The CMC Blog 4 dated Friday 17th April 2020
CMC Blog 4
As we enter the fourth week of restrictions, and as Government wrestles with an exit strategy from the Coronavirus pandemic ‘lockdown’, the challenges we all face don’t seem to be getting any easier. While it looks likely that we are in for a further three weeks of restrictions, there are signs that, thankfully, the infection rates are beginning to stabilise. While it may still be too early to say that the peak has been reached, news from Spain, Italy and other European countries suggest that social distancing is achieving what it is intended to do.
For those members who are being ‘shielded’ and, who were subject to these restrictions earlier than I was, I hope you are getting into a routine and the new ‘normal’ is beginning to feel OK? As someone who normally works from home (WFH) I expected a pretty easy transition, but it hasn’t felt like that. Even watching the last day of last year’s Masters when Tiger roared once more, didn’t lift the mood greatly, even though I had been really looking forward to it.
The key here is in the word ‘routine’: all of us need to establish some kind of rhythm to our day which allows us some respite from the restrictions, since any relaxation of these, does still seem some way off. Indeed, I have found myself working longer hours, thinking that maybe it’s a good time to catch up on some of those jobs I’ve been putting off when I should have been following, as far as possible, my old routine. Equally, with four adults in the house, as opposed to two, this is not easy! Even the Springer Spaniel doesn’t know which way to turn. I have had to advise her that if she continues to stick so closely to Alex, my son, she’ll be going back to New York with him when it is safe for him to return … man’s best friend? I don’t think so!
This week instead of catching up on my viewing, I have set myself a couple of outdoor tasks for the evening. Now as my uncle once observed, I’m ‘no Capability Brown’ but it is a good time to potentially catch up with these type of jobs, the motivation being that when the Club re-opens we can justify spending more time on our golf! And, of course we have that to look forward to: the Greenkeeping Team has been working hard over the first three weeks of ‘lockdown’ to get the course ready for re-opening, doing the maintenance planned for June early. So far, all the greens, aprons and tees have been hollow-tined, cored and sanded, the fairways’ have been re-shaped and the divots filled, while work has begun on preparing the bunkers ready for play. When we return the greens may need a little traffic on them before they are perfect but, assuming we can return to play in early May, when the growing season is really upon us, the Course should be in great shape.
For a bit of fun, I asked Alex Clarricoates to take some photos from unusual places and/or angles so that we could post these and ask members to guess on which holes the photos were taken. We will be giving a small card credit of £25 to the member who can identify all four photos. All you have to do is send your name and your answers in to Rob at info@newarkgolfclub.co.uk by 3pm next Thursday, 24th April 2020. All the names of those who have correct answers will go into a draw which Alex will do supervised by Rob. We will announce the winner in next week’s Blog. Have a look here: https://bit.ly/NGCBlogandSocialMedia
Greenkeepers, their families (Tracey), and the Greens’ Chairman, are not permitted to enter the competition because they would be at an unfair advantage. Conversely, our low-handicap golfers, who are most welcome to enter, will probably have no chance in this competition, since they rarely visit the trees or some of the more interesting areas of the course!
This week our Spotlight features Rina Ozolins, the architect and tour de force behind much of the Club’s social life, and Paul Speakman, a member of the CMC, which I hope you will enjoy and find interesting. These will be available to view on the Members News area of the V1 Hub and on the website from Wednesday 22nd April 2020.
Picking up on the theme of charity from last week, the most inspiring story, among hundreds of inspiring stories from around the UK, is that of Captain Tom Moore who yesterday morning at 8.30am had completed his 100th length of his back garden to raise monies for the Association of NHS Charities. He has walked 250m a day for ten days to raise £1,000 for the NHS before his one hundredth birthday as a ‘thank you’ for the care he received recovering from cancer and a broken hip. As at 9am yesterday (15th April) he had just managed to get past his target … the total raised to date an astonishing £12,327,676.11. And the best bit of this? He is going to carry on while ever people continue to donate. If you haven’t donated yet but find his story inspiring you can make a donation at justgiving.com/fundraising/tomswalkforthenhs , a donation of £5 is worth £6.25 to the NHS when Gift Aid is added.
And this week’s Vlog: Baggy’s Tip of the Week. This week Paul provides a video covering the importance of a good grip and the influence it has on certain shots. This was uploaded earlier in the week and can be found here: https://bit.ly/PBgripimportance Enjoy!
Stay safe one and all.
Best wishes.
For those members who are being ‘shielded’ and, who were subject to these restrictions earlier than I was, I hope you are getting into a routine and the new ‘normal’ is beginning to feel OK? As someone who normally works from home (WFH) I expected a pretty easy transition, but it hasn’t felt like that. Even watching the last day of last year’s Masters when Tiger roared once more, didn’t lift the mood greatly, even though I had been really looking forward to it.
The key here is in the word ‘routine’: all of us need to establish some kind of rhythm to our day which allows us some respite from the restrictions, since any relaxation of these, does still seem some way off. Indeed, I have found myself working longer hours, thinking that maybe it’s a good time to catch up on some of those jobs I’ve been putting off when I should have been following, as far as possible, my old routine. Equally, with four adults in the house, as opposed to two, this is not easy! Even the Springer Spaniel doesn’t know which way to turn. I have had to advise her that if she continues to stick so closely to Alex, my son, she’ll be going back to New York with him when it is safe for him to return … man’s best friend? I don’t think so!
This week instead of catching up on my viewing, I have set myself a couple of outdoor tasks for the evening. Now as my uncle once observed, I’m ‘no Capability Brown’ but it is a good time to potentially catch up with these type of jobs, the motivation being that when the Club re-opens we can justify spending more time on our golf! And, of course we have that to look forward to: the Greenkeeping Team has been working hard over the first three weeks of ‘lockdown’ to get the course ready for re-opening, doing the maintenance planned for June early. So far, all the greens, aprons and tees have been hollow-tined, cored and sanded, the fairways’ have been re-shaped and the divots filled, while work has begun on preparing the bunkers ready for play. When we return the greens may need a little traffic on them before they are perfect but, assuming we can return to play in early May, when the growing season is really upon us, the Course should be in great shape.
For a bit of fun, I asked Alex Clarricoates to take some photos from unusual places and/or angles so that we could post these and ask members to guess on which holes the photos were taken. We will be giving a small card credit of £25 to the member who can identify all four photos. All you have to do is send your name and your answers in to Rob at info@newarkgolfclub.co.uk by 3pm next Thursday, 24th April 2020. All the names of those who have correct answers will go into a draw which Alex will do supervised by Rob. We will announce the winner in next week’s Blog. Have a look here: https://bit.ly/NGCBlogandSocialMedia
Greenkeepers, their families (Tracey), and the Greens’ Chairman, are not permitted to enter the competition because they would be at an unfair advantage. Conversely, our low-handicap golfers, who are most welcome to enter, will probably have no chance in this competition, since they rarely visit the trees or some of the more interesting areas of the course!
This week our Spotlight features Rina Ozolins, the architect and tour de force behind much of the Club’s social life, and Paul Speakman, a member of the CMC, which I hope you will enjoy and find interesting. These will be available to view on the Members News area of the V1 Hub and on the website from Wednesday 22nd April 2020.
Picking up on the theme of charity from last week, the most inspiring story, among hundreds of inspiring stories from around the UK, is that of Captain Tom Moore who yesterday morning at 8.30am had completed his 100th length of his back garden to raise monies for the Association of NHS Charities. He has walked 250m a day for ten days to raise £1,000 for the NHS before his one hundredth birthday as a ‘thank you’ for the care he received recovering from cancer and a broken hip. As at 9am yesterday (15th April) he had just managed to get past his target … the total raised to date an astonishing £12,327,676.11. And the best bit of this? He is going to carry on while ever people continue to donate. If you haven’t donated yet but find his story inspiring you can make a donation at justgiving.com/fundraising/tomswalkforthenhs , a donation of £5 is worth £6.25 to the NHS when Gift Aid is added.
And this week’s Vlog: Baggy’s Tip of the Week. This week Paul provides a video covering the importance of a good grip and the influence it has on certain shots. This was uploaded earlier in the week and can be found here: https://bit.ly/PBgripimportance Enjoy!
Stay safe one and all.
Best wishes.