St Thomas Priory Golf Club's blog

Captains’ Charity Day raises more than £3,000

The St Thomas’s Captains’ Charity Day proved another fantastic success this year raising £3,300 for St Giles Hospice.

The course was full twice over for the day with two shotgun starts for the team event. The golf was followed by an evening meal, presentation and entertainment by Steve O’Neill.

Lady’s captain Val Rooney along with men’s captain Mike Lydell, pictured left, choose the hospice as their charity for the year in memory of one of the club’s longest serving members, Barry Haycock, who was treated at the hospice.

“It was a really great day, with lots of fun, and it was fantastic to raise such a large sum for St Giles Hospice, which the club had developed very close links with,” said Val and Mike.

“We must thank our sponsors, without whose help the day would not have been possible. But above all we must thank St Thomas’s members for their generosity in paying to play their own course and all their guests for supporting our charity St Giles Hospice.”

New look for St Thomas’s in Midlands Golf Week

The club took on a new look to celebrate Midlands Golf Week, July 18-22, as part of a drive at St Thomas’s to get more people interested in the game.

Pete Till, club member and amateur dramatics enthusiast, got in to the spirit of one of the main events for the week, Dress Down Friday, by putting on his panto gear for a round. 

Pete, pictured left with Phil Gibson, is set to play the dame in the Rugeley Musical Theatre Company’s panto this year.

It was just one of series of events aimed at showing that the club does things a little bit differently with an emphasis on enjoying golf.

The week was arranged immediately after the British Open to encourage people who had watched the professionals on TV to come along to the course.

The other events involved: Rounds Not Pounds where the cost of a round was the total score in pence of Open Champion winner Darren Clarke, £2.75; Need 4 Speed with the shortest time and lowest score deciding the winner; a ladies and kids play free day with a FREE taster lesson and a range of prizes; Golfer non-Golfer where the golfer played to the green and the non-golfer putted as well as Dress down Friday, where dress regulations did not apply and included a prize for the best dressed.

Lift off for Midlands Air Ambulance Charity Day

The Midlands Air Ambulance lifted off in great style at St Thomas’s as the service held their charity golf day at the club.

A total of 40 golfers took on the course and were joined by 30 guests in the evening for a buffet, disco and presentation in the Parkland Suite.

The day was sponsored by Colliers of Tamworth (Jaguar) and Honda and Kia with many of their new models being showcased next to the tees.

The day raised £1,000 for the Midlands Air Ambulance and the charity is already considering adding a charity ball to the event for next year.

The stableford competition was won by Karl Smith, pictured, from the charity, who worked with us to make the arrangements for the day.

Dan Lowe, golf operations manager, said: “We are delighted that Karl chose Hawkesyard Estate to host the charity’s big event.

“We are already in talks with Karl to build an even bigger event for next season.

“It’s the sort of occasion we are aiming to host on a regular basis and we look forward to welcoming back the Midlands Air Ambulance next year ,” he said.

Past ladies’ captains celebrate prestigious title

Past St Thomas’s ladies’ captains Ann Barlow and Michelle McHale, pictured left, notched up a fantastic win to put themselves among a very select group of winners by lifting the South Staffordshire Ladies’ Past Captains Golf Association crown.

Ann and Michelle came top of the 48 pairs competing for the title, held at Great Barr Golf Club at the association’s spring meeting.

The St Thomas’s pair finished just ahead of a talented and experienced field in the four ball better ball competition by virtue of a better back nine.

Ann said: “It’s brilliant to win such a prestigious trophy and finish top in such a distinguished field.”

The victory is a repeat of the success of former St Thomas’s ladies’ captains Judie Bissell and Carol Swain who won the title in 1997.

The win also adds to another success by lady players at St Thomas’s after Sue Boys and Joanne Graham won the Drayton Park Spring Open recently in a three ball alliance competition with Hilary McCrae from Ingestre.

New captains drive in with style

The tee-off to the new season at St Thomas’s was marked with style and sophistication as the club’s new captains decided on a pink stretch limo for their Captains Drive-in ceremony.

Incoming club captain Mick Lydell and new ladies’ captain Val Rooney, pictured left, were equally as colourful dressed in Grease-like rocker costumes for the occasion, the curtain-raiser for the new season at the club.

The clubhouse was packed with more than 100 members to see their arrival, with members looking forward to the first big event of 2011, the Captains Drive-in team competition.

After being welcomed into the clubhouse with a champagne reception outgoing club captain Jim Burns and 2010 ladies’ captain Michelle McHale officially handed over to Mick and Val, right.

The handover, which sees the new club captains drive-off from the first tee, almost went up in a puff of smoke as Mick hit what turned out to be a chalk ball that exploded into dust, all to the great cheers from members on the clubhouse terrace. Val further surprised the crowd by managing to hit her drive despite wearing super-high stiletto heels.

The new club vice captains, Adam Ward and Laura Malpass, were also on hand to welcome Mick and Val and to officially take up their new positions, left.

The 2011 season as St Thomas’s was officially on the first fairway. For more pictures from the day go to the St Thomas’s Facebook page.

Great Craic for St Patrick’s Day celebrations

The best traditional Gaelic band in the area meant there was a great Craic to the St Patrick’s Day festivities at St Thomas’s Golf Club.

Award winning Cannock-based band Clanna Gael made sure there was a true Irish atmosphere to the St Patrick’s Day meal in the Parkland Suite.

More than 100 members and guests came along to the dinner with the band, from Cardinal Griffin School, providing a real Irish feel to evening, a head of their appearance the following day in Birmingham’s St Patrick’s Day parade .

The Irish celebrations marked the curtain raiser for the start of the new golf season at the club, with more than 100 players taking part in the first official tournament of the year - the Phoenix Open.

The following day the weekend’s entertainment was completed with a highly competitive game of footie pitting a captain’s select XI against a vice-captain’s select XI on Rugeley power station’s pitch. Captain Jim Burn’s team were convincing 6-2 winners over vice-captain Mick Lydell’s squad, with frontman Colin Noble showing he’s not just handy with the golf clubs as he netted four goals.

Get in to swing with the St Thomas’s coaching offers

We’re very pleased to announce a range of new golf coaching programmes at St Thomas’s with our newly appointed club teaching pro Jonathan Watts, pictured.

The extensive range of tuition includes lessons for individuals and groups with classes for juniors, ladies and seniors.

Classes are for all standards or golfers and are available to members and non-members.

Our programme includes:

• Individual lessons – ranging from a 45-minute lesson for £30 to a nine hole playing lesson for £75 or packages of four 45-minute lessons reduced from £120 to £99 or eight one-hour lessons and a nine hole playing lesson worth £400 for £280

• Beginner group lessons – six one-hour group lessons with a maximum of six players, includes all main aspects of play for £60

• Ladies group coaching – weekly ladies tuition classes in small groups on weekday mornings, operates on a monthly schedule with different areas of play each week, £10 per person

• Junior academy days – We’re running two junior academy coaching days during the Easter holiday, covering all aspects of play including playing a hole, with lunch and a prize presentation, days are 9am-4pm, on Thurs April 14 and 21, £25 per person

• Junior group coaching – 12, one-hour weekly coaching sessions, maximum of eight per class with different topics each week including an on course session, with a final prize presentation

• Seniors group coaching – weekly tuition in a small group on a weekday morning with different topics each week covering all aspects of the game, £10 per person

For more details on all coaching available at St Thomas’s contact Phil Gibson or Dan Lowe on 01543 491911 or email jon.watts@hawkesyardestate.com and hope you see those handicaps tumble.

New members given St Thomas’s welcome

The club’s new members for 2011 have been given the full St Thomas’s welcome with our three part ice-breaker programme.

As part of our joining package all new members were invited along to a new member’s evening, which included a buffet, as an informal introduction to the club. Members had the chance to meet the club captain and the evening was rounded-off with a light hearted quiz on the rules of golf.

New members were also given a group coaching clinic with our club teaching professional Jon Watts, pictured above. Finally we organised a nine hole competition giving members a first chance to put the tuition in to practice and also get to know each other while enjoying a round.

Director of golf Phil Gibson said: “We’ve provided these three-part packages for new members for a number of years. They’re great for giving new members a proper St Thomas’s welcome and making sure everyone knows a few friendly faces to help them get more involved in the club.”

Good year for St Thomas’s revealed in 2010/11 season round-up

St Thomas’s Golf Club has seen continued success during the 2009/10 season with virtually every area of the golf club experiencing increased activity and trade alongside widespread improvements in the course and facilities, over the 12 months up to February 2011.

The club’s director of golf Phil Gibson told members at the annual general meeting the season had seen an increase in members, golf played and the completion of an extensive programme of improvements on the course.

The coming season would see the work continuing with the aim of everyone at club to exceed the expectations of St Thomas’s members and visitors, he said.

The year had seen a healthy rise in the number of members which compared favourably with neighbouring clubs, many of whom had lost members, he said.

There was increased activity at the club with the total number of rounds of golf played by members increasing by a third and rounds by member’s guests slightly up on the previous year.

Captains successful year raising more than £4,500 for charity

The 2010 St Thomas's club and ladies captains thanked all members and everyone at the club for their support throughout the year which helped them raise more than £4,500 for the Stroke Association.

Putting-out for the final time at the annual general meeting, 2010 club captain Jim Burns and ladies’ captain Michelle McHale, pictured, said their year had been brilliant.

Both captains raised money for the same charity during the year - with money still coming in, the final total raised is set to be even higher, we’ll let you know the final amount as soon as everything is added up.

Jim and Michelle thanked all those who had been involved in a range of fundraising events across the year which have included the captain’s charity day at the club, Jim running the Tamworth 10K race with other club members, the successful 100-holes-in-a-day by Dan Lowe and Aaron Brookes as well as a host of other fundraising events - please read previous blog posts.