My guess is that the majority of you have now returned from your well earned holiday – and, whilst initially having recharged the batteries, you are now thinking where did that holiday go? Unfortunately in this world where we work, it is unlikely that a lot of the in-tray will be attended to when you are away. In my case this has certainly been the case – so how do we overcome this situation?
Many of us will keep an eye on the emails and the internet when we are away, but is this a true holiday or break? On the other side, do you start to fret a day or so before the return to the office wondering what you will find? There is no definitive answer to any of this, only to ensure that for the benefit of the club and for you, a fit and refreshed manager is always going to produce better results in the long term – Stay Fit to Manage!
As I am putting pen to paper we are in the middle of packing and unpacking boxes, dismantling desks and finding documents that date back to when golf clubs used to discuss the price of a pot of tea or the colour of socks! – or was that last month …
Moving HQ
As I think I mentioned in last month’s magazine, this is certainly a historical moment in the Association’s history. After being associated with Weston-super-Mare for a number of years, it seems that for me, I have done a complete circuit. The first members club that I managed was Long Ashton GC, which is literally just half a mile from Bristol & Clifton GC, so now nearly ten years on to come back to this part of the world seems a bit unreal.
Ironically the Association’s Secretary at the turn of the century, Ray Burniston was also Secretary at Long Ashton GC. I wonder what the odds on that coincidence would have been?
Looking ahead, I am sure that the move will prove to be a sound business decision that will assist with the Association flourishing over the next period of its life.
In time the Bristol & Clifton GC venue (the picture above is the view from our window!) will be used to host introductory training courses as well as a number of golfing and educational seminars. Unfortunately one of our long standing members of staff Julie Holder, the Membership Secretary, has decided that the journey from her home in Weston-super-Mare to the golf club is too far to undertake on a daily basis.
Julie Holder joined the Association of Golf Club Secretaries’ just under 15 years ago in December 1999 as Membership Secretary, the position she has held ever since. She is obviously known to many members and will be missed by many of you as well as her work colleagues. However having made her decision to take up a position closer to home, we wish her well for the future and will no doubt keep in touch.
Working with our Commercial Partners
Since returning from my summer holiday I have been involved in working with a number of the commercial and trading partners that support the Association. At the beginning of August I was invited by the sponsors of the Home internationals ‘Fairstone’ to Southerndown GC in South Wales. It was good to meet up with long serving Secretary Alan Hughes, who was administering his last event before taking retirement – on behalf of all at GCMA we wish Alan well for the future.
Moneygate Fairstone is an independent financial advisory company who have been involved with the Scottish Golf Union for a while. They agreed to sponsor the Home internationals, which as I previously mentioned was an excellent event at Southerndown GC, and we have now been able to secure their services and have teamed up with them in the sponsorship of the Golf Management awards. The information for the revised Golf Manager of the Year awards will be included in next month’s magazine.
Now as we enter into the Autumn I am looking forward to meeting as many of you as possible when the regional meetings commence. I have also been invited to attend the Derbyshire Golf Conference on November 6 and will be in attendance at the Ryder Cup on the Friday as a guest of the PGA – hopefully the sun will shine and another European victory will keep the Ryder Cup on this side of the pond.
Talking of the sun shining, I cannot complete my article without a mention of the now annual England v Sweden match. This has always proved to be an excellent occasion with an opportunity to meet both new and old faces – and this year was no exception. Having our very own Will Sjoberg (Epping GC) as tour operations manager was always going to be interesting – he didn’t let us down! Plus having John ‘The Edge’ Edgington as Team Manager we were in good hands, which in the end resulted in the trophy being retained in the UK. Well done to the organisers and players from both sides – I am sure we will all be looking forward to the visit to Sweden next year. The match was played in excellent weather with great camaraderie and on three excellent golf courses in the Bournemouth area – Broadstone GC, Brokenhurst Manor GC and Ferndown GC. I would like to take this opportunity to offer a vote of thanks to each of the golf clubs and their committees for the opportunity to play their excellent golf courses.
Hopefully I will catch up with many of you at the forthcoming regional meetings.
By Bob Williams
