About Us

During the early part of 2006, a suggestion of possible amalgamation of the golfing interests of the separately operated organisations running golf for both men and women throughout the Hawke’s Bay region and part of Poverty Bay, was proposed.

During the course of subsequent discussions between the two parties, it was decided that the proposal contained considerable merit, especially if it could be extended to include both the men and women of the Poverty Bay Golf Association, a small group of clubs in the East Cape area of the North Island of New Zealand.

The women of that enlarged area have long been closely associated with their Hawke’s Bay counterparts through the auspices of the Hawke’s Bay Poverty Bay Women’s District Golf Association, an unofficial, non-incorporated society, as defined by the Act, however the Poverty Bay men have preferred meantime anyway, to maintain their long-standing independence of a separate organisation, affiliated to New Zealand Golf.

The two other groups (Golf Hawke’s Bay and the Hawke’s Bay – Poverty Bay Women’s District Golf Association, signed documents of amalgamation and on 1st December, 2006, the new body “Golf Hawke’s Bay & Poverty Bay Women Inc, became established.

Governance

The Board

As at 1st December 2006, the old 16 person Council of the former Golf Hawke’s Bay Incorporated, was disbanded and replaced with a Board currently comprising:-

A male President (Mr. Alan Chapman) and a female President (Mrs Janice Roberts)
Two Vice President – Mr. Kim Stops & Ms Ros Evans
Three elected members – Mrs.Kathy Olsen; Messrs Wayne Jeffery & David Wilkinson

Mr. Chapman is the current Chairman of the Board.

Management

The old Management Committee under the Golf Hawke’s Bay regime was also disbanded and has been replaced with two Golf Committees, each one representative of its gender.

The current representatives of the two bodies are:-

Men’s Golf Committee:

Mr. Alan Chapman (Chair)  Mr Kim Stops, Mr. Grayson Joines (Dannevirke); Mr. Dennis Hirschman (Hastings); Mr. Alasdair Couston (HB Golf Club); Mr. Peter Trowbridge (Maraenui); Mr. Russell Burns (Napier); Mr. Peter Nash (Wairoa); Mr. Kevin Pike (Waipukurau); Mr. Warren McCarthy (Te Pohue & representing the other small clubs in the Northern Region); Mr. John Swinburne (Onga Onga and representing the smaller clubs of the Southern Region) and Mr. Allen Forrest (Porangahau, representing also the small clubs in the Southern Region).

Women’s Golf Committee:

Mrs. Janice Roberts (Chairperson); Ms Ros Evans Mrs. Brenda Neal (Napier) and Mrs. Jennifer Hartley (Hastings), jointly representing the Central Zone clubs; Mrs Margo Shanks and Mrs. Verna Harnett (Poverty Bay GC) both representing the Northern Zone clubs, and Mrs Shona de Latour (Takapau) with Mrs Jenny Peacock representing those clubs in the Southern Zone of the District.

The two Golf Committees now oversee the smooth running of all aspects of the game within the jurisdiction of the Golf HB & PBW Association’s area of responsibility.

The Golf HB & PBW (Inc) Executive Officer is an ex officio (non-voting) Secretary to both the Board and the two golf committees. The Board meets bi-monthly and the Men’s Golf Committee also meets bi-monthly. The Women’s Golf Committee meets whenever it is convenient for all their delegates to be in the same place at the same time, usually during the running of a major golfing event and approximately three or four times each year.

Annual General Meeting:

The Annual General Meeting of Golf HB & PBW (Inc) is held in February. Main business is to elect officers for the new year, set levies and take notices of motion and ratify the Presidential Reports for the financial year which end on 30th November.

Staff

There is one permanent part-time employee who works for the Association, namely an Executive Officer (Ron Connor) who looks after the administration, operations and financial accounting sides of the organisation. The local Golf Professional services, Sharpies Ltd are contracted to assist deliver the Junior Development programs in conjunction with NZ Golf. .

Volunteers

No organisation such as ours, could operate without the assistance of a large number of volunteers. In particular, the following play a major role in the activities of Golf HB & PBW in their separate areas of expertise:-

Two male representative selectors (Mr. Allen Smith & Mr Andy Patterson) and Two female selectors Mrs Ann Coles and Mrs Judy Lyons
A Junior Convenor & an Assistant Junior Manager/selector Mr Kim Stops
A Course Rating Committee (Messrs. Leith MacInnes, John Henderson, David Stratford, Barry Forbes & Bill Wills) &Mrs Gael Roebuck for the Women’s courses.

The Association

The Association is a “non-profit” organisation, a member of the Incorporated Societies made up of its constituent members, in our case the 20 golf clubs of the old Golf Hawke’s Bay District, and the ladies’ clubs (existing within the framework of the men’s clubs in the Poverty Bay District) ranging geographically from Te Puia Springs in the North of Poverty Bay, to Pongaroa, Cape Turnagain and Dannevirke in the Southern part of Hawke’s Bay.

So what do we do?

Our role is portrayed in many different ways. The Association firstly acts as an advisory body to its constituent clubs and their 5000 male and female players, and provides linkage to New Zealand Golf.

Golf HB & PBW (Inc) is responsible for organising and running the following annual inter-club events:-

The Association’s selectors and the Junior Convenor/Manager/Selector, spend a large amount of their own time travelling in the District, and indeed outside it occasionally, watching our senior and junior representative players and managing both senior and junior teams. They then meet and discuss their findings with Council before selecting teams for the following events:-
 

In addition to the foregoing, our Junior Convenor, in association with the two selectors, also selects teams of junior representatives for confirmation by Council, to represent Hawke’s Bay at the following events:-

The Hawke’s Bay Junior Golf Academy:

The Junior Convenor is also the key person in selecting players for, and organising the activities of the Hawke’s Bay Junior Golf Academy. Each year, 10 promising young golfers are afforded an opportunity to undergo extensive additional coaching with a long-term view to their becoming junior and later, senior representatives for their province. As a part of these processes, the Junior Convenor is also deeply involved in the activities of the H.B. Junior Golfing Society Inter-Club program each year, played within the District. The Junior Golfing Society in Hawke’s Bay is affiliated to the NZ Council of Junior Golf Societies Inc.

H.B. Golf Referees’ Association:

This is a separate body established for the purpose of advancing the education of players and volunteers alike who undertake the important task of providing rules officials for most of the District’s inter-club and national and international tournaments which are played on their courses from time to time. The Association conducts an annual study course and examination on the rules of golf, for anyone who is interested in pursuing certification as an official referee.

The H.B. Golf Referees’ Association is a separately structured and independent organisation under the auspices of the Incorporated Societies Act but works very closely with Golf HB & PBW (Inc).

Executive Officer

This role is pivotal around the administrative activities of Golf HB & PBW as a small business unit. The role which reports to the Chairman of the Board, is responsible for the overall day-to-day running of the Association, management of its staff, accounting and financial functions, logistics and operations associated with organising tournaments, fund-raising to allow representative teams to travel inter-district nationally for competition, arranging travel and accommodation for representative players going to both local and national events, arranging and minuteing meetings of the Board and Golf Committees, and overseeing preparations for District events and some of the regular competitions run by the Association each year on behalf of New Zealand Golf. The Executive Officer also acts as Manager of the Association Junior Academy

Junior Golf Development Manager

Late 2008 Golf HB & PBW Inc, contracted this role to the local Golf Professional firm "Sharpies Ltd" The trainee PGA professional Jasmine Smith undertakes this role and reports to the Executive Officer together with a direct reporting function with New Zealand Golf junior golf strategy and development staff in Wellington, and who are responsible for delivering the Junior Golf Development program into schools and clubs throughout New Zealand.

Funding for the Junior Golf program is partially met by grants from New Zealand Golf but a  part of the financial responsibility for the position falls on the local Association, in partnership with the local community.

Course Rating Committee

The activities of this small group of volunteers should not be overlooked. There is a responsibility cast upon District Associations to create a unit that is both experienced in, and knowledgeable about what it is that makes a golf course easy or difficult to negotiate, and how that should relate to the handicap ratings which form the basis of our new handicapping system. These unsung heroes of the fairways and greens go about their task with little fuss and are largely invisible and unknown to the average club player, whose course is currently rated twice every five years or so. For our purposes, this is a time-consuming but vital task, appreciated the moreso by our Association, which relies heavily on the commitment of the people involved, and in particular, their voluntary contribution to the work of Golf HB & PBW.

Finance

The Association funds its activities from three major sources, viz. an annual levy imposed on all registered full playing and summer members in the H.B. District, assistance grants from the wider New Zealand Golf pools, and finally from gaming trusts and commercial organisations, relying largely on the goodwill and largesse of the local and national charities and communities which operate distribution programs for the proceeds of gaming machines in pubs.

Currently, Golf H.B. has an annual operating budget of a little over $140,000 based on 2009 income and expenditure expectations, which theoretically requires to be met by income deriving from grants and levies from the sources identified earlier. Perusal of the Association’s Balance Sheet reveals there is little in the way of tangible assets existing and the monthly Income and Expenditure accounts show clearly that its small reserves are now steadily eroding. Since the legislation passed by Government two years or so ago, firstly on the manner in which gaming machine monies are controlled and dispersed, and secondly on the smoke-free environment created in hotels, cafes, bars, clubs, etc., the consequential drop in patronage and therefore funds throughput diminishing, the gaming trust source for finance is rapidly drying up - not entirely, but on current reckoning, by about 25-30% in the past year. As Government control spreads its tentacles during 2007 and beyond and a quasi-Government organisation is set up to monitor and control funds distribution, requiring itself a large slice of the gaming monies for its own administration, clubs and organisations like Golf HB & PBW are going to find that the opportunities previously available for funding, will be quickly and very severely, eroded....

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