HARGA Spring Invitational Results

Ripon City GC, April 14th

Congratulations to Masham on an excellent team result that puts them 2 points into the lead going into the Autum event which will be played at Oakdale GC on Sunday September 22nd.  The top pair of the day was Andy Robinson and Ian Chesnick with a great score of 44 points.  Shaun Reilly hit a magnificent shot to within 8.5 inches of the pin on the 14th to win a box of balls.  All other prizes will be sent by the HARGA Treasurer to the winners club accounts.  See a few more pictures below:

Summary of the Spring Quarterly Meeting 

Knaresborough Golf Club, April 8th, 2024

 & Brian Parker Trophy Results

The day, as always, begins with a round of golf. The Spring Quarterly’s game takes the form of the Brian Parker Trophy, a drawn pairs competition. 

After a re-assessment of the submitted cards it was been determined that the 2024 winners of the Brian Parker Trophy (4BBB Pairs) were Tony Bretherick (Knaresborough) and Kevin Dwyer (Heworth) with 27 Stableford Points (12 holes played) and the Runners-up were Ian Morris (Oakdale and Ray Geary (Harrogate) with 25 points. Congratulations to Tony and Keving for a great score including an eagle on hole 14.  Nigel Jones from Pike Hills got a prize for nearest to the pin on the 5th hole.

What was remarkable, was that due to the awful weather our part of North Yorkshire had been experiencing over the past weeks and months, play was possible at all. On the day, 12 holes were open to the 33 rabbits attempting to get their hands on the Trophy, (for those mathematicians reading this, Andy, our comp sec, played a “round” on his own).

Following a fine two course meal, there followed the Spring HARGA meeting, opened by the 2024 HARGA President, Geoff Fitchett. 

Geoff began by saying how much he was looking forward to being this year’s President and went on to thank all those who had supported the Brian Parker competition plus those present at the meeting, just over 40 in attendance. He then thanked all those who made the course playable and those who had fed and “watered”, one and all.Having recently taken on his new role of President he said he hoped that weather conditions would soon improve as HARGA had a full diary of events and hoped they would all be completed without too much disruption.

Secretary, Keith Lewis, reported that this year’s HARGA Directory was now obtainable on the Council Workspace which Keith will be sending links to in due course and two proposals covering prizes and handicaps, agreed by the floor, will be presented at the Summer Quarterly. He also referred everybody to stay in touch with the HARGA Public web site for all matters HARGA.

Ian Jeal, Treasurer, delivered his usual reassuring report, that all was well with the accounts.

The Competition Secretary, Andy Robinson, said he was looking forward to the Spring Invitational at Ripon on Sunday 13th April, and would announce the Tee times the following morning. The HARGA League is only 8 days into being having started on April 1st then closing on August 31st , so there was nothing to report.

Jeff Loveday, Communications, said that he would be reporting and publicising reports throughout the 2024 HARGA calendar year.

Mel Goody, HARGA’s YRGA representative, gave a synopsis of the YRGA AGM last February. The main item from the evening was that the present base 15 handicap, remains, for at least another year.

Geoff went on to report that the annual HARGA dinner was already being discussed at sub - committee level and would be at Knaresborough, 25th October 2024.

After any other business, Geoff closed the meeting, reminding everybody of the Summer Quarterly, at Skipton, on Thursday July 4th.

Jeff Loveday

Publicity & Communications Officer

9/04/2024

NB: Full minutes available for review and comment on restricted Council Workspace

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:  

1. This proposal to be implemented from 2025 onwards to enable HARGA membership to submit sufficient cards in 2024.

2. England Golf guidelines and policies on medical exceptions etc. will be applied.

3. 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.

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