Random Golf Thoughts

Constitution lists honorary positions and it's in the minutes of the previous years AGM. I don't think it's fair to say it has the stench of a cover-up.

Even the Treasurers report was removed from the e-mails, not just the actual figures. On this, I suspect the club doesn't want to show off it's riches. We had a jubilee year last year and the prizes for these events were absolutely insane. No golf comp in my view should ever offer prizes of this monetary value. I got an e-mail about the Captains dinner coming up today - €50 a head which covers all food and drink. For a normal club, this sounds like throwing money away.

I think there are a lot of clubs with a somewhat similar setup to ourselves in that there's a club who play out of a private course. Ordinarily, I think the members pay a membership fee to the course owner and the Sunday comp fees go to running the members club. In our case, we pay full green fees and a membership fee to the members club. So 600 people pay around €210 each (and a joining fee has been introduced). If you were to get similar revenues from the Sunday comp, you'd need to be taking in about €2,500 every Sunday. If you've a hundred entrants, they'd need to pay about €25 in comp fees each.

I don't agree with the financials being redacted from the communications to the members who weren't at the AGM. Lots of people can't make it for plenty of reasons, I was hoping to go myself but it just didn't work out. I can understand not wanting the questions which would inevitably follow, but that doesn't mean they're not legitimate questions. Or at least, the members are entitled to ask them.

I'd have expected to see them at the AGM and be distributed after. Or at least the top level figures.

I had another look at the constitution. It just says they've to be presented at the AGM for approval by the members. No requirement to distribute.

What is particularly unusual I would think is that the entire treasurer's report is removed from the document circulated. Now I haven't received this year's one yet, but that's the way it was last year.

Club world be too small to require audited accounts. And as regards distribution - I think that's up to the club and whatever is in their constitution. In ours it's that they're available on request.