From The Deputy Course Manager:

Well, we are into May and although we have had some great weather the temperatures at night are still quite low, even a touch of frost in some sheltered places around the course!

As you may know, Dave our Course Manager has been away for the last 3 weeks to welcome his daughter into the world and I’m sure you will join me and all the staff in wishing many congratulations to both him and his wife!

Over the last 3 weeks myself and the team have mainly been keeping the course cut and defined. It’s great to be in this position to present the course being as dry as it is. Unfortunately, this also comes with the added job of watering.

Another thing you may have noticed is the 2nd bunker has gone and has now been fully filled in and turfed. With the issues we had with it not draining in wet weather, combined with enough hazards (the pond and the tree to the Right-hand side) we decided the hole didn’t need any more and this in turn will hopefully help to speed up play!

We have also started to seed a few weak areas on the 4th green and the 16th. When you are next at these greens you will see the improvement which I am very pleased with! Once the complete site has been surveyed and all the undulations and elevations have been mapped out, we can then move on with the proposed new drainage installation planning.

We are working with a few drainage specialist companies to help us achieve the goal of having all the carries, fairways, semi rough and walk off areas drained. As you can imagine, this is a mammoth task and will take time, but we want to ensure that whatever work is carried out on the course, it is the most effective, and sets us on the road of reducing incidences of course closures.

Finally, I’m pleased to welcome our new team member Sam to the greens department! That takes us to 6 which will be fantastic for the continued progression of the course! He has now been with us for just over a week and is doing well!

Here’s to a great and successful forthcoming season for The Bristol!

It has also come to my attention that there is some concern about the current condition of the greens.

I want to reassure you all the greens are exactly where would expect them to be at this time of year with the given weather conditions.

Please let me explain to you why the greens are behaving how they are and when this will be resolved.

We have two main types of grass in our greens, annual meadow grass (Poa) and bent (Agrostis Stolonifera). These two grasses grow at different soil temperatures with the poa growing at roughly 7-12 degrees and the bent growing at around 15 degrees. Please note that soil temperature is different to atmospheric temperature.

Currently, and for the last few weeks, weather conditions have been very dry and cold. Ground/soil temperatures generally not getting above 10 degrees. This is causing the poa grass to wake up and start to grow and the bent to remain dormant. This is the cause of the bobbling on the greens. You may see on the greens, in particular in the afternoons, there is a slight white bloom of the poa flower head opening up. This is a great indication that the grass is starting to wake up from its winter dormancy and the soil temperature rising.

This combined with a very dry few weeks, and the inability to irrigate due to cold ground temperatures – putting cold irrigation water on the greens will only further reduce the soil temperatures – has resulted in the greens being a few weeks back from their optimal condition for this time of year.

The good news, however, is that we are due warmer weather from next week, which will hopefully result in all the grasses waking up and growing, enabling us to cut at the same height and smooth out the putting surfaces.

As of Monday, May 2nd, the greens have been fed with their spring fertiliser, which in combination with the rising temperatures will mean that we are confident that within the next two to three weeks the greens will start to thicken out and develop a thicker sward across the surface and create a smoother putting surface. Once the grass has started to grow evenly, we can begin to reduce the height of cut on the greens and then use our greens iron to further enhance the smoothness and speed of the greens.

In addition to the greens, I wanted to let you know that we have ordered 40 tonnes of sand for the bunkers. This is arriving in the coming weeks and will help us to ensure that they play more consistently going into the summer.

Kevin – Deputy Course Manager.

From Events Manager:

Hello members,

Do you know anyone who is currently looking for their dream wedding venue?! Maybe you could be looking to get married?!

Wedding Open Evening

Thursday 19^th May, 2022

6pm – 8pm

Join us for our Wedding Open Evening and explore all that The Bristol has to offer as your wedding venue.

Come and join us for canapes and drinks, see our function suite set up for your dream wedding day and discuss your options with our wedding team and reputable wedding suppliers.

To book your viewing, please contact Gemma on:

Email: [email protected]

Tel: 01454 620000

Also, have you sampled our new offering of Sunday lunch on our sharing boards? If why not book in for Sunday 29^th of May? You certainly won’t be disappointed!

Sunday 29^th May 2022

Enjoy a traditional Sunday lunch on one of our sharing boards, loaded with potatoes, seasonal vegetables, cauliflower cheese and of course Yorkshire puddings.

Choose your meat of choice from either roast beef, roast pork and crackling or a traditional nut roast.

Finish with an indulgent New York style cheesecake with cream or fresh fruit salad with pouring cream followed by coffee / tea and mints.

£18.95 per adult

£14.95 children under 12 years of age

Under 5’s eat free

Booking essential

Tables available between 12-3pm

To book your table please contact Gemma on:

Email: [email protected]

Tel: 01454 620000

From The Golf Operations Manager

Hello members, what another great month of dry weather we have had. Firstly, I would like to ask all members please can you make sure you check in any guests you have on your tee time before going out on the course. If you could also please book and pay for them before your arrival, this would be appreciated as it will speed up checking in.

I am delighted to let you all know we held our first new members night last Tuesday. The evening was a great success and thank you to those that attended. We will be holding another one at the end of May for the last months new joiners and also any members who have joined The Bristol this year but were unable to make last month’s inaugural event.

Due to the success of popularity of the new members night, we are also looking to start hosting other member nights starting this month. I will send out more information on this in due course.

I am sure you would have noticed our new outside furniture has arrived; we are all excited about yet another addition to the clubhouse to make your members experience just that little better.

From our Seniors Captain

Another fantastic month for weather. It seems hard to believe it wasn’t that long ago we were all busy checking our phones in the morning to see if the course was going to be open.

The course looks in fantastic condition-congratulations to Dave and his staff.

The matches are starting to now come thick and fast. We lost at home to Henbury 5-2, had our first win of the season at home to Cotswold Edge 4-2, our fixture away to Weston was postponed due to high winds and then lost to Worlebury at their place (on pretty awful greens though) 4-2.

Hot off the press this week-we defeated a strong Weston super Mare side at home 4-2.

May will see us having visits to Naunton Downs, Clevedon, Brickhampton, Mendip Spring and a home fixture with St Pierre. Thanks to everyone who is putting their names forward for the matches and if you are keen to play but haven’t so far then please consider giving it a go. They are only friendlies and cost usually £15 for a round of golf at different courses and a meal afterwards.

Round 4 of our senior’s eclectic was won by Steve Baker-Green with an astounding 45 points – 6 points clear of next nearest and round 5 was won by Norman Bishop with 38 points-Norman has been threatening a win for a while. Our first round of the Asda Trophy was won by Leon Griffin with 40 points pipping Mark Powell on countback.

We had a yellow ball bowmaker competition with I hear a few yellow balls lost early on! The winning team was Alan Summers, Mark Dee and Richard Panes with 139 points pipping Mark Wallberg, Alastair Macdonald and Tony Edwards by a point.

This week was our first seniors medal off the white tees won by Steve Baker-Green with an excellent net 67.

I sent round some emails recently where Dave Hoey is prepared to provide seniors coaching on a group basis (perhaps up to 6 people at a time)-likely to be say a block of 4 hour lessons on a particular aspect of the game eg putting. Thank you for those who have replied so far. I will be in touch with Dave to look at a suitable start date-it seems that maybe a Friday morning could suit many of you. Please let me know if you are interested -likely cost £12 per hour.

The team shirts are now available to collect in the pro shop

The Men’s Captain

Hi again all,

Here we are then into May, and the order of merit is underway, league golf has begun, board events are on the horizon – It’s all systems go, but more on that later in the handicap secretary’s section.

The weekend just gone, was the second of our captain’s charity days and I know Sue has covered this of perfectly in her section, so I am not going to duplicate and do the repeats on the formats and the scores. What I will reiterate and follow Sue with though, is a ‘thank you, thank you, thank you’, to the generosity of the members in making this a very special day raising £1,285, for our chosen charity, Springboard opportunity group. It’s an amazing amount and shows the generosity of the members in supporting the charity through financial donations as well as though that provides raffles for us to sell tickers for.

Also, as Sue has said to Nigel, a big thanks for supporting us with beat the pro to further raise funds. I can only say I am truly humbled, and I look forward to seeing you all for the next one in June.

I thought with League golf underway, it was appropriate to give you an update on the current status with the teams. It’s been start of mixed fortunes for the men’s teams in some very competitive golfing environments, but we continue to hold our own and be competitive in the early stages of the season.

1st team: (Bristol District league Div. 2) – Played 1, losing away to Weston Super Mare 1st team 3 – 2.

2nd team (Bristol District league Div. 6 – Played 3, won 1 and lost 2 (Beat Filton 2nd at home 4- 1, and lost home and away to a Cumberwell Park 2nd, 4-1).

3rd Team (Bristol District League Div. 8) – Played 3, won 2 and lost 1 (Beat Filton 3rd and Player’s 4th at home 3- 2, lost to Cumberwell Park 3rd at home 4- 1).

Its early days and I’m sure you will join me in wishing the teams all success for the rest of the season.

Our Social Stags team have also in full swing of social matches having played 2 matches at home thus far, losing 4 – 1 to Stockwood and getting a halve against Lansdowne, both at home.

In relation to the team clothing, I have seen a very big uptake on the team gear which is great to see. If anybody has still not got and would like to get team clothing please approach me through IG, or at the club and I will ensure I work with Henry and the club to get further stocks in.

What I would like to add, for members that are not aware, that after a number of years of a lack of juniors at The Bristol, we have now got a 12-year-old playing for our league teams. Oscar Linton actually represented our 1st team against Weston. Well done Oscar and let’s hope that you are the 1st of many that can come through the Bristol junior ranks.

I am sure that you are all aware that the Bristol is really trying to cultivate a junior section with its academy, and with this in mind the club put out a safeguarding policy with the support of some of the main committee, which I urge you all to read. I have been asked a few questions from a couple of members on the policy. Please be ensure to read it but key points are:

Children under 11 must be accompanied by a guardian or DBS checked adults at the club at all times, in competitions or social golf.

12 years and above must be accompanied by at least 2 adults at all times. This includes singles knockouts so the junior must have an adult with them at all times for the full round.

Please be aware that should any adult choose to decline to play with a junior in a knockout, drawn event or In a social booking, the junior will win the match or will maintain the booking and the club will support in finding an alternative playing partner/ partners for them.

The club will determine, through its academy when juniors have reached the potential to go on the course and play in competition golf. As requested once again please be familiar with the policy and I trust you will all support in developing the Bristol junior talent pool.

As always, please see below our update from the men’s handicap secretary Wayne Pearce – I warn you in advance he loves a stat!!!

With the season well and truly under way, we are seeing some great numbers entering the competitions.  It’s also great to see lots of new members in the field!

To sign off on the winter season, I can now confirm that the winner is the winter knockout was Chris Chinnick so well done!

Until next time all.

Take care and see you all around the club soon.

James Adcock

From our Ladies Captain

The good weather has finally decided to put in an appearance and there has been plenty of golf to be played as a result. I am slowly getting back to fitness and hope to be swinging a club (at least for practice) by mid-May. Thanks to everyone for all the good wishes and to those who have carried the load while I’ve been away – particularly Barbara Lewis, who has stood in at two main committee meetings to represent the Ladies section.

We also have some new lady members, so I’d like to say a big hello and welcome to those new ladies who have decided to join the section. We’ve already had some amazing competition scores with Maria Mcnally and Mandy Wookey carding a fabulous 41 points each on 2^nd April and 16^th April respectively and Carol Knapp scoring 38 points on 19th April. Well done to all our ladies who’ve started to get back into competition mode.

Congratulations to Bev Hill and Carol Knapp on their victories in the gross and nett Winter Eclectic competitions. Bev scored a fantastic gross 68 and carol an amazing nett 51 – well done to both. Congratulations also to Angie Watts, Sally Stephens and Jane Bridgman who won the very popular and prestigious Ladies Open Bowmaker competition at Knowle Golf Club on 24th April.

Our Alliance fixtures kicked off on 7th April with a strong win – 10 points to 4 against Lansdown at home. This was followed by the team taking 4 hard-earned points from Farrington (away) on 20th April and then a narrow loss by 8/6 to Henbury at home on 28th April. Just a reminder that our first mid-handicap league match will be at home against Thornbury on Thursday 12th May, with our first friendly match at home against The Isle of Wedmore on 9th May – sign up early to avoid disappointment.

Our first trophy competition of the year is coming up on Sunday 9th May with the Chick of The South, closely followed by The Funders Cup on Saturday 14th May – please remember to sign up on the IG App nice and early. Also, in May, we have The Ping Qualifiers on 17^th and 21^st and the Captain Vs Vice Captain on Sunday 29th May – please watch the WhatsApp groups for more information. Plenty of golf to look forward to as the weather (hopefully) warms up a bit. Several our ladies are away at the moment in El Rompido in Spain – I hope the weather and the golf stay fine for them and I’m only sorry that I couldn’t join them.

The course is in great condition, I’ve walked around it a few times as I return to fitness and Dave Taylor and his greenkeeping staff should be justifiably proud of how good it’s looking and how well it’s playing. I’m assured that a little higher temperature and or more rain should allow the imperfections on the greens to be rectified. Another reminder about pitch marks – if you can try to repair two every time to come to a green then we’ll keep the surfaces in great shape as the season gets busier.

Finally, a huge thanks to everyone who supported the latest Captains’ Charity Day on Saturday 30th April. We had 27 teams on the course for a shotgun start, playing a ‘cha, cha, cha’ format with 2, 3, 4 scores to count on holes 1-3, 4-6 etc. The weather was fantastic for the day with bright sunshine and hardly any wind. This produced some excellent scores in what proved to be quite a difficult format. The winners were Tony Edwards, Rob Kislingbury, David Hill & Robert Caul with a fantastic 123 points; 10 points clear of the second placed team. Despite a lot of our ladies being away Sandie Lloyd, Angie Watts, & Nikki Wood were part of the team that came in 7th place with a very creditable 103 points – well done ladies. Due to the generosity of those who attended and donated prizes, including 2 brand new stand bags donated by the club, the event managed to raise a staggering £1,285 for our chosen charity this year: The Springboard opportunity Group. Nigel Blenkarne deserves a special mention as his ‘beat the pro’ on hole 6 single-handedly raised an amazing £445 for the charity; well done Nigel.

The weather looks like it’s set to stay fair and there’s lots of golf on the calendar so stay safe and enjoy yourselves.

Sue Jarvis