Welcome to you all – to WGV City Vice-President Lee Wills who is deputising for Jenny Hoff WGV president who has been unable to come, to our club delegates, to our District Committee members, and to our Life Member Mrs Pat Humphries. We were sorry to hear a couple of months ago about the passing of Mrs Vera Smith, President of the District from 1977 to 1979, and one of our Life Members.
I am pleased to be able to report that this has been a successful and interesting year for the MPDWG. We have conducted a variety of golf events hosted by many different clubs, and generally had excellent fields. When preparing this report I looked back at my 2009 report, where I said as a rider to the comment that we had had excellent fields: “The exceptions were the Hiscock Salver last week where entries were down, and the Junior Championships which had to be cancelled because of the small number of entries.” The same applied this year and I would need to add that numbers in the recent Championships were disappointing, particularly in A grade. Whether this is just because of our cold wet winter which has perhaps been discouraging to many golfers, or whether there are other factors involved, is something about which the Committee would be interested to have feed-back from our member clubs.
In the broader sphere this has been a challenging year for golf. The new Australia-wide Handicapping System has been introduced bringing changes to most members’ handicaps which have sometimes, but not always, been welcomed. The huge task of re-rating all courses by the Course Measurement teams as a preliminary step to the introduction of the “slope” system is underway, and all clubs are aware that this will be a major change when implemented, notionally in 2012. At the state level, the progress towards amalgamation of our peak bodies, WGV and VGA, continues and the new Golf Victoria organisation will most likely come in to existence next year.
Decisions on these matters are usually out of the hands of District and Club organisations. But it has been very interesting to see that just this month two important decisions have shown that our peak bodies are willing to listen to members’ concerns, and act on them. On October 1st Golf Australia withdrew indefinitely the very controversial Second Package of Handicapping Changes. This Package contained some sound ideas, but also would have seen players having to estimate how many shots they would have out of a bunker, and then how many putts. Some people and clubs I know just shrugged and said “What can we do? They’ll go ahead with it anyway”. But many did protest and their protests were heard.
There will be an amended Second Package I expect, or perhaps it will be the Third Package, but it will probably not include these very controversial features.
At the State level, it was stated to be “assumed” in the Draft Constitution of the amalgamated Golf Victoria that in each District there would at some not too distant time be an amalgamation of the men’s and women’s organisations, in our case the PDGA and the MPDWG. Again, many people expressed concerns about the compulsory nature of this amalgamation and an amendment was introduced, following many submissions, that will make any amalgamation voluntary. I think it is to the credit of those who spoke up to ask for changes, and those who made them, that these decisions were made.
On the matter of amalgamation within the District: The MPDWG Committee at its last meeting decided that we could not see any benefit in any quick progress towards amalgamation. (One of the difficulties we see is that the PDGA affiliation fee is $8.00 per member and ours is $1.50, potentially to increase to $2.50.) The PDGA nevertheless, is willing to enter into negotiations, seeing benefits in a joint approach in organising events, and communicating with our members. I quote from the PDGA President’s email “We basically would see any amalgamation as a process of working together to present a joint approach to the district where we would be able to mutually support each other to further golf in the district while still being able to retain our differences when they are considered to have merit and value.” When amalgamation is seen to be appropriate I think we can be sure that both organisations will consider the best interests of our member clubs. There is no hurry, and club opinion will be valued before a decision is made.
Even in this electronic age, communication to our members remains a major problem. As an example: The district arranged, and subsidised financially, two golf clinics this year. Held at the wonderful coaching facilities of The National, members for $25 received three hours of assistance in small groups, from highly skilled and very interested professional staff. The first clinic was very well supported, and members were loud in their appreciation of the program. But the second day was only half-filled. When I mentioned it to players at the Hiscock Salver the following day, some people said they didn’t know about it.
This is the problem. There was an excellent colour poster with full details and an entry form sent to each club. Details were on the website for at least a month and an email reminder was sent to captains. The District Committee cannot tell each member about each event, as we hand them an entry form. Neither, we know, can club captains. But we do need to rely on club organisations to distribute information whether by newsletter, noticeboards and/or by repeatedly reminding members that information is available on the website. Some clubs do this very effectively, and we are grateful to them.
This is my last report as President. There are three things I have enjoyed very much. The first is helping to help to plan and run, efficient, fair competitions which are also fun to be part of. I have met many excellent golfers from all our clubs, and many who like me are just ordinary players but who also enjoy our game of golf, weather permitting, and the friendship at our clubs and in our District.
I have also enjoyed our Rules Seminars and helping club members to gain their Rules Accreditation by taking the exam afterwards. This is something with which I hope to continue to be involved. I will continue to be willing to come to clubs to be a “rules official” or to talk about rules to members.
The third thing I enjoy is the website. Having managed it since its beginnings I am pleased about the amount of material that is available there, and delighted when clubs send in photos etc for publication, or when people tell me they have found it useful. It is disappointing too that some members still don’t use it regularly, and miss out on important information. While not on the Committee next year, Jean Rowe who has worked on it with me, and I, will continue to be involved with the website, so we will rely even more on all member clubs as well as committee members sending data for inclusion.
It is in speaking about the Committee that I wish to finish this report today. I would like to thank all members for their contribution to the decision-making process and their participation in the work of the District during my three years on the Committee. To retiring members Barb, Jean and Ros, thanks and good wishes. To continuing members Mieke, Sue, Sandy, Helen and Val – your contribution to the district has been huge, and it will continue to grow. To new members Judy and Pauline – welcome and thank you for joining a working team. To you all – there will still be two spots on the Committee and anyone prepared to volunteer their help should speak to Mieke or any committee member.
Thank you all for coming today.
Alison Jones
President