R Hemmings

During these winter months when the course is playing long it is inevitable that rounds take a little longer. Slow play is always of concern, although, in the ongoing exercise to monitor it, allowance will obviously be made for playing conditions. Please be aware of your place on the course and keep up with the players in front, not just ahead of the players behind.

In knockout competitions, no extensions will be granted unless the course has been closed for several days. Please arrange your matches early to avoid the last-minute rush during the week before the closing date.

It has been necessary to make a change to the procedure for signing up on the men's starting sheet. From Saturday. 12 February, men are only allowed to sign their own name on the starting sheet. If you are unable to play on the day, please phone the pro shop beforehand so that your time can be re-allocated to a player on the waiting list. It has been agreed by General Committee that failure to do so may result in a ban, so please don't forget to make that call. Also, if you fail to turn up and do not ring the pro shop then you will still have to pay the entry fee.

All bunkers should be back in play by April 1. Until then bunkers and new turf are classed as G.U.R. and relief should be taken under rule 25-1. There are no longer any dropping zones. Please check the notice board for the latest update.

On non-competition days at weekends, bacon rolls will be available from 9.30-11am. These will be immediately available from a hotplate, so there should be no disruption to play. However, there will be no service from the kitchen for tea or coffee. Please use the machine in Palm Court.

Enjoy your golf.

Irish/Welsh night, originally scheduled for Saturday 4 June, will now take place on Saturday 2 July.

The Ann MacLaurin Trophy, originally scheduled for Monday, 8 August, will now take place at Porters Park on the afternoon of Monday, 22 August as the original date clashed with the English Girls Tournament at Henbury.

As members are probably aware, social golf is to expand over the forthcoming season.

It will take the form of men's social matches, mixed social matches and, for the first time, Foxes' matches which are limited to men golfers with handicaps 10-19.

Roger Morgan, who is continuing to run men's social golf this year, writes:
Foxes' matches will be played to the same format as social matches, namely 12-a-side, fourball better ball and will take place in the afternoon, followed by dinner.

The fixtures, all on a home and away basis, are against Moor Park, Sandy Lodge, Verulam and West Herts.

Full details, availability sheets and team sheets will be posted on the dedicated notice board in the men's locker room.

Extra social matches, also home and away and open to all men's golf categories and handicaps, have been arranged with Hadley Wood and Hanbury Manor. As with Foxes' matches, details will be posted in the men's locker room from March 1 onwards, with the first fixture in April.

Please support these expanded programmes, which provide good golf, good company and the opportunity to play on many excellent courses.

Mixed social golf, which is played on Sundays, is being run this season by Jan Kilsby. Jan writes:

The programme contains seven fixtures, four away and three at home. Dates are as follows: 10 April - Brickendon Grange away, 24 April - East Herts away, 15 May - Brocket Hall home, 26 June -Verulam home, 17 July - Berkhamsted home, 24 July - West Herts away, 11 September - Brookmans Park away.

All matches will comprise eight pairs and notices for each fixture will be posted in Palm Court six to eight weeks before the date of the match.

We hope to see a good response from couples and solo players, both men and ladies.

The substantial bridge at the 10th, which took just two days to erect on prepared foundations, is to be followed by further replacements when money is available.

Cash constraints have resulted in the delay of at least two other possible projects. One is a new facade to Palm Court, in either hardwood or aluminium, to improve both its outer appearance and security. Quotations are under way. The other is the replacement of the shed in the dell on the 7th, where sand and other materials are stored, by bunkers of concrete as opposed to the golfing kind.

Winter work on the clubhouse has included exterior decoration, the replacement of fascias and gutter boards where necessary, retiling of the men's shower, and redecorating the ladies' locker room.

Many comments have been made about how poorly divots and pitch marks are being repaired. It is time all members took more responsibility for the care of our course. Please be aware of the need to tidy up, not just after yourself but, if necessary, after others.

Greens drainage Is now complete and the three greens out of play will be back in play by March 1.

Turf has rooted well on the drainage runs and will receive a good top dressing as soon as weather permits.

I'm sure members are looking forward to playing out of the new greenside bunkers. However, I do expect some comments about the depth of sand, which was Installed at the standard 100mm depth. This is still on the soft side but will firm down over time and with more rain.

All dead trees have now been cut down and stump grinding has taken place.
Replacements will be planted as soon as possible.

Roadways have been built left of the second down the hill, just before the start of the 7th fairway through to the 10th bridge, and from the path at the 14m tee to the left hand tractor bridge. The present soft surfaces will harden when the temperature rises,

Worms are once again active and all areas have been sprayed to keep them at bay.

Assistant greenkeeper Ricky Goodman has left the club to take up a position in Austria.

Website: After successfully designing the website for Radlett Cricket Club, Colin Mansell, whose son John is member of PPGC, is working to improve the Porters Park site. The job is expected to be completed before the end of next month. When it is, users should find the content of the club website clearer and easier to navigate.

Congratulations to Mike Kimmons, a new member within the last year, on his promotion to Admiral. Mike has had several interesting posts prior to working at the Admiralty, not the least some 5 years serving on the Royal Yacht.

Smoking ban: Consideration is being given to introducing a smoking ban at the bar in advance of legislation making such a ban compulsory.

Club cards: If you are attending a club function and your card needs topping up, please try to do this before the function begins rather than having to break off to sign a cheque, say, in the middle of buying drinks. This will speed up service, saving time for fellow members and staff.

Game learner: No golfer herself, Jackie Maciejewska is bravely doing her best to get to grips with the game - in the office. Part-timer Jackie will be handling much of the administration side of competitions - setting up the computer, logging results and flagging consequent adjustments in handicap - with particular emphasis on ladies' golf following changes in the way the ladies' section is run.

A Forbes Ilsley, the mystery golfer whose name is engraved on the PPGC silver cigarette box unearthed at an auction in Ipswich by committee member Alan Pountney, was once a figure of some note in the golfing world, as Nigel Notley here relates.

He writes: This gentleman was, I believe, a second-club member at PPGC, his main club being Old Fold Manor. He was President of the Hertfordshire Golf Union and also, in 1964, the English Golf Union, although I doubt he was still a member of PPGC at that time. He would certainly have been a colleague of Percy Burton, who was Captain of this club in 1925 and 1926 and in 1937 was himself a President of the EGU.

The cigarette box (now with Peter Marshall) is likely to have been a club prize rather than a long lost trophy. Sadly, some of the trophies awarded in those early days vanished never to be seen again. This is because it was the custom at Porters Park, as it was in some other clubs, to allow a member who won a trophy three times to keep it. The catch was that he had to supply a replacement!

I suspect that this cigarette box was awarded at something like the KGV. If the competitions book from 1926 were dug out of our archives some record of it might appear.

It is a great find and we are lucky that Alan spotted it.

The haunting tones of the bagpipes, expertly played by Robert Green who later piped in the haggis, set the scene for an action-packed Burns celebration evening which you didn't have to be Scottish to enjoy.

Alasdair Forrest entertained with his near legendary Ode To The Haggis, and Vice Captain Ken Hannah followed up with an amusing account of the life of Robert Burns, culminating in his own adaptation of An Ode To The Lassies. Replying for the lassies, Anita Healey gave as good as she took.

After a delicious meal of cock-a-leekie soup, haggis and Scotch beef, members took to the floor with the South East Herts Scottish Dancers to reel off such favourites as the Gay Gordons and Strip The Willow. Everyone joined in and danced till midnight with gusto if not style. This most enjoyable evening was well supported as usual by John and Jill with the bar staff, and by Tim McCrae and his restaurant team.

Future Social Events
Italian Theme Night on Friday, 4 March. Quiz evening and Volare.
Square Dance on Friday, 18 March with the master caller Pete Skiffen. Denims and checks, and American diner food.

Derek Fotheringham who won Div 1 of the February stableford with 39pts on countback with Ian Lovatt.

Stephen Pike won Div 1 with 42pts from Martin Harris with 39.

Tom Oxenham who won the February midweek stableford with 40pts, a point ahead of Charlie Randall and David Tricker.

Anita Prosser and Linda Lambert who won last month's foursomes stableford with 35pts from Jan Kilsby and Yvonne Frankland with 34.

Yvonne Frankland, Gillian Edmonds and Judy Jenkin who won February's roll-up stableford with 75pts.