Golf Club Managers’ Association

Scottish Region

February 2012 Newsletter

Annual General Meeting.  

The AGM was held at Bruntsfield Links Golfing Society in Edinburgh on Thursday 16 ^th February.  Your Scottish Committee for the coming year is;

Barry Knowles                     Unattached            Captain

Alan Donald                       Inverurie               Vice Captain

Chris Spencer                     North Berwick         Ex-Officio

Allan Osborne                    Retired                  Regional Secretary & National Rep.

Donald Wilson                   Barassie

Ian Neil                            Strathaven

Keith Nicholson                  Baberton

Bernadette Giefer              Mortonhall

Alasdair MacGregor            Newmachar

Lachlan McIntosh              Army Officers Golfing Society

At the AGM Honorary Membership of the region was conferred on Cdr David Sandford for his contribution not only to the region but also to the national organisation.  David accepted the honour (and some commemorative crystal) with his usual good grace and humour.  We all wish him well for a long and happy retirement (if he gets his putting sorted out).  Failing that we know a bowling team who are short of a player…

2012 Event Calendar.  

An invitation to register interest in the above events was issued with the Annual Report.  We have received many responses but would ask those of you who have not yet responded to do so now as the teams for the representative matches must be picked in good time.  May we ask for replies by 16 ^th March please?  You are of course welcome to attend any event without having intimated your proposed attendance at this early time.  However the teams shall be chosen based on these early replies.

Participation in events.  

In several recent newsletters we have commented on the drop off in participation in our events.  Several theories have been put forward from the ominous ‘reluctant to leave my desk’ to the simpler economic problem of the cost of petrol.  We would be keen to hear more as there are perhaps ways of addressing the problems.

In the interim however your committee proposes to try out an experiment and we need your feedback on the idea.  It is a fact that other regions and indeed areas within our own, rarely have simple golfing events.  Many hold a small presentation beforehand usually centering on a topic of interest to clubs.  Whether this makes the event more interesting to potential participants or the opposite is something we need to know.  Does it ‘justify’ attendance as it appears more work orientated than the invaluable networking even a simple game of golf provides?

We therefore propose that the spring meeting at Montrose Links will have such a presentation.  It will last circa 30 minutes and be held before the snack lunch and play.  Attendance will of course be optional so members who can only afford limited time away from work may decide to turn up only prior to their tee off time.  We shall give it a go but are interested in your thoughts.  Ideas from members on suitable topics would of course be welcome.

Educational Seminar.

This seminar which is being run nationwide by HQ will be hosted at Bruntsfield Links on Tuesday 17 ^th April.  Details of the content and registration can be found on the HQ website or via this link http://www.gcma.org.uk/gcma/index.cfm/education/gcma-seminars-courses/ Individual invitations have been sent to you directly by HQ and we would of course encourage your attendance.

Spring Seminar.

This year’s spring seminar will be held at Murrayshall on Tuesday 29th May.  The speakers are booked and the programme content is as follows;

• Presenter – W Lawlor, Technical Director Xact Group 

Subject: Principles of risk assessment and how these apply to Golf Clubs.

Risk assessments as applied to those working in the Club i.e. Clubhouse, Kitchen, Proshop and Greenkeeping activities will be discussed as will risk assessments for those using the Course and how the recent Niddry Castle incident impacts on these.

• Bryan Frazer – Associate of Chip and Pin Solutions Ltd

Bryan works predominantly with golf clubs and their retained professionals looking at opportunities to review existing, or introduce new card, payment facilities. To date he has been able to help over 200 golf clubs identify savings or install new card payment facilities. He can identify savings from viewing a recent merchant statement and if any members would like him to do this prior to the meeting then please email or fax your statement to bryanfrazer@btinternet.com or 0845 900 2760 and he will normally respond within 24 hours. If you any have questions then please call him on 07921 521154. There is no obligation to proceed and it gives every golf club manager the peace of mind that this is another area of expense that has been reviewed.

• Jay Dobson, Regional Turfgrass Agronomist, STRI Scotland, will introduce ‘The STRI Programme – The New Agronomy.’ The presentation will show how agronomy has changed over the years, and how it is now much more focused on both the agronomic and playability factors for golf greens.  It will also show how Golf Club Managers can employ this information to their advantage in giving a much clearer representation of current standards and how they can be improved.

Administrative note.

It is apparent that some members are still using my old home telephone number which has not been reallocated by BT and therefore callers just think I am ignoring them.  Please make the necessary changes. (It has been sixteen months)!

Email: gcmascotland@hotmail.co.uk - Home tel: 01506 790649 - Mobile: 0785 785 1092

Regards

Allan Osborne

Regional Secretary