June 6, 2013 Dear Colleagues, It has been around 2 months since I last provided an update, that s not because there hasn t been anything going on, just the opposite in fact. AGM…AGM…AGM A reminder that the Golf Tasmania AGM will be held on June 30th at the Campbell Town Golf Club, Commencing at 11am. Please note that all are welcome however only formally nominated members are entitled to vote and count towards the quorum. If you are interested in attending perhaps also check with your club, if they haven t delegated anyone to attend perhaps they can nominate you! The Board The Board have met twice since I last wrote. The upcoming AGM and the Board proposed motion to make amendments to the Golf Tas constitution have been major discussion points. The Chair has already forwarded some information to clubs and Associations on this and the final details will be included along with the AGM Agenda. Other items of interest included a first quarter financial report against budget and an update on the audit of our 2012 financial statements. The Board also discussed the newly appointed National High performance Coach for Tasmania and how to align that resource with our own. Another item of interest was the scheduling of the Industry/Hall of Fame dinner for 2013. Capitation fees for 2014 have also been set by the Board Junior Golf – MYGolf Program When I last wrote I was able to report that we had a total of 20 School in the state signed up, in the approx 2 months that have past (including term 1 holiday) a further 7 schools have signed on across the state. This continues to be a good news story however with a growing number (perhaps thousands) of kids from grades 4 to 10 now participating in MYGolf at their Primary or High School, I think we need to ensure that we are able to capitalise on this in terms of club junior programs leading into memberships. There is no doubt that the community awareness of the MYGolf product and brand is growing, evidenced by schools now approaching us directly to sign up for the program and the number of parents contacting the office seeking advice on where the program is running at clubs. I expect that this will continue to increase in the lead up and following the official relaunch of MYGolf later this year with the combined backing of Golf Australia (and all the States) the PGA and the GMA. I look forward to establishing contact with clubs and associations to ascertain how we can best assign our combined resources to capitalise on the program. If your club wants to get onboard now is a good time to start those wheels in motion. State Teams Our boys team have recently returned from Western Australia after competing in the Australian Boys Amateur Championship and the Australia Boys Interstate Teams Matches. Ben Elliott form from the North West Coast continued with good from the Tasmanian Junior Masters earlier this year, finishing 12th overall in the Amateur. Jack Tregaskisjago also performed well making the cut for the final two rounds. The boys returned with 1 match won, 1 match squared and 5 match losses, however they should take encouragement that the losses were all close. A number of the players now have the difficult challenge of moving on from the junior ranks, this will open a number of opportunities for boys coming through for the 2014 team. The men’s and women’s team competed on home ground from April 30th to May 3rd at Tasmania Golf Club and Royal Hobart Golf Clubs respectively. The men’s team finishing 3rd after losing close matches on the first day to NSW and SA. The team fought back to beat Vic, square with QLD and beat WA. It was unfortunately not enough to return them to the play off for first and second as they had achieved in the previous year. The Team faced off against Vic in the play off for 3rd and 4th having already conquered them 6 and 1 in the round robin. The Vic s fought back however and squared the match 4/4. It was not enough however as Tas was awarded 3rd on a count back of games. It was always going to be a tough ask for our women’s team given the current amateur talent available in mainland States, but they were able to battle away and complete the series with a win over the South Australian team to finish 5th . Sarah Johnstone was named as team captain and played the entire series at number 1. Sarah finished the series with 3 wins and 3 losses. Two of those losses came at the hands of Minjee Lee and Su-Hyun Oh. Minjee Lee (WA) is the current world No. 2, US Amateur Champion and set a new Royal Hobart course record during the 2012 Elvie Whiteside s event. Su-Hyun Oh (Vic) is currently World No 4 and runner up at the ANZ Ladies Masters. Thank you and congratulations to both Tasmania and Royal Hobart Golf Clubs for hosting these events. Tournaments and Events Finals season is upon us for regional and State pennant titles. Last weekend saw the women square off at Ulverstone Golf Club. Congratulations to Mowbray, Wynyard, Greens Beach and Riverside Golf Clubs for their victories, a full report on results is available at our website. Regional finals for the men still being finalised and the State final set for July 7th. For us, June, July and August are quiet months for tournament golf, apart from the men’s state Pennant Finals. Our next Golf Tas event is the Barclay Shield which is being hosted by Devonport Golf Club. We then jump forward to a host of events in November. Until then… Good hitting to everyone involved. 2014 Events Schedule We are currently working towards finalising our 2014 Tournaments Schedule. We have been in contact with a number of clubs inviting them to host our events and thank them and their members in advance for the use of their facilities. We look forward to working with you. We are also keen to better promote the dates and details of major club and regional events, particularly those included in the Toogood, Lindy Goggin, Athol Sheppard and Girls consistency Trophy calculations. If clubs or associations would provide the dates and details of their events, including a copy of the entry forms (when they are available) we will find a way to promote these through our web page. National Coaching Accreditation Scheme (NCAS) Level 1 Coaching We have scheduled in consultation with area associations dates for National Coach Accreditation Scheme (NCAS) level 1 Coaching courses for each of the districts during September this year. Details have been sent to all clubs and associations, but can also be obtained through our website through the Play Golf tab near the top right hand or by contacting the office. Club Level Rules Accreditation Also in consultation with area associations we have set dates for the running of club level rules accreditation courses in each of the three regions during October. South October 1st North October 8th North West – October 9th Further details and registration forms are available on our web page through the Play Golf tab near the top right hand or by contacting the office. New Handicapping System During June Golf Tasmania in conjunction with Golf Australia have hosted two seminars (North and South), to provide a high-level run-through of the new system, details of implementation timelines, advice on the means by which clubs will receive education on operating the changed functionality in their handicap administration software, and advice on the resources GA will be providing to support the roll-out of the new handicap system. Information and requests for registrations for this event have been sent to all clubs and area associations in early May. Industry Hall of fame Dinner We have set a date for the 2013 Golf Hall of Fame and Industry Dinner. The Dinner will be held at Country Club Tasmania on October 12th. Further details will be following soon, including the invitation and criteria by which people can be nominated for the various categories. Regards Craig French General Manager
Author: Craig French