ANNUAL REPORT OF THE MENS CLUB COMMITTEE 2011

Added: 29-11-2011 09:35:55

 




MENS CLUB COMMITTEE 2011

OFFICERS
CAPTAIN: Michael McGowan
PRESIDENT: Joe Gannon
PAST CAPTAIN: Pat Forkan
VICE CAPTAIN: Bryan Kilfeather
HON. SECRETARY: Anton Murphy
HON. TREASURER: Aiden Anderson
TRUSTEE: P. J. Conway
TRUSTEE: Gerry McManus

MEMBERS
COMPETITIONS: David Taylor
HANDICAPS: Jim Flood.
JUNIOR GOLF: Aidan Doyle
PUBLIC RELATIONS: Vincent McGee
SPONSORSHIP: Michael McGrath
TEAM CO-ORDINATOR: Dave Dent
                                  
COMMITTEE MEETINGS
The Men’s Committee held a total of 13 meetings with a high average attendance rate since the Men’s Club AGM in 2010.

TEAM CAPTAINS 2011
Teams Co-ordinator: David Dent
Senior Cup: Martin McTernan
Barton Shield: Martin McTernan
Junior Cup: Padraig Hanley
Jimmy Bruen Shield: Ronan Keane
Pierce Purcell Shield: Paul Keyes
Mixed Foursomes: Gary Devins/Hazel Gillen
Jack O'Sullivan Trophy: Roddy Gaynor
Connacht Shield: Donal Cronin
Cecil Ewing Shield: Kieran McDonagh
Seniors (over 55): Jim McGill
JB Carr: Padraig Keane
Fred Daly Trophy: Garth McManus
Junior Foursomes: Joe Keyes
Kenny Cup: Tom Ford
Boy's U 15: Eoin Armstrong

REPRESENTATIVE HONOURS 2011
Irish Team Captain: Kevin Flanagan
Mens Internationals: Gary McDermott
Mens Interprovincials: Barry Anderson, Michael Durcan, Gary McDermott, Steffan O’Hara
Boy  Internationals: Sean Flanagan (U16), David Brady (U14)
Junior Interprovincials: Thomas Finnegan, Sean Flanagan & Declan Reidy (U18)
David Brady (U15)  

SUB COMMITTEE REPORTS

Finance: Aidan Anderson
The financial report for the year ending 31st December 2011 in respect of the Men’s Club has already been presented. In addition to regularly updating the Men’s Committee Aidan was also our representative on the main Finance Committee and reported to that committee on a regular basis concerning the financial position of the Men’s Club.

Competitions: David Taylor
The Men's Committee would like to acknowledge all the trojan and unseen work of the competitions team during 2011 under Dave’s leadership. These were David Cunningham, Peter Maguire and Eugene Henry. These were the members who put it in every weekend to tell us whether our 36 pts figured or not. Dave also wanted me to express his appreciation to the generosity of many members who never refused a request for assistance and the continued support he received through the year from Teresa and David.
Approximately 120 competitions were played during the year which places an onerous task for any hard working committee. Open Week, while moving to a June date to facilitate representative fixtures was nonetheless a success. Dave and his team were very appreciative of the rapid publication of results by PRO Vincent and Emmanuel McCormack all through the season.
It is fair to say that Dave and his committee’s set a new gold standard in the organisation of competitions and presentations this year.
We thank Dave for looking after competitions this year as he retires from council.

Our Majors - Prize Winners 2011
Captains Prize  - Frank Gleeson 
Presidents Prize - Alan Flanagan
Golfer of the Year - John Feeney 

Teams: Dave Dent
Our 2011 teams concluded this year’s campaign with Provincial pennants in Junior Foursomes, Fred Daly and Senior Cup and these teams and represented Connacht in the National Cup & Shields Finals. While recognising and complementing the success of these teams pride of place must go to the Junior Foursomes team, captained by Joe Keyes who brought home the Green Pennant.
Special mention must also go to our Jack O’Sullivan team, led by Roddy Gaynor, for their great success in winning that trophy.
The Committee would like to compliment the dedication and efforts of all the team captains, selectors and players who represented the Club throughout the year.
The Committee would also like to acknowledge the tremendous support provided by the members at both home & away matches.
The Captain and Team Captains wish to acknowledge the assistance received from the Club Professional and his assistants in preparing the various teams for matches throughout the year.
Dave Dent now stands down from council and his role as teams co-ordinator. We acknowledge his service to the men’s club over the last 5 years in various roles.

Sponsorship: Mike McGrath
The Men’s Club increased the number of sponsors this year to 43 from 39 (11 new) through the combined efforts of Mike, Dave Taylor and Director of Golf. This is a significant performance given the economic times! The key objectives of the year was to prove value to the sponsors and show appreciation by running well attended presentations thus attaining continued commitment. It is important that members make our sponsors continually aware of their appreciation and awareness of their support. We wish to thank all our sponsors for their generous support. While unable to continue in his role we also thank Mike for his work on sponsorship and he has indicated that he will provide support and assistance to allow the knowledge gained this year to be passed on.

Entertainment: Bryan Kilfeather Vice Captain
A full programme of entertainment took place during the year as outlined below.
1) Drive In – January First
The Captains Drive in took place on the 1st January.  As usual the Male Voice Choir performed in front of a packed bar. The traditional sing song took place and all members thoroughly enjoyed the day, especially our Captain, Michael.
2) Social mixed foursomes
Our social mixed foursomes on Friday evenings this season was simply bedevilled and derailed by our atrocious summer weather and with having to fit around the busy representative programme of club matches inter club, provincial and international events. In the face of all this adversity Shane and Emma Flanagan were the valiant organisers.
3) Open Music Sessions and social evenings
A number of musical sessions and successful evenings were held in conjunction with the mixed foursomes, presentations and feature nights surrounding the major events of the year. Of special note was the Captain's night when a number of "young trainee" musicians gave an impromptu performance which bodes well for their future budding music careers.
Bryan in his role as vice captain played a very active and influential role on the committee and together with the Captain represented our committee on the Management Council. We know that he will prove to be a most effective and popular Captain for 2012

Public Relations: Vincent McGee
Newspapers (Emmanuel McCormack)
Competition results were sent weekly to both national newspapers, the Irish Times and Irish Independent. Reports on all aspects of Men’s Golf, including competition results and relevant photos were sent weekly to the local newspapers, the Sligo Champion, and the Weekender.

Website (Vincent McGee)
During the year the club website was upgraded and redesigned. The site is now hosted by local company DMac Media who implemented a new more modern Content Management System that has helped to streamline and simplify content uploads. All sections of the site have been revamped and the addition of ‘drop down’ menus have enhanced navigation with the majority of information now available in no more than three ‘clicks’.

Content:
• The co operation of the Competitions Secretary David Taylor and his committee in providing results and information was outstanding during the year.
• Website traffic (01/01 2011 to 18/10/2011) continues on an upward trend with a 30% increase in hits over the same period last year. 
• The four major events hosted by the club in 2011 (West of Ireland, Inter-provincials, Home Internationals & Carr Mara) were a big factor in this increase. For example over the three days of the Carr Mara there were 2605 visitors to the website with over 10,000 pages viewed. Almost 50% of these hits were from the USA.
• Approximately 60% of traffic to the site is generated by our members with 40% from visitors. (Rest of Ireland 55%, UK 22%, USA 15%, Netherlands, Canada, Germany, Sweden, Spain 8%).

Major Events
2011 was a unique year in the history of the club with the hosting of four very prestigious major events, the West of Ireland, Inter-Provincials, Home Internationals and Carr Mara. Coverage of all these events was comprehensive with previews, reports and photos published online and in the local papers.
Coverage of the West of Ireland and the *Home Internationals included live updates (scores, photos and reports) from the course. The interactive coverage on our website (Cover-It Live) again proved hugely popular and attracted viewers from home and abroad. A link was also set up on the TV in the clubhouse.
Thanks to Emmanuel McCormack for his invaluable assistance, both technical and on course, during these events.
Thanks also to members David Dunne, Ronan Keane, Declan Keane, Conor Neiland, Aiden Anderson and Shane Flanagan for their live reporting during the Home Internationals.

* In association with the Golf Union of Ireland.


Links and Bomore Driving Range: Pat Forkan
2011 proved a challenging year for our Championship links given the very demanding schedule of key events through the season. Also course staff changes added to that complexity. Paddy Morgan and his links committee are to be commended for an outstanding performance. Our Past Captain Pat Forkan, still playing a very active role, was our representative on that committee and kept the Men’s Council fully briefed through the year. In a welcome development the club recruited a new course manager, Graeme Beatt in October and under the guidance of our external agronomist we look forward to continued development in 2012. A quiet acknowledgement is due to the small group of members who went out with Paddy Morgan most Thursday mornings divoting and repairing greens. Of significant concern to us is the issue of erosion at the second beach and the ground collapse due to drainage issues on the 17th fairway.

Our 9 hole Bomore course continues to mature and develop. Winter league scoring demonstrates that it stands very well against the championship course. It increases in popularity with our members as a less pressured and lower profile facility and this in turn takes the traditional pressure off the starting holes of the championship course. The improvements to car parking facilities in Bomore this year has also assisted here. With a more settled staff position going forward, we look to improve our drainage arrangements in 2012 thus further enhancing our enjoyment of the “new” 9 holes.
The Bomore driving range has proved to be a great success for our members and it has also drawn very favourable comment from all our distinguished visitors this year. It would only be fair to acknowledge Pat’s key role in its vision, development and provision as he now steps down from the men’s committee.    

Handicaps: Jim Flood
Jim and his handicap committee of David and Tony Cunningham completed a busy year maintaining the handicaps for all our members in accordance with CONGU's latest publication of the Unified Handicapping System.
- Attendance at Annual Handicap Review Workshop held by Connacht Branch in November 2010 in McWilliam Park Hotel, Claremorris.  The primary purpose of the workshop was to achieve a consistent approach throughout the province when dealing with the application of the annual handicap review process (A.H.R.) and to learn from the experiences of the other clubs in the province.

- Completion of the Annual Review - a process that reviews and adjusts as necessary the handicap of all members to ensure that, as far as practicable, they reflect current playing ability.
- Completion and Submission to Connacht Branch of “ Annual Handicap Review Audit Report” .This is a report which Connacht Branch requires covering the details of Notable Performances of players for handicap adjustment purposes.

- Regular Review   of members playing handicaps along with the provision of new handicaps

Junior Golf: Aidan Doyle
It has been another successful year for the Junior Boys Programme which was captained this year by Thomas Finnegan.
The weekly junior competitions in Bomore were well attended from April through to November. We had many new prize winners during the season which is encouraging for the future of junior golf in the club.
All of the Saturday competitions were supervised by member’s parents. Additional competitions were held each Wednesday during the months of July and August. The Junior Committee would like to thank all the parents for their time & commitment throughout the season and to all the members of the club for their understanding in facilitating these competitions.

The coaching programme run by Jim Robinson and his team was very well supported and we expect to promote a winter coaching programme in the coming months.

The highlights of the year were as follows:
Our Junior Foursomes Team captained by Joe Keyes with Vice Captain Serryth Heavey secured both Provisional & National Titles with the Green Pennant presented to the Captain in August.
The Fred Daly team captained by Garth McManus with Vice Captain Anton Murphy won the Provisional Title and were narrowly beaten in the National Final by Carton House GC.
Three Junior  members Thomas Finnegan, Sean Flanagan & Declan Reidy were selected on the Connacht Under 18 Team for the Inter Provisional held at Co. Sligo
Sean Flanagan was selected to represent Ireland at U 16 level in Scotland
David Brady  was selected to represent Ireland at U 14 level England
David Brady was selected on the Connacht Under 15 Inter –Pros at Ardee GC
Alan Gaynor won the Connacht Boys U18 Close Championship at Ballinrobe GC
Our Junior team won the Dr JR Mahon Cup by defeating Portmarnock Junior team in the annual Port V Point challenge at Portmarnock GC in October.

The Junior Committee is very grateful to Captain Michael McGowan and the Men’s Branch for the support and encouragement given to the boys throughout the year. We would also like to acknowledge the help & assistance that our Director of Golf, David O’Donovan and Teresa Banks provided throughout the season.


The junior committee members are Tom Ford, Aidan Doyle, Joe Keyes, Simon Rooney, Eoin Armstrong, Terry Brady and Mike McGrath. We would like to acknowledge the hard work and commitment shown by the committee during the year.

West of Ireland Championship 2011
The 2011 Radisson SAS Hotel sponsored Championship was another memorable event held in unusually good weather conditions for the whole championship.
Paul Cutler of Portstewart defeated Irish international team-mate, Rathmore member, Alan Dunbar, 4 & 2.
Cutler reached the final beating local member Gary McDermott in a hard fought battle. Dunbar played blistering golf to defeat Muskerry’s Niall Gorey in the second semi-final.
We would like to thank the Radisson Blu Hotel Group most sincerely for their continued generous sponsorship.

Inter Provincial and Home International Championships
County Sligo was again honoured to provide the venue for The Inter-Provincial and Home International Championships in 2011. The club assisted the Branch and GUI in facilitating and running these Championships. In the Interprovincial series Connacht emerged victorious captained by Strandhill member Adrian Wynne, and with 4 of our club members on the team Michael Durcan, Steffan O’Hara, Barry Anderson and Gary McDermott.
In the Home Internationals Series the Irish team manager was local member Kevin Flanagan and local member Gary McDermott debuted for his first senior international cap. The Irish Team went agonisingly close to winning the event only to lose out on the
final afternoon.
The Club drew very significant favourable comment from all of our distinguished players and officials from the 4 Unions from the manner in which the events were organised. We wish to acknowledge the  role of Trustee Gerry McManus in chairing the organisation of the home internationals and the contribution of Niamh Crowley and the Men’s Choir to an opening ceremony to remember.      

Carr Mara Trophy
We were honoured to host the Carr Mara trophy here in Rosses Point in 2011. This unique event brings together seven of the top clubs in the USA and seven from Ireland on a bi-annual basis. The objectives of the competition are to honour the lives of Joe Carr and Wellington Mara through this friendly event between Irish and American golf clubs and to foster relationships among the members.
The Irish participants were Ballybunnion, County Louth, Sutton, Lahinch, Portmarnock, Royal Portrush and County Sligo.
The USA was represented by Belair, Garden City, Oak Hill, Oakmont, Pine Valley, The Olympic Club and Winged Foot.
Following a series of qualifying competitions our club was represented by Tony Cunningham, David Dunne, Tom Crowley, Niall Stafford, Tom Forde and Tom Gavin and captained by Joe Keyes.
Sutton Golf Club team won the event and the new Carr Mara Trophy following two days of fierce competition in very difficult weather conditions. Runners up were The Olympic Club of San Francisco.
Local player David Dunne won the individual award finishing two shots ahead of Randy Haag of The Olympic Club. The Olympic Club San Francisco will host the 2013 contest.
Michael McNamara and his organisational team deserve due credit for a superb organised event in challenging weather conditions. Again Niamh Crowley and the Choir provided great support to a great Gala Dinner.

Cecil Ewing Memorabilia
During the year, and through the good offices of one of our trustees Gerry McManus, the opportunity arose whereby Cecil’s daughter and son, Ann Bradshaw and Tommie Ewing, agreed to share with the Club the pictorial record and other memorabilia of the golfing career of our greatest ever player the late Cecil Ewing. A small group undertook the renovation and display, as yet not fully finished, which is now in our council chamber. Only on its examination do you appreciate the breath and scale of Cecil’s achievements in a remarkable golfing career as a player and administrator. We are indebted to Gerry and Padraig Keane for their significant inputs and to Ann and Tommy for their generosity. It is a most worthy display to have for members and visitors alike and greatly enhances the sense of our club’s history and tradition and Cecil’s role in that.

Connacht Branch
Our representative on the council was John Durcan. The Men’s Club would like to acknowledge his continued input at Connacht Branch level. Also in recent days we are informed that the Provincial Council has announced that our member, Gary McDermott, has become the 8th recipient of the Mayo Crystal Connaught Golf Award for “Senior Golfer of the Year” in recognition of his performances in 2011.

Local Rules
A local Rules sub-committee comprising Tony Cunningham, Dave Dent and Mary Kennedy was formed under the chair of the Hon Secretary. Following a detailed review of local rules both the Championship and Bomore courses and recommendations made to the Men’s Council, a revised set of Local Rules was adopted and are currently in implementation phase. 

Inter Club Match
The Club accepted an invitation to visit Portmarnock GC for our bi-annual Port Vs Point match in October. In our match the Club was represented by the Men’s Council. Despite some inclement weather we nonetheless vanquished our hosts in a tight but friendly match. The Club is most thankful for the welcome and extensive hospitality of Portmarnock Club Captain, David Fleury and his team.

Membership & Green fee income
Like the vast majority of golf courses, 2011 was a difficult year in membership terms. We saw a reduction of 22% in membership in the club with the related loss of income.
While not primarily the responsibility of the Men’s club it is an issue of concern for all.

President: Joe Gannon
Joe Gannon presided in accordance with the values and traditions of the office of Club President throughout his term of office He now retires after his second year in office. We are indebted to Joe for his input, wisdom, and guidance over the last 2 years.

Trustees: PJ Conway & Gerry Mc Manus
The Men’s Club would once again like to acknowledge the tremendous enthusiasm, support and input from the two male trustees in the Golf Club. The trustees attended most of our meetings making significant contributions and provided the Committee throughout the year with the benefit of their invaluable experience.  This year PJ Conway steps down from his position as trustee. We are indebted to PJ for his long and valued service to our club not only as trustee but in all the various offices he has held with distinction in our club and we thank him for that.

Deceased Members
The Men’s Club would like to sympathise with the family and relatives of members who have died during the past 12months.

Miscellaneous matters
• A number of Fundraising events supporting local community projects was held by the Club in 2011.
• The Captain and Terry Brady represented the Club at the GUI Champions Dinner in January 2011.

Behind the Facts....
Behind the facts of the of the major events of the season: The West, Open Week, Interprovincial series, Home International series and Carr Mara trophy lies a much bigger story. It’s about the leadership of our Captain, the organisation skills of trustee Gerry McManus and the Carr Mara team. But Its mainly about our members volunteering  to do anything we asked of them , it’s about the Choir, the juniors who helped, the ladies for their support – all  responding to the demands of these events and a coming together in giving of their time, commitment, and effort. On behalf of Captain Michael and the Men’s Council we thank you, our members, for your real and practical support in making these events the outstanding success they were.

2012
There are a number of significant issues on which the Committee would like to see progress in 2012: Coastal erosion and fairway collapse/drainage issues with regard to the 17th Fairway. While being aware of the cost issues involved we look to the management council to bring forward appropriate solutions to protect our key asset for the longer term.
The loss of income to the golf club with reducing membership numbers and a stagnant green fee income will continue to present significant financial challenges to our club going forward. 

In conclusion I wish to acknowledge the cohesive way in which committee members worked together and assisted each other in the busy year that we had. Particularly I thank all who supported my role this year - fellow council members and club members. Finally, on your behalf, I want to thank the full time staff of the club – David, Teresa, Tom, Harvey, Donal and his staff for the service they have given us in the last year.

This concluded the Hon. Secretary’s report for 2011.

Anton Murphy
HON. SECRETARY

 

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