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3 & 4 Balls Now Available!

Following the recent government announcement, it has been confirmed that 3 and 4 balls will be allowed to play from Monday onwards! Get your group together and book a tee time today.

 

Course Work

Despite all of the challenges around Covid-19 we have been incredibly busy on and off the course working hard to make the improvements everyone has asked to see. The main change has been our bunker renovation project that was initially programmed for completion in 2013/14. The sand will take some time to settle down and the restrictions on rakes certainly has not helped. All workings around green side bunkers are being top soiled and will be turfed in the coming weeks. Those areas filled beside fairways will be top soiled, seeded and watered. As lovely as the weather has been, the lack of rain has created its own challenges and we have increased the size of the green staff by two to ensure all areas receive sufficient water during establishment.

Our investment in the reinstatement of the bore hole last year has been a saviour. It has enabled us to reinstate the approach sprinklers (2 or 3 per holes) and the irrigation system been running practically flat out between 7.30pm and 4.30am every evening. We like all Clubs, have limited extraction rights, so can we all prey for rain!   

Many will have spotted the construction of our new 9th tee boxes (Men’s and Ladies), contrary to some rumours, this has absolutely nothing to do with the proposed extension to the Club to 27 holes!  We will be losing the old back tee but retaining the top daily tee, although it will have less use. We anticipate this coming into use before the end of June.

 

Returning To A Safe Club

The golfing bug has very much been missed and its great to see so many people back out on the course, seeing friends and enjoying the game that we all love. We have put together safety guidelines together that most members and guests are following. Can we please make it clear that only 2 balls are allowed with the exception of those from the same household. We have a starter and a member of staff roaming the course trying to enforce this, so please do the right thing and follow the guidelines. We constantly request that groups who come together return for 2 balls, and this is not always respected and the last thing we want to do is escalate the situation.  

 

Demand For Redlibbets

Since returning back to golf, Redlibbets has received a huge demand and many members and non members have been booking to play, we have received some lovely feedback after playing the course and seeing the changes and work going on. A huge thank you goes out to the members who have supported us during the lockdown and those visitors who are currently playing the course and paying a premium.

As we have explained numerous times, our goal has always been to maintain excellent value for money for our members and to subsidise golf for those under the age of 30. We are delighted that we now have two hundred members (30% of all members) under the age of thirty. In order to remain sustainable visitor income is important to the operation and as many of you know, green fee rates during this peak have increased, this is to the benefit of us all. We have started the process of reviewing membership levels within each category and, if demand continues, we will be looking to close full membership at 250 members shortly.

 

Tee Sheet

There seems to have been some understandable confusion regarding the tee sheet. Our software, which crashed nationwide multiple times in the 1st week of opening is set at 8 minute intervals. With the introduction of two balls and demand for golf being so high, we allowed some four ball bookings on the tee sheet but then split these groups up when they arrived on site into two balls. Therefore, the tee sheet you may be looking at does not reflect what has been occurring on site. On average we have been sending pairs off at six minute intervals on the vast majority of rounds are taking less that 3 hours, 45 minutes. We log and monitor round times very carefully and are looking forward to welcoming 3 & 4 balls from Monday 1st June. 

 

Subscriptions

We have received a number of complaints from members regarding our credit policy for subscriptions. My email of late March advised members that we would generate credits for the period that we are closed from April 1st and those who chose to cancel their membership will be penalise for re-joining. Subsequent to that email after the seriousness of the shutdown was completely understood, we decided to bring forward the substantial investment in the Club and cap credits for those that paid their subscription to just the month of April. This means that we varied the original proposition by 10 days to account for the days in May that we were shut. The average “loss” of subscription credit amounted to circa £20.00. We don’t think this is unreasonable. For those who choose not to pay their subscriptions who then subsequently wanted to re-join, they have been able to do so, but have had to pay the advanced subscriptions at the time of re-joining. This credit will be issued to members when they renew.

 

Future Competitions & Club Matches 

Due to Covid-19, all competitions have been put on hold but have had some news recently about allowing four balls and starting competitions from 1st July, we will continue to review this situation. We will keep you updated on these once we know more but fingers crossed it will be in the coming weeks!

 

Membership At Redlibbets

We are still accepting members at Redlibbets but due to recent demands we have put a limit on 7 day membership with a maximum capacity of 250, which currently leaves just 39 spaces and once they are all taken we will create a waiting list or suggest another option.