January Newsletter
The Committee met on 9th January, having already met on 2 occasions since the last scheduled meeting. As a result, the Committee is delighted to be able to confirm that Sam Matthews has been retained as Teaching Professional at Silverdale Golf Club. He will continue to use the Performance Centre, the course and the practice area for coaching. He will also continue to take a lead on junior golf coaching and development and outreach into the local schools. His involvement in marketing and promoting Silverdale Golf Club will also be maintained and he will be able to offer a club repair and fitting service. The Professional’s Shop however, will close permanently on 31st March. Members are reminded of the need to clear their accounts before this date.
Plans have been developed to allow Stuart Wells, our secretary, to lead an expanded team that will both manage the day to day administrative work of the golf club and also act as reception for members, guests and visitors. To enable this to work effectively, some space in the gentlemen’s locker room is to be modified to accommodate an office / reception area. Small items such as golf balls, tees, gloves, confectionary and soft drinks will be available for purchase from the reception desk.
For members who have not yet been shopping on Amazon, there is now a new book for sale, The Beginnings of Silverdale Golf Club, by Stuart Freeman. This is a short novel loosely based on the early days of our golf club. Proceeds from the work come to the golf club so please go browsing for what is an enjoyable read.
Work is going on in the Ladies locker Room where redecoration is taking place and replacement of the old lockers is to occur. Some of the empty gents lockers are being moved to the ladies as they will accommodate modern golf bags more easily then their old ones.
As we prepare for the AGM at the end of February and the new golf season, accounts are being audited and review of last year’s activities is taking place. 1 area that surprised us was the decrease by over 30% in the number of members’ guests playing our course. The Committee would encourage members to bring their golfing friends to Silverdale and, of course advantageous green fees apply to guests of members playing our course in comparison with visitors fees. Members remain the best ambassadors for our golf club and in our quest to see more golfers joining Silverdale we would welcome as much support as possible from our existing membership.
A big thank you must go to our soon to be retiring Captains and President Phil, Christine and Keith. We hope you have all enjoyed your year and are very grateful for all your hard work.