President's Notice September 2015

Dear All,

The summer has zoomed past and, as they say in Scotland, “the nights are fair drawing in”. Email me if you need a translation.

Councils past and present have found it hard to make much progress on EIGCA work in this busy period of construction and, if we are lucky, holidays, but this year has been really busy.

Hazardous Activities

Many of you will not have heard, but Julia had a fall when walking her dogs and, after a few days, discovered that she had broken her leg. She is in a boot for 6 weeks and may only just have come out of it when the Study Tour starts. On behalf of us all, I wish her a full and speedy recovery.

I would also like to mention that she has continued to work from home throughout this, even though her leg is far from comfortable. Another big thank you to her for all that she does for us.

Council Meeting – August

We have had our second council meeting two weeks ago and the new committee chairmen reported on their first few months of work and their thoughts on how they want to shape the future of their committee and the EIGCA.

Here is a summary of what was discussed:

2016 Annual Meeting and Conference

The plans for Northern Ireland have worked out well. It starts on Wednesday 13th April and runs to Saturday 16th April 2016.

We are to be based in Belfast about 10 minutes from the George Best City Airport and about 40 minutes from Belfast International Airport at the Stormont Hotel almost in the grounds of the Northern Ireland Assembly. The golf will be on Harry Colt’s Royal Belfast on the Wednesday afternoon and then on Royal County Down’s No 1 Course, which hosted the Irish Open last year on the Thursday morning. The Clubs have both been amazingly helpful and welcoming to us and we hope that it appeals to our members, patrons and industry partners.

Every bit as important, as ever, is the food. We will host our Industry Partners in the Ball Room at the Stormont Hotel on the Thursday evening, before The President’s Dinner on the Friday which will be in Royal Belfast’s magnificent clubhouse.

2015 Study Tour

Julia, Sue, Ross and I have now visited Sunningdale, The Berkshire and The Runnymede Hotel. We took the chance to run through as many of the small details as we can, from name tags to luggage labels. A Golf Committee has been set up, chaired by Paul Kimber and ably assisted by Jonathan Gaunt and Tim Lobb, which has the task of organising all of the groups and then collecting all of the cards. Ross and I wish them luck! Less than two weeks now……

This event has taken a huge amount of work at Head Office which has diverted Julia and the team away from other jobs. The Australians and Americans did a fantastic job with their Study Tours so we feel it is only right to do the best that we can as well.

Education

You will have seen Alan Walker’s emails about a new intake of students for the Education Programme. We are hoping to find four good candidates to start another course. If we do not then it will be delayed for a year. Please contact Virginia Virginia@eigca.org if you have someone interested.

Promotion and PR

Our marketing advisor, Lindsey, has been appointed for a year with a review after 6 months and has started her work. She has already reported on detailed technical aspects of the website and Search Engine Optimisation with clear recommendations.

We are agreeing monthly themes with her and we will then be producing blogs, tweets and other press coverage relating to that. Initially, these will be produced by Council members, but any ideas on themes that you would like to cover would be gratefully received.

Professional Development

Caspar is organising an event which will probably be in about a year’s time. The theme is communication and he plans to find experts in verbal communication and presentation techniques, as well as covering the Use of Social Media.

Sustainability Committee

Achim has now produced his Case Study which is being independently verified by a GEO Sustainability Associate. He looks almost certain to be the first member to join our Sustainability Register.

Over the coming months, it would be great to see more members joining him so that we can show the golfing world that our membership is at the forefront of sustainable golf course design.

GEO have been highly supportive in coming up with draft press releases to promote members as they join the register and a logo that can be used in recognition of being on the Sustainability Register.

EIGCA Logo Clothing

The number of orders for clothing remains disappointing low. There should just be time for those attending the Study Tour to place their orders and receive them before the trip starts.

Five Year Plan

At every meeting, there will be a review of the Action Points in the Five Year plan. A key part of this is the Marketing and PR campaign as this is the best way to increase our profile, encourage people to join and bring in new Industry Partners.

CDM Seminar

Marc Westenborg is working on organising this seminar, we do not yet have a date but we are aiming for this autumn.

Sorry that this was longer than last time, but there was more to say than I had thought!

Thanks

Tom