NUGC News

The Entry Forms for all the Nottinghamshire Union of Golf Clubs events in 2012 can be downloaded at  www.nottsgolf.com

This year the County Amateur Seniors Championship will be held at Retford Golf Club on Thursday 28th June 2012.  This is an age category / handicap competition and well worth supporting.  Our County Seniors Representative is Geoff Walker.  Geoff is happy to discuss any County Senior issue you may have and he can be contacted on 01636 812778 bor 07870 349778.  Entries can be made on line at  www.nottsgolf.com

The merger of the English Golf Union (EGU) and the English Women’s Golf Association (EWGA) was approved today (16 November 2011) at simultaneous general meetings of both organisations.

The merger will come into effect on 1 January 2012 and will create England Golf, one national governing body to represent all amateur golfers in England.

The merger proposal was approved by 86 per cent of the voting members of the EGU, meeting at its headquarters in Woodhall Spa; and by 100 per cent of the voting members of the EWGA, meeting at the National Motor Cycle Museum at Solihull. Both organisations had to approve the proposal by a majority of at least 75 per cent for it to be successful.

The decision was immediately hailed as a triumph for golf and a vital step forward for the game. Nigel Evans, Chairman EGU and Sylvia Perrins, Interim Chairman EWGA said: “This merger is in the best interests of golf and we are delighted that it has been given overwhelming support by our members. We look forward to a new era and to realising our vision for the future.

“England Golf will speak with one voice and send out the powerful, modern message that golf is a game for all, for men and women, boys and girls.

“A unified organisation, which promotes both the men’s and women’s game, will be more attractive to new golfers, will help us to grow the game, will be more appealing to commercial partners and sponsors and will mean we can be more cost effective.”

The merger vote followed a long period of consultation and preparation, which began in 2009 when a steering group was formed of members of both organisations. Following lengthy discussions, and the involvement of ten working groups, the proposal was produced and ratified by the Boards of both organisations before being put to the voting members.

Key points of the merger

• The headquarters of England Golf will initially be at the National Golf Centre at Woodhall Spa. The EWGA offices in Edgbaston will continue in use until at least October 2012.
• The counties will continue to be the voting members. Counties will be encouraged to merge their Unions and Associations, but this will not be mandatory.
• The Board of England Golf will initially include 10 stakeholder non-executive directors, six nominated by the EGU and four women nominated by the EWGA. One of these 10 will be nominated as Chairman.
• The first sole President of England Golf will be a woman. The President will be supported by the immediate Past President and the President-Elect. One of these three will always be a woman.
• Club golf will go on, from day-to-day, as it does now, but members will benefit from the positive perceptions created by the merger and by the better support available for clubs.
• All the championships and tournaments currently run by the EWGA and the EGU will continue.
• The regional and group structures of the two organisations will continue to run competitions. The decision-making role of the EWGA regional committees will end.
• Affiliation fees for men and women will be harmonised and will be equal by 1 January 2014. Women will continue to pay an additional subscription to the Ladies Golf Union.

Nottinghamshire Evening Post Men’s Competitions and Nottinghamshire Evening Post Ladies’ Competitions.

I am writing to confirm that a NUGC Council meeting was held on Thursday 10th November 2011 at which the future of the above events was considered and decided upon. I am therefore notifying you of the following:

Mike Shaw, the County Evening Post Competition Organiser informed the Council that over the last two years the enthusiasm for these events has declined significantly. As a consequence fewer Clubs are participating in qualifying competitions and the revenue accrued from these competitions is resulting in an overall loss to the Union when administrative costs are deducted.

Mike Shaw has decided that at a personal level there is little justification for spending his own time in organizing events which run at a loss and generate no income or enthusiasm from those taking part. He has decided to resign as the County Nottingham Evening Post Competitions’ Organiser. We thank him most sincerely for his support and enthusiasm over these last four years.

The Council has considered the report from Mike and has voted unanimously to withdraw it’s involvement with both competitions with immediate effect. The Council has decided that it is more advantageous to focus  limited finances and resources in support of those events which are desired and economic.

No further Evening Post Competitions will be organized under the auspice of the NUGC.

Regards

Martin Hathway.

Deputy President and Competitions’ Secretary, NUGC.

As President of the Nottinghamshire Union of Golf Clubs I am proud and delighted to inform you of an outstanding performance.  A unique treble which has been achieved by our County teams this year.

• The Men's County 1st Team won the Midland Counties League 1st Division
• The Men's County 2ndTeam won the Midland Counties League 2nd Division
• The County Boys Under 18 team won the Midland Boys League for a second successive season.

I hope that as many of your Club members as possible will join with me and the Teams on Friday 13th January 2012 at the East Midlands Conference Centre for our Annual Dinner when we will be celebrating the County's achievements.

I look forward to seeing you there.  Please join us for what should be a wonderful evening.  Further information is displayed in the Clubhouse.

Alec Shepperson
County President NUGC

To: Managers of Nottinghamshire Union of Golf Clubs;-Affilated Members;  NUGC Officers & Officials.
From:  Secretary NUGC

 I wish to advise you that at the English Golf Union Voting Members meeting held at Woodhall Spa on Wednesday, the 28th June, 2011, the proposed increases in the affiliation fee for The English Golf Union for 2012 and 2013 were approved by a margin of 25 votes to 10 with one abstention.

 As a consequence the EGU affilaition fees will be:
2012 - £6.25
2013 - £7.25
The Board of the English Golf Union are aware that the decision to increase the fees in the current economic climate has been a difficult one for many counties and are grateful for their support in its aim to generate sufficient revenues in the Special Projects Fund to enable the Union to protect itself and become less reliant on Government funding.
This message has also been posted to the NUGC website www.nottsgolf.com

Detailed below are extracts fron the recent English Golf Union General Meeting, held at The National Golf Centre, Woodhall Spa on Wednesday, the 29th June, 2011.

5.       REPORT OF THE CHAIRMAN 

          Merger with EWGA

The Chairman stated that he would incorporate Agenda item 6. within his statement and advised that, in essence, there was nothing of real substance to report since the February meeting when the proposal document was virtually complete.  The past 3 months have been focussed on sorting out the EWGA lease issue to the full satisfaction of our legal advisers and this exercise is now complete.
There are still a couple of very minor issues to resolve; however at a Board meeting held yesterday (Tuesday 28 June 2011) the proposal document, including the Articles and Rules of a merged body, were signed-off.
The proposal document is to be sent to the printers as soon as possible and distributed to Counties and Clubs by 1 August 2011.  Following feedback from the Voting Members Forum the previous afternoon (Tuesday 28 June 2011) it is agreed the document should be viewed by as many people as possible and be available on the internet.  There is no desire to economise on the communication process. 
The consultation period with Counties will take place during the months of August, September and October.  Should Counties wish a briefing meeting, they are advised to book one through the Chief Executive as soon as possible if they have not already done so. 
Both the EGU and the EWGA will vote on Wednesday 16 November 2011 on whether to merge or otherwise.  In the case of the EGU, this is to be a poll vote, with a 75% majority required by both parties if the proposal is to be approved. 
As an aside, it was noted that the Scottish proposal for merger had failed.  Whilst 93% of Scottish ladies were in favour and 295 Scottish affiliated clubs polled (89.2%) were also in favour, the Scottish areas (the equivalent of England’s Counties) voted 10:6 against.  This has resulted in adverse media coverage for the Scottish Golf Union.  It was pointed out that the Scottish proposal would have taken power from the areas, whereas the English proposal leaves power with the counties.
The November vote is the most important issue since the decision was taken to purchase Woodhall Spa some 15 years ago.  The proposal document is the culmination of 2½ years of hard and, at times, difficult negotiations and the Chairman urged that all consider the document fully and with an open mind.  He asked for any prejudice or personal issues to be put aside and consideration be given to whether one Governing Body was best for golf moving forward – certainly the EGU Board firmly believe this to be the case.
The proposal document will be distributed in early August.  As most Counties will be heavily involved in running County matches at this time it is anticipated merger briefings, if requested, will take place in September or October.  To date 14 Counties have requested briefings and we will do our utmost to accommodate preferred dates and times.
It should be noted the position of County Unions and Association have been fully protected in the proposal.  It makes sense for the National game to speak with one voice whilst, at the same time, enabling the traditions of the game at County level to continue.
It was confirmed that a poll vote has been requested by sufficient counties and the CEO outlined the procedure for the vote on the 16 November 2011:  A normal General Meeting will take place in the morning and, at the conclusion of this, the Chairman will call for a vote to be taken on the merger proposal.  Each County will be given a polling card with the name of their County, the number of votes that County has and the merger question with a box marked ‘yes’ and another marked ‘no’ for the County to place a cross in.  The polling cards will be collected in boxes and then taken for the count.  This will be undertaken by the Chief Executive, Finance Director and an independent verifier.  Counties will have the number of votes commensurate with the number of affiliated clubs in the 2011 Year Book.  A special meeting will convene at 2.00pm where the Chairman will read out the proposal and the result of the vote.  The Chief Executive will then add analysis to the numbers and results will be available in print form for Voting Members to take away with them.
It is to be hoped that at approximately this time EWGA’s results will also be known before the meeting is concluded.

 Affiliation Fees 2012/2013

 The Finance Director highlighted to the meeting that, under the Constitution, the Voting Members are required to approve the affiliation fee.  Following the debate at last year’s meeting the Board had, over a number of months, signalled its intention to seek an increase in the affiliation fee in order to reduce reliance on Government funding.  The rationale of the Board’s proposal had been circulated in a paper to the Voting Members in March to enable County Unions to debate the matter ahead of the Agenda for the meeting being issued, the underlying principle being that surplus funds generated in excess of normal core activities would be placed in the Special Projects Fund and therefore could only be expended in the future with the approval of the Voting Members in General meeting. 
As a consequence of this proposal, BB&O, seconded by Hampshire, IOW & CI, had put forward an amendment to the proposed Resolution and this had been circulated with the Agenda.  The Voting Member representative for BB&O, Mr Kaye, was asked to speak to the amendment. 
Mr Kaye stated there were various differences between the amendment and the Board’s original proposal. 

• The amendment assumes a decrease of 25% in Government funding.   
• The amendment starts from the premise that the Union’s “Free Reserves” are inadequate for an operation of the current size of the EGU at less than the equivalent of 2 months expenditure, the amendment would increase this figure to a more acceptable minimum of 3 months expenditure.
• The amendment would leave affiliation fees at a level which would be sufficient to meet the costs of the Union in 2013/14 without a further increase in fees, assuming that the reduction in Sport England grants are no greater than the 25% assumed in the model.
• The amendment incorporates the principle that future affiliation fee increases are agreed 18 months in advance.

The view was expressed that the model used to support the amendment is reasonably conservative in its assumptions.  Any success in the marketing and sponsorship arena would put the Union in an even stronger position.

 A vote was taken on the amendment to the proposal:-
“It is proposed that the increases in affiliation fees should be 50p in 2012 and £1.00 in 2013 but that any resulting increases in reserves in these years should be kept in the Income and Expenditure account (“Free Reserves”) and not transferred to the Special Projects Fund.”   

There were 7 votes in favour, 28 votes against and 1 abstention.  The amendment was therefore not carried and the meeting was then asked to vote on the Board Resolution.
A vote was then taken on the following Resolution:-
“It is resolved that with effect from January 2012 the affiliation fee be increased by £1.00 to £6.25 and that from January 2013 by a further £1.00 to £7.25, for every playing member irrespective of membership category.”
There were 25 votes in favour, 10 votes against and 1 abstention.  The Resolution was carried.

Sport England Funding

A press release highlighted that Sport England had cut funding to the England Golf Partnership (EGP).  It was explained that, as part of the original 4-year award, some £930,000 was allocated to the Capital Programme, which the EGP had never been able to access, and had sought for some time to get the allocation reallocated to Revenue expenditure.
Sport England, although reclaiming some of the Capital Programme, has now agreed to reallocate nearly £500,000 as Revenue funding which would now be available for distribution as part of a new growth strate 

• Sport England (SE) have reduced the overall grant of £12.9m to golf in the period to 2013 by £107,000.  This is based on reduced participation rates in golf as measured by the Active People Survey and a recognition that golf will not achieve its target rate of 948,000 participating in golf on a 30 minutes per week basis by