OICs are directed to the Regional Director's letter on Direction & Guidance to OICs, an extract of which is reprduced below:

DIRECTION

The RAFGA Regional Director requires that OICs Golf are to:

1. Make sure that all your golfers are covered with Personal Liability Insurance. Golfers participating in any golf activity under the umbrella of the RAF (at whatever level, be it either representative, Unit/Stn level, Club/Society matches or section level ‘social’ events) must be insured so that if they injure someone or damage something they have insurance in position to deal with the after effects. Such insurance is readily available from a number of sources but I strongly recommend that your golfers sign up to the RAFGA Membership Scheme (RAFGAMS), as it is extremely doubtful that you can find a better value package. The RAFGAMS provides excellent coverage for the very reasonable premium of (currently) £10 per year and there are also other advantages to being a member of RAFGAMS – twice yearly magazines, £100 hole-in-one bounty and access to golf coaching subsidies.

2. Ensure that any civilian golfers within your Club/Society sign the obligatory AP3415 Declaration. You should retain a copy of each form for later submission of your consolidated forms to the Deputy Director of Golf on RAFGA Committee (currently Sqn Ldr P Mardon) NLT 31 Oct every year.

3. Ensure that you are compliant with direction from MOD regarding photography for any golf event being organised. This can be achieved by the organiser providing a generic paragraph in the Calling Notice covering all participants in the event and signing the declaration form him/herself.

4. Provide an End of Year Golf Report for your Club/Society to the Director of RAF Regional Golf on the RAFGA Committee (currently Gp Capt J F McLean) NLT 31 Oct every year. I have no intention of making this a significant administrative chore for OICs but there is considerable benefit in the RAFGA Executive Committee having a greater knowledge of grass-roots golf in the RAF, in particular, in order to aid our ability to promote golf, to your advantage, with Unit/Stn Cdrs and the RAF Sports Board. The End of Year Golf Report should normally be no more than 2 sides of A4 and should include, if applicable, the following information:

• The Unit/Stn Golf Committee POCs.
• The number of golfers in Club/Society, with a breakdown by handicap, if available.
• Any representatives in the RAF team/squad.
• The number of entrants into the RAF Championships and other RAF Regional competitions.
• Identification of any up-and-coming younger golfers demonstrating potential for further improvement.
• Golfing activities undertaken – local league performance, golf related Charity events, Away Days, Golf Tours etc.
• Details of Unit access to RAFGA Coaching Scheme funding; and if so, how the coaching benefited the participants (handicap reduction, Unit/Stn team etc).
• What has been done during the year to develop golf on Unit/Stn.

5. Ensure that your successor as OIC Golf is made aware of the requirements of this letter, which will also be published on the RAFGA website.

GUIDANCE

In addition, here is a hopefully helpful checklist to assist you getting the best out of the golfing season for your golfers:

Pre-Season:

1. Ensure that a bid for funding for the golf season is submitted for consideration by the Unit/Stn Sports Board. The PEd staff will promulgate the timescales for returns to be made and usually provide the template for the format of the submission.

2. Arrange your Golf Club/Society AGM early in the year. Your golfers will then have the opportunity to have their say and there will be plenty of time to arrange fixtures and ‘Away Days’ to suit their needs. Confirm the incumbents of the committee posts at the AGM.

3. If applicable, pay a visit to your Unit’s/Stn’s home club to check arrangements for the coming season. Call on the Club Secretary/Manager and the Pro Shop and leave them your contact details.

4. Consider organising an early season coaching session for your golfers – you can approach the RAFGA Membership Scheme for financial support.

5. Meet with your Match Secretary to go over plans for the season. Has he/she allowed for major RAF fixtures in arranging your Club/Society fixtures? The RAFGA Fixture List is normally ratified in January every year and is published on this RAFGA website.

6. Inform the PEd staff of your golf fixture list so that they can confirm that your golfers are on duty and that travel costs/MT can be claimed from public funds.

7. Make an effort to attend the RAFGA AGM, which normally takes place in March. It is important that the RAFGA Committee get to hear about the grass roots golf situation and this is particularly important when there are changes being made to RAF golf organisation and fixture lists – so do make an effort to attend or send a representative from your Unit/Stn.

During the Season:

8. Make an effort to attend as many fixtures as you can and be prepared to present the prizes.

9. Advise the RAFGA of any particularly talented or potential representative level RAF golfers.

10. Maintain friendly relationships with your home club, if applicable. If possible, investigate inviting the Captain or Secretary to the Battle of Britain cocktail party, for example. This may pay dividends in the long run for any discounted membership deals or Club/Society match green fees.

11. If some of your golfers are constantly having difficulty in getting time off work to play, have a word with their bosses to see if there is any room for manoeuvre.

Post Season:

12. Ensure that your committee members get appropriate recognition for their hard work – write to their bosses at SJAR/OJAR time.

13. Make a note of how the season went – you’ll need it to compile the End of Year Report and the RAFGA AGM.

14. Check that the finances are in order and that there are no bills outstanding. Ideally, you should have a small surplus for next season so that you can put deposits down for forthcoming fixtures, if necessary.

15. Write articles for any Away Days, Charity Events or Tours for publication on the RAFGA website and/or in the RAFGA Magazine – the editor is always looking for interesting golf articles.