May 2010

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Message from the president

I had the honour of being elected president of the club at the AGM, for which I thank the membership.  It is also a considerable responsibility to help ensure that the success of our club continues.

We have an excellent team of professionals – on the course, in the clubhouse and in the pro-shop. 

My duty is to see that the elected committee, who represent the members, work with the permanent team to ensure that everyone gets the maximum possible enjoyment from their membership of Ipswich Golf Club.

A special welcome to our new members.  I trust that you will enjoy playing at Purdis and soon become integrated into all activities of the club.

My charity is the East Anglian Children’s Hospice (Treehouse Appeal) which is being built in Felixstowe Road, just beyond St Augustine's roundabout.  Your support will be kindly welcomed for this worthy cause.

I wish you all good golf during the year, but if you have any concerns about club matters please contact me or Neill Ellice, our general manager.

Henry Lambon

president

Message from the captain

That Purdis feeling

When you look at the board of captains’ names in the club lounge, with its long list of the great and the good going back to 1895, it makes you realise what an honour it is to be elected captain of Ipswich Golf Club.

I have been so grateful for the warm reception I have received and for the encouragement and good wishes from so many members. It was fantastic to see so many at the drive-in.

I shall do my very best to represent you and to support all sections of the club by attending matches and playing golf with as many members as I can manage.

We really do have a gem to be proud of at Purdis Heath and we all need to remind ourselves of this from time to time. It is a true members’ club with a great history and traditions built around a very fine course. It is a great compliment to us that we have had an influx of new members in the past few years. Many have transferred from other clubs largely, I suspect, because of the quality of our course.

Ours is a very friendly club and it is up to us to keep it that way. We all want to enjoy our golf but we also need to be aware of other players and it is vital that proper etiquette and common courtesy are observed at all times.

Although only starting my year of office, I have already experienced the ‘ups and downs’ of captaincy with men’s matches against Colchester and Thorpeness being lost and unfortunately the Hambro and Stenson teams also losing.

On the other side of the coin, the Tolly team were successful against Flempton and the seniors’ Beaumont team defeated Diss in their first-round match. Congratulations to the ladies for winning the Winter League Trophy after their fine victory at Stowmarket in March.

I plan to support the club bursary this year with proceeds from the captain-pro challenge matches. My main charity will be the Ipswich-based Iceni Project – a leading organisation in dealing with drug abuse. Anyone who watched the BBC’s Five Daughters programmes will have seen what this charity seeks to achieve. Thank you in advance for your support.

I really look forward to all the golf and social events over the coming months and I wish you all very happy golfing.

Colin Firmin

captain

Your committee for 2010

President:  Henry Lambon

Captain:  Colin Firmin

Vice Captain:  Russell Leeburn

Honorary Treasurer:  Richard Chaplin

Ladies’ Captain:  Angela Key

Peter Gornall

Keith Hayward

Vicki Hunt

Brian Hutchison

Sheila Laws 

Tony Moran

Early exits for Hambro and Stenson teams

The Hambro team, having been finalists last year, suffered a first-round defeat at the hands of an in-form Bungay side on April 25 at Outney Common.

Mark Lewis and Ian Brown were the only Purdis pair to get any joy in the morning foursomes with a halved match. All matches went the way of the home side in the afternoon. While no excuses are needed for losing to a strong team on their own patch, it does again show that giving a total of 29 shots over the day, away from home, is a task verging on the impossible.

Our Stenson team, who also reached the final last year, had a much closer second-round contest at home to a very strong, young Rookery Park team on May 1.

Iain Younger and Nathan Howe won their morning foursomes match and Kristian Day and Josh Cottrell achieved a magnificent half after being four down with six to play.

So, after being 2½ to 1½ down at lunch, our boys were left needing to win five of the eight afternoon singles matches. Despite excellent wins for Paul Barnard, Kristian Day, Iain Younger and Nathan Howe, it was just too much to ask and Rookery Park won 6½ to 5½.

Colin Firmin

non-playing captain

Tolly team into second round

The first round of the Tolly was played at home against Flempton with Ipswich winning +22. The Purdis team was:  Peter Shepherd and George McLellan, Shyam Patel and Brian Caley, Billy Thompson and Angus Chisholm, John Fletcher and Mark Berry.

In the second round Purdis are away to Rookery Park on Sunday, May 23.

All supporters will be welcome!

Ladies win the league

The Winter League is played over two years against Rushmere, Stowmarket and Woodbridge.  Ipswich ladies won the trophy this year. 

It all came down to the last match away at Stowmarket with two matches going to the eighteenth, one being halved and the other lost on the last putt.  The score was 4½ to 1½.  This last match had to be rearranged six times because of poor weather.

The next inter-club competitions are the Weston, away at Rushmere on Monday, May 17, and the Cranworth, at home on Thursday, May 27.

Update on course work

We lost 36 days of golf in December, January and February because of snow. We also had five inches of rain in January and February. As a result, a lot of remedial and clear-up work has been needed.

Much time had to be spent on clearing debris and removing damaged trees to ensure there was no risk to golfers and to avoid damage to neighbouring property.

The course closures allowed for planned tree-thinning along the 2nd, 4th, 11th and 15th holes. This has enabled the full teeing areas of these holes to be used and has met with favourable comment.

In March and April the aeration, over-seeding and top-dressing of fairways, approaches and greens were completed on schedule. There was only 7mm of rain in April, however. This, combined with a cold north-east wind, has delayed germination and course recovery.

The recent rain and slightly warmer conditions should see this work bear fruit in the coming weeks.

The most noticeable damage has been the fusarium on some greens – the subject of continued repair work by the groundstaff.

The fusarium fungus has been caused by the snow. Had the greens been frozen hard when the snow fell, there would have been much less damage. The snow blanket created a relative warming effect – ideal conditions for the fungus to develop.

As the ground temperature rises, we expect to see this fungus disappear and, combined with weekly hand-mowing, will result in smoother and truer putting surfaces.

It is perhaps worth restating that course manager Norman Fenwick will never allow play if he believes it will damage the course.

Over the coming months the bunker renovation work will continue with fresh supplies of long-overdue sand from the suppliers.

The surfaces of pathways will continue to be improved as needed.

The first of two divot parties is due and a notice will appear shortly. Your support is appreciated, so please watch the noticeboard.

The committee has approved, in principle, plans for a new chipping and putting green between the clubhouse and the ninth green of the nine-hole course. We can start work only when the club’s finances allow and there will be a review in June. Once the go-ahead has been given, members will be able to see the plans.

Following the removal of the hoops at the ridge on the fourth hole, you are reminded to use the footpaths on the far left and far right of the fairway. This is important for trolley-users as the slope can be very slippery.

Pro-shop news

A good news story to start with – the Junior Tri Golf Day was a great success, mainly thanks to the hard work of Sheila Laws and Ryan.  As a result, we now have a group of eight youngsters attending one of Ryan’s Sunday classes.

We are hoping to arrange a ladies’ Tri Golf day if we generate sufficient

interest.  If anyone has friends or family who wish to attend, please contact the pro-shop.

In June, Kevin will begin coaching using a video analysis system called

www.myswingzone.com

This works with the client being videoed during the coaching session and the professional adding an audio of the improvements to be implemented.  The video is then sent to the My Swing Zone website for the client to download to their computer or mobile phone. 

The reason I bought this system is to allow the client to refer to their last coaching session and remind them of the improvements to be made.

I believe it is not what you learn during the coaching session but how you retain and practise the improvements between lessons.

Good golf and may all your putts be short and you not miss any.

Kevin Lovelock

Sign up for Ryan’s coaching classes

Ryan will be running a series of Friday evening coaching sessions –

6.45 to 7.45, starting on May 28. The other dates are June 11 and 25, July 9 and 23, August 6 and 20.

The cost is £8 a week and classes will be limited to eight members. To reserve a place, contact the pro-shop.

Victory for juniors over Rushmere

During the Easter holidays, we played the first round of the Suffolk Club Team Championship against Rushmere at home, winning by 108 pts to 93.    We now wait to hear who our opponents will be in the next round.   

Unfortunately, in the Suffolk Handicap Cup away match at Bury St Edmunds, we lost by 4 matches to 2.

In our friendly matches we were beaten by Felixstowe at Purdis 3-1, but beat Bramford on the nine-hole course 2-1.

There were some excellent scores in the Easter stableford with new member Henry Cutting winning with 38 points on countback from Max Hambling.

The next events are a nine-hole Texas Scramble on Sunday, May 16, starting at 1pm.   All juniors are welcome.

Don’t forget that junior results, photos and future events are on the junior page of the club website www.ipswichgolfclub.com

Champagne occasion

Sign up now for Sunday, May 30:  Champagne Breakfast Mixed Competition (draw for partners).

World class performance…

In the England v 'Rest of World' match on St George’s Day morning, organised by Clive Bischoff, the RoW won 6-2.