Committee Meeting Minutes 08/11/2010

Wimbledon Ancient Golf Society
Minutes of Meeting of the Committee at the Rose and Crown, Wimbledon Village
Monday November 8th 2010

Present Gerry Robinson (GR) (Chairman), Gerry McGuffie, Rhod James (RJ), Richard Latham (RL), John Stembridge (JS)

Apologies for absence Mike Beament (MB), Chris Bunning (CB), Steve Stoner (SS)

1. Minutes of last meeting
The Minutes of the last meeting on 6th September were produced and approved.

2. Finance
In the absence of CB, RJ reported on the figures. The following does not include changes as a result of the Pine Ridge fixture on Saturday 6th November.
We currently have Ł3,154 in current account, Ł6,358 on deposit and therefore total cash of Ł9,512. Of this retained members funds amount to Ł250, the hole in one fund amounts to Ł1,051 and there is a Society balance of Ł8,211, of which Ł5,000 is allocated to the 2012 tour fund.

3. Fixtures
RL reported that five WAGS teams have entered the Burhill event on Friday 10th December. They are (with the Captain appearing first):-

Peter Berring, Fred Berring, Rob Jones and Quintin Heaney.
Chris Charman, Anthony Shutes, RJ and Steve Shaw
Mike Wells, George Dunsire, Mike Leigh and Nigel Caufield
SS, Simon Marett, Andy Burn and CB
Mike Dearden, Sam Dearden, Dan Maskell and Chris Stokes

RL to liaise with CB over payment. CB will pay Burhill and every player should then give payment to CB on the day.
RL proceeded to outline the shape of the 2011 fixture list which currently looks like the following:-

March - West Byfleet
April - 1st choice Puttenham Golf Cub. However RJ reminded everyone that previously we could only play 18 holes there. It was agreed that if Puttenham will not accommodate us from 27 holes then we may look elsewhere. GM recommended Hanckley Common as a fall back, which is in the same area (Guildford/Godalming).
May - Lingfield Park
June - Dorset Tour organised by SS, pencilled in for the weekend of Friday 3rd to Sunday 5th June. We will return to Parkstone on the Friday, play Isle of Purbeck on the Saturday but find a new course on the Sunday given that East Dorset Golf Club was not particularly popular last time.
July - It was agreed to accept the Bob Hill/Steve Shaw proposal to hold the People's Trophy and Shaw Shield on consecutive days in July. The People's Trophy will therefore take place on Friday 1st July at a venue to be chosen by Bob Hill somewhere in Sussex. Seaford Head will then be on Saturday 2nd July. It was also agreed that people can play either or both events, with a party staying over night in Brighton on the Friday subject to numbers. The Betchworth Park event will then take place later in July.
August - Richmond
The Cornwall Tour will take place on the weekend of 9th to 11th September. Again we will play Launceston and St Mellion but a new location is to be found for the Sunday. There was a long debate about the Sunday fixture. Various adverse reports about Teign Valley were tabled. Woodbury Park is not available. RL will explore other options and possibly speak to Andy Burn who has recommended a course in the vicinity of Taunton. It was noted that everyone thinks the bar and restaurant areas at the newly designed St Mellion are dull. It was agreed in principle to therefore go out and go on the Saturday night of the tour with transport arranged. RL will locate a suitable local pub to accommodate the tour party.
Late September - Wimbledon Park (AGM)
October - there is now a gap in the fixture list following the moving of the People's Trophy. It was agreed that GM will sponsor the new event (which will be christened the "Scruffy Sporran"). GM to locate a course and liaise with RL.
November - Pine Ridge

It was agreed to target the fixture list for 2011 being circulated by the end of January. Friday 28th January was also pencilled in as the WAGS social event date.

4. Membership
Brian Batchelor was tabled as a new member. He was proposed by CB and seconded by GR. He was voted into the Society and will join on a handicap of 27.
It was also noted that Anthony Shutes will become a full member again for 2011. GM also reported an expression of interest from Simon Marett's brother. It was agreed in principle that Simon's brother can join. GM to liaise with Simon over the application form, etc.

5. Handicaps
GM presented his review of the handicaps at the end of the 2010 season. He reported he has studied the form book over the last 3 years. Commenting generally he said that most people are on a fairly strict handicap at the moment. 33 or 34 is a pretty good score for most people because WAGS handicaps are fairly tough. He also commented that most members "peak and trough" during the course of the season.
After a lot of debate, the following changes were tabled and agreed by those present.

Eric Warburton cut from 11 to 10.
Mike Lee cut from 20 to 17.
CB increased from 14 to 16.
GM increased from 7 to 9.
Martin Sumpton cut from 12 to 11.
Peter Berring increased from 19 to 20.
Steve Shaw increased from 15 to 16.
Bob Hill increased from 12 to 13.

It was also agreed that GM will review and identify everyone who is on a ".5" handicap at the moment. JS is to do what he can to record the .5s on the website once they have been identified by GM.

6. Other Matters
JS said there is nothing to report in relation to the website at present. It was also agreed that SS would report and advise on 2011 merchandise in due course.

RDFJ
9.11.2010