Kevin Walsh

Archive for the ‘Golf’ Category

Saturday 12th of February could prove to be a turning point in my continuing struggle with the game of golf. I have been playing for 12 years and despite lots of lessons and lots of new kit, my handicap has remained stubbornly on 28.

Yesterday I feel I made a breakthrough. I went round Standish Golf course in 86 which translates to a net 10 under 58. If I had been scoring stableford I would have carded 44 points. I would have done even better but for 3 duff tee shots and a few three puts.

Now just to break 85.

KPW

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Attended an Extra-ordinary General Meeting of the newly formed Standish Golf Club (not Standish Court Golf Club) last night. I must admit I was surprised, as I think were many others, at the numbers attending. It demonstrated that there is strong support for Standish having a golf club despite the competition of nearby courses.

The old company structure has gone into liquidation and Standish Golf Club has emerged as a new entity. The mood amongst the people present at the meeting last night was one of support and positivity. However, it was interesting that several people I spoke to prefer Standish because of the low profile social scene. I count myself in that category as I just want to play golf and then head home. I am not really interested in evening events. However, a thriving social scene is perhaps necessary for survival and growth so some interesting times ahead.

I did play a round of golf at Gathurst yesterday, and really enjoyed the company of two senior members who let me join them on the course. A criticism of Standish is the concrete like bunkers. I was very impressed with Gathurst as every bunker was freshly raked with soft sand. However, I did not stray into a single bunker and was in a way quite disappointed. Perhaps that is the answer to the bunker problem at Standish, just don’t hit your ball into them.

Despite the friendly welcome and sand in the bunkers I will not be joining Gathurst or any of the other clubs I have spoken to. I will be joining Standish Golf Club as I am sure will most of the former members of Standish Court Golf Club.

The course will be open for playing on Saturday 1st May 2010.

KPW

As Standish Court Golf Club has now closed down, I made the journey to play Woolton Golf Club in Liverpool (where my sister is manager).

The course is literally just behind Halewood car factory (you can see the buildings) but is in a really nice parkland environment. In addition to the car factory, there are more impressive views of the Welsh Hills across the Mersey and Wirral.

Of course, I could not help but make comparisons with Standish Court. The course itself I found quite easy (although I only played 12 holes) with nice wide fairways and not many hazards. There are some challenging long par 4′s but also quite a few easier par 4′s as well. The hardest hole on the course is a 500 yard par 5, which is shorter than the longess hole at Standish.

Woolton is a well established members club with buildings dating back to the 18th century. It has a long tradition, is very formal (for example hats are not allowed to be worn indoors) and has a good social calendar. The fees are twice what Standish used to charge and of course there is a joining fee.

So which do I prefer – a well established club owned by the members such as Woolton or a golf club run as a business such as Standish. I think I prefer the business type of club rather than a members club. That is my personal preference. I liked that fact that Standish did not have an extensive social calendar (perhaps that is part of the problem) as all I really want to do is play golf – but I appreciate I am in a minority with that view. The other thing I shall miss about Standish (assuming it does not re-open) are the facilities for holding parties. Over the years we have celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary, 21st birthday parties and recently the engagement party for our daughter. The place was unpretentious and was a place where people could relax and really enjoy themselves.

So assuming Standish does not re-open, I will have a dilema. Do I join a members club or look for a similar type of club to Standish?

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I thought I would try and play golf today as I have half a day off. I am (was?) a member of Standish Court Golf Club about a mile away from where I live. I knew the club was having financial difficulties having received a letter from the Club Professional stating as much. The letter also outlined some plans to rescue the situation and we would be contacted soon with further information.

Well it seems that events have overtaken that plan as there is now a huge shipping container blocking the entrance to the club and all the staff were made redundant on Monday of this week. The company is now under some form of administration which I do not understand.

So I was unable to play golf this afternoon and probably won’t again at Standish Court for the forseable future at least. That kind of leaves me with a problem as to where I can play golf. One of the benefits of Standish Court (and possibly one of the problems) was the low fees – it was £450 for the year and no joining fee. Despite these low fees, there are probably not enough members to keep it going. I have done some ringing round and it would seem for me to join another club will cost me around £700 in fees for the year plus some clubs ask for a joining fee of £300, not cheap.

The other option is pay and play at Haigh Hall municipal and possibly join the golf society that plays there. Whilst Haigh Hall is quite close the course is very long and takes quite a time to get round. At Standish I could play a full 18 holes in less than 3 hours if there were no players in front of me.

I would have expected some of the other local clubs to be putting together a special deal to tempt former Standish members to join but that does not seem to be the case either.

In the meantime, I am rather hacked off that I can’t play when I have some time off.

KPWTags: standish court, golf

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