Our Q3 2025 Update
We hope you all had a great summer. Here’s our quarterly update for Q3 2025 from the whole team at St Mellons Golf Club as we head into the Autumn and Winter seasons.
Course Closure:
Thursday 30th & Friday 31st October to carry out the following work:
Wiedenmann Terra Spike
Deep Aeration and decompaction is the primary function. The machine uses tines to penetrate deep into the soil, up to 40 cm breaking up compacted ground. This allows for better water, air, and nutrient flow, which is essential for healthy root growth.
By addressing soil compaction, the Terra Spike helps create a healthier, more resilient turf. This leads to increased shear strength of the grass, a denser root system, and a more uniform surface.
From The Board
General Director Announcement:
The Board regrets to inform members that Liam Eley (General Director) has recently advised the Board of his decision to resign from his directorship with SMGC following a request from his employer.
Although Liam has only served in the role for seven months, he has already made a significant impact through his work in developing and reviewing management processes, as well as through his valuable contributions to wider Board matters.
We are pleased to confirm that Liam has kindly agreed to continue supporting the Board by providing advice on areas including, but not limited to, Strategy, Project, and Risk Management.
The Board will now seek to co-opt a new Director to assume the General Director role until the March 2026 AGM, at which point this position, along with two other Directorships, will be open for election by the membership.
From Our Greenkeeper
This week, we successfully verti-drained all 19 greens to a depth of 9 inches. This crucial work is designed to significantly alleviate compaction and improve drainage, ensuring healthier turf and better playing conditions heading into winter. The green staff will be extending this beneficial process to the Tees and approaches during the upcoming course closure during ALS visit. While they are on site they are verti-draining the fairways and will also be taking advantage of the closure to carry out further aeration on the greens.
I plan to produce a full course report at the end of the month.
Pleased to announce that we recently appointed both a new Greenkeeper and a new Trainee Greenkeeper, both will start their respective jobs on the 1st December 2025.
Kind regards
Marc Anderton
Head greenkeeper
Captains’ Update
Hello everyone,
Doesn’t the golfing season go so quickly! It seemed like only last month we were hoping for rain to help our dry parched course. Finals Day 2025 was a great success thanks to the meticulous planning by our Golf Committee aided by Captains Committee. The course conditions delivered by Marc and his green staff were a superb achievement given the challenging conditions they faced throughout the summer, thank you.
I’m delighted to share that former Ladies Captain and first team player Sally Madsen has accepted the position of Vice Captain for Monmouthshire Ladies County Golf Association. Huge congratulations, Sally. We will do all we can to support you.
Well done to all players in finals whether you won or came second, it’s a great achievement just to get to play on the day. The presentation was very well supported by members, family and friends and this year the weather allowed us to have it on the putting green!
Our ladies weekly competitions continued throughout September on Mondays (Senior Ladies) and Wednesdays with a mixture of medals, stablefords and fun competitions.
My Captains Day held on Sunday 27th July supported my worthy charity St Davids Hospice Care. We were particularly delighted when Maria Woods chose this date to have a hole in one ⛳.
We drank lots of prosecco (didn’t we Lizzie) enjoyed yummy cakes and raised in excess of £1k on the day so thank you to everyone who supported me especially my Vice Bev Smith 💖who was tireless in selling raffle tickets on the day.
Our annual Solheim Cup Competition played in October is always colourful with lots of friendly USA/EUROPE banter (unlike the Ryder Cup!)
We played a 4BBB matchplay with the final result being 2-2 so Europe retained the trophy having won last year. A meal was enjoyed afterwards where the fun banter continued!
The McMillan Morning held on the 1st October raised £70 for this worthy charity.
I am pleased to report that the Ladies 1st team had a good season and with some good home wins managed to come 4th in Division 3 East so will remain in that division next season. Thank you to all that supported the team and especially to Jules Dolby, our captain, who organised us so well.
Congratulations to Kay A and Rachel C who made the final of the Australian Spoons competition and represented St Mellons at Llandrindod Wells this week. They drove all the way to Llandod the first time only to be told it was cancelled when they arrived! This week they travelled up again only to play a few holes in glorious sunshine to then have horizontal rain for the remainder of the round. The weather was definitely the winner of this competition!
The Winter Eclectic competition has started as has the 9-hole Winter League which was very successful last season. We have a good number of ladies signed up and we hope that the weather will be kind so we can get out on the course throughout the shorter days and keep our golf ticking over.
We were also delighted to celebrate one of our past Captains Maureen Evans 90th birthday. Thank you so much to Jane Beale who arranged everything including a cake prosecco and flowers for Maureen’s milestone celebrations who was so pleased we remembered!
Looking ahead we have a 9-hole Texas Scramble this coming Sunday. An event we like to hold as a way of mixing our newer members with our more established ones in a fun relaxed way and to encourage our new to golf ladies to experience the different side of golf playing with a partner.
On Thursday 13th November we are planning a Fun Rules Night with nibbles and drinks for all members, not just ladies, that want to brush up on their rules. It will be hosted by Ann Booth and presented in a fun and clear way. If you’d like to join us we’d love to see you.
Before we know it we will be in the countdown to Christmas with the Ladies Dinner on December 3rd and various other fun golf competitions and social events.
I hope you all have an enjoyable build up to Christmas and weather permitting we can continue playing throughout the winter or if the weather is not so golf friendly use the club to meet friends for coffee or food to support our club.
Enjoy your golf!
From The Clubhouse
Looking for a venue to hold a party wedding or a meeting? Our refurbished function room is the perfect location.
Sunday Lunch
Book your Sunday Lunch at St Mellons Golf Club here.
Upcoming Events
Children’s Halloween Party: Thursday 30th October 16:00 – 18:00. Tickets at £10 and can be bought from bar staff (limited numbers available).
Children’s Christmas Party: with food, entertainment & a visit from Santa 🎅 Saturday 20th December 13:00 – 16:00. Tickets are £12.
61st Anniversary Ball
Last Saturday we held the 61st Anniversary ball, a great night was had by everyone. Thank you to our Captain’s Lizzie Brown & Phil Crean for all your hard work in putting this event on.
Next year we will be holding a captains & past captains dinner, rather than the anniversary Ball. This will take place in July. The anniversary ball will be celebrated on milestone dates going forward.
Thank you
That’s all for this quarterly update. Thank you to everyone who has contributed and thank you to all who have left feedback. If you wish to leave feedback, then you can do so using the form below.
