Captain’s CorneR

I must begin by wishing all Association members a very ‘Happy New Year’. I am both honoured and privileged to be your Captain for 2015 and very aware of the high standard I must attain to match those who have held this position in the past. During the year I will be putting emphasis on the need to improve the recruitment of new members to the Association and I am hopeful that you will be willing to assist in this regard. More later.

You will know by now that the Tour in 2015 will be based at Hawkstone Park in Shropshire, and will run from Sunday 21  June to Wednesday 24 June. There are two good courses at Hawkstone, where we will play three rounds. Our fourth round will be on our way home at The Astbury and this I promise you is different. Thank you to those who have already indicated an interest. For those who could not do so earlier the Match Availability List circulated by Peter provides another chance.

The Spring Meeting is at West Herts on 24 April. Captain’s Day will take place at Gerrards Cross on 24 July and this year will be combined with our Annual Dinner. We hope to hold a Pairs Competition, partly in an effort to boost recruitment to the Association which as you all know is at a low level. Finally the Autumn Meeting will take place at Buckinghamshire Golf Club on 19 October.

John Pettitt has handed over the reins of captaincy but remains on the Committee for another year and his wise counsel will be much appreciated. Ken Heaver has left the Committee, and indeed Buckinghamshire, but hopes still to play with us from time to time. I look forward to working with Vice-Captain John Hardcastle during the year and I am confident that his being ever-present in our match team will bring good results.

Peter Short and Derek Williams continue in their roles as Secretary and Treasurer respectively. It is easy to under-estimate the amount of time and effort they put in on our behalf and our thanks are due sincerely to them both.

Returning to the question of declining membership. I am sure that all who belong to the Association, and play in our meetings and matches, do so because they enjoy it. However what always saddens me is when I peruse the Honours Boards at the clubs within our county and find so few of the past-captains are Association members. Somewhere we must be missing a trick! We have in the past had nominated ‘ambassadors’ within each club and we hope to reintroduce this approach in the near future. Your committee would be delighted to hear of any ideas you might have to improve our recruitment process, so pick up the phone or pen and write or ring one of us.

Finally a great golfing year to all, good health and an enjoyable 2015.

Good wishes

Doug