Aldwickbury Park Early Birds

The golf course is looking much better with good grass growth everywhere. New bunkers are looking great with surrounding areas recovering well. Greens are still a bit bumpy. Last game before we head of to Wokefield Golf Club for our Autumn Cup. We have 15 going plus one guest joining us on Sunday. The weather is looking good.  Excellent win by Dan today shooting 38 points. Dan went out in a poor 13 points but a back nine of 25 points secured the win. This must be the best ever score over nine holes we have had! Second went to Jason on 35 points on countback from three others. Possibly some good form to take into the swindle Autumn Cup. Off the course the Ryder cup is going very well for the European  team, we are currently thrashing the Americans. We currently have a 11.5 to 4.5 lead going into the Sunday singles matches. The Americans are always strong in the singles but we could be on for a record win. Stories from the course Reporter Roger Gibbs "I could tell you the story ...

Pleasant weather today, no rain and a light wind. The course was looking much better with some good grass growth. Old bunkers on the 5th and 12th have now been filled in with soil rather than being left as  rough grass filled depressions. All the new bunkers have been filled with sand. The GUR areas around them will be with us for a few months.  We had to endure unpredictable greens this week, unfortunately it was maintenance week and the greens have been hollow tined. Why Hollow Tine? "Golf greens endure a lot of foot traffic. This compacts the soil, making it hard for water and nutrients to penetrate and for the grass to breathe. Hollow tining relieves this compaction, allowing the grass roots to absorb moisture and oxygen more efficiently. It also aids in managing thatch (a layer of organic matter that can hinder grass health) and improves drainage, leading to stronger, healthier greens." Golf was slow today the first group holding up play leading to a 4 hour 20 minute rou...

Good weather greeted us on Saturday and the course is starting to look better. Fairways are starting to grow back after a week of on and off rain. Greens more receptive and greens a little slower. New bunkers are looking great, excellent work by the Neary's and by the greenkeeping staff. Filled in bunkers are much better than the grassed depressions we have been accustomed to in the past. I (Paul) especially like the changes to the 14th, also the 3rd is looking great. 17th has a lot of work going on around the green with large areas of G.U.R.  Well done to Paul for his win today he sunk some good putts. Of note group 3 had all four players on 34 points coming to the last. Stories from the course John James to Steve Reynolds "You have a very Christian swing" , we think he meant crisp. Jason "Richard’s chipping was on another level, holing one on 4, he then proceeded to lip out on 3 other occasions, he was dialed in! I am a big fan of learning more about this game we l...

The editor has been on holiday with little idea what actually happened. Well done to Steve B for his win and Jason for his second. Low Stableford scores today, why was that weather was good? One report from the course this week Jock about Jason "Bendy 20 footer from front left corner. His putt jumped a couple of times, hit Jock’s big marker, then fell uphill into the cup! Easy!" The average gross score today was 97.75 and the average Stableford score was 27.00. Best gross of the day was from James Miller with 83. There were 0 Eagles or better today. There were 3 birdies today. Stephen Brewerton with 1 on hole 15. Jason Landau with 1 on hole 15. James Miller with 1 on hole 9. Our winner today with 33 points was Stephen Brewerton. In second place on 32 points was Jason Landau. The front 9 went to James Miller with 18 points. The back 9 went to Roger Small with 16 points.

Yet again the weather was kind to the golfers today, hot and dry but the course is suffering. Great win for Jason with a commendable 38 points and a good 2nd place for Jock on 36 points. Unfortunately Jock's Summer league playing partners were not playing but it did not matter, more of which later. Reports from the players on the course. From Roger Gibbs "Ok on 5th hole, I’d driven into the rough just short of the bunkers. Mr Hyne, having played golf with me for 9 years, jeopardised his life by walking 40 yards in front of me off to the left. Of course, I didn’t connect properly and the ball arrived towards him bouncing a couple of times on the way. A body swerve and a dive to the right with his bag on his shoulder evaded the potential life threatening golf ball. Like all true pros, he dusted himself off, found the front of the green in 3 facing a 80 foot putt across the green to a white flag, and holed it for a memorable birdie" From Steve Brewerton "As Martins doub...

Weather conditions were good today as we are still experiencing the heatwave. Work on the course is due to start on Monday 18th August, new and refurbished bunkers on several holes which will result in temporary greens hopefully only during the week and not at weekends. It was the penultimate Summer League game today and some good scores should mean we get a few teams into the finals. Good scoring today with a hard fought win by Paul, second place was Tony on 37 points. Two players scored two birdies each, Paul and Martin Deery, Martin attributing his to the “magic” ball he found on thirteenth. The average gross score today was 94.67 and the average Stableford score was 31.25. Best gross of the day was from Jason Landau with 86. There were 0 Eagles or better today. There were 6 birdies today. Paul Gardner with 2 on holes 6 and 9. Martin Deery with 2 on holes 14 and 18. Jock Hunter with 1 on hole 5. Stephen Brewerton with 1 on hole 11. Our winner today with 38 points was Paul Gardn...

The weather today was calm and dry. Some tricky pin positions with the 14th being the worst. The fairways have not improved a whole lot but not too dissimilar to Burhill which a few of us played earlier in the week. I have added two new items to the website menu the first is a list of members we have had over the years since 2004, that's about as far has by emails go back. I have included short cut links here if you wish to see them. Let me know if I have missed anything. https://apearlybirds.blogspot.com/p/memberlist.html   The second is a list of past/future events https://apearlybirds.blogspot.com/p/notable-events.html Some comments after the game today about slow play so please don't take multiple practice swings and be ready to play when it is your turn. I myself (Paul) tried to take out my two playing partners once on the 6th with a wayward chip that narrowly missed Pete Laurance and then on the 7th to miss James after I tried hacking out of the woods. Sorry guys. Jock ha...