Notice Board

Annual General Meeting:

A G M Held at Glen Lodge on Tuesday 5TH January 2010

SOME OF THE REPORTS

Management Report;Robert Barnard

Last year at this time I reported on a number of problems that we had faced during 2008 that had effected our business but been beyond our control, including burst water mains, EDF power-line refurbishment, rabbit & crow damage, extremes of weather, planning headaches and internet connection problems – nothing changed in 2009!!

Unfortunately in 2009 we actually experienced even worse weather problems, missing out on lots of business in January and early February, followed up later in the year by the driest summer for some time resulting in a very parched golf course that the crows then proceeded to mutilate worse than in 2008. This is a curse that seems here to stay, despite constant efforts from green keepers and Ivan Sarahs. The problem is mainly down to the Carrion Crow searching for the chafer grub. These can be killed by very expensive chemicals and the worst areas were treated last year and a more extensive programme has been devised for 2010. Ivan eliminated at least two dozen crows and we will try to work on them all year as opposed to just the grubs’ hatching season. The problem was increased by the hot, dry weather.

We now seem stuck in another period of frost and snow, decimating business in the process. If this is global warming, it is not very helpful to the golf industry.

Obviously the power line refurbishment was all completed in 2008, so should not be a problem for many years to come. Anglia water also completed a re-sleeving operation on the water main that runs underneath the course, this was partly brought about by the compensation claims we made the previous year. They completed their operation with the minimum of disruption to golfers or disturbance to the course. This gives us great peace of mind for the future.

In general the course has been in excellent condition despite the extra headaches caused by the drought and the crow damage. The greens have been excellent right up until the winter weather set in. The green keepers have worked very hard throughout, to maintain standards. We do realise that like many clubs, we have problems with some of our bunkers and sand. Drainage is a problem in many, despite works carried out over the last few years. It is an issue we intend to tackle over the next few years, a few at a time.

Our workload was drastically increased this year by the introduction of the 2 new holes. This was a change partly enforced by our contractual agreements with the Showground (RNAA), in order to release land back to them and work together in signing up a new 25 year lease on their land. The change has also improved our golf course, in length & difficulty – although the difficulty factor will not fully kick in until the trees mature more. In general the two new holes and the new course lay-out have received very good reviews from members & visitors, including very good comments from Neil Lythgoe who recently won the Pro-Am played at Bawburgh.

There has been much debate about the sequence of holes and the walks involved and there are various pros and cons which we have taken into consideration. However, we intend to stick to the current route and hope this subject can be “put to bed”.

Although the RNAA have helped with the changeover both financially and with support throughout, there has been quite a burden on the Glen Lodge business with costs to us of approximately £150,000 to establish the three new greens, the many paths required and course signage has cost us £10,000 alone! It has to be looked upon as an investment for the future. Many thanks to two of our members, Mike Gamble of Irelands and John Purling from the RNAA, for all their help & support in seeing this through.

There have also been changes at the Driving Range, enforced by the departure of Chris Potter to Blofield. We took the opportunity to give the range a major facelift, with all new Powertees installed and American Golf occupying the shop. American Golf are using Bawburgh as a satellite store to Guardian Road, all part of a stepping stone to the new range in the future. After a slow start, American Golf have got the shop well stocked and we are pleased to say they are now offering Bawburgh members 10% discount through to the end of January and beyond if supported well.

The 9 hole course is moving along well and we are still hopeful to be able to open July / August this year. The layout will be very interesting and give members an opportunity to play a different course. Plans are still moving ahead with the new Driving Range project, a lot of the outfield area has now been levelled, drained & seeded. We have had estimates for building the new range, shop and cafeteria and now need to proceed through the planning process. The timetable much depends on a new road through to Easton College, our project must run in tandem with this. Our professionals Mark Spooner and Peter Bower have offered members a great service at the range.

At this time last year, there was much unrest about the new online tee booking system. Twelve months on we seem to have a very good system up and running, the majority of members finding it a time-saving, very useful tool.

I must thank all the staff here at Glen Lodge for all their hard work throughout the year, with the course, reception, the bar and kitchen. The green keepers have worked hundreds of hours of overtime in order to keep on top of their huge workload. The reception staff have had to cope with another very busy year on the course. And the standard of meals coming out of the kitchen has been exceptional, particularly through the very busy Christmas programme – well done to all concerned. All of this is masterminded by the managers, Ian Ladbrooke, Mike Ward and David Hobson.

I would like to finish by thanking all the retiring Captains & Committee Members for the fantastic jobs they have done throughout 2009 – well done. And the best of luck to all the new Captains and Vice Captains for 2010, let’s hope the “big freeze” does not last too much longer so you can make a start to your year.

Club Captain’s Report;Michael Worthington

2009 has been a significant year for Bawburgh Golf Club and I have been very privileged to be the Club Captain for the year.

The opening of the new holes and the revised course layout has elevated the club into the higher reaches of Norfolk golf courses and, as the trees mature, the course will, I’m sure, provide a real test for golfers of all abilities. If we can maintain the friendly atmosphere that characterises Bawburgh then I’m sure that the future will remain a bright one.

On the playing side, I was very pleased to see that the selection committee approach to county competition teams was rewarded with good runs in both the Myhill and Cullington cups. As we have argued for a little time now, home advantage is an almost overwhelming factor in these matches; nevertheless the performances of both of our teams in completing strong home victories before losing narrowly away was most encouraging and I believe that we can build on this in 2010 as we welcome some new players into the squads. As pleasing as the performances during the matches were, the commitment to the practice sessions and the general behaviour of our players, caddies and supporters at all times was an excellent advert for our club (even away at Caister - with another team at the far end of the county - we outnumbered the home supporters!!). I wish you all well for 2010 and will try to hide my disappointment at not making the squad by coming to watch whenever possible.

In our internal competitions we witnessed some excellent golf and a number of significant improvements in handicap – particularly from the younger members who, we all hope, will stay and form the foundation for the future. It is always a delight to see the weekend fourballs being made up of the young and not so young playing together and, hopefully, learning from each other along the way. Special congratulations go to Jake Keeley who won the handicap section of the Club Championship, to Ben Rawsthorne who was the Scratch Champion and to Lewis Daniels who won the Masters.

The many other winners will have their names on the various boards and trophies and it was unfortunate that the weather meant that we were unable to see them at the presentation planned for last Friday; it is good that some have been able to come tonight.

One winner, though, that I would like to make special mention of was Chris Ingram who was kind enough to donate the prize money from the Charity Stableford to my Captain’s charity. That has been added to the generous donations made on my Captain’s Day and the half-share of Chris Mace’s half marathon sponsorship. In fact, as Janet also chose the same charity, we will be able to donate over £2,000 to the Big ‘C’. For this we both thank you all and hope that you will be equally generous in your support of the 2010 captains.

The last 2 years have been both busy and rewarding as you have kindly selected me to be the Vets and then Club Captain. Throughout this time I have had the help and support of Ian and his team, without which, the task would have been impossible. I have also been fortunate to have committee members and other people who have given their time, advice and help whenever they’ve been asked and, of course, nobody more so than my wife Janet, who has had one or two things to look after as well!!

I close by wishing my successor as much enjoyment and satisfaction in the role as I have found and, once again, thank you all for your support.

Ladies Captain’s Report;Janet Worthington

The biggest encouragement this year in the ladies section is the number of new members we have welcomed. At the beginning of the year I was concerned that we barely had enough ladies to support the teams but it does seem that we have turned a corner. We have had 11 new members, some fairly young, and some experienced golfers. I do think that this is because the overall package offered at the club is good, there are opportunities to play in competitions on Sunday and Monday and there are now groups of ladies getting together informally and welcoming newcomers on most other days. I hope that this is the start of the section slowly getting stronger.

The ladies section continues to consist of 2 parts, the Sunday ladies and the Monday ladies, some of who rarely meet. I am therefore grateful that Ian allowed me to play the ladies championships over a weekend enabling both sections to take part. It resulted in a larger field than normal and congratulations again to Kelly Whalebelly who won the handicap event whilst 6 months pregnant. I am also grateful to Ian for allowing me to run a Sunday v Monday competition on a Friday night, and to have our Christmas Competition and lunch on a Sunday. The opportunity to mix up was enthusiastically received by all those who attended.

I don’t intend to go through our roll of honour but I would just like to say how proud we are of Brenda Mace who put Bawburgh on the map by winning the regional final of the LGU Silver Medal and of Jean Gower for winning her county colours with the Norfolk vets. In the Leagues we finished 3rd in Division 3, that is exactly in the middle of the middle league! We were only one point behind second place and I feel very proud in the way we maintained our position against some pretty hot opposition. We also did well in the Mail on Sunday getting further than ever before.

I am also pleased at the way that the ladies have taken this year’s changes in their stride. The Ladies Open took place only days after the new course opening. Many of our visitors are regulars and so were very likely to follow the old route. After a few U turns, everyone managed to get round – and the event became a further celebration of the new course opening. The Sunday ladies were the first in the club to take on the change to their competitions being booked on the computer instead of on the boards. This seemed to go seamlessly. There was some pain but gracious acceptance when the Monday ladies followed later in the year. We have also had several changes enforced by the LGU which we absorbed fairly seamlessly.

The ladies have again done their bit in raising money for charities. Michael has already mentioned that both sections raised over £2,000 for the Big C. In addition the ladies have run competitions where the proceeds went to the Break Charity, the Norfolk Junior Girls and the Air Ambulance.

We have not had the Ladies AGM yet – it is on Saturday. So subject to our AGM, I would now like to wish next year’s captain Brenda Mitchell and new committee members well -I wish Brenda a great year.

Finally I would like to thank everyone who has supported me this year. I had a fine set of documentation left to me from last year by Jo, and a very strong and experienced ladies committee. I would also like to thank Michael, the voice of calm in sticky moments, and the Management Team and everyone in the office who were so efficient but also made the job fun.

Veterans Captain’s Report;John Simmons

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I have to say that I consider my year as Veterans Captain to have been an honour and a privilege and I have enjoyed the experience.

It would have been impossible to have represented the Vets section without the tremendous support that I had from the committee of Michael Worthington, Allan Thompson, David Key and this years captain Tony Gotts and I would like to thank them all yet again for their help.

There have been times throughout the year when I have needed advice, Ian was always willing to assist me when I asked for his help and I am grateful to him for that.

The office staff of Allard, Mike and Norman were invaluable in helping with the administration of the competitions that we held during the year and they all showed a willingness to help at any time, so my grateful thanks go to them also.

Having served on the general club committee, I have been privy to see just how much work goes on behind the scenes, especially by Robert and Ian and it is totally obvious to me that the members are considered before any other factor in decision making.

I believe that the Vets section is strong and healthy, with a most of the membership getting involved in the Inter-Club matches and the in-house competitions, most of the members only want to come here and enjoy the golf and the friendship without complaining about trivial matters. The facilities here are excellent and I feel that we are lucky to have them.

There were only a few unpleasant matters to deal with during the year, but that is to be expected with such a large section and these few matters were dealt with fairly and hopefully satisfactorily.

Finally, I would like to wish Tony the very best of luck during his year and I hope that he will enjoy the experience as much as I have done.

Thank you for your kind attention.

Junior Report;Greg Gladwell

This has been a mixed year for the Junior Section.

On the positive side

We have a very exciting crop of juniors that will be together for 3 to 5years and can field a team next year exclusively made up of juniors who are in the County set up for their age groups. If we can supplement this core we can achieve unmatched success for the club in the future.

This group have achieved a great deal in 2009 with many of them having handicaps cut by a quarter to third, and maturing into very decent young men.

There have been far fewer behavioural incidents needing to be addressed by myself and local management which is very encouraging.

As well as wins in the Club competitions, including “majors”, (details on the Junior Board), we reached the final of the County KK Smith Trophy – the juniors equivalent of the Myhill and Cullington. Unfortunately we met Yarmouth in the final at a very windy Hunstanton and their knowledge of such courses and conditions saw us come second best.

A Bawburgh of 3 (Jack and Harry Brister and Ben Aldous) team also won the County Junior Team Event at Eaton and came in the middle of the pack when representing the County at the national finals.

We refreshed both the Junior Knockout, and the Ivan Daniels best improver award which resulted in good competition for the winners being Chris Gladwell and Ben Rawsthorne respectively. We also upgraded some of the trophies, and my thanks to those who facilitated this.

We now have 5 lads with Club handicaps – 29 to 54 – our highest number ever so we hope they come through well in 2010 just as some of our current juniors have in 2009

The Bawburgh Junior Open event in May again saw around 50 entrants and was a big success with the lads, this in a year when some clubs cancelled their Junior Opens for lack of support.

The lost property is made available to the junior section and over £50 was raised in 2009 to supplement funds.

A smaller number of juniors costs the club less in subsidy so a good amount of unspent budget was passed back to the club and our demands on club funds for next year are reduced.

Our Golfmark accreditation allowed us to offer free coaching to many juniors members, non junior and other categories of golfers alike and we were able to give over 100 people free coaching in 2009 for minimal cost to Bawburgh Golf Club.

Less positive news is that the Junior Section has reached a low point in junior membership of around 30 juniors. Many inactive members have left, or active members matured. Bawburgh is faring better than many of the other clubs in Norfolk

With only 10 active CONGU handicappers, and some of them opting to play for other clubs than Bawburgh in team competitions, whilst having a young, enthusiastic and developing team next year our ability to field 5 people per team will be tested

This proved to be the case in the summer of 2009 when we had to cancel one Bass Trophy match (junior league). We are indebted to Mrs Brister for taking up the cudgels and arranging some matches that would otherwise have been cancelled. This allowed us to blood some new youngsters into Bass competitions, and some did exceptionally well. Our overall record was won 3 drew 1 lost 5 conceded 1.

We also saw the lowest ever turnout for the Junior Club Championship. It didn’t stop the quality of golf being high though with Ben Aldous winning the gross and Jack Brister the net.

We said goodbye and thank you to Chris Ingram for his help with the juniors, thus ending a long association of Ingrams with the Juniors.

As it stands there is no deputy Junior Organiser for next year. My own employment arrangements will change as well giving me largely weekends in Norwich. This has caused us to share out tasks between myself and the office team to whom I am grateful to get us through 2010.

For all of the effort that went into arranging the free coaching sessions we didn’t attract any additional junior members. Next year I will pass the arrangement of coaching over to the club professional to arrange.

In closing I think the current state of our category 1 players (handicap 5 or below) reflects why it is worth investing in the Junior Section. Of 11 players with Bawburgh as their home club, 6 have come through the junior set up in the last two to three years.

Finally I would not only like to acknowledge the help of Ian and the office staff with the juniors, and the generosity of the Barnards in providing juniors with excellent playing rights within the club, but also the whole membership for the patience with some of the younger lads, especially if paired up with them in medal rounds, their encouragement and words of wisdom and your willingness to point out dubious etiquette in a constructive manner. Thank you.

 

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