The return of golf is now only days away, and the tee sheets for each of the first few of those days are filling up fast at Sidmouth Golf Club.
Members who have been waiting since the start of January for chance to play are booking their places on the 1st tee.
They are not alone. Non-members are welcome at the course and can book a time from 1pm onwards six days in advance through the Club website www.sidmouthgolfclub.co.uk through the Book a Tee Time option on the Home Page.
It is also the start of a new Club year the Annual General Meeting having taken place last Friday via Zoom.
The new Captain is Jonathan Lee, who not only has been a member man and boy, but has also done just about everything at Sidmouth GC. Club Champion, Challenge Cup winner, held all the club’s trophies at one time or another, been the Club’s Manager and now the Finance Officer, working alongside the Finance Director in directing the financial side of the club’s business.
He will be working in partnership with the new Ladies’ Section Captain Mo Kendall and Senior Section Captain Phil Spencer in driving the Club’s golf for the season.
And it will be a proper season. The Devon County inter-club events will commence after the middle of June, with Sidmouth’s men contesting both the Palairet Memorial and Parker Trophies, whilst the Ladies will be in the President’s Trophy and Sheelagh Creasy Bowl.
The Seniors have their traditional set of match fixtures and will play the Emerton-Court knockout tournament. The Club Men’s team will also make its year-long delayed debut in the Dartmoor League, commencing the week after Easter with a trip to Woodbury Park.
Interest is growing in the Sidmouth Golf Academy with applications to be involved in this year’s edition already coming into the Club. The 10-week course will start the first week of May with the coaching led by PGA Professional Ross Troake in sessions both at Thorn Park Golf Range and at the Club.
Over time we’ve had great feedback on the Academy:
“The whole package was well set up and it was clear very quickly that Sidmouth is a very welcoming club.”
“Learning as a group felt much less threatening than having an individual lesson.”
“The mentoring scheme is great and such a good way to transition into playing the course.”
There are a limited number of spots this year, so we hope everyone who wants to be involved will contact the Club sooner rather than later, and perhaps the appearance of banners around the town will help with that as they go up over the next few days.
Above all, the golf course is looking fantastic as we approach that start point on Monday. Peter Standen and his team have worked hard through some, at times, unfriendly weather to prepare, and it’s fair to say the course has benefitted from the enforced rest. All we need now is the weather to play ball.