President:

President Donald welcomed us to Cranbourne Golf Club and the stableford competition for the Grant Haselgrove Trophy. He asked all present to thank the club for the use of their facilities, and their generous donation of our main raffle prize. This was our first of the 4 winter tee-times in our schedule (8 am start). The weather was very pleasant, with a bit of a breeze around to challenge our golfers. The course was in good condition, although most of us found the bunker sand a bit on the hard side. As always at Cranbourne, the lunch and the clubhouse facilities were thoroughly enjoyed by the members. The President was delighted to be back on the golf course for the first time in over a year.  He thanked Phil Horsburgh for looking after him around the golf course, alongside the most enjoyable company of Bill Heron and Ron Wells.

Under the stewardship of Daryl Edwards and John Hiscock our raffle continues to be a successful source of club funds. These funds are used directly to keep our matchday costs competitive (green fees, lunch) so please continue to support our raffle.

Number of Players / Guests:

We had a good turnout today, with 62 players involved in the competition.  John Molloy was a late withdrawal for family reasons. There were no guests today.

Apologies:

There were 14 apologies this month:
Bernie Coyle, John Farrow, Rod Goode, David Heraud, Roger Huxstep, Alex Johnson, Karl Lindberg, Stan Odachowski, Ian Richards, Declan Stephenson, Jeff Stevens, Malcolm Turner, Kelvin Tyler, Neil Wilson.

Starters today:

Donald and the members thanked Ray Underwood, Trevor Bottomley and Keith Aldridge for doing a great job of getting our groups away.   Please take pride in your club and always ensure that you "keep up with the group in front of you". That is the number one priority we have in terms of efficient golf. ('ready golf')
As previously mentioned, we cannot proceed without volunteers to run these events every month, so please consider helping out as a starter, as it is a bit of fun and you will get to know so many more members of the club. Please help your Club.

Membership News:

Our next golfing event will be a stableford competition at Keysborough GC, on Monday 3rd June, 2019 at 8am for the David Vine trophy.  The booking sheet was circulated during our lunchtime. The online booking sheet is also available now.
President Donald also drew our attention to the upcoming Winter Classic event at Eagle Ridge GC on the Mornington Peninsula. This will be held in July in addition to our normal monthly event at Southern GC on Monday July 1st.  It is a 4 man Ambrose team event and will take place on Monday 15th July. The booking system for this event will be open from this week so if you wish to play this magnificent course, please register your interest via the booking system. More details on costs, rules of engagement etc. will be provided at our June event.

Our members 'photo gallery' is largely complete and is available on our website to help put 'names to faces' as we interact with our fellow members at the various events. If you have still to submit your photograph, and this includes our new members, please see either John Molloy or Laurie Comerford during our lunches at any of our events and they'll fix you up.

Our grateful thanks go to both John and Laurie for the magnificent work they have done in putting this together. Well done!.

CoM Business:

Here is a report summary of the business matters being addressed by your Committee of Management.

1. Membership Numbers: ongoing discussions about options to actively recruit new members (male or female) to the VicVets. Membership target should be 120 (currently 86) with a monthly participation around 90 players. Feedback from clubs we currently use, suggests that this number would ensure optimal use of the club facilities including shotgun starts, competitive fees etc. Letter to go out from the President to all members inviting wives, partners and their lady friends as guests to our events at Keysborough and Southern.
2. Golf Insurance cover for individual members who are not covered by Golflink. Various products in the marketplace have been reviewed with further work to be done. Jeff Stevens and Ray Desmond will progress this issue and update the CoM in July.
3. Constitution and Governance.  Work ongoing.
   

Special Achievements:

In the past month or so, we have noted the following successes (in no particular order);

• Tom Buzza won the Easter Tuesday comp at Mansfield, Victoria with a score of +5 off a 25 handicap.  Well played Tom!
• Bernie Coyle won the 'C' Grade scratch trophy at Drouin GC on 27 April off the black markers (par 73) with a score of 98 gross.  Congratulations Bernie!
• Last but certainly not least, our Secretary Jeff Taylor won a NTP at the par 3 12th hole at Patterson River GC on May 3rd. Given the enormous health challenges that Jeff has been overcoming, it is a remarkable achievement.  Take a bow Jeff!  Well done.
  

Congratulations to all our Vets winners.
Thanks go to all those who contributed the information.

Vets Web Site :

The website continues to improve. Members can contribute by suggesting further ideas. These are always welcome.

Question time :

A couple of detailed points were clarified, and then President Donald handed over to our Captain, Harold Hayes.