17/03/14

I am so looking forward to the weekend when we will see Royal Ryton in most of its finery! We will be playing it at almost full distance and sampling the wonderful new synthetic grass tees. Splendid. I do hope that you all enjoy it and that you give us your feedback.

I am so chuffed that I made it into the MOS team to play Prudhoe on Sunday. Not only am I proud to represent the club in such an important match but to showcase our wonderful course to some very special and hopefully envious guests. I wonder what they will make of it all! After the Ladies doing so well last year and starting the season so well we have a lot to live up to.

Thank you to all of you who have paid your subscriptions so early. It was great to see Michael so busy on Saturday and Sunday and the credit/debit card machine hot with the usage it was getting. Th club has from Tuesday last week gone back into credit and things are looking good (so far) for the year to come. (Fingers Crossed). I wait with anticipation to see how many members we have as at 1st April 2014. Hopefully all the planning and project income figures will be sound!

I must say a huge thank you to Precision Engineering and to the brothers Musgrove for their early subs payment and "a little extra"! This will enable us to do some work on our signature hole (the 12th) and of course dedicate it to them for their help. Its great to have such wonderful members who put the club at the forefront of their thinking. "Gents, you are gents!"

Diary Synchronisation

In an attempt to manage and improve course usage, we are proud to anounce that we have developed a "diary sync" facility. If you run an "Android" or "I-Phone" you may find it useful to sync the RGC diary with yours. This will mean in simple terms that you can see whats going on at the club! (this can obviously be turned off should you not want to view it).

The benefits to this will become apparent over time but they include:-

1. Being able to see all the competitions, visitors and free tee slots etc at the club without having to log on to the web.
2. Ensuring that at weekends you are aware of how busy the club is and are able to manage your "sweeps"!
3. Keeping up to date with "Social Events" at the club.
4. Plus any information that the club needs to put out re timings and the diary!

Should you wish to use this "free" piece of tech, please click on the link below:-

http://www.rytongolfclub.co.uk/diary-synchronisation

Feel free to try it and give us feedback!

12/03/14

Another long but productive Board Meeting on Monday night. Some good business done. Moving the club forward.

Its good to see that this years board are "up for the challenge", making some very good contributions to the discussions but more importantly to making the club a better place to be. I urge you to read the minutes when they get posted.

We are now entering the most important and challenging part of the year. We always await with baited breath to see the subscriptions come in as this will have a massive effect on the type of year we are going to have. Interestingly we are out of the overdraft we were in for Feb and March due to early subs payments. That in itself is a good start. I have to make a special thanks to the 4 members who have paid for 3 years membership up front and a decent amount of "sponsorship" to go with it. This has enabled us to make a significant difference to our course! Thank you so much (you know who you are!)

With "Motion 4" voted out at the AGM we are turning our minds to "Visiting Parties" at RGC and how we are going to ensure that both their and our members days go smoothly. We intend to try a new initiative this year. In effect VP's will be met by a representative of the club and "Greeted with a smile!" The rep will ensure that they get off the 1st tee and will field any questions from members. This new strategy is put in place to ensure the course "flows" better and that members regular tee slots are affected (where at all possible) as little as possible. We explained at the AGM that the course needs to be "managed" better in peak times and our intention is to do just this!

05/03/14

Its all starting to feel like the season is beginning. The grass is being cut, the sun is shining and its starting to get very "Competitive" at the club. It is as if we are awakening from our hibernation! Soon the clocks will "Spring forward" and the light nights will ensure greater usage of the course.

Can I ask that all members support the club by getting their subscriptions in as early as possible. As a reminder to all, it was agreed at our AGM that Subscriptions must be paid prior to or on April 1st in order for you to continue playing. There is now no "give" on this date like there used to be. This is important to us as we, financially are reaching our "low point"! This happens every year as we get near to April 1st. We collect our money from our members and have to "survive" on this (budgeted very carefully of course) til the next set of subscriptions are due the following year. Obviously we do have a "trickle feed" of income through Green Fees and Bar Takings etc to help us, but as you will no doubt understand, this is a very fine balancing act. We do run the club on an overdraft through Feb and March at present and the sooner we get this millstone off our backs the sooner we can breathe a sigh of relief and concentrate on enjoying the summer months. We have another board meeting Monday where we will be looking forward yet again to how we can make our fabulous little club even better.

I would like to stress that it is imperative that members are patient with and considerate to our many guests over the next few months. They are (I have to say) part of the life blood of RGC. Without their financial input we simply would not be able to "Survive and Thrive". Consider all the course development that has gone on over the previous year and appreciate that this has been partially funded by our guests! On this very important theme, we do have a larger membership too, which in turn means even more traffic on the course at weekends. We may find that on most Sundays the course is "packed"! We therefore need to be more aware of the effects this will have on both us and others. Can i make a suggestion that "sweeps" become more "organised" so that we reduce any gaps on the course. Gaps generally mean one of 2 things, lost revenue or hold ups later on! Both of these scenarios cause problems and consternation. We obviously want to maximise the potential RGC has, whilst providing the best possible experience for all concerned. I am certainly considering how the "10.30" sweep (I play in) can ensure full consideration for other users. I have my ideas how it should run, I guess I just need to convince others now.

I hope you are all fit and well and looking forward to the season as much as I am. C'mon!

28/02/14

At the end of this month we start the Fed Ex! This really is the start of proper golf again. Wooooohoooo! Bring it on!

February came and went in a blur. Whilst it was wet and plodgy on the course we only had a very small amount of time with "temps". This has been a fairly good winter! The nights are drawing out (still playable at 6 ish) and it will only be a matter of a couple of weeks before the mats are off and we will be "chunking it" off the grass again.

We had a visit from 2 members of the judging panel for the "Manager of the Year Award" on Wednesday. I think Michael did ok considering the majority of the time the judges spent talking to Tom Carr. Me and Agnes! We all wish him loads of luck for the final interview (which he has to do on his own) at Conwy GC.

I hope you have all had the chance to see RGCTV. Please be advised that this was a spoof interview with "the speed" and that we had indeed had our meals and were on our way to the car park. It all makes for some fun in my view and the captain has so far done a fantastic job.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7M-yZfFn98

Well the weekend is here again and i for one am hoping that there will be 18 proper greens on tomorrow and as long as the frost stays away there may be a good chance. C'mon!