Dear Member of Clays Golf Club

It has been a busy few weeks at Clays since the last newsletter, with the Honours Board matches and competitions starting and our teams and individual members being involved in various fixtures, both within Clays and against other clubs. What has also been encouraging is seeing a number of golf societies visiting our club and experiencing first hand the improvements that have been made over the last 18 months. The recent full page advertisement in the free golf newspaper, together with members playing their part by inviting guests to the club competition on Saturday, 22^nd June, as well as promoting our club by word of mouth can only contribute to the progress that our club is making.

A result of another club visiting Clays recently is that we are able to have a complimentary Away Day at Porthmadog GC on Wednesday, 22^nd May. It’s great that Management have been able to arrange this at such an excellent course. There are still places available with tee times between 1.10 p.m. and 1.30 p.m. so if you would like to join us please contact Reception as soon as possible.

I would like to thank everyone who has continued to support our club by paying their membership fee and their club levies promptly and getting the club off to a firm financial footing for the new membership year. However, we are waiting on a number of members to pay their club levies, which are made up of payments to Wales Golf, the Denbighshire Golfing Union and to Clays GC Members funds. One example of how we use the funds has arisen recently with the need to purchase new pads and batteries for the defibrillator (which was also originally purchased using members’ levy payments). The pads and batteries themselves will cost approximately £120 to replace. Could I therefore please ask all of our members who have not yet done so to pay their £31 levies as indicated in the recent letter that was sent out.

I mentioned in the last newsletter that part of the charity money raised this year will be used to sponsor a Guide Dog for the Blind. We have already raised sufficient money to do this and so I would like to introduce the Clays Guide Dog puppy “Molly” …

We are currently looking at various ways in which we can raise club funds this year. One suggestion has been to set up a “200 Club” whereby members pay £1 per month to enter a prize draw. Each month, 3 numbers are drawn to receive prizes and the intention is that half of the proceeds would go towards the prize money with the other half going into club funds i.e. 200 people taking part would produce prizes of £50, £30 and £20 each month. We would like to establish how much interest there would be amongst members for us to set up such a scheme. Could you please let me (or another member of the Club Council) know if you think that this is something that you would be interested in.

The Club Social Committee met on Tuesday, 30th April. A number of suggestions were put forward for events, both social and golfing (or both). The various events for the year will be spread throughout the next 11 months and planned in order to maximise attendance. All events will be costed on the basis that they will be self financing. Some events will aim to raise funds for the Captains’ charities, whilst others will see the proceeds going towards members’ funds. I have included some dates below of events that we have planned so far and I would urge you to attend as many as you can.

Finally, I would like to add my personal thanks to Chris, our Immediate Past Captain, for his very generous donation of the new lifebuoys on the course. Chris has made an enormous contribution to our club both during his term of office and since and I know that his efforts are very much appreciated by everyone at Clays.

Have a good month’s golf.

Nigel Davies

Club Captain

Club News :

Paul Lloyd reports that Clays ‘A’ recently played High Legh Golf Club away in the first round of this year’s Annodata competition. High Legh is a great course with fantastic greens, highly recommend if you’ve never been to pay a visit. The match was played in a great spirit by all and the never say die attitude by our team was to be commended, as at one stage Paul Stevenson found himself 8 down but battled back to just lose 3&2 whilst Paul Williams was one down playing the last before managing to grab a half. Dave Riley played solid all day and was a deserved 2&1 victor. Iwan Bonds and Graham Davidson Clarke both battled well on an unfamiliar course but unfortunately both lost 2&1. Final result was High Legh 3 ½ Clays 1 ½

Mike Jones and Paul provided the cheerleading and encouragement from outside the ropes.

The ‘B’ team received a bye in Round One but then lost 2 ½ – 1 ½ to Northop in Round Two on 12th May.

Clays won the recent Ladies match at Home v Llangollen 3½ – 1½

Congratulations to our Lady Captain Dawn Thompson and Jane Evans who are through to the 3rd Round of the Daily Mail competition.

The Seniors played a match away at Aldersley Green winning 7½ – 2½ but lost the match v Old Padeswood 7 – 3.

Dave Palferman, our Vice Captain, received a good response to his call for members to participate in the DGU Team this year. A core group of 20 players have been identified with a further five in reserve. New team shirts have been purchased in a bright yellow colour with the Clays logo on the left chest and DGU League Winners and 4 stars on the right chest. The team for the first match away against Moss Valley on Sunday 26th May has been selected.

A team from Clays will be taking part in the Welsh Teams Handicap qualifier competition at Northop GC on Sunday 19th May.

Information regarding the DGU County Captain’s Day (to be held at Clays) has been posted on the noticeboard. Dave Palferman will also be sending out an email to members.

Clays are hosting the regional qualifier for the Wee Wonders National Junior Competition for ages 6-11 on Sunday 19th June.

The new lockers are due to be purchased on Monday 20^th May.

Club Results :

Congratulations to those members listed below on their recent golfing success. Anyone who comes 1^st or 2^nd in any of our Medal competitions will be invited to the following Quarterly Medal.

Seniors April Medal, held on the 18th :

Division  1 :

1^st        Martin Povey                          2^nd        Dave Palferman

Division 2 :

1^st        Damian Atkin                         2^nd        Dilly Jones

Wales Golf Team Qualifier (27^th April) :

1^st        Shaun Powell              2^nd        Graham Davidson-Clarke 

Club May Medal :

Division  1 :

1^st        Iwan Bonds                2^nd        Graham Davidson-Clarke

Division 2 :

1^st        Paul Stevenson            2^nd        Justin Bull

Division 3 :

1^st        Phil Matthias               2^nd        Gary Royce

Seniors May Medal :

Division 1 :

1st         Andrew Mitchell        2nd        Don Wraight

Division 2 :

1st          Mike Hollings            2nd         Dave F Jones

Thursday 2nd May : 9 Hole Qualifier:

1st           Irwin Elkin               2nd          Bob Brown

JCB Qualifier (11^th May) :

1^st        Mark Williams             34 pts (countback)

2^nd        Wyn Jenkins                34 pts

3^rd        Alex Darlington          34 pts

4^th        Andi Jones                  32 pts

Seniors Gemini Trophy (14^th May) :

1^st        Peter Almond/Mike Jordan                 2^nd        Dave Palferman/Russ Adamson 

Test Your Knowledge of the Rules of Golf : (Answer in next newsletter)

A player plays her second shot, searches for her ball briefly and then announces she will go back and play a provisional ball. She drops and plays a second ball from where she played her previous stroke. The player then continues searching for her original ball and finds it within three minutes of when she first started

searching for it. What is the ruling?

1. a) The player may choose whether to continue with the original ball or the provisional ball.
2. b) The player must continue with the original ball.
3. c) The player must continue with the provisional ball.

Answer to last month’s question :

In a stroke-play competition, A, B and C were drawn to play together starting at 9.00 am.

A and B were present at the appointed time. C arrived at 9.02 am, after A and B had teed off, but just in time to play in the correct order. What is the ruling?

1. a) C is disqualified.
2. b) C gets a penalty of two strokes.
3. c) There is no penalty.

Explanation:

As C arrived and was ready to play within five minutes after his starting time, he gets a penalty of two strokes for failure to be ready to play at the start time established by the Committee (see Exception 1 to Rule 5.3a). If C had arrived more than five minutes after his starting time, the penalty would be disqualification.

Please note that an excellent summary of the new rules of golf that came into play in January 2019 can be found at …

https://www.randa.org/RulesEquipment/Rules/20RulesMustKnows 

Also, a reminder of Clays Local Rules can be found at …

https://claysgolf.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Clays-Golf-Local-Rules.pdf 

Dates for Your Diary :

22^nd May              Club Away Day @ Porthmadog 

24^th May              Ladies v Llangollen (Away) 

26^th May              DGU Team v Moss Valley (Away) 

30^th May              Seniors WG Greensomes Qualifier 

1^st June                 Club/WG Medal              Quarterly Medal 

5^th June              Ladies Midweek Stableford Qualifier 

6^th June              Seniors Medal 

8^th June               Tom & Kathleen Jones Cup          Ladies Centenary Greensomes 

9^th June               Seniors trip to Devon (until Friday14th) 

12^th June              Club/WG Midweek Medal          Ladies Powells Jewellers Trophy 

14^th June              Ladies v St. Deiniol (Home) 

15^th June              Tommy Davies Cup 

18^th June              Seniors Memorial Trophy 

20^th June              Seniors v Holywell (Home) 

21^st June              Ladies v Caernarfon (Home) 

22^nd June              Club Invitation Day (sheet in Reception) 

25^th June              Seniors v Henlle (Home) 

27^th June              Ladies Away Day @ Hawkstone Park 

30^th June              DGU Team v Wrexham (Home)                 Ladies v St. Deiniol (Away) 

and looking further ahead …

13^th July :             Captains’ Day                   (golf + evening meal + disco)