Despite awful weather forecasts this fixture went ahead, and the decision to play was vindicated by the Met Office being wrong and GCM's being right!

The clouds broke just about tee-off time, and whilst the high winds created challenges of their own, at least for the most part the rain held off, indeed by the time the last group finished, a typical British summers evening had developed.

Sadly we were unable to wrest the trophy from the visitors, who ran out winners 4.5 - 1.5

A more worrying aspect of this match however, was the mix of members and non-member guests needed to ensure the match was played. Our own Midland region fielded just one working manager, the remaining eleven all being retired. Yorkshire were, in one respect a little better off in that they were able to field three working managers, five retired members, but had to supplement their numbers with three non-member guests.

When I joined the then AGCS, competition to play in these matches was fierce with most places allocated to working managers, (mainly Secretaries in those days) to fulfil the Association objectives of camaraderie, networking and sharing common experiences.

Is it a reflection of the times in which we now live, and the greater scrutiny managers are now under from their management teams, that working managers feel they can no longer schedule a half-day out of the office to participate in one of the few opportunities to "chew the cud" with like minded souls? Is there a perception within clubs that if a manager is not tied to his/her desk, and especially if they are playing golf, that they are skiving, despite the fact that they, as I did, may have taken annual leave to participate, because it is felt important to do so?

Or is it a reflection, as outlined in a letter to this months The Golf Club Manager by Chris Coles of Knowle Golf Club in Bristol, that managers are their own worst enemies by "failing to change or put up with it" and "should be talking the career up not down". 

Food for thought.

Rob Wormstone - Regional Manager

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