All women and girls from 11 years of age and up are very welcome! All levels of ability and experience. Clubs and balls will be available to use at the sessions, you need only bring yourself.
To register contact dannib3@tiscali.co.uk
The offer closes on 29th March.
On Monday 18th December Aquarius members who play in the Monday and Thursday morning swindles celebrated to festive period together with 9 holes and some food in the bar afterwards. There were 17 golfers and 19 for celebrations in the bar.
Many thanks to everyone who came to enjoy the event and special thanks to Debbie for arranging the catering.
Look out for more similar member events in 2024! Happy New Year all!
We are delighted to announce that Aquarius Golf Club has become a signatory of the R&A Women in Golf Charter.
By working towards our Charter Commitments, Aquarius will contribute towards creating a positive change in golf, one which will create a more inclusive culture that encourages more women and girls to thrive in the game.
The weekend of the 9th and 10th of September saw 39 competitors take to the course for our annual two-day Club Championship.
Three awards and titles were up for grabs over the course of the weekend; the Club Championship title for the best stroke play score over the 36 holes; The Mashie - a Stableford competition running alongside the Club Championship; and the final round of the Stringer - a points competition running across all the club’s Majors throughout the year.
Thanks to the Greens Team the course was in resplendent condition and contained some challenging pin positions. The weather brought even more trouble with cloud cover only showing up late on the Sunday. Our wonderful volunteers and bar staff kept all the competitors well hydrated throughout the two days and volunteers also kept the play flowing and safe by providing spotting and scoring, too. A truly gigantic effort from everyone involved.
At the end of two days of hard-fought play, the results were:
Club Championship (Hutching Trophy)
Winner - Elliott Brown (148)
Runner Up - Nigel Underwood (150)
The Mashie was a closely fought competition with three points seperating the top three players:
Winner: Martin Bayode (73)
Runner Up: Imran Khakwani (72)
Third Place: Peter Pirrie (71)
and finally, Elliott Brown was also the winner of the Stringer.
A huge thank you to everyone who volunteered and played on the day and congratulations to our Champion!
If you’ve been to the course over the summer months you will have seen the recent course improvements. Aquarius is looking splendid with changes all over the nine holes.
Most members will now have been (un)lucky enough to experience the new bunkers first hand. During June and July all bunkers received significant renovation and refilling. A shaping and trim here and there for bunkers on the first, second, third, eight and ninth. Whereas, the trio of bunkers on the fifth hole have been merged into one, making any short approach shots running down the hill even more likely to end up in the sand.
During the summer the nets on the ninth / eighteenth holes were also upgraded.
A project that will take a little longer to complete. but holds a lot of excitement for members is the return of the competition tee on the 6th / 15th holes. The large tree overhanging the 7th green has unfortunately had to be cut back due to disease. However, this means that the elevated tee can be resurrected and put back into play. Watch this space for updates.
On Saturday 3rd June club members came together to celebrate an event a century in the making. 100 years ago a young amateur golfer hailing from East Dulwich called Henry Cotton won the Club Championship and The Hutchings trophy, setting him on a remarkable golfing journey.
A year after his wins at Aquarius Henry Cotton turned professional and began a role as an Assistant Professional at Fulwell before moving to Rye Golf Club. He then moved to Langley Park and became the youngest ever Head Professional in the history of British golf at the age of 19.
Henry went on to become one of the greatest players of the twentieth century winning the The Open in 1934 at Royal St. Geroge’s by 5 strokes, 1937 at Carnoustie by 2 strokes and 1948 at Muirfield by 5 strokes.
Cotton was a playing member of three British Ryder Cup teams in 1929, 1937 and 1947. He was als a non-playing captain in 1953. The European Tour Rookie of the Year award is also now named after him.
Our thanks to the members that turned out to celebrate the centenary of Henry’s first win on the road to the Golfing Hall of Fame. Congratulations to Paul Atkinson, Pam Searle, Colin Dobson and Ronnie Knock who won the Texas Scramble competition. All winners and places generously donated their prizes to the captains charity. Pictures below.
And for those members interested in replicating Cotton’s journey, this year’s Club Championship is over the weekend of 9th - 10th September…
On Friday 19th May, 2022-23 Men’s Captain Doug Chapman presented a cheque of £2,750 to St Christopher's Hospice. The money was raised during his year as Club Captain and has been donated to the hospice to support their important work.
St Christopher's in Orpington provides specialist palliative care for people with serious and life-threatening illnesses. The cheque was presented to Joanne Carroll, Senior Community Fundraiser and staff at the hospice were incredibly appreciative of the amount of money raised by our members.
Saturday 13th May saw the new Men’s and Ladies’ Captain Drive In. Over 50 members came out to welcome Rich Mercer and Fiona Stewart to their respective roles of Men’s Captain and Ladies’ Captain for 2023/24.
Rich Mercer - “A huge thanks to everyone who came along for the Captain’s drive-in. It was a great way to kick start my year as Men’s Captain. It’s a real honour to represent Aquarius Golf Club and its members and I’m looking forward to a great year ahead. Happy Golfing!”
Fiona Stewart - “It was great to see so many members join us for our Captains drive in. A big thank you to everyone who bought raffle tickets on the day in support of our charity for the year, the London Air Ambulance. Aquarius Golf Club is a truly unique club and I feel very honoured to be Lady Captain for the coming year.”
After the two shots both found the fairway members then split into teams and enjoyed a 9 hole Texas scramble and lunch in the clubhouse. We believe the bar also did quite good business throughout the event… You can see a gallery of images from the day, below. Photos credit to Adrian and Damian Cluskey.
Thank you to everyone who turned out to welcome our new Captains and we hope to see you at the Club very soon.
Following a review of the financial position of the club and the plans for improvements and developments on the course and in the clubhouse, the committee wanted to notify members of changes to subscriptions ahead of the annual renewals of membership by 1 March 2022.
The Honorary Treasurer will provide more detail at the AGM in March, but the committee can report that we are, with an increased membership, in a stable financial position. Currently money in the bank, circa £50k provides for an operating contingency which would ensure the club could continue unhindered if there were to be any significant expenditure or unanticipated drop in income. This contingency has not increased in the past two years and costs are now beginning to outstrip income, as COVID grants fall away. The committee has agreed to protect this contingency so that wages, materials and equipment could be covered for a 3-6 month period allowing for other measures to be taken. Last year saw significant expenditure on the nets along the 9 th to protect our neighbours and their property; and ourselves from increased insurance claims.
With an established contingency fund, the committee has approved a staged increase in 5 and 7 day membership subscriptions for 22/23, 23/24 and 24/25. This will see an increase of 10% on these subscriptions, this year and next, dropping to 7% (4% plus expected Consumer Price Index of 3%) in 24/25 and then, in line with CPI, assuming the economy remains as anticipated. In 22/23 this will mean an increase in membership fees of just under £60 a year or just over £1 a week.
Other memberships, country, social and junior, will rise this year and will then be kept under review. In the case of junior membership, the previous annual subscription did not cover the necessary affiliations and insurances the club has to pay for juniors. Green fees will rise to £20. Lockers will remain at £20.
2022/23 Annual Subscriptions
7-day membership: £630
5-day membership: £500
Student membership: £200
Junior membership: £100
Country & overseas membership: £100
Social membership: £75
Based on current membership levels this will ensure members will benefit from the improvements and developments that are planned. In 2022/23 this will enable the club to recruit another permanent member of staff to the greens team and upgrade key pieces of equipment. There is a dwindling volunteer team working on the course and recruitment and upgrades will enable us to be more efficient, and improve presentation and standards even further.
Over the next 12-24 months some of the work we aim to undertake, or at least commence, include: finalise work on the back 16th tee to ensure year-round use; improve bunkers; introduce automatic irrigation systems for the top greens; improve drainage in key parts of the course; and introduce pathways to ease access and protect the course. In the clubhouse we need to ensure the back of the bar area is secure and prevent vermin access to the bar, update and install new Honours Boards as necessary, improve the kitchen area and plan for extensive work on the toilets and locker rooms. Some of this work is longer term and will require agreement from Thames Water as part of the ongoing discussions on the lease.
Aquarius Golf Club still has a healthy waiting list, which we are working through to increase membership numbers. As the membership increases this will hopefully mean we can progress some of the works outlined at a faster pace. Of course, if we see a reduction of membership and income then we will need to review and prioritise works.
Alongside the changes to membership subscriptions, the committee is exploring the potential for increasing revenue from existing areas of business as well as potential new sources of income.
The committee recognises that any increases are never welcome but after a number of years without a significant increase in subscriptions, we hope members will recognise the ambitions we have for the club and the need to fund these. Even with the increase the membership subscriptions, Aquarius remains competitive in comparison to other clubs (based on subscriptions publicly available on their websites in 2020), as set out below.
Above: Comparison of 7 day and 5 day membership fees based on information available on club websites in 2020
Further, the committee acknowledges that, as we emerge from the pandemic, some members may face financial difficulties. If this is the case, please contact secretary@aquariusgolfclub.co.uk to discuss individual circumstances.
On behalf of the Committee
Al Reid OBE.
Honorary Chairman of Aquarius Golf Club
The greens team is working with the help of a specialised company to renovate the greens. Today, the first step called hollow tining has begun. It will be followed by top dressing the greens and over seeding. The soil that has been removed from the greens in this process will be recycled and used elsewhere on the course.
More members means more investment on the course. That’s why the greens team has been busy working on a new putting green!
Tons of soil were used for the future putting green
Greens team have raked, levelled and seeded the 16 tee and the apron round the 6th green. In these weather conditions we should see grass sprouting in the next couple of weeks. We look forward to bringing them both back into play.
Excavation work started on the apron of the 6th green and the soil is being used to lay the foundation for a new 16th tee.
The work will take place all this week and into next. Will members take care and follow on course signs for GUR and avoid walking and placing golf bags or trolleys on new surface.
Players who find their ball in the GUR should play from one of the two dropping zones on the lefthand side of the 6th green.
Greens Team
First up on Saturday, June 22nd , the club had a home tie as we took on Bexleyheath Golf Club in the Jack Hicks – a knockout competition between clubs with 9-hole courses, across Kent. The format is Foursomes and singles, with a team of ten representing the club. The weather was kind and saw the morning Foursomes end all square at 2-2. After lunch 8 singles matches set out. Bexleyheath were tough opposition with some very good golfers and many of the matches were tight with some going down to the final hole. The final match score did not reflect the closeness of the individual games but saw Aquarius triumph in the singles by 6 ½ to 1 ½ winning the overall match 8 ½ to 3 ½ . A great effort from all 10 players. As is the nature of the competition we will be playing away in our next fixture which will make the tie more challenging but we can be confident following a convincing win against an excellent Bexleyheath side. All ten players returned, after ice baths and early nights, to join 11 others on the course on Sunday morning, the 23 rd June, for the Club Championship, the Hutchings. The Hutchings is played over 2 rounds on a scratch basis with a parallel Mashie stableford competition to add some wider interest for all players.
After the morning round the Hutchings saw a bunch of players within touching distance of the lead and the Mashie saw 3 points separate the top 7 players. After lunch – the traditional Ham egg and chips, many thanks Debbie, 17 players set out, with the winner looking likely to come from the final group of Bob Jarvis, Derek Germaine and Paul Metters. The penultimate group of Richard Mercer, Bobby Cain and Sy Bekir were pushing hard but others fell away or failed to make up any ground on the leaders. As the last group strode down the 16th, the penultimate group had finished and leader in the clubhouse was Richard with a 2 round total of 157 followed by Bobby and Sy on 159. As the final group turned to play the last two holes, reports filtered back to the clubhouse that the 16th hadn’t gone that well for the final group but Paul was holding a slender lead over Bob, as they stepped on to the final tee. Out of bounds on the final tee put paid to Bob’s chances and anything less than a 7 would secure victory for Paul. But he had taken a 6 on the 16th and would nerves play a part? A ripple of excitement spread around the clubhouse and Richard put down his 4th pint in case he needed to prepare for a play-off.
But victory was never in doubt for Paul as he held his nerve and finished with a 5 and an impressive 2 round total of 155 to secure his first ever victory in The Hutchings by 2 shots. Second was Richard on 157 and Bobby and Sy tied for third place on 159. There was some consolation for Richard as he took the Mashie competition with a total of 73 points, winning on count back from Matt Davies and a point clear of Toby Mortimer.
But the day belonged to the new Club Champion. Congratulations to Paul on an impressive win, made all the more so by his heroic efforts playing 36 holes the day before. As always days like these require the support and hard work of a number of individuals to make them the success that they are. A big thank you to Sue for keeping all in order with the scores and the cards, supported by Fiona, Roger and Marion, who ploughed a lone furrow spotting on the top of the banks. Thanks as always to Debbie and Caroline for feeding and watering players and supporters and a special thanks to the Greens team, Derek and Charlie under the stewardship of Chris, who had the course in great shape, especially the greens, for the two days of competition.
