2009 AGM took place at Monifieth G. C. on Thursday 25th June.
Ian Hutcheon was appointed the first Honorary Member
Gordon MacDonald stepped down as Captain and assumed his position as Life Preseident of the Society. He expressed his pleasure at how the Society had developed and thanked all those who had given of their time to ensure affordable growth. In particular he was delighted with thew appointment of Bill and Dorothy Crighton who had added a friendly but always professional administration of our rournaments. He also expressed gratitude to Abbeyfield Scotland Ltd. whose introduction of sponsor funding had greatly assisted the development of our programme.
Gordon announced the introduction of the "Super Seniors" event from 2010
New Captain Keith Howie proposed John Johnston (Royal Aberdeen) to be Vice Captain and this was passed unopposed. The Captain announced that the captaincy would move around the regions on an annual cycle in the following sequence (from 2010) North, East, South, Central, West. Vice Captains, once appointed would step down from general committee and successors nominated.
John steps down from his general committee role and will be replaced by Sandy Pirie (Hazlehead) whose nomination was again returned unopposed.
Jim and Peter Kinloch's roles as joint Secretary and Treasurers were not contested and will remain in place.
The financial accounts were reviewed and presented by Jim Kinloch and adopted. Subscription will continue at the current level of £25.00. Jim pointed out that the surplus shown for 2008-09 was almost entirely as a result of green fees rebate offered by Hacienda del Alamo following the highly successful Murcial Seniors Open run by the Society.
It was proposed that the programme of events continue to be flexible to a) demand and b) affordability. General feelinhg is that the OOM events are where we want them to be and the new Super Seniors event will fulfil a demand within that age category. The notion of a reverse ballot event to meet the needs of any members falling victim of ballots was endorsed.
Tournament administration- the members showed their genuine appreciation of the work carried out by Bill and Dorothy Crighton and it was hoped that they remain with us for a long time ahead. In addition there is support from Dave terry and Archie Wohlgemuth, two Greenock members who will act as starters where not provided by the home clubs and are able to fulfil other administrative functions when called upon.
Order of Merit eligibility. The decision reached at the 2008 AGM was that any member, irrespective of nationality would be able to appear in the OOM. This was initially resisted by the Scottish Golf Union, who administer the OOM on our behalf, but they recognised our constitutional rights in the matter and withdrew any resistance. It was re-iterated that the age of entry to SSGS was 50 and that all members were entitled to gather OOM points. That was tyhe situation when members joined the Society and that is the position which remains.
Funding and expenditure. When the Society was set up, handicap and age parameters were set to attract sufficient entry numbers which would keep the Society in business. Accordingly tournament break-even was achieved in year 2. Continued growth in membership numbers (250 fully paid up for 2009) leads to the prospect of consistently having to ballot and the dis-satisfaction of some members who have been loyal from the outset. With that in mind, handicap maximum for new applicants will reduce from 12.4 to 7.4 with immediate effect.
Sponsorship. As expressed by the both the outgoing and incoming captains, the introduction of funding by Abbeyfield Scotland Ltd., initiated at the suggestion of member Brian Highley, was much appreciated and has allowed confident development of our programme.
The subject of Distance Measurement Devices has been a hot topic on the website forum and the captain detailed the committee's approach and the reasons for that. Basically R & A granted limited dispensation for clubs to allow use on the strength of positive local rules. The Home Countries Unions agreed to hold back until such times as any rules and etiquette anomalies surfaced from around the clubs. English Golf Union broke ranks and issued permission for use at events under their auspices, apparently in light of a significant funding package from a GPS supplier. It is fairly certain that sanction for general use will be given at the next meeting of the home countries unions in November and SGU have asked that we hold fire until then.
In "Any other business" there was a body of opinion that the SGU request should be declined and implementation granted from now. After a vigorous but civilised debate the consensus was that the committee's approach should be supported. It was suggested that a poll of members should take place online and this shall be attempted shortly.
There bing no other business the captain thanksed those attending and closed the meeting.
Official minute will be uploaded when ready.