Club competitions and allocation of prizes

Here's a little topic that may get some discussion going this week...

At my club, entry to competitions is usually a fiver. If the format allows, £1 of this goes into a 2's pot to be shared out between anyone who records a 2 - the other £4 goes to the competition fund (or all £5 if 2's aren't appropriate)

Now probably naively, I just assumed that this £4 or £5 all went to prizes until recently we had a big (for wintertime) stableford comp with just over 100 people entered; My mate and regular playing partner won it, and discovered his prize for first place was pro-shop vouchers for £75

Now I'm not sure if they paid out top 3 or top 4 in this comp (I suspect it was only top 3 but may be wrong), but that led me to think that the prize distribution was something like £75, £50, £25 (£150 total) out of an "income" for the comp of around £400

Now I'm quite happy to accept that with hindsight it was naive of me to think that all the "income" would be distributed in prizes, but I certainly expected more than approx. £1.50 out of my £4 entry to go to the prize fund!

I know the balance goes to the club committee funds, and with 2013 being our 20th anniversary and a few celebrations planned, I assume a lot of this money is going to fund the parties and celebrations - but what about other years?

Am I wrong to think that £1.50 out of my £4 isn't enough to go into the prize fund? Anyone know what the situation is at their club?

At our place we have a £4 entry fee and anyone who wants to enter the 2's is charged another £1. The winners of the 2's is shared from the 2's proceeds. The £4 entry fee goes to club funds minus the winnings for each comp. Club finds are allocated to various things throughout the year, so that at the end of the financial year a slight profit is made which is carried over to the following year. There are however some things that are paid for out of these funds, that not all members agree with. Club officials attending functions, club blazers and ties etc for officials, club shirts and jumpers for team members ...

Pretty similar story at ours Davie. The winners of the Doubles knock-out this year, one of the most prestigious competitions, received a £30 pro-shop voucher each, the runners-up received £20.

At the annual AGM last week the accounts revealed a bank balance of members funds to the tune of £13,000. We are a proprietory owned club, so this money has in the main been created from members competition fees over the years. More than one person from the floor directed questions to the club treasurer as to why we needed such a large balance of members money and why more was not returned in the form of greater value competition prizes.

The reply was that the committee feel that it was vitally important to keep a reasonable 'emergency' fund and also to assist the club teams with their costs if we have a good run in any of the county competitions.

The people who sit on the committees do so on a voluntary basis and give up a lot of their free time for the benefit of other members. Personally, as I do not have the time or the inclination to sit on committee myself I am more than happy to leave things to their judgement. I guess if you have different ideas and want change then the only way to do so is to put yourself forward to serve on committee. Get your name down Davie!

Doc and BCM - sounds a very similar setup at all our clubs. I was just surprised at how little of our entry fees actually go to prizes!

Additionally although it meant to be totally transparent to members just exactly how the competition entry fees are used, it is VERY difficult to see exactly what the proportions are. The club accounts are publicly viewable but it only totals income from competitions over a full year (not how many pence in the pound entry actually goes into club funds). Even more disturbing is finding out that a lot of members who have been there much longer than I have, have no idea how much the competitions are subsidizing the committee funds!

You're sounding more and more like you fancy having a crack on that committee Davie!

Maybe when I retire, Blue

Not just yet then Davie, if like most people these days retirement plans have been put on hold for a bit!

Exactly - the older I get, the further retirement age seems to get!

Davie,

Do you not have DIVISIONS for competitions based on handicaps?

My club has 3 divisions:
1 = below 9
2 = 10 - 18
3 = 18+

Maybe your mate got £75 for winning his division, and there are 2 other guys who also won £75 each?

Know what you mean Ray but that wasn't the case here.

We do have split medal comps as you describe (the Cat C players have their own medal) but the Cat A and B "share" a medal comp and there are winners in each division.

This one however was an "all-in" stableford comp with no divisions (I'm guessing because it's a winter comp they didn't split it) - in fact I think even in summer they don't split stablefords - just medals