Funny things, Country Clubs. They seek to provide a "home" for such a wide variety of people with an equally wide variety of needs and expectations. And against all the odds, some of them work. We join them, speculatively, and I guess it always feels like a bit of a risk, plunging in with people you've never met who often have rules and conventions that are not immediately obvious. Until you break them, of course.
I joined one after noodling away on my own for a while. Liked it at first. Opened up new ways of getting involved with the game, made some new friends, broke some rules (unwittingly), got reprimanded, carried on. And then realised that it didn't fit my values (or mine didn't fit theirs) so I left. I looked for something that was just starting up, something I could contribute to. And I found Emily and Williams and a small brand of 25 or so refugees trying to build something interesting, diverting, inclusive and fun. Most of us are still here eighteen months on.
If you've read this far, you might find you really like it here. We have Leagues, Tours, One offs, handicap tournaments, an Academy to support development, Fantasy Football, social media channels and chat rooms and so on and more. And you would expect all that in a thriving club. So far, so standard. What I think marks this place out as special is the sense of community. People do actually care about what happens and the experience people have. They want it to be fun, and competitive, and cheeky, and difficult (at times), and diverting, and informative and supportive. They want to take the p*** and they want to stand with people when they're having a crap time. We assess the health of the club by the level of participation. We regularly get 60+ in club tournaments, and our ProBoards Forum and Telegram areas are usually buzzing with members from USA, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Switzerland, France, Spain, Philippines. And for some reason a bunch of people from Kent, UK.
We are always looking for good new people. Think carefully if you're particularly wedded to a system or technology that you think we absolutely must adopt. Thank you but we're doing fine. We like new members but we do get a little tired of WGT tourists and club collectors who move in and out so quickly and leave no useful trace. We like givers not takers. We give - time, support, balls, clubs and so on - and we hope to see that replicate throughout our club. We don't have a lot of rules. Play if you say you're going to, treat people with respect, generate a bit of XP for the club, and see how you can help others. That's about it for rules.
I like this club very much and I'm proud of what we're building. If you'd like to be part of this, get in touch.
Charlie (Director)