Chesfield Downs Golf Club – Club Committee AGM – 15th Nov 2016

In Attendance

Introduction

Mark Smith opened the meeting and gave a brief review of the 25th Anniversary Year. He welcomed and gave his and the Members best wishes to incoming Club Captain, Kathy Dale.

General Manager Report

Good evening and thank you for attending this year’s AGM

2016 has been a challenging year with the first 6 months significantly impacted by some pretty rubbish weather and the second half of the year seeing a number of changes in the team. I often refer in my reports to the fact that every year has in bumps in the road but when you look back they are just bumps that we overcome as a club and we can reflect on another enjoyable year at the club.

This year was a significant one in the clubs history. Our 25th Anniversary. This occasion was mark with a number of events some organised by the sections others by the club. These events really brought everyone together and for all of the guests that attended these events it was clear to see how much this club means to everyone and how strong the bond we have as members and staff at the club. The anniversary golf day was the first of the club events and was such an enjoyable day. Everything from the weather to the golf, the food and entertainment was superb. The trick shot show at the end was still one of my highlights of the year. The day was made more poignant as it was Ed’s last day at the club after 25 years of service. I would like to once again recognise Ed’s contribution at the club and thank him for the many years of dedication to delivering you great course conditions. Next up was the anniversary dinner where we welcomed back some old faces, Henry, Mag’s and Ed once again. Plus some guests who were key to starting this club and helping shape what it is today. Jonathon Gaunt Course architect and Tim Franklin our landlord. All of our guests commented on what an exceptional night it was and what a fantastic atmosphere there is at the club.

Once again this year I have played more golf than I intended to enjoying a fantastic trip to Princesses Golf club superbly organised by Ady and his committee. The venue was perfect and as always the behaviour and atmosphere made the weekend a memorable one. Next up for me was the longest day challenge. As with the Captains trip I hadn’t planned to do this either in fact there was no way I was doing the longest day challenge but I was persuade to do it and I don’t have any regrets. The camaraderie was great and the money raised for

• Mark Smith – Club Captain • Tim Hudson – General Manager • Andy Copeland – Course Manager • Adrian Barton – Mens Captain • Craig Crowhurst – Mens Vice Captain • Kathy Dale – Ladies Captain

• Rod Unger – Seniors Captain • Jackie Crabb – Junior Chairperson • John Gresty – Seniors Vice Captain • Jackie Reid – Ladies Vice Captain + 32 Members from all sections

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Macmillan will make a massive difference. The charity efforts at the club continue to stand out amongst anything I see on my travels so a massive congratulations to all sections on the money you have raised and thank you to those who have been so generous. A special mention to James for the first junior Captains charity day raising in excess of £3.5k........I can’t think of any other clubs where such a total has been raised by the junior Captain.

Normally at this point I would turn my attention to the golf course and provide you with details of what happen in 2016 and our plans for the winter and the 2017 season. Luckily for me I have been able to delegate this important task to our new course manager Andy. When going through the recruitment process to replace Ed, we took the decision to search the wider market to ensure we found the best possible candidate. Having selected from an excellent pool of CV’s we narrowed it down to those who were going through to interview and it was clear through this process we had found a stand out candidate. Andy has done an exceptional job over the last 5 months and I am personally very excited to see what he can achieve over the winter and I know the condition of the course next season will be at another level to what we have experienced. As you will have seen from Andy’s handouts tonight we have secured funding to deliver a number of projects on the course that will make a big impact. I know many of you have been frustrated at the lack of investment in the course and whilst understanding the trading challenges we face in the golfing industry we are all keen to see ongoing improvement. This will be a great start and hope we can continue with these types of projects on an annual basis. So to wrap up my course report; thank you to Andy and the team for their hard work and dedication that puts are course on a pathway of improvement that I know will exceed your expectations.

In the clubhouse we have seen a number of changes to personnel saying goodbye to Emily, Hilary and in the next couple of weeks Joel. We are always sad to see staff go but if I use Andy as an example it can often be a positive change. We still have a couple of vacancies to fill in F&B but I am pleased to welcome Rebecca and Wayne to the team as Events Manager and Head Chef. I am delight with how they have settled in and I am sure with their skills and excellent experience they will continue the good work of those they replaced. I would like to put on record my thanks to Joel for his services to the club over the last 5 years. I have worked with Joel for 17 years at three different clubs and I will really miss working with him. The food he has produced has been to an exceptional standard and the difference he has made to the F&B department during his time here is considerable. I wish him all the very best for the future.

Other changes include James Clarke returning as a qualified pro, Lewis has successfully taking over from Simon as our new Health Club Manager and Richard Williams who is here tonight has taken on the role of Deputy General Manager to work with me and lead the club operations giving greater management support to team.

The academy team continue their good work and the standard of coaching and results that have been achieved are testament to the quality of coaches we have. With the introduction of the Skytrack launch monitor we have the equipment, facilities and coaches that mean you have no excuses for poor golf! Next year we have exciting plans to enhance the pro’s engagement with our members and we will keep you posted with more details.

As usual I will sign off by thanking my team who are a pleasure to work with and really make this club something we can all be proud of.

Also to our Captains. Kathy, we are incredibly lucky to have had you take on the ladies captaincy for the second time and we are even more luckily you will be our Club Captain next year. Thanks you and good luck in 2017 I look forward to working with you again. Ady, with your busy work commitments I don’t know how you have managed it all this year. Thank you for taking this role on and doing such a great job despite the demands on your time.......and Rod it has been a pleasure, it never easy looking after 160 plus seniors but you have done a great job and I am delight with the money you have been able to raise for your charity. Mark Thank you for your support over the last 2 years it has been much appreciated and you have been a pleasure to work with.

To Craig, Jackie, John and Daniel I look forward to working with you in 2017 and supporting your sections so all our members enjoy their leisure time at Chesfield Downs.

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Course Manager Report

Chesfield Downs Golf and Country Club – Winter Projects

Bunker Work

To continue progressing Chesfield Downs and the playing experience for members/visitors I want reduce the man hours spent in the fairway bunkers and apply them somewhere else. But most importantly, by reducing the size of the bunkers, it will increase the standards of presentation and playing experience which will be sustainable for longer parts of the year.

5th Fairway Bunkers

- A straight forward plan where we use the current back or front edge of the bunker and revet a new edge at the opposite side. We will infill the remainder of the bunker with soil from around the course. I will address the poor drainage in the bunkers by uncapping the current drain line or reinstall a new line that can connect to the

surrounding drainage network. Currently the approach to the green bottle necks and all traffic (1of2) to the green passes through this area. Once the bunkers have settled down, I will reshape the approach around the newly shaped fairway bunkers and widen the approach. Visually it will enhance the hole and importantly reduce traffic wear.

Again I will carry out the same work to reduce the size of this bunker. We have carefully considered where to leave a sand trap so we do not compromise the holes design or playability. I will increase the long rough on the left hand side between 16 and 17 ever so slightly to add some definition to that section of the hole

16th Fairway Bunker

6th Fairway Bunker

Following on from the bunkers on the 5th hole, I will replicate the same process with this bunker. I will infill the back two thirds leaving the front which is still perfectly placed for a wayward tee shot. Build up the back lip to create a very manageable bunker.

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15th Men’s Competition Tee

Tee leveling and extension Works

The most talked about tee in the men’s section. A lengthy par 4 with OOB right and a water hazard left. It requires a long, straight tee shot followed up with a lengthy second. The tee is uneven and it points you towards the water hazard. I want to extend the tee surface 2M to the right (looking at it) which will enable

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golfers to feel more confident to hit their drives down the center. To start, I will strip the turf off using our turf cutter and re use the turf for revetting the bunkers. I will use material from around the course to build the base of the tee up and use the Blec to level. A drain line will be cut down the Left hand side of the tee intercepting the water runoff from the field next door and run into an existing drain line. It will be topped off with a 100mm layer

of 70:30mix root zone and re-turfed.

Ladies 10th Tee - The ladies 10th has many humps and hollows. We are not looking to increase the shape or size of the tee, only to level the playing surface. To start I will strip the turf off, use the Blec to level the existing root zone, add a further 50mm of new root zone and finish off with new turf.

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Buggy Compound & Roundabout

We want to move the existing buggy compound and move it by the roundabout in front of the club house. The idea behind this is so members and visitors can drive into the car park, unload their golf bags by the new buggy store and go off to park their cars. This will stop the amount of buggies being driven back into the car park and potentially increase buggy usage. We will also reduce the size of the tree in the center of the round about making the buggy visible to all visitors.

Step 1 - Strip the turf off and reuse out on the course.Step 2 - With use of a chainsaw remove all tree and shrubbery.

Step 3 - Excavate 100mm of soil from the area and tip down by the 15th tee. Step 4 - Use the Blec and levelthe remaining soilStep 5 - Lay the weed fabric

teram.Step 6 - Use of the roadplainings in the car park as thebase material and finally top offwith and a path topping material(Ultitrek - Lafarge tarmac)Step 7 - To finish, the buggieswill be made secured with a 3 to 4 ft. fence.

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Section Reports

Ladies Section

Last year, the Ladies Section reallocated many of Captain’s tasks to the committee and this has eased the workload. Thank you to Jean Ray for instigating this last year and to the members of my committee and volunteers this year for taking on these extra roles.

After 2 years when finding a Ladies Captain has been difficult, I am pleased that we now have lots of volunteers for the post. In fact, we have enough for the next 6 years!

The Ladies Section has a range of golfing abilities and we need to cater for everyone from our Category 2 players to our Category 5. We plan our year to offer a mixture of fun and competitive golf

To celebrate Chesfield Downs 25th Anniversary Year we held our fun Jubilee Jug event in April. We had a Silver dress theme that everyone joined in with and which produced some of the best and funniest photographs of the year. We gave anniversary gifts to our Guests of Honour who were our Lady Founder members of 25years ago

We have increased the 9-hole qualifying competitions to two each month. This has been very successful in keeping handicaps competitive and allowing some of our ladies to continue to play and be a part of our Ladies section, whilst always having the option to compete in any of our 18hole competitions

This year Virginia Chan won our Club Championship for the third year in a row – a great achievement.

We also celebrated 3 Holes in One

Lauren Pitcher stunned her opponent in a Scratch Team match at Mid Herts golf club when achieving her hole in one

And Lin Goodey achieved her hole in one during an England Golf Medal Round and HowDidIDo awarded her a Hugo Boss Hole In One Watch.

The Ladies Section has been well represented at National level golf events.

• We were delighted to yet again have a team at the England Golf Ping Final at Gainsborough Golf Club, Lincolnshire

• Two ladies reached the final of the National Women’s England Golf Trust at Kings Norton golf club, Birmingham (this is a new event which we were delighted to be part of and which raises money for Junior golf)

• The Mail on Sunday and Daily Mail knockout competitions • And of course we were fortunate to play in the final of the National Golf Club Challenge at Turnberry golf

course Scotland for the 3rd successive year At County level, we played in

• The Hertfordshire County Ladies Club Champions Championship • Hertfordshire County de Paula Cup • The Pearson league and • The County Scratch league - In which we were delighted to come 2nd in our group in only our 2nd year of

competing

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We are delighted that Chesfield has its own Lady Professional Golfer, Jo Oliver. As well as individual golf lessons, she has weekly clinics to support all aspects of our game and also offers short game coaching to our Squad Teams. She is a fantastic coach and we are extremely fortunate to have her at our club.

With a big section, communication is crucial - To keep the ladies section informed, we have a weekly Captain’s newsletter on our Ladies Section website and emailed to all our members. Plus regular updates from our squad team captains

My charity this year is The Garden House Hospice in Letchworth and we have raised £7100 this year.

There were a variety of fundraising events including a sponsored Walk the Bridges of London which raised nearly £2000. Our Charity Day. An extremely generous donation from Patti Vincent. Plus The Great Chesfield Downs Bake Off which had a great response from the Men’s Section and Chesfield staff who showed how good their baking is.

Jordan Russell, the Community Fundraiser for the Hospice, will receive our cheque at the Xmas event on 8th December.

I am extremely proud of our committee and the volunteers who help to run our competitions and social occasions and make Chesfield Downs the great club that it is

I wish Jackie Reid, our incoming Ladies Captain, and her new committee every success for 2017

Kathy Dale

Ladies Captain 2016

Incoming Captains Report

I am honoured to have been asked by Kathy to be her vice captain for this year and to be the ladies Captain in 2017. I could not have wished for a better mentor in this young lady and have learnt so much over the past 12 months. I am delighted that she is to become Club Captain and wish her all the best. She will be fantastic In 2017 I will endeavour to continue with and if there is room, improve on how our section is run. We have several new ladies joining the committee next year and I thank them now for putting themselves forward to join the team. The restructure initiated by Pauline Harrison and implemented by Jean Ray has proven to be successful so much so that we potentially have the Captaincy covered until the early 2020's. That said captaincy is not for everyone but participation in other ways however small is very rewarding and we have very many ladies who contribute in many ways throughout the year to ensure the section runs smoothly. I am very happy that Sarah has agreed to be my vice captain, she has already sourced the venue for our Kelland Pairs away day in August - we are heading north to Collintree Park. Bacon butties and sunshine ordered We are both relatively new members of Chesfield Downs and had spoken about one day aspiring to taking on these rolls. - that time has come and we will endeavour to do our very best to serve you all

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So to 2017........... Along with our full diary of cups and trophies and qualifers we will be Taking on Mill Green in our version of the Solheim Cup in August. At Mill Green this year Chesfield Downs represent USA so we are hoping that it will be our year in line with the Ryder Cup Lin Goodey & Katy Cook have kindly agreed to undertake the organising of the away weekend at the beginning of June. Hellidon Lakes in Northamptonshire has been booked and we have many ladies already signed up I am keen to bring ladies together away from the golf course too. To this end I will be looking at some days out and, fingers crossed, and Neil willing, would like to put on a fashion show. My charity for my year will be The Willow Foundation Based locally in Welwyn The Willow Foundation provides special days for young adults - aged 16 to 40 who have serious illnesses such as cancer, motor neurone disease and other life threatening conditions. Since 1999, when it was set up they have fulfilled more than 13000 special days for young adults , from a trip to London to a ride in a hot air balloon to a request to visit an MP ???? With your help i hope we can raise some money next year to send more young adults on a special day out. I am very excited and looking forward to 2017 and leading Chesfield Downs Ladies onwards and upwards Thank you Jackie Reid

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Junior Section

State of Junior Section

• We have had a fairly stable year and started to slowly grow the Junior Section. We now have 21 Juniors on our list with about 12-15 Juniors joining in the Junior Comps on a regular basis – 11 of which now have Congu handicaps. A number of our younger ones that have moved up from the Par 3 are certainly starting to enjoy the Main course and are playing well and handicaps are beginning to drop!

• Jo Oliver has run a couple of Congu and Non-Congu Trg sessions, funded by the Men’s section, and these have gone well and everyone has enjoyed them. Jo also ran a very successful Junior Ryder Cup on the Par 3 back in October which was a lot of fun despite the awful weather. The result of the inaugural competition was a Draw!

We need to continue moving forward in 2017 and work with the Golf Pro’s to encourage the Academy and Par 3 members into the Junior section and onto the main course.

Lexus League Team

The Junior Team only managed to play 4 out of their 6 matches scheduled as 2 matches were defaulted by the other teams due to lack of players – the league has suffered a lot of this this season. We had mixed fortunes in the matches played but everyone enjoyed them. The League organisers are currently reviewing the League format for 2017.

Junior Captain’s Charity Day - Saturday 23rd July

Our first Junior Captain’s Charity Day took place in July. This was an event that James was keen to hold during his captaincy year and he had a fantastic day – the weather was fabulous and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the day. The support from those who played along with visitors to the club on the day was amazing and James was overwhelmed by everyone’s generosity. The final total raised for his charity – On Course Foundation - was £3,800, a fabulous result for the first Junior Captain’s Charity Day!

Due to James fundraising efforts, Chesfield Downs GC qualified for the 2016 NGCC National Final in Turnberry in October as one of the top fundraisers and Our Ladies’ and Men’s Teams enjoyed a fantastic experience J! Not only was this an amazing event but James was able to present the cheque to the On Course Foundation Ambassadors and spend time with them hearing about the work that is carried out by the charity

Junior Competitions

• We’ve had 14 x 18 hole competitions and 5 x 9 hole competitions at Chesfield this year – player numbers were low to start off with but steadily increased as the year progressed and we’ve had a variety of winners which include some of our younger ones who have posted some amazing scores during the year.

• Junior Presentation Night is on the 18th December where everyone will receive their trophies.

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• Junior Club Champions

The Junior Club Champs was run over two days (3rd & 4th September) and the weather was kind to us. 10 Juniors were eligible to play having played the required 3 qualifying comps.

Results:

• Gross Champion James Crabb with a Gross Score of 148 (won by 18 shots) Runner-Up Daniel Jordan with a Gross Score of 166

• Nett Champion Harry Catlin with a Nett Score of 126 (won by 12 shots) Runner-Up James Crabb with a Nett Score of 138

Junior Matchplay Competitions

Doubles Winners - Kurt Fallon & Lonyin Chan Runners-up – Jack & James Wilson

The Singles competition is still to be decided – match due to be played 20th November

Junior OOM

• Gross Winner – James Crabb Runner-up – Daniel Jordan

• Nett Winner – James Crabb Runner-up – David Barrett

Junior Captain

James Crabb has had a successful and very enjoyable captaincy. He has participated in the majority of the Junior Competitions and a no. of the Men’s Competitions and has also played for the Men’s Scratch Team. He’s captained the Lexus League Team and has played in a no. of Junior Opens around the County. He held a successful Charity Day as already mentioned and has been a good role model for the section.

James would like to thanks everyone for their support over his Captains Year.

Daniel Jordan now takes over as Junior Captain and is looking forward to his year ahead. He also has a Junior Captains Charity Day (Charity still to be decided but has a couple in mind) planned for July.

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Senior Section

It has been an interesting and busy year as Captain of the senior’s section this year not least of all because of the weather especially in the early part of the year.

The senior section continues to be highly successful, a fact supported by other clubs when they hear that we have over 160 members with a minimum of 80 plus playing every Monday throughout the year.

My aim for the year was to make the section as much fun as possible whilst not losing its competitiveness.

With that in mind we:

1. Celebrated the clubs 25th Anniversary by introducing the John Gresty Anniversary trophy to be played for every year.

2. We have had more events where we provided subsidised food 3. Our monthly newsletter included a pen picture of the committee and the founders of the section as well as

some amusing quips and photographs of members and events. 4. We now send out the Monday sheet by email to all but 5 members. 5. This year we will have more than 30 different people winning trophies at our annual prize giving. 6. We had 63 different people playing in our 23 inter club matches. Results could have been better but

unfortunately some of our better players (bandits) don’t play in them unlike many of our opponents.

Some of the improvements we have brought about in addition to the above include

1. We now have a second screen for imputing scores on the computer. We have also moved from one person who knows how the system works to four people.

2. Financially we are now better organised than ever before with now only one set of accounts, and budgets and cash flow all firmly established.

3. I have tried to ensure that new members were made welcome and I also tried to keep in contact with those seniors who have not been too well or had accidents etc.

4. We have done all the arrangements to begin 9 hole competitions in January

Other news includes we had a very successful Captains away ay at Mid Herts and away trip at Sprowston Manor (for the second year in succession) both blessed with glorious weather. Sprowston Manor was particularly rewarding as the previous Captain had challenged me to better his trip in terms of weather and the Red Arrows flying overhead!

Regarding the Club as a whole we are disappointed to have lost Hilary and to be losing Joel amongst others but we are very happy to have Andy on board as Head Green keeper. I think we all already appreciate his contribution and his plans for the future. I have been asked to mention sand in the bunkers and the marker post on the 16th but decided not to.

The seniors always give great support the Club events including the Captain’s drive in and the 25th Celebrations.

The Seniors Committee has worked as hard as always and I would thank all of them for what they have done. I would especially like to thank Gerald Birkett who completes his three years on the Committee. He has many excellent qualities which he brought to all our dealings and is also a loyal friend and sounding board.

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I must mention the tremendous support I have had for my Charity of the year. As many of you know our charity is one that my wife and I set up to fund the transformation of a desperately poor village in remote Africa from abject poverty to self sustainable prosperity. This year we raised very nearly £10000 from the various club events with the highlight being the charity day held in June. Thank you so much to every single one of you that made a contribution especially and including Tim and the Club itself, who were very generous.

And finally I want to finish by saying that this is a really great club and we have a great seniors section. There are those who ensure we all keep our feet on the ground by reminding us of where we can improve things. But at the risk of repeating myself, when I have talked to all the other captains met at our matches and talking to other friends at other clubs, Chesfield Downs is a very good golfing venue, with the course itself consistently getting lots of praise, as well as being a very sociable and friendly club to belong to.

We are all set to have another successful year in 2017 and I will now hand over to John Gresty, next year’s Captain, to tell you of his plans.

Thank you.

Men’s Section

VICE CAPTAINS REPORT 2016

Introduction

• Thank you to the Men's section for electing me as 2017 Captain • I have been member at Chesfield for 10 years • Worked on committee for 5 years under some excellent captains • Championed the Slow play imitative and worked on charity events • Hope I can continue good work done by previous captains • Pleased to announce Des Walker will be my Vice Captain

Charity

• Willow foundation • Help for Heroes • Big thank you to our generous members

Captains trip

• East Sussex National in May 2017 • 64 signed up – 57 deposits paid

2017 projects

• Retain the Ryder cup • New committee members • Rayleigh park match • No major projects • Ensure maintain surplus – will be reviewing competition fees • Review late tee time trial • Work with Tim to try and come up with a solution for half way house • Work with Andy continue the great work he has already done • Follow up on results from survey

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Matters Arising

Green staff on course during competitions - Open

Course maintenance will attempt to be minimized during Ladies Thursday competitions if possible – Andy

Pitch marks on greens – Open

Marshalls will be instructed to carry out checks on the 1st tee to ensure all players have a pitch mark repairer. This will be particularly focused on societies and visitors as well as Members – Tim

16th Marker post – Open

Replacement will be found during winter months - Andy

Club Captain car parking space – Open

Reserve car parking space to be considered for Club Captain - Tim

Vans in car park – Open

British Gas to be requested to use overflow car park when large vans are in attendance. When undertaking demonstrations these are to be conducted in 2nd overflow area. – Tim

Practice bunker – Open

Refurbishment of practice bunker to be included on winter schedule of works - Andy

Halfway House – Open

Remains an outstanding issue where the Club would like to make improvements. Crown / Tim are open to approaches if any potential franchisees are able to make an appropriate proposal - Tim