Date posted: 31st May 2021
Dear Members,
As you are aware our Golfing Unions have now aligned, and golf as a whole is moving towards a more inclusive culture. In line with this, a two-person taskforce of Brenda Sheehan and Paul Kirwan was established by myself as Council Chair in the third quarter of 2020, to review timesheet usage in Killiney, with the objective of ensuring that all full members have equal opportunity to participate in competition golf.
Brenda and Paul put forward their recommendations and, after careful and thoughtful consideration to all our stakeholders, a final plan was agreed and passed by Council.
A competition sub-committee was then set up, including representatives of both the men's, ladies and competition committees, charged with devising a new timesheet based on what was agreed by Council. It was decided by all involved that this new timesheet will launch as a pilot and be trialed over the summer months.
A detailed communication of the new pilot timesheet and the implications for all players will be issued by your Captains at 7pm today. In the meantime, the following outlines the high-level changes involved:
1) The main 18-hole weekly competition will now be played over two days, Thursday and Saturday for both Men and Ladies.
2) The 9-hole weekly competitions will move to Friday and Sunday.
3) Members who play in the 18-hole competition on a Thursday will not be able to enter the 18-hole competition on a Saturday and vice versa.
4) On both Thursday and Saturday there will be dedicated lines for Ladies, dedicated lines for men and a small number of lines bookable by either Men or Ladies.
5) If the dedicated lines are not filled 72 hours after opening, they will revert to open lines bookable by any combination.
6) There will also be a 9-hole Men's’ and a 9-hole Ladies competition run on Fridays and Sundays. There will be a limited number of reserved lines on both days.
7) All members who intend to play in the 18-hole competition that week may also enter the 9-hole version 7 days in advance. If members decide to play in the 9-hole competition on Friday, they may still play casual golf on Sunday and Vice Versa.
As stated above this timesheet pilot will run until September over which time its usage will be regularly reviewed. A feedback mechanism will also be announced by the Captains in their communication to you later today and again your feedback will be carefully reviewed and monitored for the duration of the pilot.
The Council would like to express its sincere gratitude to the Course Usage sub-committee, the Men’s and Ladies’ Committees and Captains Diane and Brendan for bringing this pilot to fruition. We believe that it will be well received by the vast majority of our members and will enable competition golf to continue to thrive in Killiney.
We look forward to updating you on the progress of the pilot at its conclusion.
Kind Regards
Jim Mountjoy
Chairman