Club news

From David Harris, Golf Operations Manager: First and foremost, I hope you are keeping well and healthy after a different start to the year.

At long last we have had some great news and we can begin to focus on opening on March 29th. 

Booking will be available to all Members within their current booking times meaning 7-day and Corporate Members on GG membership can book from March 8th. 

Flexible and 5-day Members can book from March 15th; 25-34 year-old Intermediate Members can book from March 19th and 18-24 year-old Intermediates can book from March 22nd.

If you would like to change your category to receive longer lead booking times please contact us in the office.

The steps and dates as set out by the government are as follows:

• March 29: The golf club reopens for four-balls and takeaway food and drink from Box 19;
• April 12th: Outdoor hospitality opens for groups up to six people on the patio and outdoor area;
• May 17th: The clubhouse opens for indoor hospitality for up to six people, 30-person outdoor hospitality and events can start to take place (with limited numbers);
• June 21st: All areas open without restrictions and large events can take place with no limitations.

Please note that these dates are based on the government guidelines and may change.

Clubhouse news

Despite the difficulties with lockdown throughout the country, Get Golfing has still managed to continue with the improvements to the clubhouse.

There is currently a complete makeover taking place to transform the clubhouse into a place you can be proud to use. 

Areas to be upgraded are: the bar and restaurant; the Longwater Suite and bar (the private room on the first floor); the Wolsey Room (the old pro shop); the toilets and the pathways and entrance to the Club. In addition to a patio extension and new bar, there will be new planting around the building and patio areas. We will be adding new flooring, bi-folding doors and furniture as well as revamping the lighting outside and inside. These areas will be available every day to use and also book for any private events you may be planning. 

Course news

Fairway irrigation on the 1st and 18th fairways: In addition to the improvements to the clubhouse, we have continued with our work to improve the course dramatically. This is the first part of a four-year programme to ensure the fairways are in much better condition throughout the warmer months.

Improving the fairways should help the course to play much more like an inland “links”, giving golfers a much better strike to the ball when going for the green. As you will see from the pictures this is a huge project that runs up both fairways and connects electrics, pipes and pumps to our current system. This has now been completed and we look forward to making use of them over the summer.

• New grass range: The new turf has started to take well and we will start to lay the back part when possible due to a delay with standing water from the irrigation along the 18th hole. This area, which will give us one of the largest grass ranges in London, is expected to open from May.

The Race to Le Touquet

This year we will be running our first “The Race to Le Touquet” where the winners of each section (Men’s and Ladies) receive an invite to Le Touquet at the end of September to play in the Singha Champion of Champions Finals. This is for the winners of each club’s order of merit. The format of each club’s qualifying events is:

• Men’s events will be played at the weekend; Ladies will be played on Tuesdays.
• Winners of each event at the Club receive prizes supplied by Singha.
• Points are allocated based on where each Member finishes in each event. 
• The number of points rises for each event as the season progresses.
• There are six events from March to August with a trip away in September.
• The trip to Le Touquet includes travel, hotels (The 5-star Westminster Hotel), three rounds of golf (Le Touquet and Hardelot), an opening cocktail party, and closing presentation banquet.
• The finalists receive not only the trip but clothing and finalist prizes. The winners of the champions of champions wins an invite to Thailand courtesy of Singha to play golf and entry into an Asia Pro Tour Pro-Am.
• Both trips include, travel, golf and accommodation courtesy of Get Golfing and Singha.  

Historically, Club competitions take place on weekends so that all the different sections — Mens, Ladies and Seniors as well as our 7-day Members who are still working — can join in the fun. Five-day Members are also welcome to play but will have to pay the price of a Member guest green fee.  

Both the Men’s and Ladies competitions take place on the same day with the tee sheet interwoven. This will be followed by a fun prize giving and some special offerings from the kitchen and bar to help bring the day to a close. We would also  encourage Members to invite their partners, who perhaps don’t play, to come along and join in the post-golf fun.

The dates of these competitions and more details will be sent out shortly once finalised.

Members will also have the opportunity to travel as a team to play at Le Touquet against the other Get Golfing Clubs. We will provide further details of this in due course. 

Subscription news

From Edward Richardson, CEO, Get Golfing: As promised in our email back in January, anyone who has continued to stay with us and pay their membership will receive a credit on their subscription for the period of March 1st to March 28th. 

For a full Member, for example, the way this will work is as follows: When your membership comes up for renewal, you will receive a credit equal to the number of days that we are closed in March. This will be calculated by dividing the annual subscription by 365 days and then multiplying it by the number of days we were closed from March 1st. 

This credit will then be placed on your account when you renew and will be used to reduce your monthly direct debits over the next 12 months.

To help us manage this process, it would be greatly appreciated if Members did not pay their subscription all in advance.

Thank you to everyone who has continued to support the Club, we are doing all we can to ensure you have a wonderful Club and course to come back to and one that continues to improve over the coming years. 

Pro shop

Late last year we said that Get Golfing was developing an online replacement to the traditional, club-based pro shop to give Members access to a truly comprehensive range of golf equipment at very keen prices.

From early April, the Get Golfing Pro Shop will be open for business. As you will see from the spread of logos below, we have secured deals with a terrific range of suppliers. 

We will still sell the day-to-day consumables — such as balls, tees and gloves — on site but, in addition, we will now be able to offer you a wider range of products: from golf clubs, bags, shoes and clothing to lasers, logoed apparel and electric trolleys. 

Practically anything you can buy online will be available from our shop.  

The shop is connected to your Club Card, ensuring you receive the appropriate discounts in line with your membership, which are as follows:

The prices shown on the website for each item include your relevant discount. Practically all products offered receive a discount but there are some items where margins are so tight that we may not be able to give the full discount. Do not despair, however, as we are also committed to offering a price-match guarantee — so if the product is not shown or is shown at a price higher than you have seen elsewhere, call us and we will do our best to match or better it. 

One of the significant benefits, apart from pricing, of our website is that we do not charge shipping on any product. Orders received by midnight on a Sunday will be at the Club ready for collection by the following Thursday. 

All items purchased are paid for through your Club Card, so all you have to do is make sure you have sufficient credit on your card via our simple online top-up facility (which can be done at the time of purchase).    

As we know, your Club has had a challenging time with Covid and lockdowns, so please try to support us by using this service and we will use the profits from your purchases to invest in the Club.

Staff news

Wedding and events coordinator: We are excited to welcome Clare Twyford as our Weddings and Events Coordinator, who many of you will already know from her work in other areas at Hampton. We are looking forward to working with Clare, who has great experience with customer service and events management. If you are looking to host an event with us, please contact Clare for more details at [email protected]

Staff news extra

Get Golfing Apprenticeships: Despite the day-to-day challenges thrown up by Covid and the lockdowns over the past 12 months, you may be interested to learn that Get Golfing has been working to put together a personal development programme for staff. 

This includes engaging with the government’s Kickstart programme to help individuals aged between 18 and 25 to get a foot on the career ladder. 

We will be looking to hire between three to five staff on a six-month contract through this programme to help us on the course and in the clubhouse. 

The goal is to help some of these individuals find long-term jobs and careers within the golf and food and beverage industry and to that end we will also be introducing apprenticeships towards the end of the year. Hopefully some of the Kickstart candidates from earlier in the year will progress onto these apprenticeships.

Get Golfing Internships: Finally, the condition of our golf courses is paramount to benchmarking Get Golfing’s progress and critical to our delivery of that goal is the motivation, education and professionalism of our green staff. 

To encourage their career development, we have launched an internship programme with Pelican’s Nest Golf Club, near Tampa in Florida. Four staff from across our group will benefit from a three-month training and life experience programme with the highly experienced management of this 36-hole, Fazio-designed private Members’ club. Get Golfing will pay all their travel, accommodation and wages during their internship. Applications from staff will be assessed during the third quarter of this year and we will let you know who the lucky beneficiaries are in due course.

Pro news 

One-to-one coaching can start again from March 29th and group sessions of up to six people including the pro from April 12th. The guys will be sending out more details in March for the Free Members lessons in April. Meanwhile we have a couple of announcements for younger and older golfers.

Little Golfers: We are happy to announce a partnership with Little Golfers starting from April 24th. They will be offering weekly junior coaching that will be perfect for those brand-new golfers looking to join or an existing junior golfer looking to hone their skills.

Founded by PGA Golf Professional Andy Little, Andy is recognised as being one of the Top 50 coaches in the world by U.S Kids Golf and is currently No. 1 in England for coaching children.

Little Golfers offer junior golf lessons in the form of individual lessons, group coaching and holiday camps. The lessons promote character development and hone the skills of junior golfers within a fun, safe and relaxed environment.

Little Golfers is one of the biggest junior academies in the country and its games-based approach has brought fun and enjoyment to many children whilst playing golf.

Start your child’s golfing journey with Little Golfers this spring. Weekly lessons start from Saturday, April 24th at 8:45am, 9:45am or 10:45am depending on your child’s age. The first lesson is FREE so it’s important to book a trial early as places are limited.

Junior group lessons are a great way for your child to enjoy golf, develop their teamwork skills and form new friendships along the way.  

To book your child their first free lesson simply visit our booking system at http://littlegolfers.class4kids.co.uk or visit us at www.littlegolfers.net

Real Golf: We are pleased to announce our partnership with REAL GOLF. Richard and his team of professionals will be running clinics throughout the year. Starting with chipping masterclasses and putting schools from April. 

These REAL GOLF schools create the ultimate golf-learning experience. With a maximum of four students, these carefully structured sessions create the finest environment to improve your golf fast!  

To book in or find out more information please visit: https://real-golf.org/hcp/

Pro news update!

As promised, here are the dates of the free lessons in April with Johnny Powell. They will run on Thursdays from 12pm-1pm and are for five people per session.

Sessions as follows:

• April 8th: Full swing basics check — We have all been out of the game for a while, so take advantage of this session to check your basics. Understand whether your basics of your ball position, grip and stance are in the right place to hit your desired ball flight.
• April 15th: Can you hit your putt straight?— A session full of tasks to examine how well you can start your ball on your intended target line. Getting better at this will help you understand your green reading and ultimately hole more putts.
• April 22nd: Are you pitched off by pitching? — Learn some simple steps to help improve the quality of your strike to help improve your distance control.
• April 29th: Can you hit a draw and a fade? — Understand how to implement little changes to your set up to hit draws and fades with every club.

To book your session, click here or email me via [email protected].

Win a Golfbreaks.com break!

Get Golfing partner Golfbreaks.com has teamed up with Mizuno Pairs Tour to provide the chance to win some truly unbelievable prizes when you enter a Golfbreaks UK Pairs Tour event or the Golfbreaks Match Play this summer. 

European Tour, Solheim Cup, Open Qualifier and PGA venues across the UK feature in the schedule at great value prices. 

You and your playing partner are guaranteed a very warm welcome from the Golfbreaks team, a fun day out on the fairways and the opportunity to win a trip at one of the world’s finest golf destinations should you finish top of the leaderboard!

Every winning prize destination across the schedule is of the highest quality. Trips to Dubai, Dominican Republic, Portugal, France & Spain are all up for grabs with PGA TOUR, European Tour and Ryder Cup host courses part of the experience. Golfbreaks says it has gone all out with more than £30,000 worth of prizes to play for across the year and the top five pairs at every event taking home a prize!

Take your pick at Golf Breaks’ great value events below and enter here: