The world of sport never fails to turn up surprises. We are being told that FoofGolf is the next biggest sport to hit the market place, with many golf courses changing some of their land into FootGolf courses. How ironic that the world’s number one golfer Rory McIlroy decides to play football a week before The Open and ends up with an ankle injury that ruled him out of defending his trophy. And then the England women’s football team enjoy their greatest ever day by beating Germany to win the World Cup bronze medal! The twists and turns of sport will never stop to amaze many of us. Hopefully the women’s football team will inspire more and more girls and ladies to take up the game – and participate in sport generally.
Membership Satisfaction survey: Having reported in last month’s article of the positive response we have received, I thought I would share some of the responses with you. A full summary of the survey will be included in future copies of the magazine.
- The average length of service of a golf club manager in one club is 6 years 5 months
- The average length of service for working in golf club management is 8 years 10 months
- The average golf handicap of a golf club manager is 11.6
- Only 6% of golf club managers do not play golf
Whilst these facts may not be totally startling, we believe it is important to understand the length of time a manager stays in position and, just as importantly, how that may change in the future.
National Golf Meeting: I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who took part in the National Golf Meeting at Beau Desert GC in June, as well as the club’s Committee and members who most graciously welcomed us to their course. As has been well documented, the GCMA’s Immediate Past Captain John Smith swept all before him winning both the Greenshield Memorial Trophy and the Founders Cup. His unbeatable two over par 74 was by far the best score of the day on a challenging but fair golf course.
Manager of the Year Competition: With the closing date now expired and approximately 150 entries received, we now start the task of reading through the entries for the three categories, Manager, Team and New Manager of the Year. Following Emma Clifford’s success in 2014, it will be interesting to see how today’s manager is facing up to the challenges of running a golf club in these testing times. In conjunction with our sponsors HowDidiDo and Fairstone Financials, we will endeavour to seek out the winners who will receive their awards at the GCMA Conference Dinner in November.
On Course Foundation – Fifth Anniversary: As many of you will know, the GCMA have worked quite closely with the On Course Foundation over the last two years. Not only do they help rehabilitate service personnel back into civilian life, they also assist them with playing golf and where possible finding them employment within our industr y. For their fifth anniversary I was invited to join them for a nine hole celebration event at the Royal Household GC within the grounds of Windsor Castle, for which I have to say I was extremely grateful. If you have yet to support the On Course Foundation and would like to know more, please have a look at their website www.oncoursefoundation.com.
By Bob Williams
