Captain's Message

My Early Thoughts 2009

I would firstly like to thank the Past Captains for nominating me to be your Captain in 2009 and secondly you the members for bestowing this honour on me. I hope I can continue the great traditions that previous Captains have brought to the club.

I am very fortunate in having Ian Vernon as my President. Ian has given many years service to the Golf Club and I have been told, has “a good shoulder to lean on”- hope I don’t need it too often.

My congratulations and best wishes to Lady Captain Judith Stanistreet, Lady President Pat Hackett, and hope that we have a good year on and off the course.

I also wish to extend my best wishes to Jo-Whan Han our Junior Captain for 2009 and to all the Juniors who play such an important role in the future and growth of Sale Golf Club.

As most members are aware, Membership of Golf Clubs is diminishing and we are no different at Sale. We have lost members this year but through the energy and effort of our Marketing Committee we are recruiting well and hope to be able to replace them all and to add to our membership.

The Club relies on a large number of volunteers to manage the club. These members give their time freely. I would like to thank them all for the effort and time they put in on behalf of you the members.

At the time of writing the course is in excellent condition and hopefully should improve further as we move into summer. This is due to the excellent work of the Green Committee and Chris Hulme and his team.

On the clubhouse and social front we have a great team in place. My thanks to Maureen and her staff and Rick and his team.

My personal thanks to Howard and Christine who have again come up with a super Social Calendar for 2009. It takes a lot of work, mostly unseen, to organize these social evenings and to make them run as smoothly as they do. Thank you.

This year we introduced a “200 Club” where the profits are going into improving the course, the surrounds of the clubhouse and any other worthwhile venture. We still need more participants so please sign up for just £10 per month. Thank you Hilary and your team for all your efforts in getting it up and running.

After only four weeks in office I would like to thank all the members who have sent or given me their best wishes. I am looking forward to playing with as many of you as possible and hope that the summer brings lots of sunshine and good days on the course.

Tony Ball
CAPTAIN