SNOW UPDATE

Sunday 5th February 7.30am. The B668 through Greetham village and to the A1 has been gritted, Wood Lane from the crossroads, Greetham Valley drive and the carparks have all been snowploughed this morning – access no problem for Sunday lunch. COURSES ARE CLOSED FOR GOLF unsurprisingly.

Saturday 4th February 11.30pm. Started snowing at Greetham Valley at 5pm and it hasn’t stopped. Currently about four inches deep – and it’s still coming down but slowing. Check back here for an update Sunday morning – but don’t expect to play golf!Robert is out on the snowplough right now clearing the drive and Wood Lane up to the crossroads for the 3rd time tonight. We have a party of 200 tonight in the Rutland Suite, so we’re aiming to get them all home. But some have booked into the Hotel last minute instead!


Forthcoming social events at Greetham Valley

Greetham Valley has it’s 20th Anniversary this year and the Anniversary Trophy will be played for on Saturday 31st March. In addition to that, an Anniversary Invitation golf competition will be held on Friday 30th March, followed by a 20th Anniversary Celebration Party. Reserve your tickets early, this will be a big one! Fantastic live band, disco and casino plus scrumptious two course meal dished up by head chef Tony Curry and his team – not to be missed. And all for only £15 per person – might as well stay the night for only £40 per room!

Prior to that is the Charity Quiz Night on Friday 3rd February, with a blinding hot buffet available which runs from 6pm at only £6 a head. This is not only a good night out exercising the grey matter, it could get you lots of brownie points - ”Let me take you out for a meal Darling”!!!!!!!  - whilst doing a bit for the Captains’ charity, which this year is the Evergreen Care Trust. Teams of 4, at least one of whom must be a Greetham Valley member, £2 entry per person (pay on the night).

The ever popular Greetham Valley Charity Race Night makes its’ annual appearance on Friday 9th March. Ably hosted by the genial Graham and Karon Hollick, the event raises funds for the Captains’ charity. Tickets are just £6 per person, which includes a fish and chips supper from 7pm. First race at 8pm, don’t forget your Tote money!  Tickets are available from Greetham Valley Hotel Reception or tel: (01780) 460444


Greetham Valley’s Winter League matches all on schedule

The Sunday Winter League golf competition is played in four divisions, with the top pair in each one going into the hat with the winners from the Saturday Winter League to contest the quarter finals on the 4th of March. After this week’s games all four leaders have the same results, having all won five, lost one, achieving 8 points.

Mick Carnie and Jim Kearny lead Division One,  former Club Captains John Sparks and George Grant lead Division Two, Peter Dickinson and Paul Smith lead Division Three, whilst semi finalist in 2011 Scotty Stevenson and new playing partner Thomas Broom are the leaders in Division Four. 

Thanks to the good weather experienced so far this winter, the League matches are all on schedule: last year one of the games had to be cancelled due to the inclement conditions. With two more rounds to go before the quarter finals, the players in second position in all of the divisions are all hoping that the weather remains good to give themselves a chance to fight for the top spot.


Unlucky 13 for Bob in Greetham Valley’s Order of Merit

Bob Beverley, who has led for all but the first week that the Winter Order of Merit has been running, had to relinquish his top spot and settle for second overall in week thirteen of this 24 week golf competition. Adam Clegg has been steadily climbing the overall standings with consistent scores for the past six weeks and was extremely pleased to top the standings. Adam was happy to get the number one spot but said that with so many good players in the field he knows that it will be tough to stay there;  he was cut to four. Next week could see another change in the top three as Adam will be away and won’t be able to play. 

Although Adam’s 39 points were enough to take him to number one, they were only good enough for second place this week. Fraser Denholm had that honour with a sparkling 41 points and his first win of the series. Fraser who recently returned to Greetham Valley after working away moved up from 15th to 11th position this week and with 137 points and nine weeks to go is targeting a top three position; he was cut to ten. Another player cut to ten this week was Chris Wheatland who was third with 38 points. Paul Jenkinson, in his first outing of the series, took fourth with 37 points, finishing just ahead of Graham Smith and Elliott Clark on 36 points.

 Adam Clegg has 220.5 points but close behind is the limpet-like Bob Beverley on 207, Neil Harris is in third with 191. Graham Smith is less than seven points behind Neil in fourth, he has 184.7 points, Steff Dutton rounds off the top five with 170.8.


Winter golf course maintenance continues at Greetham Valley

Well, Christmas has come and gone without any of the white stuff falling, which has given everyone a chance to get out and enjoy the golf courses when in previous years it has not been possible.

The weather conditions have been favourable to allow us to continue to present the courses in good order, which will give us an excellent platform to start the new season. I am already planning the purchase of the fairway fertiliser and if these conditions continue I will be fertilising towards the end of February.
 
The benches are now back out on the courses after my staff have repaired and treated them; the tee markers have been painted and are ready for the start of the season; we just have the flag poles to do when the next inclement weather arrives.
 
We have started to replenish the sand in the bunkers, and still have a few more of the bunker faces to repair, which will be done throughout February along with bunker edging.
 
I have spoken to Robert about brightening up the car park, and we are looking at some sort of planting that will define the parking lines a bit better along with improving the aesthetics.
 
We are at present extending the 10th medal tee on the Lakes, which was made possible when we moved the path last year. This should be completed within the next two weeks. 
 
I was hoping to block pave some more paths this winter but we haven’t had time; maybe in March I will be able to finish around the putting green, and then we will plan to carry on with the remainder at the end of the year.

Enjoy your golf! Regards, Adi


Seniors’ January Medal & Club Winter League

David AldredThe weather for the Seniors’ January Medal was unseasonably glorious:  gone were the wind and clouds to be replaced by lovely Rutland sunshine with just a small breeze.

Beware the injured golfer! In Division One, seventeen handicapper David Aldred, who recently injured his leg, had a great start to 2012 by winning the first medal of the year with a gross 82, net 65. David went round the front nine in 43 but really came to life in the more difficult back nine where he dropped only three shots. Because it is pick, clean and place under winter rules, he won’t have his handicap cut at the moment but it will count when the end of year review takes place in March. 

Nine handicapper Neil Lowndes took the lowest gross prize with a 76 but this was only good enough for second place. Another low handicapper, Ken Porter, who also plays off nine took third place on countback from Colin Avery, they both had a net 71.

In Division Two, Dennis Watts took both the win and the lowest gross with a gross 93, net 72. Dennis Cleggett was second with a gross 96, net 73. Third place had to be settled on countback, 22 handicapper George Cooper just edging it on the back nine over 24 handicapper Peter Palmer, they both had a net 74.

Paul Clegg and Paul Jenkinson lead Group One in the Saturday division of the Club Winter League, they have played three games, won two and lost one, giving them a total of four points. Peter De Kremer and Ray Hughes have the same points in Group Two as do Graham Day and Peter KeyJason Giblett and Les Kowal are storming their group with three wins and six points.


Greetham Valley Order of Merit, week 12

In week 12 of Greetham Valley’s Winter Order of Merit golf competition, father and son pair Paul and Adam Clegg showed just what good players they are when confronted with forty miles an hour headwinds.  Paul had a great front nine scoring 20 points and 36 overall but Adam just pipped him to take the win and the bragging rights with a score of 37 points. 

This means that Adam, who missed week eleven, has moved up seven place in his last two games. He is now in third place overall and a mere 5 points behind second placed Neil Harris. Paul has moved from twelfth to eighth and is only 30 points behind Adam. Greetham Valley President and 2011 Winter Order of Merit winner Martin Boughton was third with 35 and moves up from eleventh to ninth. Long time leader Bob Beverley is still holding on to the top spot and after scoring 31 points has opened up his lead over Neil Harris. Steff Dutton retains his 4th place while Dave Copley who didn’t play this week drops to fifth. All eyes, however, are on the Cleggsters!


Race Night at Greetham Valley

Race Night at Greetham ValleyFriday 9th March
The ever popular Greetham Valley Charity Race Night makes its’ annual appearance on Friday 9th March. Ably hosted by the genial Graeme and Karon Hollick, the event raises funds for the Captains’ charity, which this year is the Evergreen Care Trust.

Tickets are just £6 per person, which includes a fish and chips supper from 7pm.

Frst race at 8pm, don’t forget your Tote money!

Tickets from Greetham Valley Hotel Reception or tel: (01780) 460444


Seniors’ Winter League update

The delayed Round 6 of the Seniors’ Winter League took place on Monday 16th and was played on winter greens which were frozen solid, making it very difficult for the early birds. They did however thaw out quite quickly and players who teed off a little later really benefited from the “slightly” softer greens. The format for this golf competition is stableford with a 7/8 handicap allowance and nineteen handicapper Radley Wardhaugh and Ray Reynolds who plays off twenty both came in with 43 points. Radley took the win on countback thanks to a better back nine score. Twenty handicapper Bill Ormond was third with 41 points. 

The League consists of ten games, played from October to the end of March, from which a player counts his best five scores. Nine handicapper Neil Lowndes is leading the field with 179 points, closely chased by twelve handicapper Malcome Barnes only two points behind in second with 177 points. Twenty handicapper Charles Guttridge is only one point behind him in third with 176 points. It is all very close and it will be interesting to see what happens if we have any further frosty days. Beware the high handicapper!!!!!!!


Greetham Valley Order of Merit, week 11

Week eleven of the Greetham Valley Winter Order of Merit came as a bit of a shock to the regular players! Gone was the pleasant, almost balmy weather experienced on the golf course recently and in came the ice and a freezing cold breeze straight off Siberia via Rutland Water. The greens were frozen and as a consequence balls were bouncing on and then straight off. It’s not nice when that happens to your balls. 

However, this was not reflected in the scoring of the more experienced players: the top six on were covered by just two points. Wayne Terrett had his second win of the series, he came in with a score of 38 points. Steve Anderson also scored 38 points but just lost out on countback and took second place. 

The fight for the third spot was between four players: Terry Smith, Graham Smith, Steff Dutton and Shaun Denholm, they all scored 37 points but after countback, Terry took it courtesy of a great score of twenty one points on the back nine. The top six played very steady golf and did very well to be under par on frozen greens.

 The top three in the overall Order of Merit didn’t fare too well in the conditions but still retained their positions. Bob Beverley is still in first place, twenty points ahead of Neil Harris. Dave Copley retains third spot but Steff Dutton is closing in on them all thanks to his 37 points and joint fourth place this week.