‘The rest of 2021 will be wonderful!’

As clubhouses in England are set to return to normal this month, this year’s two captains of Royal Mid-Surrey Golf Club detail their hopes that the remainder of the year will be busy – but normal.

After a frustrating 12 months for their predecessors, the newly appointed men’s and ladies’ captains at London’s Royal Mid-Surrey Golf Club are looking to bring back social fun for club members, as well as managing their many requests to play golf during the rest of the season.

Graham Frazer, the men’s captain, who has been a member for 25 years, thinks members and staff will pull together to ensure the remainder of the year is more like the one normally associated with the club. “I know all the members have really missed a great and fun experience both on and off the course during a difficult year and my hope is that we at least start to enjoy some of those good times and a few memorable days at our great club once again. I’m hopeful of returning to the times that makes Royal Mid-Surrey one of England’s finest golfing experiences,” he added.

Graham Frazer and Claire Tweddell

Ladies’ captain Claire Tweddell has been a member for 15 years and was attracted by the fact the club offered two varied courses plus an enviable reputation for its social events. “Royal Mid-Surrey is a very social, friendly and inclusive club,” said Claire. “I feel we’re lucky compared to last year’s captains, since we’ve all had a year to adjust, learn and get used to the new social and golf restrictions which has made our job easier, at least so far!”

Both captains have noticed a huge appetite amongst members to participate in competitions and the biggest challenge this year could be satisfying the demands both for golf and social events. “We’ll need to squeeze demand for social golf, competition golf, visitor golf, guest golf, team golf and social events into a curtailed season, but I believe the rest of 2021 will be wonderful and we’ll appreciate what we have that bit more,” said Graham.

Even before the lockdown period last year, Royal Mid-Surrey was bucking the membership trend and enjoyed a waiting list across every category. And once the lockdown was lifted in May, more than 35,000 rounds were played by members over a period normally covered by 15,000 rounds.