Club Manager
As previously advised, Club Manager, Wayne Patston, has resigned.
The process of recruiting a new Club Manager has commenced.
House Director
Unfortunately, Chris Michael, our House Director, has resigned. We thank Chris for her untiring efforts for the club and contribution to the success of House Operations. The Management Committee is considering its options.
Committee members give their time, and in some cases many hours of their time, voluntarily in the service of the Club and they deserve to be treated with an appropriate level of respect while in office and performing their duties as officers of the Club.
It is incredibly disappointing when we lose the services of a volunteer who has made a very real contribution to the club because of the disrespect shown by a small number of members posting vile and derogatory comments on a social media site. There will be consequences.
Disruptions and Rumours
Unfortunately, because of the unhealthy disruption and rumours doing the rounds at Cooroy Golf Club at the current time, it is necessary to address and clarify some points and hopefully ease some of the tension being felt by you as our club members.
On Friday 16th February, our House Director, Chris Michael, called into the clubhouse to attend to some business related to her duties as house director. Wayne called Chris into the back office and handed her his written resignation letter, including the statement that this was his Final Decision. This action caught Chris completely off guard and by surprise. Chris had been very supportive of Wayne during her time as House Director.
After being notified of Wayne’s decision, our Club President Peter Piggott, spoke to Wayne at length, face to face. Peter attempted on two occasions to encourage Wayne to take a month off work, and think carefully through his decision and if he felt differently after the month, his role as Manager would continue. Wayne confirmed to Peter that this was his final decision and that he would not change his mind. We have to be respectful of Wayne’s decision and not make any assumptions.
There has been rumour and assumption that Wayne’s employment was terminated by the Management Committee. This is simply not true. The truth is that after 20 years Wayne resigned. Chris enquired with Wayne if he had other employment. He informed her that he didn’t at that time and he was taking a month to rest and relax and would consider his options during that time. A club member ‘posted’ on a social media site that Wayne has other employment in progress. If so, then we wish Wayne all the best with his future career.
There was another rumour being spread at the clubhouse last Thursday, by a member who was handing out leaflets, that our Greens Superintendent, Warren Smith, was the next to go. Any suggestion that the Management Committee intends to terminate Warren is simply untrue. Warren has made it clear that he has no intention of leaving.
You only need to look at our golf course and compare it to a couple of years ago, to see the wonderful work that Warren does on our course. The course is in the best state it has ever been in, despite the recent heavy rain that we have experienced. We have wonderful new concrete cart paths, and gardens and the plans that Warren has for our course support that he is very passionate about Cooroy Golf Course. Warren has a wonderful team of staff and has had very valuable assistance from our Finance Director to set up software that allows him to keep track of his equipment, servicing, maintenance of this equipment, course maintenance and future planning. Warren also has a wonderful crew of volunteers who assist him in so many ways and this software allows him to track all the work that our volunteers do on the course. Please ensure that you all thank Warren for his contribution to our Golf Course, whenever you see him.
The Management Committee has no intention of terminating the employment of any of our staff. All of our staff are a valuable asset to Cooroy Golf Club.
Due to Wayne’s resignation, our staffing levels have been depleted. We have two new casual staff members, Deb and Duncan who are still finding their way around. Please be thoughtful and respectful to them as they learn their jobs. We owe our other staff members, Jenny, Cyril and Terry a huge thank you as they take on extra shifts to ensure that we can still operate successfully until a new manager is appointed. We also have some club members who are volunteering to take on responsibilities to take some of the burden off our paid staff. We are all trying to do the best we can.
We are aware of comments being made on certain social media sites. Many of these comments are ill-informed, hurtful and disrespectful to some of our Cooroy Golf Club members and volunteers. It is well known that people have suffered from mental health issues to the point of suicide, due to social media trolling and we encourage you all to think of consequences before you engage in this type of behaviour.
We also direct you to 9 a) of our Constitution which states:
- Suspension/termination of membership
a) The Management Committee shall have the power to reprimand, suspend or expel any Member who, in The Club premises or elsewhere, is in the opinion of the Management Committee, guilty of conduct derogatory to the character of a gentleman or lady or prejudicial to the interests of The Club. A Member shall not be suspended from the privileges of membership under this rule for a period longer than six (6) months.
The type of comments made on social media by a select few of our members potentially constitute ‘conduct derogatory to the character of a gentleman or lady and is prejudicial to the interest of The Club’. Some of the comments also make statements which may have a defamatory effect on members of the Management Committee. Please be careful what you say or do on social media as once the comment is there, there is no going back.
Management Committee
Cooroy Golf Club
