Harrogate Area
Rabbit Golf Association
Mission
To stimulate, promote and encourage competitive golf for players with a WHS Handicap Index of 15 and higher who are:
Subscribing / Playing members of the constituent member clubs of the Harrogate Area (YRGA)
Members of their own Rabbit Sections
To have its own Officers and Council responsible for arranging Rabbit golf competitions, inter-club and inter-area matches, and social functions.
To operate within the constitution and rules of the Yorkshire Rabbit Golf Association.
2023 HARGA President's Message
Welcome to HARGA 2024
It is a great honour and a privilege to be President of HARGA in 2024. I would like to thank my home club Knaresborough for the support they are giving for my year in office, and the Rabbits Committee for nominating me as President.
Having been Vice President in 2023 I now appreciate how much effort goes into the role of President. So I thank Phil Grant, my predecessor, for doing such a fine job. He has set the bar very high for me this year.
I have been involved in Rabbits Golf since 2006 when I played my first friendly and I was Rabbit Captain in 2014. Since being Rabbit’s Captain I have been involved in HARGA since then.
My career has not been especially stellar in terms of trophies won along the way. What I have won however is a lot of good friends in HARGA and YRGA, and for me this is more important than trophies.
My hopes for this year are that we all continue to play golf in the true Rabbits tradition. That our members continue to support HARGA and YRGA competitions with the enthusiasm they have done in the past, and lastly I get to play with as many HARGA rabbits as possible this season.
Geoff Fitchett
Knaresborough GC
2024 HARGA President
2024 HARGA Officers
Vice President
Bill Barnett
Ripon City GC
Secretary
Keith Lewis
Thirsk and Northallerton GC
Competition Secretary
Andy Robinson
Rudding Park GC
Treasurer
Ian Jeal
Ripon City GC
Communications & Press Officer
Jeff Loveday
Masham GC
HARGA News
REMINDER: Minimum Number of Qualifying Cards for HARGA 2025 Events
As you plan the 2024 playing season for yourselves and also your Rabbit friends a gentle reminder of an important proposal that was approved with discussion at the recent AGM:
Minimum number of qualifying cards for HARGA events
PROPOSAL: For players to be eligible for a HARGA event they must have a minimum of five handicap qualifying cards registered in England Golf in the 12 month period preceding the event.
Notes:
This proposal to be implemented from 2025 onwards to enable HARGA membership to submit sufficient cards in 2024.
England Golf guidelines and policies on medical exceptions etc. will be applied.
This is primarily a self-policed, good faith directive. The responsibility for compliance rests with the player together with the club rabbit secretary in the case of selections for HARGA League matches. The HARGA Competition Secretary may randomly ask registrants or a club rabbit secretary to verify compliance. Non-compliance, identified before or after an event or match will result in player disqualification and loss of any trophy or league points awarded.
Reasoning: Proposal on this issue was requested via a quarterly meeting
Discussion: After some discussions on the time-line for implementing the proposal and the number of qualifying scores there was general consensus that 5 cards is a reasonable request.
Practically this means that you should plan on playing in a good number of events in 2024 in which you can submit qualifying cards (some of the HARGA events this year will enable this). Furthermore, think ahead who might you want to field in your teams for HARGA events next year e.g. HARGA League, HARGA Invitationals etc. and encourage those players to submit a good number of qualifying cards in 2024.
Keith Lewis, HARGA Secretary
Summary of the HARGA 2024 AGM,
Oakdale Golf Club, Tuesday 9th January 2024
A well-attended 2024 AGM at Oakdale GC, saw over 40 representatives from all 16 clubs forming the Harrogate Area Rabbits Golf Association (HARGA), a large area, extending from Skipton in the west, to Catterick in the North, from Thirsk in the East and to Wetherby in the South.
Traditionally the Oakdale Club hosts the AGM based on its central location for the area.
President’s Report
In his final report, Phil, repeated that much used phrase, by all retiring presidents, “It seems like yesterday since I took over the role of HARGA president”
Phil went on to mention some of the successes in the Area matches and other competitions run by HARGA throughout the year, the success of the Annual Dinner and very briefly, one or two matches that were not so successful!
Thanks went to Keith for the successful introduction of the HARGA web site and his support in making his presidential year run as smoothly as it did. To Jeff Loveday (Masham) for stepping into the shoes of the Competition Secretary, Pete Skinner, (Knaresborough) who had to step down due to a serious illness and to the Treasurer, Ian Jeal, (Ripon) for his in-depth accounting skills.
Finally, Phil thanked all members of HARGA for their support and encouragement and wished his Vice President, Geoff Fitchett (Knaresborough), well, for the coming year.
Secretary’s Report
Keith thanked the HARGA Council for all their support, willingness to persevere with the new IT approach and encouragement, especially from President Phil Grant and Comp. Sec. Jeff Loveday - it had made it a very easy first year as secretary.
The 2023 highlight had been the excellent take-up of online registration forms resulting in very good participation in meetings, matches and the dinner. The Invitationals were very much appreciated. It was also great to have Skipton and Catterick join HARGA in 2023, following the invites and groundwork from Derek Reveley, Keith’s predecessor,
Competition Secretary’s Report
Jeff began by saying that it was on a sad note he took on the role at the beginning of the year but he was very happy to see Peter was in attendance for the AGM and is recovering slowly. Everybody wished Peter well.
Jeff’s main role over the last year was to preside over the HARGA League, divided into two sections, competing for the Kershaw Trophy.
The semi-finals are yet to played due to the wet conditions last Autumn and early Winter. Section A winners Ripon will play Easingwold and Section B winners Oakdale will play Masham at Bedale Golf Club when the weather permits. With the final being played at Otley, the home of the Kershaw Trophy.
In conclusion, Jeff thanked Keith for the part he played with the web site making his role as comp sec that much easier and wished Andy Robinson (Rudding Park), as nominee for the role of Assistant and Competition Secretary, a successful year ahead.
HARGA League Section A 2023 Winners
Ripon GC
HARGA League Section B 2023 Winners
Oakdale GC
The Election of Officers
HARGA 2024
President: Geoff Fitchett (Knaresborough)
Vice President: Bill Barnett (Ripon)
Area Secretary, Keith Lewis (Thirsk & Northallerton)
Assistant Secretary/Competition Secretary: Andy Robinson (Rudding Park)
Treasurer: Ian Jeal (Ripon)
HARGA Council: (two members from each member club)
Auditors: Mr Derek Reveley (Thirsk & Northallerton) and Mr Ken Richardson (Oakdale)
Publicity & Communications Officer - Mr Jeff Loveday (Masham)
YRGA delegate (3year term): Mr Mel Goody (Harrogate)
For his President’s acceptance speech, Geoff, thanked Phil for his year in office and said he’d set the bar at a high level.
Geoff thanked his Rabbit’s committee at Knaresborough for nominating him and his club for offering their support during his year of office.
Finally, a quote from Geoff that encapsulates the spirit of Rabbits golf,
“My career has not been especially stellar in terms of trophies won along the way. What I have won however is a lot of good friends in HARGA and YRGA, and for me this is more important than trophies.”
Several proposals from the "Ways and Means" Sub-committee were passed unanimously without too much discussion:
A change in the format of the HARGA League was one of the proposals passed.
Proposal: The HARGA League Section Winners directly compete for the Kershaw Cup. Section runners-up compete for a new plate. Both matches to be played at the Annual Dinner.
Reasoning: Proposal is aimed at making the HARGA League play-offs simpler and fairer with the goal of getting all matches, including the Kershaw Cup, played in the year of the main event (weather conditions permitting).
Following the vote, a supplementary proposal was made to name the new play-off Plate Trophy the “Loveday-Reveley HARGA League Plate” in recognition of the many years that Jeff and Derek worked together to keep the HARGA League up-and-running smoothly. This was proposed by Keith Lewis, seconded by Phil Grant. It was passed unanimously.
The draw was made for the 2024 HARGA league, the full results can be seen on the HARGA web site.
Any other business heard Ken Richardson (Oakdale) urged two voting members from each club to attend the YRGA (Yorkshire Rabbits Golf Association) AGM on Tuesday February 13th at Knaresborough Golf Club to hear a proposal to change the voting rules, which if passed, could subsequently impact the HI criteria for Rabbit golfers which in turn could affect the status of the Rabbit golfer in years to come.
The meeting was closed at 7.45pm.
Jeff Loveday
Publicity & Communications Officer
14/01/2024
NB: Full minutes available for review and comment on restricted Council Workspace
HARGA Member Clubs
Click on Club Name to link to the Golf Club's Website (Rabbit's Section, if available)
The HARGA Council consists of: Elected Officers (President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Competitions Secretary, Press Officer); YRGA Representative; HARGA Club Rabbit Captains & HARGA Club Rabbit Secretaries (or nominee) and the active past HARGA Presidents. HARGA Club Rabbit Vice Captains are invited to join meetings in a non-voting capacity.
The restricted workspace includes the online version of the 2023 Directory, an online calendar of events, meetings and fixtures, recent meeting agendas and minutes, index of past meeting minutes and the latest version of the HARGA Constitution .