IanCook
Newbie
We held our first equality meeting last week at Hazel Grove Golf Club in Cheshire.
What was clearly evident was that there were lots of uncertainty and speculation as to what is and isn't allowed by law.
the whole act seemed to much to tackle in one go so we have agreed to all go away and think about the major issue as we see it "FEES" there can no longer be male and female fees, we are all looking at probably a 5,6, and 7 day membership fee or a bronze silver and gold membership package
...the fees for this we have all taken away to muse over as it is clearly essential to achieve the current level of fee income for the club next year, nobody needs a mass exodus to another club locally. Its a finely balanced decision as most of the ladies around the table said that their section had already accepted that there was likely to be fee increase, their concern was more about what will we get back on tee times etc.
Another option which was bounced about was to simply only have 7 day membership for the club for everyone, that way all we needed to do was divide the clubs required fee income by the number of current members and get a figure.
by only having one level of membership it reduces the need for policing the 5 & 6 day members that might try to play on other days.
But there was then an interesting comment about the weekly winter league that is a shotgun start and occupies the whole course on sunday mornings. Would ladies be able to play....which they will be entitled to in their own competition if enough members join or how do we allocate tee times for ladies and other male members that simply want to play and not join in the competition...we have to somehow accommodate them.
It was agreed by all the the club competitions and tee times will require a complete overhaul to accommodate the new laws and we notified our comps secretary immediately as it could have implications on the diary being prepared for next year.
We also formed a small sub commitee to review the articles of the club to see where we felt the need for equality could be questioned.
All in all we had a very constructive and enlightening meeting, we have decided that this is so important that we are holding a weekly meeting to get ready to present a report at our AGM in October where any necessary changes should be made.
I realise that there are a lot of male golfers out there who have concerns about equality on the course, unfortunately it will happen at your club so live with it or pack up the game....golf clubs it appears were one of the specific case studies for the laws to be changed.
Anyone else got anything useful to report on how your club is addressing the equality situation.
What was clearly evident was that there were lots of uncertainty and speculation as to what is and isn't allowed by law.
the whole act seemed to much to tackle in one go so we have agreed to all go away and think about the major issue as we see it "FEES" there can no longer be male and female fees, we are all looking at probably a 5,6, and 7 day membership fee or a bronze silver and gold membership package
...the fees for this we have all taken away to muse over as it is clearly essential to achieve the current level of fee income for the club next year, nobody needs a mass exodus to another club locally. Its a finely balanced decision as most of the ladies around the table said that their section had already accepted that there was likely to be fee increase, their concern was more about what will we get back on tee times etc.
Another option which was bounced about was to simply only have 7 day membership for the club for everyone, that way all we needed to do was divide the clubs required fee income by the number of current members and get a figure.
by only having one level of membership it reduces the need for policing the 5 & 6 day members that might try to play on other days.
But there was then an interesting comment about the weekly winter league that is a shotgun start and occupies the whole course on sunday mornings. Would ladies be able to play....which they will be entitled to in their own competition if enough members join or how do we allocate tee times for ladies and other male members that simply want to play and not join in the competition...we have to somehow accommodate them.
It was agreed by all the the club competitions and tee times will require a complete overhaul to accommodate the new laws and we notified our comps secretary immediately as it could have implications on the diary being prepared for next year.
We also formed a small sub commitee to review the articles of the club to see where we felt the need for equality could be questioned.
All in all we had a very constructive and enlightening meeting, we have decided that this is so important that we are holding a weekly meeting to get ready to present a report at our AGM in October where any necessary changes should be made.
I realise that there are a lot of male golfers out there who have concerns about equality on the course, unfortunately it will happen at your club so live with it or pack up the game....golf clubs it appears were one of the specific case studies for the laws to be changed.
Anyone else got anything useful to report on how your club is addressing the equality situation.
