Club Captain's Welcome Message

It gives me real pleasure to welcome all of our members to what we hope will be a very enjoyable year of golf and leisure at our fine club.

Our course will again be in beautiful condition, responding well to our active programme of maintenance and to our long-term strategy of keeping the golf course at its very best. We want Kenilworth to be the club of choice for our loyal members and the venue of choice for golfing visitors to our area. While captaining the B-team last year, I received many compliments from our visitors. There is no doubt that visiting teams look forward to their Kenilworth fixture.

Our long-established club has built up an impressive list of  fixtures against other clubs. Across all of our teams, including Ladies and Mixed Matches, there are roughly one hundred matches played each year, at forty different clubs. This does not include our scratch leagues or our Opens. Our teams also get to play their away fixtures at many lovely courses, while making lasting friendships among fellow golfers.

My captain’s message can afford to be upbeat, because we have many things going for us. Our venue is receiving high praise. At a recent Lions Charter Lunch for example, attended by over 90 people, our visitors decided that KGC was the best venue in the area. Ladies Captain Liz and I both take an active interest in our social programme. We have some exciting events planned and will look forward to seeing as many of you as possible, both on and off the golf course, as the year progresses.

Our Indoor Golf Academy is now in full swing (no pun intended!), with Steve and James helping us to put the final gloss on our (already silky) golf swings. The Academy is a joint initiative with Steve and we wish him every success. Without doubt, it is already bringing major benefits to the club.

Over the past few years, KGC has been building strong links with our local community and my charity this year will focus on young people in our locality. Kenilworth Youth Centre is a model of good organisation and high ideals. The staff, giving of their own time, run sporting and outdoor events which are completely unfunded, other than by contributions from parents and charities.

Sporting activities include camping trips, canoeing, sailing, dry-slope skiing and “Brazilian” football skills. When you consider that many of the youngsters who participate in those activities would otherwise be at a loose end, it is quite inspiring to see the work which goes in. I plan to direct funds mostly towards activities for the under 13’s and will also arrange for some youngsters to be introduced to our own healthy outdoor sport. Our Captains’ Charities are again allocated so as to further two worthy projects and I will leave it to Liz to tell you of her choice.

Above all, during this year, I would like us to have fun and good fellowship. Our club means so much to so many of our members. I will try to do my very best for the club, ready to hand it over to our next captain in a happy and prosperous state. Please enjoy yourselves, in the very best spirit of club life.

Patrick Fleming,

Club Captain 2011/2012

To find out about the charities supported by our Captains click here