August 2010

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In this month’s Purdis News:

• Paul is club champion for third time
• Double silver success for Josh
• Hoping for more rain!
• Weathering a financial challenge …
• Update on handicaps
• On course for a curry …
• Sky-high prices a TV turn-off
• Ladies on form in county competitions
• Tournament triumph for Purdis seniors
• Sarah is girls’ champion
• Exams success for Ryan
• Three clubs and a putter …
• Bumper bird-nesting season

Don’t forget to check out the new gallery for all the latest club photographs at www.ipswichgolfclub.com

Paul is champion for third time

Congratulations to Paul Barnard who is the Ipswich Golf Club Strokeplay Champion for the third time. Having won the title in 2000 and 2009, Paul retained the trophy on Sunday, July 11, with a magnificent gross score of 140 for the 36-hole competition.

Paul was one shot better than Josh Cottrell who had won the Silver Frigate trophy at Thorpeness the previous weekend. Graham Wardley was third with a gross 143, having equalled the amateur course record for Purdis with his second-round score of 66. 

Josh’s total of 141 (137 net) meant he won the J Ross Mashie for the handicap part of the competition.

Double silver success for Josh

After his Silver Frigate success at Thorpeness, Josh Cottrell completed a tremendous double by winning the Silver Barrel handicap competition at Purdis two weeks later.  
 

Playing off a handicap of one, Josh had a morning round of 67 gross. His afternoon round of 75 gross – giving him a net total of 140 – was enough to beat Jordan Dymond (6) by a single shot.  

Patrick Spraggs (+2), of Stowmarket, won the best gross prize with 139. Josh was second on 142 and Paul Barnard third with 143. 

Well done Josh – what a fantastic silver double. 

Hoping for more rain!

The lack of rainfall will be evident to everyone but, hopefully, a change is on the way. In July we had about an inch of rain. The total rainfall so far this year has been 8.75in. 

Our water purchase and consumption is up on the same period last year as we try to minimise the impact of poor rainfall. It is hoped that, with the onset of wetter conditions, we may be able to pull this back by the autumn. 

The condition of our fairways has been difficult to improve – the lack of growth resulting in patchy areas. The set height for fairway cutting is 15mm so only sprouts of grass are being cut at present – fairway brushing to improve course presentation might have misled members into thinking we cut it shorter.  The fact that, overall, we have more-than-satisfactory fairway surfaces is a testament to the measures taken in 2003/04 and the subsequent seeding regime. 

The autumn programme of aeration, seeding, topdressing, weed killing/wiping, is planned to start on August 23. The remaining bunker work will resume in earnest as well. 

Please note that a new “Trolleys this way” sign at the left approach to the seventh green has been put up to encourage members to use this side when approaching the eighth teeing area and not to walk between the bunker and the green. Your co-operation will be appreciated.

Weathering a financial challenge …

 
Our half year has passed, we are already well through summer and, believe it or not, I am starting to look at a budget for 2011.   

I don't think this will be a straightforward task, given the general economic backdrop and the financial results for 2010 so far.  It hasn't been an easy year; we got off to a difficult start with the course closures (for snow) in January and February.  We lost a lot of green-fee and catering revenue, which we are unlikely to make up.   

At the half-year stage we are, therefore, behind budget on green fees and on the bar and kitchen.  Everything else (overall) is fairly close to budget but these two areas are leading to a deficit so far.  An unknown quantity, literally, is the amount of water we'll need to buy to see us through to the autumn.  It's raining as I write this – a sight for dry fairways!   

So, not quite where I'd like us to be financially.  We can, as ever, all help by encouraging friends to visit, by using the club catering and spending lots of money at the bar!   

It's certainly not all doom and gloom and we are faring much better than many other clubs.  We have a sound financial base, so we can continue to look at ways to enhance and improve our facilities. 

I hope I will have better news in the autumn – as long as it rains at night and the days stay fine for all those visitors coming to Purdis.  

Richard Chaplin 
treasurer  
 
 

Update on handicaps

A notice about revised eligibility for 2011 competitions is in the changing room. If you have any queries, please ask general manager Neill Ellice.   

On course for a curry …

Another divot party is being planned for September and there will be a curry for those taking part. Acourse walk will also take place during the third or fourth week in September.

Sky-high prices a TV turn-off

In response to suggestions from members that the introduction of Sky TV would bring members into the clubhouse to watch major sporting events and increase bar and catering revenue, the club committee signed up for Sky in 2006. The annual cost was £3,479 for the base package. 

The expected increase in members coming to watch Sky did not materialise, however, despite themed catering at some of the events. 

The subscription cost has been rising and Sky’s policy is to link the price to the rateable value of the subscriber’s premises. We have now heard that the annual bill will go up to £4,963 this month, when the renewal is due, and will increase again to £5,069 in January with the rise in VAT, only part of which the club is able to recover. 

Many of the major sporting events are now shown on terrestrial TV and it is the committee’s view that this annual cost can no longer be justified for a service that fails to attract sufficient members to the club. 

The contract will not, therefore, be renewed and the Sky service will end on August 26. This decision is always open to review, particularly if Sky adopts a more reasonable charging policy.

Henry Lambon

president

Ladies on form in county competitions

Purdis ladies continue to do well in the county knockout competitions:  

Haskell: 

1^st round, away to Flempton – Ipswich won 7 & 6 (Helen Bray and Sarah Howe).

2^nd  round, away to Woodbridge – Ipswich won 8 & 7 (Helen Bray and Vicki Hunt).   

Stearn: 

1^st round, at Flempton – against The Suffolk.  Ipswich won 2-1.  This was a closely-contested match with Ipswich winning with the last putt on the last green.

2^nd round, against Newton Green, at Woodbridge.  Ipswich won 2-1 (our last team had to be called off the course because of torrential rain and thunder when they were fighting back from being three down). 

The Haskell and Stearn team are now through to the semi-finals – to be played on Monday, September 6.  

Cranworth:

2^nd round, at home against Crettingham.  Ipswich lost 18½ -26½.  Well done to the team, who had to play through torrential rain in the afternoon.  

Weston:

Ipswichbeat Bungay 4-1 at home and 3-2 away.  The away match was a bitter-sweet win as, when the points were added up for all four matches, Ipswich missed out on the final by one point. 

Well done to all the teams for playing so well.  

SuffolkCoronation Foursomes:

Played at Ipswich and well-supported by ladies from across the county, the competition was won by Purdis pair, Kay Anderson and Vicki Hunt.

Tournament triumph for Purdis seniors

Ipswich Golf Club hosted – and won – the Seniors Interclub Tournament last month with11 clubs from Suffolk and Essex taking part. 

There were nine players in each team with the best eight scores counting. The Purdis team won with 282 points.  Runners-up were Colchester (273) with Channels third (271). 

The best individual score was 44, by Robbie Adams of Ipswich. 

The day was very well organised, with visitors expressing their appreciation of the ground and catering staff.  The course was in excellent order with perfect greens and glorious weather. A raffle raised £333.73 for the captain’s charity. 

Victory over Diss:On July 16, Ipswich were at home to Diss and won by six-and-a-half to one-and-a-half. 

BeaumontTrophy win:On July 20, Ipswich were away to Woodbridge in the Beaumont Trophy, winning four-up.    

Seniors invitation day:This was played in glorious weather with 95 people taking part.  The raffle raised £305 for the bursary fund.  Result: 1. Robbie Adams and guest. 2. John Arthur and guest. 3. David Cordle and guest 

Sarah is girls’ champion

Congratulations to Josh Cottrell who won two prestigious men's competitions last month (see above). Also to Sarah Howe, who won the Suffolk Girls’ Matchplay Championship. 

Forthcoming junior competitions:

August 4– Edmonds Cup (36-hole strokeplay) 

August 15  – Stanley Trophy (stableford) 

August 23– match v ladies’ section 

August 25  – nine-hole match v Bramford (away)

August 29 –   Bailey Trophy and Daily Telegraph Qualifier (medal) 

Entry sheets are on the juniors’ noticeboard. 

Ryan is holding free beginners' coaching for juniors this month – get in touch with him if you know any youngsters under 18 who may be interested.

Three clubs and a putter …

A three-club-and-putter competition was held over 10 holes of the main course on the afternoon of Friday, July 30. The overall winner was Tom Hope, representing the juniors, with 22 points, from Pat Shurety and Peter Bell. 

Assistant professional Ryan Wingate supervised a six-hole putting contest – won by Purdis captain, Colin Firmin, in nine strokes.  

Thanks to pro Kevin Lovelock for generous organisation of prizes, and to chefs Tony and Chris, together with Kate and her staff, for the barbecue.  

Russell Leeburn,

vice-captain 
 

Exams success for Ryan

Good news from the pro shop – Ryan has now heard that he has passed all his year-three exams in his PGA foundation degree programme.  This means he is now a fully-qualified PGA class B professional and, after being nominated, will become a member of the PGA.  

The subjects he passed were: managing a golf business, golf coaching, sports science, custom-fitting and repairs and personal and career development.  

Meanwhile, the beginner taster sessions have started and are being well-supported. They are funded by a grant from the Suffolk Golf Partnership – of which the Purdis captain is chair. 
 
 A bumper bird-nesting season at Purdis

The 2010 nest-box survey had just been completed when the last report was written and now the data has been analysed the results are very encouraging.

Twenty-nine nests were found, three more than last year. Twenty-one were blue-tit nests, the same number as last year, while the other eight were great tit – three more than 2009.

Unfortunately, there are always a few failures and this year was no exception, with three blue-tit and two great-tit nests abandoned. However, the success rate of the remaining nests was very good, with the blue tits raising 141 chicks and the great tits 36 chicks to fledging.

These are much higher than last year’s totals of 110 blue tits and 20 great tits raised to fledging. This was probably thanks to the dry conditions at the end of April – if it is dry the adult birds can hunt for caterpillars more easily. Constantly-wet feathers chill the birds and could cause them to die. There also seemed to be a large number of caterpillars on the oak trees, providing ample food.

On the bird-of-prey front, the news on the hobbies that nested successfully in 2008 and 2009 is not so good. Two birds did return in May but were not seen as regularly as in the previous two years. There was no evidence of display over the woods and the birds seemed to disappear at the beginning of June. Unfortunately, no breeding took place this year.

At the time the birds returned from Africa the weather was very cool and quite windy. The sunny, warm weather favoured by this species did not start until mid-June. This probably put them off breeding. Hopefully, they will return next year.

On a more positive note, a pair of kestrels did nest in the woodland in the centre of the site and successfully raised three chicks (see photo on club website). The juvenile birds could still be seen around the 4^th/16^th/17^th holes at the end of July. They do make loud cries when the adults bring in food, giving away their position.

Another bird of prey that nested successfully this year was the tawny owl. We know this because a member found a recently-fledged chick on the path from the clubhouse to the 11^th tee late one evening at the end of May. I was alerted as it was thought the bird could be injured and vulnerable to predators. After picking up the chick (with thick gloves as they have sharp talons) no injuries were found so it was carefully placed in the branches of an oak tree close to where it was found (see photo).

The adults were probably watching and would easily find the chick as they make loud squeaking calls when hungry. Over the next four days the chick remained in the same tree before moving deeper into the woods. Tawny owl chicks often leave the nesting site well before they can fly properly and can occasionally be seen sitting together in trees, a phenomenon known as ‘branching’.

Yet more good news concerned the resident pair of kingfishers that can be found around the club’s lakes. In the spring we dug a new, sheer, sandy bank for them next to the decoy lake. They dug out a nesting tunnel in this bank and reared at least one youngster. At the time of writing, the adults are still seen regularly carrying fish to the juvenile, mainly around the area of the smaller lake near the clubhouse. Listen for their sharp, loud, high-pitched whistle and you may be lucky to glimpse the bright blue flash as a bird dashes past. 

Neil Sherman