Dear Members,

Welcome to this Captains Update.

I am currently on the Sunshine Coast after escaping Melbourne’s Winter a month ago. I can report that the weather here has lived up to its name.

However, Club matters do not stop for holidays. This report concentrates on other projects around the Club that have been undertaken to present the Club and the course in the best manner possible for the upcoming course re-opening.

The golf course work is complete. There is extensive vegetation planting to occur over the next month and Michael and his team will be coordinating this program with member involvement. Meanwhile, the completion of the dam pump shed, and infrastructure is now seeing the dam filling via our bores and our extensive storm water collection system.

The amalgamation negotiations with Metropolitan are progressing well and further updates will be released as financial modelling, structure, membership and other due diligence matters are confirmed.

Now to the other projects at Huntingdale that are due for completion upon re-opening.

Clubhouse Furniture

The club has ordered new clubhouse furniture for all areas. I am sure members will agree that the furniture has reached its ‘use by’ date and does not meet the standards of a Melbourne Sandbelt club. 

Outside Area (Northeast Terrace)

The outdoor area to the north of the clubhouse has been under the committee’s radar for some time. Now that the golf course will play 10 holes then eight holes, together with the practice fairway relocation, the outdoor area was considered an ideal ‘halfway’ point. There is now direct access via a ramp to this area. Glass paneling will be used to protect the area from winds and tiles will be replaced. It is hoped that the area will be far more inviting to members and become a better utilized space in the future.

Golf Shop Refresh

I think we would all agree that the Golf Shop is not the most ideal introduction to our club. The Committee originally pursued a complete rebuild of the Golf Shop, but cost increases of construction made this proposition unviable at this time.

The Committee has instead appointed Transform Retail Projects to undertake the refit of the Golf Shop internally and Krongold Constructions to redevelop the area externally. These appointments were made in conjunction with the clubhouse architect, Inarc.

Water Storage

Upon completion of the pump shed, the pumps are now commissioned and water can begin being pumped into the water storage.  A combonation of this and a healthy dose of rain have made significant progress in the filling of the dam.  The change in water level is evident in the images below using the rock edge as a reference point.

Constitution Changes

In accordance with good governance principles and procedures the Committee regularly review the constitution to ensure its appropriateness to ensure the best possible governance practices for our type of organisation.  As our Club develops so must our constitution. 

The Committees of today, in Club’s like ours, are a governance and strategic committee and not operational akin to club models of earlier years.  To ensure we keep our club culture and attract the best possible candidates for committee, some changes are being recommended to the Membership, which are in keeping with modern governance procedures.  

The following changes to our constitution are being recommended to the Membership.

Composition and eligibility for Committee

1. It is proposed that the Committee structure will be altered to:

a.      3 officers (as per current constitution, Captain, President and Treasurer)

b.      4 elected Committee (non-executive members) (currently 6).  These members may serve up to 3 consecutive terms of 2 years (total 6 years) as per current constitution.   

c.      Female representation - The elected Committee must have two female members of the seven elected members.  This places into the constitution a long-held policy of the Club.

d.      Up to 2 appointed members – this is optional decision for the Committee to ensure it can attract candidates of the appropriate skills to govern the club.  These skills may vary from legal, to financial, to marketing, to merger and acquisition, government advocacy etc depending on the requirements of the Club from time to time.  The Committee will also have a policy of considering gender balance in making this decision.  Where appointed, these members are appointed for one, or two years, and are eligible for up to a six-year term. The practice of appointing committee members is considered best practice governance.

2.      Tenure of membership to be an Officer or non-executive committee – this to be set at seven years to ensure a solid understanding of the club’s culture etc. This is in line with many clubs in the Melbourne Sandbelt.  This does not apply to appointed members. 

Voting

The procedure and methodology for this will move to the Bylaws of the club and enable electronic voting. 

Other Changes

Minor wording changes have been made throughout the document to for ease of reading.

These will be distributed to members prior to an SGM being held.

All changes are in accordance with Australian Sports Commission, Golf Australia and ASIC recommendations for not-for-profit entities.

I would like to thank Alex and all the staff for enabling these projects to proceed. Balancing the books is critical in ensuring such projects are fully funded and do not adversely affect the operations of the Club.

In closing, I would like to thank the Volunteers and Course staff who planted nearly 10,000 plants on the course this week!  The excitement continues to increase as the re-opening of the course inches closer. I want to thank all members for their support throughout this entire project.

Good luck and good golfing!