Golf NL held its Annual General Meeting and Hall of Fame Dinner as well as the Annual Awards Presentation on the weekend of November 24 & 25 at the Bally Haly Country Club in St. John’s.
The AGM was held Friday night while Saturday morning included a Telly Tour Presentation by outgoing Executive Director Greg Hillier followed by an overview of the 2024 – 26 Three Year Marketing Plan given by Ed Roche of the Idea Factory. That was followed by 2 workshops – one on Inclusion and the other on Safe Sport – which were led by Laura Wilson and Ryan Logan of Golf Canada.
The AGM clued up on Saturday evening with the Annual Awards and Hall of Fame Dinner at the Bally Haly Country Club.
During the AGM Friday evening the election of the Board of Directors for the year took place. Shaane Nathu was elected President for the coming season. It is a one year appointment as there was a resignation this past year in that position.The same thing held for the new Vice President and Marketing Director positions. Brent Snook was elected Vice President while Sandy Mercer is the new Marketing Director.
Others elected for 2 year terms included Secretary Lorilee Sharpe, Treasurer Peggy Vokey, Competitions Director Wayne Allen, Course Rating Director Sandra Sparrow and Membership Director Barry Stacey. Junior Director Nathan Peters and Rules Director Paul Comeau have 1 year remaining on their 2 years mandates from last year.
Reports were given by representatives of the golf courses attending the AGM. All courses reported an increase in rounds played in 2023 despite the poor weather to start the season. Bally Haly representative Jason Hill said that despite challenging times with the move to the Clovelly Golf Course everyone pulled together to make this past season very successful. Grande Meadows Heather Cluett reported on activities at Grande Meadows this past season which showed a modest increase in rounds played. Heather took advantage of the meeting to make some new contacts from around the province. She also took in the workshops and the Hall of Fame Dinner & Awards Presentation.
During the Hall of Fame Dinner 3 people were inducted into the Golf NL Hall of Fame. They were Bruce Imrie in the Builder Category, Barry Stacey of Grande Meadows in the Contributor(Volunteer) Category and Ken Casey of Bally Haly Country Club in the Lifetime Achievement Category.
During the evening retiring Executive Director Greg Hillier was presented with some tokens of appreciation by the member clubs of Golf NL along with representatives of Golf Canada. Greg is retiring after over 20 years with Golf NL. We thank Greg for his tremendous contributions to growing the game of golf in Newfoundland and we wish him many years of happy as well as happy retirement.
The award winners for the past year were as follows:
- Paige Allen – Junior Scholarship Award – Blomidon Golf Club
- Karsen Best – Junior Scholarship Award – Bally Haly Country Club
- Official of the Year – Joan Vautier
- Employee of the Year – Richard Marche – Harmon Seaside Links
- Golf Course of the Year – Bally Haly Country Club
- Junior Female Golfer of the Year – Freya Snook – Bally Haly Country Club
- Junior Male Golfer of the Year – Daniel Sharpe – Blomidon Golf Club
- Amateur Female Golfer of the Year – Janet Mills – Bally Haly Country Club
- Amateur Male Golfer of the Year – Mike Brown – Tamarack Golf Club
Appreciation Awards:
- Ken Casey
- Janine Fraser
- Ed Roche
- Dean Sullivan
Barry Stacey receives Hall of Fame award from Golf NL President Shaane Nathu.
L to R: Ken Casey, Bruce Imrie, Barry Stacey
Heather Cluett with Barry Stacey.
Golf NL Hall of Famer Kim Grandy-Baker along with Barry.
Retiring Golf NL Executive Director Greg Hillier(C) presented with a token of appreciation by Jeff Hutt(L) and Ryan Logan(R) of Golf Canada.
