Club News

Come Join in the Swindles

Swindles  who runs them and when

There are informal swindles and roll up competitions throughout the week  and run throughout the Summer and winter seasons, These are open to all club members and all players are made welcome  and it is a great way to meet members, come along and join in..  Below are the current approximate timings and who organises them:- 

Monday Morning Group first tee off approx 9.16 am (arrive by 9.00 am at the latest) 

Organiser Lewis Shurlin

Wednesday Captain’s Club Morning made up of 9 holes, lunch, and then cards.  This will be through the Winter months and should the weather not lend itself to the 9 holes, we would still like to meet for all the other activities and a general get-together.  All are welcome.

Organiser Stuart Disdale

Thursday Morning Group first tee off approx 9.16 am (arrive by 9.00 am at the latest)

Organiser Lewis Shurlin

Thursday Afternoon Group first tee off approx 11.25 am (arrive by 11 am at the latest) 

Organiser Dennett Harvey

Sunday Afternoon Group first tee off approx 11.25 pm (arrive by 11 am at the latest) 

Organiser Kevin Rabbitte

Visit the Pro Shop

Pro Shop

We have a fully stocked Pro Shop for all your golfing needs, from chocolate to golf balls, clothes and equipment.  Also this is the place to book tee times and enter competitions.

Golf lessons are available from our Golf Professionals, Paul Holland, Jack Winer anmd reece Francis.    Lessons can be booked in the pro shop.

Within the pro shop we have the “Golf Principles” club fitting studio. Jason Macniven is one of the leading independent club fitters in England and he will be delighted to arrange to “custom fit” your next set of clubs.

Opening Hours         

Winter              Weekdays7.30 am to 16.30 pm,          Weekends        7.00 am to 16.30 pm

         Summer           Weekdays 7.30 am to 19.00 pm,          Weekends        7.00 am to 19.00 pm

Buggies

We have 10 buggies which may be hired from the pro shop. At peak periods these should be booked in advance.

Members may store their own buggies at Abridge at their own risk,with permission as we have limited storage space. For fees and to arrange storage please contact the office

Club Storage

Members are able to store their golf clubs and trolleys at Abridge in the trolley store next to the Pro Shop in new specially designed lockers. For more information on cost and to reserve a space, please contact the office.

History of the Club

The First Board of Directors 22nd September 1963

In the late 1950’s and early 1960’s a nucleus of Jewish golfers formed the South Essex Jewish Golfers Society (SEJGS) as they were being refused membership to local clubs on religious grounds.  Because of the situation they decided to setup their own golf club.  The founding members agreed to invest, and with the help of a wealthy benefactor, JohnRubens, purchased the farm land where we are today.  The Club was finally opened in 1964.  Abridge accordingly respects its Jewish heritage and is closed on theJewish Holy Day of Atonement, as well as Christmas Day.  In the constitution of the Club, we are proud to state that not only do we welcome members of the Jewish faith, but all creeds and faiths have and will always be welcome.

Captains “roll-up” (swindle) on Saturday 1st December

Friday 26 October 2018

Club Calendar
This Sunday 28 October, we have the GOLD MEDAL event  and a regular monthly medal for people that didn’t qualify for the GOLD MEDAL. All events from next weeks Club Calendar can be viewed here.

Captains Roll-up
As an experiment, we will be having Captains “roll-up” (swindle) on Saturday 1st December. The 1st tee will be reserved  between 8:00 – 9:30 am.
To cater for people that like to play at different times, there will be 3 draws as follows:- 

  • Tee off 8:00 – 8:30 am (draw to be made at 7:40 am) 
  • Tee off 8:30 – 9:00 am (draw to be made at 8:10 am) 
  • Tee off 9:00 – 9:30 am (draw to be made at 8:40 am) 

Format will be Individual and Pairs stableford (with a twist). No need to book, just turn up on the day!

New Mobile App
Great news! We will soon be releasing a new Members app for your iPhone and Android devices. You will be receiving details of how to install and register within the next week. This will allow you to :-

  • Check your handicap and handicap record 
  • Check competition results and history 
  • View your catering card account details and top up your account from your phone 
  • View members details and create “friends” lists 
  • View Club news 

In the near future, we will also be implementing a new modernised club website, but more about that later!

Ladies London League
Great news! Our ladies section finished top of the London League this season – which is a fantastic achievement considering the size of our ladies section. 

Past Captains v Chigwell
On Thursday a team of Abridge Past Captains (and some future past captains!) was victorious against a Past Captains team from Chigwell Golf club by 3 – 1. 

Members Guests
I am asked to remind members that  the same guest can only play at Abridge six times a year in total.  A record of such is kept in the Pro Shop. 

Car Park
Please note that when areas of the car park are roped off, this has been done for a reason and you are kindly requested not to park in roped off areas.

Correction
A prize for the person who spotted the deliberate mistake in last weeks bulletin! The Festive Lunch for members and guests will be  Sunday 16th December (not the 15th) !

That’s all for this week’s bulletin.

Best wishes and happy golfing!

Gary Bronziet
Captain

Always look on the bright side of Golf!

Gary Bronziet Abridge Captain 2018/2019
Gary Bronziet Abridge Captain 2018/2019

Welcome to my first captain’s bulletin. I included my mugshot in case anyone has difficulty differentiating me from our past captain. I know for some people that’s a problem. Firstly, I am sure you will all join me in thanking past captainStuart Disdale for being such a great Captain and setting such a fine example. As I said at the “Drive in” on Sunday, he will be a hard act to follow, but I will do my best!

Thanks to all who attended my “Drive-in” and sharing the day with me. It was a great experience and hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. And thanks to everyone who helped make it such a great day, in particular to Lol Green for organising the competition and Brian Allsuch for taking the “official” pictures.

You can see the photos by clicking on the link below.

If you are a glutton for punishment, there is also a video – which includes the “song” in its entirety, complete with mistakes! Make sure you learn the words,  as you are all expected to sing it, especially when dunking a ball in the pond on the second!

My Captain’s Away Day is booked for Wednesday, 15th May 2019 at West Herts Golf course. More details to follow, but please save the date in your diaries.

Well, that’s about all for my first bulletin. This weekend we have the Jack Stone Qualifiers. You can enter Saturday or Sunday (not both!). It’s a stableford competition off the white tees.

Gary Bronziet
Captain

Click below for the Video!

And don’t forget to, “Always look on the bright side of Golf!”

Jack Winer Winer Chicken Dinner!

GRANTHAM, ENGLAND – AUGUST 31: Jack Winer of Abridge Golf & Country Club celebrates sinking his putt on the second play off hole to win the Golfbreaks.com PGA Fourball Championship during the final round of the Golfbreaks.com PGA Fourball Championship at Belton Woods – Lakes on August 31, 2018 in Grantham, England. (Photo by Tony Marshall/Getty Images)

Winer, from Abridge Golf and Country Club in the village of Stapleford Tawney in Epping Forest, fought off the likes of Jason Levermore and Brett Taylor to claim the victory thanks to a fantastic putt on the first extra hole.

The win is the Essex golfer’s second victory in the space of a week after he triumphed at the PGA Fourball Championship at Belton Woods alongside partner James Watts days earlier.

The 30-year-old had to do it the hard way at the East Region Championship, though, as the tournament went to a play off after Levermore, Taylor and Winer all finished with a five-under par score of 137 after 36 holes.

But unlike his counterparts, the Essex golfer was the only one to find the green on the first extra hole, thanks to a 140-yard effort which flew to within 18 feet.

Taylor didn’t enjoy such good fortunes down the left but Levermore looked like extending the play-off with a deft chip from behind the back of the green.

However, Winer held his nerve to birdie the first extra hole, pulling off a tricky left to right putt to claim the win.

The 30-year-old believes his victory alongside Watts days earlier played an integral role in his performance at Bishop’s Stortford and also paid tribute to Gary McGrath, who was his playing partner in the alliance event that ran alongside the tournament last week.

Winer said: “I’ve been playing well for a good few weeks and then to go away with Wattsy (James Watts) and have the week that we did just spurred me on.

“One thing that I kept from that was when we were under the gun he had my back as in, ‘Stay calm, we’ve got this.’ Then I put that same mentality into playing out here through the second day.

“And it was great to have my partner Gary, an old friend of my dad’s, next to me. Gary has caddied for me before at Tour School and is such a laugh. I think that when you are under pressure you need that – it keeps you relaxed.

“I was unfortunate to miss a five, six-foot putt down the last hole to win it in main time. But to win it in a play-off – and win two play-offs in two weeks – is a dream come true. It’s really good.”

New fleet heralds a new dawn at Abridge

Course manager Geoff Smith welcomes what he also describes as a ‘new dawn’ at the club, with recent developments including a third successive John Deere course maintenance equipment fleet deal with local dealer P Tuckwell Ltd at Ardleigh, near Colchester. This is based on a John Deere Financial operating lease with PowerGard Protection Plus warranty and maintenance cover for the duration of the lease, based on simple monthly payments.

This deal has been complemented by the arrival of a new teaching professional and a new golf club fitting centre installed by Golf Principles of Basingstoke, as well as plans for a redesign of the clubhouse plus an overhaul of the practice facilities and driving range. A new full wall-to-wall Perrot state of the art irrigation system, the first one of its kind in the UK, is also being installed by contractors M J Abbott this winter.

“It’s a really exciting time for the club,” says Geoff Smith. “With this new investment, the first for several years, we are aiming to bring the course back to Open Qualifier standards and keep ahead of the competition. The only real asset we have is the golf course, so it needs to be looked after.

“Members can already see what we’ve achieved, and our board members believe the course is the best it’s ever looked. A neighbouring club’s greens chairman even said that he’d heard Abridge is in absolutely magnificent condition.”

With this third package deal, 100 per cent of the equipment has been leased compared to just 40 per cent with the club’s first agreement. “The terms of the deal and the service package have improved each time, and with this latest investment we know exactly where we are budget wise for the next five years, with no hidden costs,” says Geoff.

The package covers 26 John Deere machines, including PrecisionCut and TerrainCut walk-behind and ride-on mowers for the greens, tees, approaches and rough, compact tractors and a front loader, Gator utility vehicles, an amenity turf sprayer and a bunker rake, plus ancillary equipment.

“We looked at all the main brands and had machines on demonstration – all of my staff get to try them and report back on their likes and dislikes,” says Geoff. “Our mechanic Paul Aylett, deputy course manager Ben Scrivener and I then evaluate the staff’s findings and look at price options and back-up issues.

“For us it all comes back to the dealer and the service we’ve historically had and continue to get from Tuckwell and sales manager Neil Peachey. All the advice, help and extra support really count – it’s a good relationship, and it works well for both sides. Our machines do a lot of work and if Paul cannot solve things, I need to know that someone from the supplier can be with us within 24 hours.”

Geoff Smith also says he’s very impressed with the new John Deere 9009A rough mower, which provides much better definition around the course. “When it was first demonstrated I didn’t want it, I thought it was too big, but Neil said he’d take it back if I really didn’t like it – and it stayed!

“I like the new 220SL walk-behind greens mowers too – we hand cut five out of seven days in high season, using lights and front brushes, and they do a very good job. The new A Model mowers with the TechControl display on the CommandArm are great as well, allowing every machine to achieve the same consistent finish across the course.”

Course drainage update


Well what a change in the weather! When I left to go on holiday we were in very dry, hot sunny conditions and I have returned to wet, windy cool conditions! The positive is this rain will set us up nicely for the summer if it returns?

The greens are quite lush and soft owing to the wet conditions and all areas are starting to grow like spring again. When the warmer drier weather returns we will be cutting crazy!

Just a couple of updates on Course work. 9th Bunkers, we had to stop half way through renovating them owing to the manpower required during the very hot spell to keep the water going. It would also have been a little foolish to turf during that period.  Once many of my staff have had their well earned holidays we will get back to finishing them off.

We have started working on a temporary green at the 3rd hole. This is in preparation for when we install some drainage in the 3rd green on the 17th August. We will be using the same drainage system that we used on the 10th Green 2 years ago. If you remember the green was out of play for 2-3 weeks and then fully restored soon after. Hopefully things will go as smoothly as the 10th green did. I appreciate your understanding while we do this improvement works.

Irrigation and reservoir plans are coming along nicely and I hope to be able to update you soon with more details.

Finally , as I said earlier many of my staff are taking holidays the next few weeks, especially next week so please understand if not all jobs are getting done as quick as they should be.

Enjoy your Golf, enjoy your Course.

Regards,

Geoff

Junior Section..We want you!

We, at Abridge, are committed to providing a wonderful golf course with top class practice facilities for all Juniors to improve their game, no matter the level they look to achieve.

As a Club, we look to a successful future which begins with the younger members of Abridge.

  • If you wish to improve your driving length, we have a golf range that even the longest hitter would have trouble outdriving.
  • Should your short game need improving, there is a designated area that is for wedge play, whether it be 60 yards or 120 yards.
  • To improve your putting, we have a wonderful designated putting green of the finest quality.

Our Junior Captain looks forward to welcoming new members to our Junior Section

  • We enter our Juniors into both the Faldo Wedge and the Essex Youth Shield competitions to give them a chance to pit their skills against the best young golfers in Essex.

Should you require any further information, please do not hesitate to give our Office a call and they will gladly make arrangements for any Junior, accompanied by a parent or guardian, to come and view our facilities. 

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Getting ready to start our Autumn / Winter programme

I hope you are all still playing golf in between the showers. These days of continuous showers seems to have been a theme for the last couple of months. Our recent trends of warm, dry September’s and October’s seem to have gone this year. It certainly helps with keeping everything growing and looking great but does cause issues with getting ‘dry cuts’ in and course renovations.

To date, renovations have gone really well. The greens as you know were only renovated 3 weeks ago and arfe almost fully recovered. Last week we managed to core and topdress all the approaches and half the tees and have finished the tees off yesterday. So despite the rain we are well ahead!

The fairways will be hollow cored and or scarified w/c 2nd October and then some overseeding where necessary.

The 9th bunkers are being finished this week ready for turfing,  and we intend to start on re-instating the 10th bunker, again ready for turfing. We are also topping up bunkers with sand over the next two weeks.  People maybe wondering what the red lines are on some of the greens?  We have a few areas on the greens that after a busy summer need some overseeding. To give these areas a good chance to establish we are letting these areas ‘grow up’ to the height of the collars. Then in the spring we will re-establish the areas back to Greens height.

We are also getting ready to start our Autumn / Winter programme of Tree, bunker, Tee rebuilding and pathway work. I will give you more details of these proposed works in the next few weeks.

As you all probably know I raise money for charity every year. This year my chosen charities are MIND and Dementia UK and I still have approx. 12 places left on my Annual Charity Golf Day next Tuesday afternoon 12.00 sandwiches, 1pm shotgun start followed by two Course Dinner, Prizes and Raffle. If any of you would like to play or even better can enter a fourball that would be very much appreciated. Please let me know either via my mobile or the Office.

That’s it for this week. Enjoy your Golf

Geoff
Course Manager

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