Seniors Committee Meeting
Tuesday 4th August 2020
Notes of meeting
Attendees:
CaptainBill Walker (Chair)(BW)
Vice CaptainAlgy Grimes(AG)
Immediate Past CaptainDave Gauge(DG)
Hon Sec/Match SecRichard Westergreen – Thorne(RWT)
Competitions SecJonathan Lean(JL)
Hon TreasurerLes Bolland(LB)
Club Vice CaptainPaul Fletcher (for item 1)(PF)
Apologies – None
Club Vice Captain Paul Fletcher (PF)
A discussion took place relating to various aspects of the club including the impact of Coronavirus. Other items for discussion included course irrigation and the fairway watering project, clubhouse refurbishment, opening arrangements and facilities.
Various matters were passed on for consideration including a continued desire for the Senior Section to support the integration of new members to the club and the possibility of a Seniors Pack to be given to appropriately aged members who join.
Minutes of meeting 5th May 2020 – Agreed
Matters Arising from meeting of 5th May
All Matters Arising from the previous meeting have been addressed.
Captains Report
The period since our last meeting (5 May 2020) has been a busy one, despite our lack of interclub matches and early season competitions. I am delighted to report that the SeniorSection has been fully involved in the planning and implementation of the incremental reopening of club facilities. Needless to say, this activity continues and is likely to do so for some time to come. In this endeavour, I feel we are likely to see some restrictions across golf, social activities and clubhouse facilities continuing until a fully effective Covid19 vaccine is available. May that come as soon as is safely possible.
At the risk of repeating myself I wish to formally record my appreciation to all members for their support, both verbal and financial, for my Longest Day Charity Event on 21 Jun which raised a magnificent £2,746 for Macmillan Cancer Support. I am confident that, with the reintroduction of our competitions and their associated charity raffles, we will see our charitable giving for 2020 exceed all previous years’ achievements at a time when the need was never greater.
Since the reintroduction of social golf I have set myself the task of meeting, welcoming and playing with as many new members to the Seniors’ Section as I possibly can. I am delighted to report that to date, I have played at least one round with 9 new members. I will continue in this endeavour for the foreseeable future.
Discussion: Members were pleased with the take up of new members interested in playing with BW and agreed this should be continued.
LB to circulate a list of the new members for 2020 and committee members to annotate with comments and pass to BW so he can follow up on any new members who have been missed.
Committee members offered to help BW with playing games with new members if it would help.
Vice Captains Report
It has been difficult to keep up to date with members who are ill or injured as we do not have the usual opportunities such as roll ups to keep abreast. Fred Williams has reinjured his shoulder and Keith Fuller is recuperating and should be back soon.
A discussion took place about any other seniors who may be injured or unwell. We should all pass any names we come across to AG
AG to contact Bill Burrows.
Tony Lloyd has taken over the blog and may need help to cover competition results in depthas we do not have a presentation at the end of each event.
Treasurers Report
Situation as of 30th July 2020
Bank account is currently £2512.20
Of this £217.50 is set aside as Captain’s charity money.
Longest day donations already forwarded to Macmillan Cancer Support.
The situation is I have paid out £117 in golf and raffle prizes for the Reg Batson held on 14th July but have not yet received the income from the day. (Sue in accounts has been on holiday) This will alter the balance of the account by £510 of which £270 will be in the charity money pot.
£134 in entry fees for the Green Tilley has been repaid to the club and repaid to the entrants.
£104 has been repaid to the club in respect of the Seniors Foursomes Knockout. This has not been repaid to the entrants as the competition was not set up to take money from their cards. The club should not have paid it to us in the first place.
The competition on 28th July has still to be accounted for. One of the entrants was not a member of the seniors but signed up afterwards). We do need to keep an eye on the entrants of our competitions so as not to have a repeat of previous difficulties where non-members or lapsed members walk off with the prizes
We receive a 10% discount from the pro shop for all vouchers purchased and given as prizes.
Current membership stands at 177 including 174 paid and 3 courtesy.
Hon Sec Report
Since the return to golfing activity the section has been increasingly busy – particularly since we resumed competitions.
Our membership has continued to grow in ones and two’s and this seems to be a mixture of long standing club members seeking to get involved in competitions and newcomers to the club being signposted to us. Gordon is keen to liaise with us and he has passed on several names of new club members and I have spoken with several not yet 60 as well as those who have joined.
This is a good development but still rather ad hoc and would benefit from being more formalised. It is not always easy for new members to navigate their way in to the club and to find regular golf and we can help as well as recruit more members for ourselves. Having the article on the club website with our photographs attached and Bill’s commitment to meet and play with new members have both helped make us more visible and welcoming.
On the matches front I have not heard from any club looking to resume games this year. I think everyone is hoping for next year. Mid Herts have been in touch again and remain keen to get involved. Jonathan and I hosted two committee members from there pre lockdown and have an invitation to go there once we are able to do so.
The calendar is ready for next year and entered on the club draft diary with Michael Grace. We just need to:
- check and confirm the numbers that will be able to participate in the swop day with Northampton if it goes ahead
- agree at some stage before publication the format of the competitions – shall we keep them all the same?
The Newsletter seems to be read by a sizeable percentage of the membership judging by the spike in entries to competitions in the hours after it is sent out each week. I tend to get 3 – 5 responses each week on matters various and, interestingly, different people each time.
‘The List’ continues to grow and is now well over 40 strong. As I am not a member I am not sure how well it is used but I have not had any complaints. Is it time for a revamp? Perhaps to be considered along with the item on Roll Up’s.
In follow up discussion it was agreed that ‘The List’ remains fit for purpose and does not need any amendments at present.
Action Points:
• BW to confirm with Northampton Golf Club the numbers for the Swop Day and RWT will confirm with Michael Grace when agreeing the final calendar with him
• All - We will confirm the calendar for all of the competition and match formats for 2021 at the November Committee Meeting. JL and RWT to prepare a final draft for the meeting to consider.
Competition Secretaries Report – this incorporated the agenda item ‘Forthcoming Competitions’
Reg Batson Trophy. 14th July 2020
Stableford Competition on CAR off Yellow Tees, full handicap. Full field of 102 entries with no no-shows! Tee times set at 10-minute intervals from 0700 to 1230.
Excellent return of over 71% entering scores on IG.
Congratulations to Ian Riches who won with 41 points. Second place was Jack van Gorder on 39 and third was Alan Kirkman also on 39. 2 others on 39 points also but missed out on countback.
Senior’s Annual Stableford. 28th July 2020
Stableford Competition on JOG off Yellow tees, full handicap. At the request of Michael Grace, tee times changed to 0720 to 1250. Same number of possible entrants but later tee time to allow pro-shop to get sorted out before handing out score cards.
Competition initially filled up really quickly with a healthy reserve list. However, there was a steady stream of withdrawals, partly as holidays became more possible but also some injury issues. In the end, all reserves were accommodated and some spaces meant that there were a few 2-balls. There was one no-show who mis-read his tee time and turned up too late. A final total of 98 entrants.
Congratulations to Chris Sullivan who won with 39 points, second place was David Wood on 37 points closely followed by Richard Westergreen-Thorne also on 37 points on countback.
Upcoming Competitions
Senior Captain’s Day – 25th August 2020. This will be played on JOG off Yellow tees as a Stableford competition with full handicap.
At the time of writing I understand that it is not possible to have a putting competition, nearest the pin or refreshment although this is under review. It is possible to have a 2’s competition on all the par 3 holes which could possibly be extended to a 3 on the 11th (which was initially NTP in 2).
There is also a Captains v Vice Captains competition.
Details to be discussed and finalized at this meeting – see later item
Seniors Bailiff Shield – 1st September 2020. To be played on JOG, Stableford, Yellow Tees. At the time of writing there were 85 entrants out of a total possible of 102. With Covid-19 rules changing all the time I have left this as the same format as previous competitions in terms of organisation and score entering etc. I have now also set up a reserve list for this competition.
Senior Section Gordon Percival Team Trophy – 6th October 2020. Currently advertised as a
Stableford but should we change this to a Medal?
Seniors Autumn Singles Stableford Trophy – 13th October 2020
2 Clubs and a Putter Trophy – 20th October 2020
Seniors v Juniors – 27th October.
Ladies and Seniors Scramble – 3rd November 2020
Seniors Arthur Lucas Cup (Bring and Win) – 17th November 2020
Seniors Christmas Fayre and Baz Backhouse Trophy – 22nd December 2020
I have also been approached by a Bill Conway as a representative for some of the other seniormembers asking that we consider setting up a weekly seniors roll-up competition.
Action Points:
• Agreed - Gordon Percival to remain as a Stableford
• Two Clubs and a Putter to be changed to three clubs and a putter
• DG to contact the Junior Section about the viability of this competition – DG to report back asap and if this competition is not possible to be held then JL to liaise with Michael Grace about substituting a different Senior Section competition.
• Ladies and Seniors Scramble – JL to liaise with the Ladies Section about arrangements. If there are unbalanced numbers we can have teams with 3 men or three ladiesprovided the Ladies agree. (we did this in the Greensomes in March)
• Bring and Win – not possible to Bring and Win but to remain as a competition and we will agree format - BW to make a proposal to be circulated to the committee prior to competition opening for entries
• Christmas Fayre – to be played in a format appropriate to the Covid arrangements of the time – BW to make a proposal to the committee prior to entries to the competition opening
• RWT to circulate all of the above points in the Newsletter
Past Captains Report
There have been only two competitions to date and there have been no matters that have required his attention.
Senior Captains Day 2020
The following arrangements were confirmed:
• 102 maximum entries in groups of 3 off the first tee 7.20am – 12.50pm
• Playing for the Kethro Tray
• There will be a putting competition using targets on the putting green rather than holes with the trophy awarded to the winner as usual
Action Points: –AG to recruit people to run it and liaise with the club
• There will be a £10 voucher prize for all 2’s and also for a birdie on the 11th
• Raffle along the same lines as the first two competitions of the year
• AG to produce a programme for each entrant to be distributed with cards on the day
• Refreshments – preferred option is for a ‘free’ half way house.
BW to liaise with the club as to the possibilities
• AG to provide a poster to be attached to a Newsletter for members
Roll Ups
Bill Conway had raised roll ups with JL. Following discussion it was clear that there were two separate issues:
- Can we organise roll ups for members to which the answer is an unfortunate no at the moment due to the potential numbers that would be involved and current Club policy
- Once it is possible we will discuss with Steve Cooper and ensure that roll ups return
- Should people be able to play in the roll ups off full handicaps, or some other variation to max 18 such as 3/4 or 9/10ths.
Action Points:
- BW to discuss with Steve Cooper holding a vote on the handicap options amongst those who play in the roll ups as soon as the roll ups are able to return
- JL to thank and feed back to Bill Conway our action points and discuss with him that he, and others, are welcome to set up alternative options if he would like to do so
Post Meeting note: Any questions regarding handicaps to be used during roll ups is likely to be addressed by the introduction of the World Handicap System in November.
AOB
There was uncertainty as to the awarding of the Martin Ives Trophy. It was confirmed that it is for the best individual nett score in the Gordon Percival Team Competition.
Dates of future meetings:
3 November 2020
9 December 2020
19 January 2021
