Captains Address at the AGM 2019
Ex Officio Captain Tom, Past Captains and members. I would like to say thanks to you for electing me as your Captain for 2019. I am looking forward to the year ahead and to continuing the steady return to making Carton the premier club that Tom so ably lead in 2018.

I would like to especially thank Tom for nominating me as his Vice Captain and I was deeply honoured when he asked me to stand. Tom has served this club by undertaking various roles on the committee over the years and as Captain, has led us through a transition phase from an uncertain start with new owners and management throughout this year. Tom has always had the best interests of the club at heart and has maintained relationships with all stakeholders as he built a sound foundation with the Mullen family and the Pyramid Group.

Perhaps Tom will be remembered as the Captain who presided over a year that saw, new owners and management and staff bedding in, supporting the WATC, building a sound new committee to provide leadership with an improved constitution, membership levels stabilising, building confidence in the investment plans for the courses and clubhouse, and presiding over an improved atmosphere where members are happier to be playing and socialising at Carton. This is witnessed by an increase in new members and membership renewals which are running ahead of this time last year.
Tom, I know you are looking forward to playing more golf in 2019 after being Captain; and just like you carried the club through the transition, here is a golf bag to carry your clubs on your transition. Please accept this gift as thanks for all your contributions.

This is an exciting time to be in Carton House. It’s great to see Conor Mallaghan here tonight, and also to se Jason Totos (Dir .of Golf), part of the Carton leadership team who have hit the ground running to improve our benefits. The resort will be improved in the next few years with the investments being made by the Mullen family as you have heard from Eoin O’Sullivan and Jason. We have witnessed the magic performed by John Plummer and his team on the golf courses. This observation was acknowledged by the organisers, competitors, and press at the WATC. We will see more changes on the courses and throughout the year we will see gradual modifications to the Monty course in line with the recommendations of the Review group to make the Monty course more appealing to more golfers. The Club House work will begin shortly, with a plan to complete the works in April. The benefits will greatly outdo any inconvenience as we head back to the premier resort that we know it can be.
Competitions
Competitions are at the heart of everything we do. We have a similar schedule of competitions this year.
We have scheduled similar volumes of events: main events
Captain’s Prize will remain in August
Presidents will remain in June
and Vice Captains will go to May,
Autumn and Winter Leagues will remain
A diary is now available and an electronic diary will be sent via a link in an email.
Social
Our Social program is designed to help build a welcoming and friendly environment. You have prepaid access to 5 social events:
Captains Drive in March 2rd March
Vice Captains Prize 18th May
The Presidents Prize – 8th June
The Captains Prize – August 24/25th & 31st August
The Year-end Event 14th December
There is also 5 Friday mixed social events from April through to September which is listed in the Diary. These Friday Night social events grew in popularity under Ciara’s leadership in 2018 and hopefully Ciara and I can build on it this year with the support of the PLC.
Inter Club
We have 2 key goals when it comes to Inter-clubs:
Involve as many people as possible and
Win a Pennant.
This is an opportunity for more members to compete in the teams. We have and will be inviting people to join the teams over the coming weeks so if you are interested then please volunteer to come on a panel. Managers are always welcome and through TJ and the committee we will provide all the necessary support.

Committee
I am delighted that Pat Doyle has accepted the Vice Captains nomination and tonight he is ratified in the position. It is fantastic that so many people have made themselves available to commit their time to the Men’s Committee, and sub committees, This year 10 people will be part of the Competitions committee to provide greater support in the running of the Comp Schedule. The 2019 committee will be meeting in the next 2 weeks to ratify roles and detail out the delivery of the 2019 schedule.
I want to mention and thank the outgoing members of the 2018 committee:

Danny Byrne: his integrity and hard work has laid the foundation for the club through his delivery of the new Constitution

Colin Cunningham: His enormous contribution to creating an inclusive junior club where all the juniors are improving and enjoying their golf

John Walsh: His contribution to Carton over 9 years on committee is immense. His energy and clarity has assisted 9 captains and committees and he leaves a solid foundation of procedure and governance to build upon.

Paul Hanly: Past Captain and general councillor, has provided appropriate leadership through the challenges presented over the last few years.

On behalf of the Club “Thank you all for your service”

I will try to represent all of the members of Carton House Golf Club, to the best of my ability. We as a Committee have many new members and I hope to provide an atmosphere for them to contribute in a time of many changes to our club, with new staff, new rules, one governing body and a new handicapping system coming in 2020.
No promises on pennants, however I do support Managers in their efforts to assemble and motivate players to work hard to represent the club. My experience in winning competitions is through work, work and more work to enable best performance on the day.

One area the new committee will focus on is No shows and more four-balls. To encourage more players to play in four-balls we will explore the possibility of adding people to make up 4 balls and having open 30 minute slots to allow for 4 ball draw selection on arrival. E.g.: (put your name down in a 30 min slot and we will make up the 4 ball or have a draw on arrival). Depending on mid-week success we may apply it at some weekends. Any changes to the published diary will be communicated on the club bulletin.

I very much look forward to working with the new Lady Captain Ciara Greenwood, we have been working closely on plans to enhance your enjoyment throughout 2019.

Thank you for your acceptance of me as your Captain and I look forward to ensuring that it will be a great year to be a member of Carton.

Thank you

Paul Mullarkey

Captain 2019