Match day at Southern Golf Club:

Captain Harold welcomed us to Southern Golf Club and the stableford competition for the Alf Jones Trophy. He asked all present to thank the club for the use of their facilities, and their generous donation of our main raffle prize. The weather outlook was anything but promising, with very strong winds creating havoc inclusive of a buggy and clubs being given swimming lessons and other buggies blowing over or running away from their owners. The conditions clearly suited our higher handicapped players with only the last 2 of the winner and balls-down-the-line players having handicaps below 30.  The course was in very good condition although the recent wet weather detracted from the playability of the bunkers.

Our starters Alan Baker, Reg Davey, Phillip Horsburgh and Jeff Stevens did a great job in getting us going, but they were hampered by late arrivals. When we play a shotgun start members need to be at the course to register 30 minutes before hitoff. This allows 15 minutes to confirm the playing groups and 15 minutes to walk/ride to the starting holes.

Number of Players / Guests:

We had a good turnout today, with 59 players involved in the competition. There were 5 guests today including for the first time in memory two ladies, Tessa Killmister and Faye Quennell. Tessa and Faye have taken membership application forms and will become very welcome members of the club
Warren Stahel set what must be a club record by inviting three guests: John Newby, Ross Wilson & Graeme Hallam. All three have joined the club.

Apologies:

There were 8 apologies this month

Membership News:

Our next golfing event will be the Ambrose at Eagle Ridge for which you must pay in advance.  This is followed by the stableford competition at Keysborough, on Monday 13st August at 8am for the Alf Jones trophy.  Be there by 7:30am.

CoM Business:

1. Member's liability Insurance The major concern of the Committee this month is coverage of members insurance. Vice-Captain Jeff has investigated this matter in detail and reported that all members with a golflinks handicap have satisfactory cover. Coverage for other members is still under review.
2. Club Constitution A need has arisen for a review of the Club's Constitution. A sub-committee will attend to this before the end of the year.
3. Change of venue and date Patterson River has not been able to meet our requirement for a shotgun start next month. Captain Harold has been able to make a booking with Keysborough in place of Patterson River, but the match will be on the 12th August and not the 5th as was the original event at Patterson River.
4. Committee assistant roles Succession planning: Several of the Committee roles require background skills and the Committee strongly desire that members with the necessary skills or a willingness to learn these skills come forward with view to taking up assistant roles. Please let Secretary Jeff know if you can help. A strong case in point is Peter Ross who has acted as Assistent Handicapper over the years and has quietly contributed greatly to the efficient running of the club.
5. 2020 Agenda Planning for next year's agenda is well under way and this has to be finalised for printing by VVGA in early August.

Special Achievements:

These will be reported next month as they are currently unavailable;

Vets Web Site:

Our web creation software is still giving problems and Laurie is not getting any support from our software provider. The website itself is unaffected by this, but till the issue is resolved draft versions of web pages will have to be proof-read on the website.