Howth golf club?
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08-01-2023 12:36pm#1
I don't have a subscription so can't read it but the title is certainly interesting?
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Bitter divide at Howth Golf Club after disputes over secret bonuses, bunkers and table-dancing
January 8, 2023 by Mark Tighe
One of the country’s top golf clubs has become bitterly divided after its male and female captains made complaints about being verbally attacked and excluded from the running of the club.
Howth Golf Club, which is ranked in the top 60 courses in Ireland, last year hired an industrial relations expert to investigate a series of complaints from its male captain who said he was called a “liar” at a meeting, was bullied, and was excluded from a series of decisions including the granting of a €16,000 bonus to the club’s general manager.
He also complained that a member was pressurised into withdrawing a complaint about another member who danced on a table with a worker at a captains’ night held when certain Covid restrictions were in place.
The north Dublin club is understood to have spent some €15,000 between the investigation and legal advice. The resulting report found at least seven breaches of the club’s rules and set out a series of recommended reforms.
The report from Denis Rowan and Associates, obtained by the Sunday Independent, said an investigation was required due to “a long period of division within the council that caused great tension, stress and the break-up of friendships among the council members and beyond the club”.
The issues raised led to “instability, a negative culture, potential or threat of legal actions, and reputational damage within the council, members and externally of the club”.
Issues came to a head when men’s captain Rob Herssens, who runs a catering equipment firm, made complaints at the club’s 2021 Annual General Meeting (AGM). Mr Herssens, who was captain for two years from 2020 due to Covid, made a formal complaint that he was bullied by a fellow member of the club’s ruling council. He said one of his children overheard what was said on a Zoom call and was “shocked”. He said Mary Tynan, the lady captain, was “personally attacked” by a council member at their final council meeting, which “should have been a joyous occasion”.
The person who made the remarks accepted “playing the man and not the ball” but said he apologised by email to both captains and did so again on a Zoom meeting. He denied bullying and said he was surprised it was brought up at the AGM. The council said the captain should have accepted the apology.
The investigator found the comments were in breach of the club’s dignity, respect, etiquette and tolerance policy and could meet its definition of bullying. Mr Rowan urged the club to urgently update its policy as once-off behaviour would not be considered bullying under the Workplace Relations Commission’s definition. He noted the captain accepted the apologies and did not uphold the complaint.
A second complaint concerned a meeting in December 2021 where Mr Herssens alleged he was called a “liar” by another council member and complained the president did not try to intervene. He complained that “funnily enough” the recording of this Zoom meeting was deleted.
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Mr Rowan found there were “tensions and strong exchange of words”. He did not uphold the complaint but found minutes should have been kept and the Zoom recording should not have been deleted.
Mr Herssens made nine complaints in relation to how the officers on the club’s governing council made decisions without consulting the captains, who were both council members. Six of these nine complaints were upheld.
Among the complaints upheld was a failure to consult the captains about awarding a €16,000 bonus payment to Simon Duffield, the club’s general manager, during the pandemic when the club was closed. Both Mr McGinley, the then president, and Michael Dunphy, a former manager in RTÉ who was then club honorary secretary, said they did not need to consult the captains because of “GDPR” and concerns over leaks. The investigator found staff bonuses required council approval and there was no legal basis in using data protection as an excuse to not follow club rules.
The investigator also upheld a complaint that a decision to promote a staff member to head greenkeeper when the incumbent left to work for Portmarnock Golf Club had not been approved by council.
A complaint was also upheld about a member being allowed to join Howth Golf Club who was allegedly “not suitable”, which was in breach of club rules.
The investigator upheld a complaint that a realignment of bunkers was improperly approved despite the work not being done in line with what members voted for at the 2019 AGM.
Mr Herssens also complained about an incident where he witnessed a senior club member dancing on a table with a worker while they both held drinks during captains’ night. At the time Covid protocols were in place limiting the amount of people per table. Mr Herssens said a member who complained about the incident to the council was “persecuted” for making the complaint. This member said he withdrew his complaint “after some days of pressure”.
Mr Rowan said the incident should have been dealt with under club rules but it was resolved informally. This contributed to “division and lack of trust within the council”, he said.
In his recommendations, Mr Rowan advised the club to implement good governance management which could “contribute to the full re-establishment of friendships”. He said the council members had to be trained and they had a duty to act within rules. Good governance would lead to “open communications”.
A note was sent to club members last August noting that two of Mr Herssens’s three complaints were not upheld. It said complaints about some instances of the captains not being consulted on matters were upheld but insisted “the relevant action was taken solely in the club’s best interests”.
A second note was sent out to members last September from a subcommittee set up to review the investigation report. It said the report caused “considerable disquiet” among council members. It thanked the captains for raising their complaints and said it took “great courage to put your head above the parapet and raise issues such as these especially when they involve people with whom you have worked closely over the preceding years”.
The club said it took governance procedures very seriously and it will implement all the review’s recommendations.
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Councils and committees in golf clubs are populated by " friends of friends" , they are rarely qualified or suited to their roles, and in general, clubs have to scrape around to assemble the bare minimum, for councils and committees.
In my club they regularly depart from the rules, never communicate to members, and bully through plans and projects.
Budgeting, and decisions on which projects proceed are decided behind closed doors, with minimal oversight.
I am not happy with this situation,but I joined the club to play golf, not politics.
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This pretty much describes most clubs in Ireland. Unfortunately committee members who can't separate their egos from their decision making are a disaster for clubs and more unfortunately for those who just want to play golf, the poor decisions, lack of oversight, running from accountability etc eventually catch up with the playing of golf
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Unfortunately I totally agree, people think the place runs itself and no idea of financial controls or legal issues. And if someone else does, they usually go out of there way to stop them from doing the job!
i do think commercial clubs will be the way forward as members club will eventually cost to much to run when ran by egos.
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Awful handbags stuff - golf trying to improve public image - but every now and then a story like this comes up and puts it back in the 70s / and 80s.
Dancing on the tables - I might a stick a membership application in - sounds a great laugh.
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