News / Captain’s Report/January 2012
Report from Mike Rendall,
new Club Captain
As club members will know, subscription notices for 2012 are being sent out and that means it will not be long before the new golf season is underway.
The annual general meeting went well in the third week of January and there was much warm applause for Sandy Walker, who demitted office after two very successful years as Captain of the club. I was much honoured to be voted in as the new Captain and I am delighted that Terry Middleton, a long time member of the club, was appointed as my Vice Captain. Together with our new Club Council, we will be working hard to ensure the continuing success of the club.
We also held an Extraordinary General Meeting before the AGM and that resulted in the decision to purchase new computer systems, the main benefits being online-booking for tee-times and a loyalty-card system for all members.
The club is very grateful that Kenny Duncan has agreed to oversee the installation of the new systems, which are supplied by BRS Golf and Club Systems International. He will be helped by other club members with the relevant skills to install cabling and associated equipment.
A rough time estimate for completing the first part of the project is three months. Once the online booking system has been installed and is running successfully, we will then install the Loyalty card system. Again, this will be done by Kenny Duncan and his helpers and we are indeed fortunate that they lend us their expertise so willingly.
If all goes to plan, the two projects should be completed in July.
When the loyalty card system is up and running, all members will be issued with cards for the remainder of 2012. To activate the cards, members will be required to put a sum of money on their cards and this will enable them to make purchases at the bar and coffee machine at discounted prices. In the year 2013, a subscription for the cards will be required from all members payable with the club subscriptions in February of that year.
The new club council will be deciding shortly on both the level of discount the cards will enjoy and also the amount to be placed on them next year.
As members will have noticed, the club advertised for a commercial manager at the end of last year. There were three applications for this post and Mr Ian Mackenzie, who lives locally, was appointed. Ian has many years’ experience in the catering and hotel business, as an owner and manager, and was latterly the events manager at the Marcliffe at Pitfodels Hotel in Aberdeen.
Ian has a wide range of business contacts in the North-east and, while we will use his expertise in organising social events at the club, such a wedddings etc, his main focus will be on attracting new sponsorships and corporate memberships. He will also look at ways to increase golfing visitors to the club as well as any other commercial opportunities which may from time to time be identified.
Your new club council will hold its first meeting early in February as which conveners and sub committees will be appointed. I will have more news of that in my next Captain’s Report , which I intend to keep up to date with relevant information for members.
Mike Rendall
