GMAQ May Edition e-Magazine is now available!

The 1st edition of the GMAQ e-Magazine is now available. Simply click on the link below to view.

Rules of Golf – Club Accreditation course @ Brisbane GC – Thursday, 17th May 2012

Fifteen keen Managers and Club employees attended the Rules Accreditation course hosted at Brisbane Golf Club and conducted by Luke Bates from Golf Queensland.  Although usually held over two days, Golf Queensland were obliging to conduct the course on the one day to accommodate for the busy lifestyle of the Golf Manager.

After an intensive 3 hour seminar and practical workshop, the attendees were then subjected to the gruelling 3 hour examination of 50 multiple choice questions, covering a wide array of rules and their interpretations.

  

All attendees found this to be an essential and rewarding experience that would be recommended for all managers and other club staff and volunteers to attend.

GMAQ wish to thank Golf Queensland and especially Luke Bates for accommodating and conducting the event and also to Simon and the team at Brisbane Golf Club who supplied a great venue and a superb lunch.

Work, Life Balance

When life is busy, or all your energy is focused on a special project, it's all too easy to find yourself "off balance," not paying enough attention to important areas of your life. While you need to have drive and focus if you're going to get things done, taking this too far can lead to frustration and intense stress.

That's when it's time to take a "helicopter view" of your life, so that you can bring things back into balance.

This is where the Wheel of Life (or Life Wheel) can help. Commonly used by professional life coaches, it helps you consider each area of your life in turn and assess what's off balance. And so, it helps you identify areas that need more attention.

Figure 1 below shows an example wheel of life with example "dimensions" (we'll explain how to choose the right areas of life or dimensions for you below).

The Wheel of Life is powerful because it gives you a vivid visual representation of the way your life is currently, compared with the way you'd ideally like it to be. It is called the "Wheel of Life" because each area of your life is mapped on a circle, like the spoke of a wheel.

Using The Tool

There are two ways you can use this tool. One is to use our interactive Wheel of Life tool below (click on the diagram to activate it.)

Alternatively, use the following steps to create your Wheel of Life and assess your balance. (This allows you to define your own dimensions.)

Start by downloading our free Wheel of Life worksheet which contains a blank Wheel of Life diagram as shown in figure 2, below.

1. Start by brainstorming the 6 to 8 dimensions of your life that are important for you. Different approaches to this are:
   
   • The roles you play in life for example: husband/wife, father/mother, manager, colleague, team member, sports player, community leader, or friend.
   • Areas of life that are important to you for example: artistic expression, positive attitude, career, education, family, friends, financial freedom, physical challenge, pleasure, or public service.
   • Your own combination of these (or different) things, reflecting the things that are your priorities in life.
2. Write down these dimensions on the Wheel of Life diagram, one on each spoke of the life wheel.
3. This approach assumes that you will be happy and fulfilled if you can find the right balance of attention for each of these dimensions. And different areas of your life will need different levels of attention at different times. So the next step is to assess the amount of attention you're currently devoting to each area.
4. Consider each dimension in turn, and on a scale of 0 (low) to 5 (high), write down the amount of attention you're devoting to that area of your life. Mark each score on the appropriate spoke of you Life Wheel.
5. Now join up the marks around the circle. Does you life wheel look and feel balanced?
6. Next it's time to consider your ideal level in each area of your life. A balanced life does not mean getting 5 in each life area: some areas need more attention and focus than others at any time. And inevitably you will need to make choices and compromises, as your time and energy are not in unlimited supply!
7. So the question is, what would the ideal level of attention be for you in each life area?
8. Plot the "ideal" scores around your life wheel too.
9. Now you have a visual representation of your current life balance and your ideal life balance. What are the gaps? These are the areas of your life that need attention.
10. And remember that gaps can go both ways. There are almost certainly areas that are not getting as much attention as you'd like. However there may also be areas where you're putting in more effort than you'd ideally like. These areas are sapping energy and enthusiasm that may better be directed elsewhere.
11. Once you have identified the areas that need attention, it's time to plan the actions needed to work on regaining balance. Starting with the neglected areas, what things do you need to start doing to regain balance? In the areas that currently sap your energy and time, what can you STOP doing or reprioritize or delegate to someone else? Make a commitment to these actions by writing them on your worksheet.

Tip:
You can use the Wheel of Life as preparation for goal setting or coaching. It helps identify the areas you want to work on and is a great way of visualizing your current and desired life. Once you are working on improving your life balance, it's also a useful tool for monitoring your life balance as it changes over time.

The Wheel of Life is a great tool to help you improve your life balance. It helps you quickly and graphically identify the areas in your life to which you want to devote more energy, and helps you understand where you might want to cut back.

The challenge now is to transform this knowledge and desire for a more balanced life into a positive program of action.

Volunteers environment has changed!!!

The volunteer working environment is changing, with respect to what volunteers can and can't do. Furthermore, as Committees transition, and as a result of them being bound by constitutions which is further compounded by the Federal Work Health and Safety Laws which were introduced as of 1st January 2012, they do have a primary Duty of Care as per Section 19 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2012. They need to ensure so far as reasonably practicable, the health and safety of ALL workers and other persons (including volunteers). You cannot, as a Committee, disqualify your Duty of Care.

One way to ensure your Duty of Care is to develop a formal induction for your volunteers and ensure all volunteers complete the induction and understand their respective duties, the potential risks involved and their responsibility towards these prior to commencing work. In my opinion, this would include the consumption of alcohol whilst performing work duties; especially where higher risk work duties are involved.

Story courtesy of Dickson Wohlsen Strategies

http://www.dws.net.au

GMAQ e-Magazine for May 2012

The 1st edition of the GMAQ e-Magazine is now available. Simply click on the link below to view.
http://issuu.com/golfindustrycentral/docs/gmaq_winter_2012?mode=window&backgroundColor=%23222222

2012 John Deere Golf Championship

2 Day event at Bribie Island GC & Pacific Harbour

Golf Management Australia – Qld Division

Bribie Island Golf and Pacific Harbour Golf and Country Club

The two day event was held at Bribie Island Golf Club and Pacific Harbour Golf and Country Club on Sunday 22^nd April and Monday 23^rd April 2012.

The weekend trips away are held once a year and are designed to encourage Managers to interact with fellow Managers and our valuable sponsors. The event started at Bribie Island Golf and everyone was made feel very welcome by new General Manager Steve Middleton.  It is a true credit to the Committee and staff at Bribie Island to see the course in such great condition considering the problems they have encountered due to the heavy rain and flooding during recent months.

The winner of the Single Stableford event held at Bribie Island was Charlie McGill (Horton Park) with 37 points from Jason Looker (Caloundra) with 36 points.  The Team Event was won by Mark Whiting (Tin Can Bay), Sharon Purnell (Mt Coolum), Allan Harris (Tewantin Noosa) and Simon Parker (The Brisbane) with 110 points.

Monday started with breakfast at the Pacific Harbour Golf and Country Club.  Rick Anderson the Assistant General Manager of Nudgee Golf Club provided a presentation on his experience of the Club Managers Association of American Conference held in New Orleans. Rick presented a very informative report and detailed relevant items of interest.  Just a few were Personal branding, How to deliver Blockbuster Service at your Club, Growing golf and Strategies to attract new golfers and keep the ones you have.  His presentation can be accessed on the GMAQ website.  GMAQ would like to thank Jeff Pollock and Jamie Kennedy from Schweppes Australia for funding the bursary.

Marcus Sullivan the General Manager of Pacific Harbour gave a brief presentation on his club and his experiences.

The Rules Accreditation Course was outlined and a couple of rules were discussed; I encourage everyone to attend the Rules of Golf Accreditation Program.

The Managers were all ready to tackle the challenging Pacific Harbour layout and some players found it easier than others with the winners of the day coming in with a fantastic score of 41 points, congratulations to Jeff Pollack (Schweppes Australia) and Ben Dobson (Headland) – runners up Cameron Harvey (Pacific) and Aaron Muirhead (Redland Bay) had 37 points.

On behalf of GMAQ I would like to express thanks to Steve Middleton (Bribie Island) and Marcus Sullivan (Pacific Harbour) and your staff for hosting a great weekend away on beautiful Bribie Island. I trust everyone had an exceptional experience and enjoyed the hospitality and the company of your fellow managers.

Our next event is the Rules of Golf Accreditation Seminar and Examination to be held at The Brisbane Golf Club on Thursday, 17^th May 2012.

Look forward to seeing you there.

Simon Parker

President