, she will continue to serve the Club on the General Committee. The Ladies AGM on Wednesday also saw Pip Mumford stand down as the Honorary Secretary after a second stint at the helm. Thank you for all your hard work Pip. And to avoid confusion Pip is being succeeded by Pip. That is Pip Davis. So the secretarial duties continue to be in safe hands. I have made much of the fantastic work that members of our Club do to raise money for various charities. The final total raised for Cancer Research during PINK OCTOBER was £2,726. A fantastic effort. Well done to all the organisers, sponsors and participants. After presenting the cheques to the five charities we were supporting at our annual CHARITY GOLF DAY in July (which came to a total of £23,400), we have received letters of thanks from all the organisations which you can read on the main noticeboard. One of the charities we were supporting was the Parkinsons Can Dance. They have sent us a photograph of the group which includes the teachers, musicians and our very own Owen James who regular attends the dance sessions. It’s great to hear that the money we raise is being used to such good effect. And if that wasn’t enough, Ann Gems’ chosen CHARITY FOR HER YEAR AS LADY CAPTAIN was Born Too Soon which provides state of the art equipment for the neo-natal ward at Kingston Hospital. Over her Captaincy year, the ladies have raised over £3,000. The latest cheque of £1,100 was presented to Pauline Woods from the charity last Tuesday. Ann, Pip and the ladies are pictured here handing over the cheque to Pauline. Well done everyone! 1 | P a g e THE GOLFING WEEK On Tuesday, I had the opportunity to play at Camberley Heath. The original plan was a match with me and Ben taking on Doug Martin and Chris Eccott. Unfortunately, Ben’s mum passed away over the weekend so he wasn’t able to play. Our thoughts are with him at this sad time. So, Doug’s son Danny stood in for Ben. We had a good day greatly enhanced by an excellent breakfast. And our golf wasn’t too bad on a very picturesque heathland course with me and Chris just coming out as winners. Wednesday saw the playing of the Men’s November Midweek Stableford. In relatively benign conditions, the winner was Luke Gachet who just beat Thomas Gallagher on a count-back when they both finished with an excellent 40 points. Mark Atkinson was third on 39 points followed by Lee Webster, Peter Bennett, Stephen Pautard and Daryll Sanger with 37 points. Well played Gentlemen. The Ladies Weekend Stableford proved to be a bit of washout. The torrential rain on Saturday night had already led to the postponement of the Final of the Brock Cup – which has now been rescheduled for Sunday 25th November, so please make a note in your diary. But despite the wet conditions, some ladies did manage to play with Abigail Mercer coming first on 32 points and Jane Firmston-Williams second with 29 points. Not the best conditions for golf but if it’s any consolation, we need the rain while it’s still relatively warm to help growing conditions. This Thursday was Beaujolais Day which probably explains why I’m writing this nursing a hangover. It was a really good day with 40 competitors doing their best to drink the entire stock of Beaujolais Nouveau that Helen had brought in for the occasion. Playing Texas Scramble, the winners were Bob Salt, Andy Ness and guests Lee Wright and Ian Jelly who shot a net 61. They just pipped Chandan Singh, Mick Packer, Kate Barnett and Brian Chivers who were second on 62. While 61 is a great score, it’s worth noting that the record low score for Beaujolais Day is 54 which was achieved by Nigel Gills, Dave Bigg, Paul Gachet and Theresa Kim back in 2011. Clearly, they can’t have drunk much wine on that day. A big thank you to Nigel for once again organising the event. Good job! The winners Runners-up The organiser Breakfast! hard at work Before and after golf 2 | P a g e MEANWHILE ELSEWHERE IN THE WORLD OF GOLF…. With the end of the year fast approaching, we all need to start preparing for the CHANGES IN THE RULES OF GOLF that will come into play from the first of January 2019. Details of the new rules have been posted on the noticeboard in the Lounge but if you’d like to study them in more detail (and memorise), take a look at the R&A website: https://www.randa.org/news/2018/03/new-rules-of-golf- unveiled-by-the-ra-and-usga or go to Golf Monthly magazines article on the new rules: https://www.golf-monthly.co.uk/news/new-golf-rules-2019-152161 . There are also several excellent videos explaining the changes. My personal favourite can be found on You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chPOtfLUHC0 We will also be organising a RULES FORUM at the Club one evening in January. It’ll be an opportunity to run through the changes, address any questions there might be and hold a Rules Quiz to test your knowledge of all the Rules of Golf. One of the reasons why the R&A and USGA have introduced these changes is to help speed up the pace of play. With this is mind the General Committee has produced a new PACE OF PLAY POLICY to see if we can encourage faster rounds for competitive and social golf but without unduly affecting our member’s enjoyment of their game. The new policy is set out below and a copy will also be available on the Member’s Hub on our website. WHAT’S COMING UP? On Sunday, we’ll be welcoming our new Lady Captain when she DRIVES-IN at 1.00 pm. Good luck Linda. The rest of the week is relatively quiet but we do have a very special OPEN MIC EVENING on Friday 23rd November being organised by Lindsay Cole and Steve Suckling. If you can play an instrument or sing or even tap a tambourine, I’m sure there’ll be a way you can take part. And if you want more information, please get in touch with Lindsay or Steve. On Sunday 25th November, we are organising another of our regular MIX-UPS. It’ll be another team event with a draw for partners. If you’d like to take part, please get to the Club by 8.30 am and put your name in the hat. As usual, I’ll be supplying some prizes for the winning team – whoever they may be. Next Sunday also see the playing of the FINAL OF THE BROCK CUP. It’s a shame it couldn’t be played on Remembrance Sunday but even two weeks later, we’ll still use the occasion as an opportunity to remember Commander Brock and the millions of others who gave their lives fighting in the First World War. The match is between Martin Cragg and Stuart Roberts and will be refereed by Ray McCullagh and Andy Green. Sponsor David Woolmer will be presenting the prizes at the evening presentation from 6.30 pm. Please try to join us if you can. Finally, our hardworking Green Committee are putting the finishing touches to the GOLF COURSE FIVE YEAR DEVELOPMENT PLAN. We will be publishing it on Monday so all our members will have the opportunity to see what we’re trying to achieve and some of the ideas that we’re hoping to implement over the next few years. 3 | P a g e MALDEN GOLF CLUB PACE OF PLAY POLICY For some time, Members and the Committee have been concerned about the pace of both competitive and general play at the Club. Very few golfers would admit to being slow players but we can all do our bit to play a little faster. Slow play can detract from the enjoyment of golf for many players at any level. Few golfers are heard to complain about play being too quick! Did you know that if each player in a four-ball takes 5 seconds less to play each shot, the round time can be improved by over 25 minutes? The responsibility falls on both the Club and Players to make sure a sensible pace of play is achieved. Play has been monitored and a number of steps have been agreed to improve playing rates in both Competitive and General play. The Committee has conducted a study into the amount of time a 3-ball should take and concluded that a round should take a maximum of 3hours 45 minutes (The R&A guideline is that 3-balls should take no more than 3 hours 30 minutes). Club Policy Based on R&A and England Golf guidelines: Issue Pace of Play Guidelines to every member of MGC and summaries for all visitors to our Club. We expect a round to last no more than 4 hours as a guide.