Glamorgan Ladies’ County Golf Association Minutes of the 106th Annual General Meeting held at Whitchurch Golf Club on Monday 26th November 2018 The President, Mrs Julia Baker, welcomed everyone to the meeting and thanked them for attending. She then thanked Whitchurch Golf Club for allowing the Association to hold the meeting at the Whitchurch, which, she said, offered excellent facilities. Before the meeting was convened the President asked all present to stand in silent tribute to those many members who had sadly passed away during the year, namely, Mrs Marion Morgan – Llantrisant & Pontyclun GC, Mrs Cecily Ashmore, Mrs Rosalie Clode, Mrs Dorothy Williams – Dinas Powys GC, Mrs Cath Sheehan – Neath GC The Honorary Secretary read the notice convening the meeting. Attendance There were 82 ladies in attendance representing 25 clubs affiliated to the Association and 3 apologies for absence were received. The President asked for approval to sign the 2017 AGM Minutes, which had been circulated to all clubs prior to the meeting. It was unanimously agreed by the meeting to accept the 2017 minutes. The minutes were duly signed. Matters Arising There were no matters arising from the minutes of the previous meeting. Honorary Competition Secretary’s Report 2018 County Report AGM 2017 Madam president, Madam Secretary, Ladies I am delighted to report on an extremely successful year for County Competitions in 2018, however I am not going to announce the winners at this stage as we are having a prize presentation later in the proceedings. Our year started at the County Championships in April, which we were very fortunate to be able to host at Royal Porthcawl GC, especially given the extremely wet weather we had witnessed on the run up to the event. We had an unprecedented entry of over 140 players, 129 of who eventually teed it up for the Strokeplay on day 1. This year we introduced an additional stableford element to the qualifying competition so all those who played had the opportunity of success even if one of the dreaded Porthcawl bunkers took its toll! The course was in super condition and we enjoyed three days of decent (ish) weather and great golf, culminating in some very exciting matchplay. Our next event was the Seniors Championship - the Pyman Marsh Bowl and Pegler Cup held at Swansea Bay Golf Club. We received a very warm welcome from the club and excellent support from the Ladies section (as can be witnessed in the results)! Over 60 Ladies entered and it was great to see so many New Faces. From Swansea Bay we travelled east to Coed Y Mwstwr Golf Club and on a delightfully warm day which was a precursor the the lovely weather we all enjoyed this Summer, we hosted the Spring County Meeting. The Clubhouse unfortunately was still undergoing renovation, which had over run, so had limited catering, however thanks to the amazing staff and members we received fantastic hospitality and all those who played had a thoroughly good time. The Club also kindly issued every competitor with a voucher to come back for a free round of golf and I know of several ladies who have taken up the offer. ! Our next event was the County Rose-bowls, traditionally held each year at Radyr Golf Club. It was moved forward by a week this year to avoid a clash with the Wales Golf medals and Bowls finals in Builth Wells, but that didn't appear to affect numbers and we once again enjoyed a large & very talented field. New this year was a two tee start for the qualifying round, which was deemed by the vast majority of pairs to be a success as it allowed us to start the afternoon matchplay session significantly earlier. I have however had to promise that those who teed off the10th this year will get priority in the first tee next year! (Ok Denise) Monmouthshire hosted the 4BBB this year and I am delighted to report some considerable success for Glamorgan members at that event. Our final event was the Autumn County Meeting hosted by Cardiff Golf Club and tee times were extended once again to accommodate another full field. This is a team of three format with the best two scores to count on each hole and this year there were additional prizes to fourth place and also two nearest the pins. At this point I would just like to thank both Carolyn and Vicki who have helped me at each of the competitions - registration can be a very frenetic time and much easier with two people, especially with such large fields. In several events this year we were still registering when the first cards were coming back in! Also, as we grow - set up each morning and packing away at the end, becomes a much bigger task, so their and the rest of the County Committee’s help is very much appreciated. I would like to take this opportunity to pass on our thanks and appreciation to the management and green staff at all of the Clubs that hosted our events, we rely on their generosity and help, to make the events the success they are. I would also like to thank the Ladies Captains and their committees at each club who have gone out of their way to make us welcome. Several of you have taken up the offer to run raffles at the events which I believe this year raised over £400 for various of your chosen charities. Next year I am delighted to announce some more great Venues for our events, spread throughout the County - starting with the County Championships at Pyle & Kenfig golf club. Full details will be on posters sent to Clubs, but in brief we are being hosted at The Glamorganshire for the Pyman Marsh & Pegler Cup, Neath for the Spring County Meeting, Radyr (as usual) for the Rosebowls, Whitchurch for the County 4BBB salvers and Gower for the Autumn County Meeting. I am also very pleased at this point to announce two new events in next year’s calendar. As I am sure you are all aware, there has been a great deal of comment and discussion in Golf Clubs and the media about providing opportunities for working Ladies to access competitive golf. Thanks to the generosity of two of Glamorganshire County clubs we are able in 2019 to do this - the first on July xx at Creigiau Golf Club and the second on October 6th at Clyne golf club. They will be known as our Sunday Stableford Cups and will be individual Stableford handicap qualifying competitions. To provide opportunities for all, there will be both 18 hole and 9 hole competitions on each day. In addition we will also be partnering with Wales golf at each of these events to run a special modified stableford competition over 9 holes for those ladies who are part of Wales Golf ‘New to Golf scheme’. Final conditions are still being worked out, but it is anticipated that they will be open to those participants from clubs within the County, who have been (or are part) of a scheme in 2018/2019 and who do not yet have a CONGU handicap. They will not be required to be a member of the County - although obviously we hope to encourage them to join their Clubs Ladies section and hence the County in future. Finally ladies, I think we are all aware that there are the Changes to the Rules of Golf that will be implemented from Jan 2019. This is going to have a small impact on our current ‘Conditions of Competitions’ so they are in the process of being rewritten and will be published on our website early in the New Year. One addition we have already made in 2018 is to formalise how we manage over subscribed fields - where the main element of a competition is a scratch event (County Champs, County rosebowls for example) then any ballot will be on Handicap, with a reserve list based on HCP order. For all nett events (normally stablefords) then entry will be on a first come first served basis. For 2019 and moving forward entry to all competitions will open on February 1st. Each closing date is approximately 3 weeks before the event and will be published on the entry forms, late entries will be accepted only at the discretion of the County Committee and will not be accepted where we already have full fields. As Ladies sections, you may well be revisiting and amending your own Conditions of Competitions - there are several useful templates and good guidelines in the new Rules of Golf books. I have created links to those I believe most relevant and they can be found on our website - click the ‘Home’ tab and then scroll down to ‘useful links’ . Over the next year I will be adding to these links with more updates on the CONGU HCP changes for 2020 so please feel free to use and download any relevant information. Finally, can I just take the opportunity to thank all those Ladies who have participated in our events in 2018 and made them such a success, I wish you all a very happy festive season and look forward to seeing you at our events next year. Captain’s Report 2018 Madam President, Past County Captains, Ladies. I firstly would like to wish Mrs Megan Rees of Clyne GC, my former County Captain, well, in her fight with ill health, and on behalf of the County, express our sorrow at the recent passing of her husband, Alun.