With the holiday season now well behind us, and with the majority of you totally refreshed and ready to go again, it would certainly help if we could look forward to an ‘Indian’ summer. In saying that, a number of clubs I have visited lately seem to be suggesting the weather has been good for golf this year. Having just returned from a motorhome holiday in France we certainly didn’t have the summer that most tourists enjoyed, albeit I did not venture anywhere near a golf course.
So what do we have to look forward to over the next few months? I would naturally suggest the National Conference has to be up there alongside another great sporting occasion – the Rugby World Cup. Having secured Sir Clive Woodward to be our main keynote speaker, I am sure he will offer his opinions on how the home nations have fared in this year’s tournament. With delegate registrations steadily arriving, if you are thinking of attending I would suggest you register sooner rather than later – we have a limit of 200 delegates and are well past the half way mark at present.
Over the two and half years since I was appointed to this position I have been invited to a number of conferences, some just to observe, others to participate and present. In all of these events I am always looking at ways in which we can provide an improved educational experience to you the member. Looking ahead to November, I believe we have learnt from my visits and will deliver the best Conference to date. The opportunity to network with fellow industry professionals linked with a mix of presentations as well as the commercial sector offers an opportunity that should not be missed.
Looking beyond the Conference, the Board of Directors are continuing with the development of the Future Strategic Plan. The outline of this will be shared with you at the National Conference. If you want to know more, select the breakout session ‘Meet the Directors’.
Around the time you receive this magazine we will be involved with our main sponsor Fairway Credit for their Finals Golf Day at the Forest of Arden GC on September 21. This is always an excellent occasion at an outstanding venue. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Fairway Credit team for their continued support. Once again they will be the main National Conference sponsor and, with the present situation surrounding the consumer credit licence, it offers a great opportunity to meet up with one of their team.
Regional visits
Over the next couple of months National Captain Clive Hadley and I will be travelling to the different sides of the country for the autumn regional meetings. At present the itinerary is to visit the Chilterns & Home Counties region at Beaconsfield GC, followed by the South East region at Mid Kent GC in September, then off to Hayling GC in the Southern region, Brocton Hall GC in the Midlands and then Frilford Heath GC for the London & Home Counties to complete October. Having seen some of the agendas, I would suggest that you take the time to attend one of these meetings.
Having reported last month on the finalists of the Golf Management Awards, the judges have now commenced with their club visits which is a most interesting exercise and one that I always treat as a learning curve. I don’t think I have ever walked away from one of these visits and not picked up something new – it just proves the value of networking and how we can always keep learning. On the subject of learning, our review of the on-line reference library is now well underway. Part of the task is to understand which documents are used most often and, on the other hand, identify the files that are either never opened or opened very infrequently. Following on from this, over the next couple of months we will begin to expand the library with material based upon what the members require.
Don’t forget to register for the National Conference.
By Bob Williams
