Captain and Vice aptain

Hi, I often come across the term "Club Captain" in connection with golf clubs. Now my question, what does the title. In Denmark we have a chairman elected by club members who are responsible for all club operations. Maybe it is, the same.

No, not really.

The club captaincy is a figurehead role, generally conferred on members of long standing who have supported the club for a long time. It's considered an honour to be the captain of the club. Club captains attend club functions, present prizes, support teams, sit on committees and are given the honour on the tee when they play. They aren't really involved in the running of the club - except in the sense that they usually sit on the general committee or board while they are the captain.

At my fathers club the captain and lady captain are married

Thank you for a fine and detailed answer.

Best club structure I have experienced was a Chairman with a management committee of six.

They selected their vice captain straight from the membership on captains day. This was normally someone with no committee experience whatsoever.
The previous captain had a roll of standing in for the captain in his/her absense and guiding the Vice Captain.
After his year the previous captain was generally added to the management committee if someone wished to stand down.

Unusuall, but it worked very well.

by No1yankee Today at 10:26 am

.At my fathers club the captain and lady captain are married



Bit extreme that yankee, you should see our Lady Captain

Doon, That's an interesting way of doing it!

Most clubs have some sort of nominations committee that maintains a list of people who potentially could be captain. Such are the time demands on club captains these days that they are usually retired people.

I'm beginning to realise that clubs work best if they have a manager in place. The committee should represent the views of the membership, and task the manager with carrying them out. The manager should deal with the greens staff, the clubhouse staff, and be responsible for the smooth running of the club.

Some clubs reckon they can't afford a manager, which may be true for smaller clubs. I'm surprised there aren't more 'mergers' - official or practical - so that local clubs can share resources. The manager could manage two or more clubs, greens staff could be shared, greens equipment could be shared and so on. It could also mean that members get a good reciprocal deal.

I guess it's like football clubs sharing stadiums - makes perfect sense in every way but the fans don't ever agree.

George, not far from me i know Traditions GC and Pyrford GC share a manager, green keeping staff and equipment, the lot. Pyrford is a much nicer course than Traditions but mostly due to layout. Both are in good nick and i believe the setup works very well for them

Very good point George.

Equipment sharing makes a lot of sense, unfortunately it is the maintenance that is the stumbling block.

Golf Professional/greenkeeper/steward managers is a way forward for the smaller clubs.
I have a couple of friends who are combined Pro/managers and do a good job.
One ex pro I know became manager of two high profile clubs.

MustPuttBetter wrote:Pyrford is a much nicer course than Traditions but mostly due to layout. Both are in good nick and i believe the setup works very well for them

Traditions is a cabbage patch

Doon, why is maintenance the stumbling block? On the face of it, greens staff and equipment should be the easiest thing to share. Most courses have a rough cutter, a pretty expensive piece of kit that gets used about once a week, less in the winter. One between two or three clubs would save a couple of thousand quid every year.

Ownership of the kit and misuse by the non owners.
I have had a fair bit of experience with this and it is a difficult path to travel.

Ownership of the kit....

Set up a joint venture company and lease the kit. Elect someone as the machinery maintenance guy and make him responsible for training the others on how to use the kit.

Whenever I discuss this idea of mergers with club secretaries, they look at me like I have two heads. I assume that they all think their jobs would go. Turkeys voting for Christmas I guess.

Someone mentioned vice captains - they 'learn the job' by watching what the captain does, and stand in for him when he can't or won't attend the Mudhillshire County Golf Union over 80s Christmas Lunch.

When I was involved 20 years ago it was a Quid Pro arangement.

Totally agree with you that it is a good way to go for clubs.
Trouble with this idea George is that it makes sense, in my experience private club comittees generally find that hard to deal with.

Davie wrote:

MustPuttBetter wrote:Pyrford is a much nicer course than Traditions but mostly due to layout. Both are in good nick and i believe the setup works very well for them

Traditions is a cabbage patch

Is it really?
A few years back it was in ok condition, just terribly designed. Looks like it's moved a notch down!!

Yeah sorry MPB - I thought you'd seen (and replied to) my review from when I played there a couple of weeks ago. Maybe I'm getting mixed up with someone else.

Anyway you are totally correct about the bad design but the condition was pretty awful too. The greens were awful (though it must be said I've perhaps been spoiled by how good the greens are at my own club), and the "fairways" very ill-defined. The two rather silly holes (for higher handicappers/short hitters) where you have to hit over that awful gulley with the railway sleepers - the day we played it was into a 2-3 club wind and the carry was very difficult for us shorter hitters - yet from the tee box it didn't really look like there was a lay-up area. I inadvertently laid up on one of them (went for the carry but mis-hit it) - once I got to the ball I realized it was meant to be "fairway" short of the gulley but from the tee it just looked like rough!

I did indeed read it and reply Davie
I remember you saying it wasn't the most enjoyable and mentioning the sleepers. I'd either glossed over or forgotten you mentioning the condition of the greens etc
As i say when i played it many moons ago it was a terrible experience because it's a terrible course, but i remember it being in ok nick.
I'm notsurprised they can't even manage that anymore.
A big thumbs down for Traditions all round