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The Rules Of The New Golf Club, St Andrews
1. Title of Club
The Club shall be called “The New Golf Club, St Andrews” and shall be a non-profit making body.
2. Objects of the Club
The Club is constituted for the promotion of the Game of Golf and for the friendly intercourse and social interaction of all golfers, their friends and family.
3. Categories of Membership
(i) Ordinary Membership
The ordinary membership of the Club shall be limited to two thousand members, the numbers of town members, country members and overseas members within that limit being at the discretion of the Committee.
Classes of Ordinary Membership – Definitions
(a) Town members shall be those members residing in St Andrews or within a radius of fifteen miles of St Andrews.
(b) Country members shall be those members residing within the United Kingdom, but outwith a radius of fifteen miles of St Andrews as defined and within a 100 miles radius of St Andrews.
(c) Country members (100 miles+) shall be those members residing within the United Kingdom, but
outwith a radius of 100 miles radius of St Andrews.
(d) Overseas members shall be those members residing outwith the United Kingdom.
(e) Life Membership by Subscription
The Committee may invite applications for Life Membership by subscription from any Ordinary Member of the Club age 45 or over as at the following 1st January. The maximum number of Life Members by Subscription will be twenty at any time. Selection for Life Membership by subscription is at the sole discretion of the Committee. The Life Member by Subscription shall retain the rights and privileges of an Ordinary Member but shall pay no further normal annual subscriptions.
(f) Youth Members
Youth members shall be those members aged between 18 and 25 inclusive at the time their subscriptions become payable. Youth members shall have the same rights as Ordinary Members.
(ii) Junior Membership
Boys aged fourteen, fifteen, sixteen and seventeen years may be admitted to junior membership up to a maximum normally of one hundred members. Boys aged ten, eleven, twelve and thirteen years may be admitted to junior membership up to a maximum normally of fifty members. Junior membership of the Club shall normally be limited to one hundred and fifty Junior Members but may exceptionally be limited to a maximum of one hundred and seventy five, as the Committee deems necessary. Junior Members of the Club shall not be entitled to take part in the business affairs of the Club, however they shall be permitted to use the main lounge when accompanied by an adult member. Junior Members shall not be entitled to introduce visitors to the Club. Junior Members aged ten, eleven, twelve and thirteen years may play in junior competitions only.
(iii) Life Membership
The Committee shall have the power to recommend to the Annual General Meeting for election to life membership any Ordinary Member of the Club who has given outstanding and exceptional service on behalf of the Club. A Life Member so elected shall retain the rights and privileges of an Ordinary Member of the Club but he shall pay no annual subscription.
(iv) Honorary Membership
The Committee shall have the power to recommend distinguished strangers to the Annual General Meeting for election to honorary membership. Honorary Members shall not pay any donation or subscription, shall have no vote in Club affairs but otherwise shall have all the privileges of an Ordinary Member of the Club.
(v) Honorary Captain Membership
The Committee shall have the power to invite the Captains of Golf Clubs with which established golf matches are played to become Honorary Captain Members for their period in office. Such members shall be entitled to use the Clubhouse and all facilities, including the right to purchase excisable liquor, and to introduce up to three guests, but not to play in Club competitions nor to enjoy any of the other rights associated with ordinary membership.
(vi) House Membership
A House Member shall be a member who is not a Junior Member, a Life Member, an Honorary Member, an Honorary Captain Member or an Ordinary Member of the Club. The number of House Members shall be limited to 500. A House Member shall be entitled to use all of the facilities of the Club and to introduce visitors into the Clubhouse. House Members will not be entitled to take part in Club Golf Competitions, shall not be eligible for election to the Committee, shall not be entitled to vote at the AGM or any EGM or to take part in the business affairs of the Club. Any Ordinary Member of the Club who has reached the age of 65 years and no longer holds a Links ticket will be entitled to change his category of membership to a House Member whether or not the limit of House Members under this Rule has been reached.
4. Office Bearers
(i) The office-bearers of the Club shall be a Captain, a Vice Captain, a Secretary, a Treasurer and a Committee of Management consisting of twelve members called in these rules “the Committee”. The offices of Secretary and Treasurer may be filled by a Secretary-Treasurer or Secretary-Manager in which case the words “Secretary” and “Treasurer” shall be deemed to refer to the Secretary-Treasurer or Secretary-Manager as appropriate.
(ii) No office-bearer shall rent or lease land to the Club.
(iii) No office-bearer shall be a relative, business partner or person acting under the direction or any person leasing or renting land to the Club.
(iv) No office-bearer shall be a relative, business partner or person acting under the direction of anyone associated with the Club who receives emoluments based on the turnover of any aspect of Club activity.
(v) The Committee may recommend to the Annual General Meeting in the notice convening that Meeting a Captain and a Vice Captain selected from the Ordinary Members of the Club for the ensuing year. Other nominations for Captain and Vice Captain can be submitted by persons who are Ordinary Members of the Club and such nominations must be notified in writing to the Secretary not less than seven days before the day of the Annual General Meeting and those names shall be posted on the Notice Board for four days before the day of the Meeting.
(vi) The Captain and the Vice Captain are additionally members ex-officio of the Committee.
(vii) The Secretary (if honorary) and the Treasurer (if honorary) shall be appointed each year at the Annual General Meeting. The Committee shall have the power to grant and make payment of honoraria.
The Secretary, and the Treasurer, if not honorary, shall be appointed by and held responsible to the Committee.
(viii) Members of the Committee shall be elected from the Ordinary Members of the Club by the general body of Ordinary Members of the Club and shall hold office for a period of not less than one year. If a Committee member resigns he shall not be eligible for election or appointment to the committee for a period of 12 months from the date of resignation unless the committee is satisfied that the resignation was due to mitigating reasons.
Each year at the Annual General Meeting any member of the Committee who has served for three years shall demit office unless such a member is appointed Captain or Vice-Captain; such a member demitting office may offer himself for re-election.
If the number of members of the Committee demitting office, including such as may resign before completing three years in office, is less than four, the number of members necessary to make the number demitting office up to four shall be made up in order of seniority, any doubt being resolved by lot.
The vacancies created shall be filled at the said Meeting in the following manner:-
Any Ordinary Member may suggest one or more names of Ordinary Members of the Club who are willing to serve. The names of those nominated as willing to serve must be notified to the Secretary not less than seven days before the day of the Annual General Meeting and those names shall be posted on the Notice Board of the Club for four days before the day of the said Meeting. The names of those willing to serve and which have been duly displayed shall be voted on by ballot on the day of the said Meeting between the hours of 12 noon and 1 pm and between 4 pm and 7.30 pm, and those to the number asked for, having the majority of votes, shall be elected to the Committee.
(ix) In the event of less than four members being so nominated, the Annual General Meeting shall have power to fill the vacancies.
(x) Vacancies occurring in the Committee during the year may be filled forthwith by the Committee. Committee members so appointed shall serve until the next Annual General Meeting.
(xi) Subject to his agreement to serve, the immediate Past Captain may be invited to serve a further year on the Committee after vacating the office of Captain.
(xii) Any member proposed to be an office bearer shall have been an Ordinary Member of the Club for a period of no less than 3 years.
5. Committee of Management
(i) The Committee, which shall hold meetings every month, shall have the management of all the affairs of the Club, and it shall be entitled to remit any of its powers to sub-committees. The Committee may at its sole discretion co-opt any member to serve on such a sub-committee.
(ii) No member of the Committee and no manager or person employed by the Club shall have any personal interest in the sale of excisable liquors therein, or in the profits arising from the sale.
(iii) All regulations made by the Committee and orders given by it shall be binding on each member of the Club until set aside by a General Meeting.
(iv) Five members of the Committee shall constitute a quorum. The Secretary, Treasurer, and the Immediate Past Captain, shall not have the power to vote in the Committee and shall not be included in any quorum.
(v) The Committee may temporarily alter or suspend any rule, or make any new rule, subject to the approval of the Annual General Meeting.
6. Heritable Property
The heritable property belonging to the Club shall be vested in the Captain, Vice Captain, Secretary and Treasurer, and their respective successors in office as Trustees for the Club, and such other Trustees nominated by the Club. The aforesaid Trustees (and their successors in office if appointed), having the approval of the Ordinary Members of the Club at a General Meeting of the Club, thereafter may execute all necessary documents in relation to such property. Vacancies caused by death, resignation or residence abroad of any of the said nominated Trustees may, if the Club consider it expedient, be filled at an Annual General Meeting.
7. Property and Effects and Borrowing Powers
(i) The properties, monies and effects of the Club shall belong to the Ordinary Members of the Club during membership equally; but the right and interest of every Ordinary Member of the Club shall be personal and limited to himself and shall not be assignable or arrestable, or pass to heirs or executors.
(ii) The Secretary and the Treasurer shall keep correct accounts and books showing the financial affairs and intromissions of the Club.
(iii) The Club is a non-profit making organisation. All profit and surpluses will be used to maintain or improve the Club’s facilities. No profit or surplus will be distributed other than to another non-profit making body or to members on winding up or dissolution of the Club.
(iv) The Committee shall have power to borrow money for the purposes of the Club and the power of borrowing shall be exercised by the Committee as its absolute discretion as to the terms and conditions of repayment of principal and interest and the nature of the security (including heritable security) to be given by the Club, and the Committee may from time to time vary such terms and conditions as it considers appropriate under declaration that the total amount borrowed shall not exceed twice the amount of one year’s annual subscriptions for the year in which the borrowing is provided.
8. Nomination for Membership
(i) Any person desiring to be admitted to membership of the Club shall be proposed by one Ordinary Member of the Club and seconded by another Ordinary Member of the Club, both of whom must have been members themselves for at least two years, and supported by three sponsors to all of whom he must be personally known. A full name, designation and residence and the category of membership sought shall be inserted in his the nomination form, that shall be sent, signed by his proposer, seconder and sponsors to the Secretary for approval of the Committee given by a simple majority. No male applicant who holds a St Andrews Links Golfing ticket or who has a current Golf Handicap may be admitted as a House Member. The Committee may also admit any person recommended to membership of the Club at any time even in the absence of a proposer and/or a seconder. Thereafter the Secretary shall cause nominations to be intimated on the Notice Board for at least fourteen days; at the same time a notice shall be posted on the Notice Board intimating that any member wishing to make representations regarding any of the nominees for membership must do so in writing to the Secretary within fourteen days from the date of the notice being posted. The powers of admission or otherwise of new members shall be vested in the Committee and on the expiry of fourteen days from the posting of the nominations the Committee shall be empowered to admit or exclude any or all of the applicants.
A member may propose or second only five nominees for membership in any year from 1st January to 31st December.
(ii) No person shall be admitted as an Ordinary Member who has not attained the age of eighteen years, except as provided for in Section (iv) of this Rule.
(iii) Any nominee excluded shall not be proposed again until the lapse of one year.
(iv) The procedure for the nomination and admission of Junior Members shall follow that prescribed for the nomination and admission of Ordinary Members of the Club, except that nominations need not be supported by three sponsors. Junior Members shall, on attaining the age of eighteen years, have the option of becoming youth members without payment of any entrance fee. Alternatively, Junior Members may remain Junior Members until such time as their current annual subscription expires; and if at any time after this period they wish to become youth or Ordinary Members the same rules shall apply as to those categories of members.
9. New Members
On the admission of each new member, the Secretary shall send notification of that fact and request payment of the amount of any subscription and any other fee due. No member newly elected shall participate in any of the privileges of the Club until such sums have been paid. Anyone neglecting to do so within one month from the date of election shall be considered as having declined to become a member, and the name of that person shall be excluded from the List of Members maintained by the Secretary.
10. Subscription Rates
(i) Subscription rates, entrance fees and locker rental shall be decided from, time to time at the Annual General Meeting of the Club. A list of current subscriptions and other fees shall be placed on the Notice Board of the Club and shall be available to members on application to the Secretary.
(ii) Any member aged sixty-five years or more, with a minimum of twenty-five years’ membership, shall, on written application, qualify at the time of his next subscription becoming available, for a 25% reduction on his annual subscription.
(iii) Members with fifty years’ membership and aged sixty-five or over shall not be required to pay an annual subscription.
(iv) All new Ordinary Members of the Club shall be required to pay an entrance fee equal to the full amount of a Town Member’s annual subscription, with the exception of Junior Members as provided in Rule 8 (iv) and youth members who shall pay an entrance fee of half the full amount of a Town Member’s annual subscription.
11. Annual Subscription
Annual subscriptions become due and are payable on the 1st January each year. If any member fails to renew a subscription by the last day of January, he or she shall cease to have the rights of membership until the subscription is paid.
12. Change of Class of Ordinary Membership
A member who changes his place of residence and in consequence falls within a different class of ordinary membership shall notify the Secretary of the change forthwith. Any Ordinary Member of the Club who has reached the age of 65 years and no longer holds a Links ticket may intimate to the Secretary that he seeks to change his category of membership to a House Member. At the time of his next subscription becoming payable the member shall be liable to pay that rate of subscription determined for his new class of membership. If the member changes his place of residence before the 31st December in any year and falls within the higher rate of subscription payable he shall become liable to pay the balance of the current year’s subscription appropriate to his new class.
13. Change of Address
A member shall notify to the Secretary of any change in his address and all notices sent to him at that address shall be considered to be duly delivered.
14. Resignation
Any member wishing to withdraw from the Club shall notify the same, in writing, to the Secretary before the 31st December in any year, in default of which he or she shall be liable for the appropriate subscription for the year commencing on the following 1st January.
15. Courtesy of the Club and Temporary Membership
(i) The Committee may grant the courtesy of the Club to such person or persons or organisations on such occasions and terms and conditions as may to the Committee seem proper. Courtesy of the Club shall not include the right to introduce guests, nor to purchase excisable liquor.
(ii) The Committee shall have the power to grant temporary membership of the Club:-
(a) to persons temporarily resident in St Andrews or neighbourhood who have been proposed and seconded, and approved by the Committee, for a period of temporary membership not to exceed six months.
(b) to members of Golf Clubs, or other persons, invited by the Committee to a Club match or Club competition, for a period of temporary membership not to exceed the day or days of duration of the Club match or Club competition in respect of which the invitation was extended.
(c) to members of Golf Clubs or bona fide parties organised by Golf Clubs or other bona fide organisations, for a period of temporary membership not to exceed three weeks in any calendar year.
(d) to persons aged less than eighteen years who are temporarily resident in St Andrews or neighbourhood and who have been proposed and seconded, and approved by the Committee, for a period of temporary membership not to exceed six months.
The Committee shall have the power to levy a subscription in respect of the granting of temporary membership, payable in advance. Any person who has been granted temporary membership (or has been a temporary member) within the preceding twenty-four months by virtue of Sub-section (ii) (a) of this Rule shall not be eligible for temporary membership.
Temporary membership granted by virtue of Sub-sections (ii) (a), (b), and (c) above in this Rule shall, unless specifically restricted by the Committee, entitle the grantee to the use of the Clubhouse, and all its facilities, including the right to purchase excisable liquor, and to introduce not more than one visitor; but shall not entitle the grantee to play in Club competitions restricted to Club members, nor to exercise any of the other rights associated with ordinary membership of the Club. Temporary membership granted by virtue of Sub-section (ii) (d) above in this Rule shall entitle the grantee to the rights associated with junior membership only but shall not entitle the grantee to play in Club competitions restricted to Club members.
When intimating the grant of temporary membership the Secretary shall also intimate the terms of the preceding paragraph, and when temporary membership is being granted to a club or organisation, the Secretary shall require the visiting club or organisation to supply a list of the names of those who will be included in the grant of temporary membership.
Temporary membership may be terminated at any time by the Committee and it shall not be required to give any reason for such termination.
16. Introduction of Visitors
A member shall be entitled to introduce visitors to the Club. A visitor shall, however, not be supplied with excisable liquor in the Club premises unless on the invitation and in the company of a member, who shall upon admission of such visitor to the Club premises enter his own name and the name and address of the visitor in a book which shall be kept for the purpose and which shall show the date of each visit.
No member may introduce more than five visitors at any one time.
No visitor may remain in the Clubhouse once the member by whom he was introduced has left the premises.
17. Damage to Property
Should a member on any pretext whatever take away from the Club any book (but excluding a library book), newspaper, pamphlet or other article, which is the property of the Club, or wilfully deface by writing or otherwise damage or destroy any of the above or other Club property, he shall be liable to be expelled as per Rule 29. Breakages or destruction of Club property caused by a member must be paid for by him at once.
18. Animals
No animal, other than the guide dog of a registered blind member, shall on any account be brought into the Clubhouse.
19. Complaints
All complaints or statements, or evidence with regard to any complaint, must be made in writing to the Secretary and signed by the person complaining. The Secretary shall submit all such complaints to the Committee which shall take the matter into its immediate consideration and give such deliverance or order thereon as it may deem necessary.
20. Annual General Meeting
(i) The Annual General Meeting shall be held on the second Thursday of December each year at 8.30 pm. The notice convening the Meeting shall be sent to every ordinary and every life member not less than twenty-one days before the date of the Meeting and shall contain a report from the Committee as to the general affairs of the Club and shall intimate any motions from the Committee or any motion proposed by one member and seconded by another for which approval is to be sought at the Meeting.
(ii) Fifty members shall be required to constitute an Annual General Meeting
(iii) Alterations to the Rules of the Club or the introduction of new rules may be made at an Annual General Meeting only, and only if: -
(a) at least fifty members are present and voting;
(b) written notice has been given to the Secretary by the previous 1st November;
(c) the notice stipulates the precise alteration to the Rules which it is proposed to make;
(d) intimation of the precise change has been sent to every Ordinary Member and every life member of the Club.
Resolutions to alter Club rules or to introduce new rules shall be carried by a simple majority of those present and voting other than alterations to Rules 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 20 and 21, all of which require to be supported by two-thirds of those present and voting.
Notice of amendments to any motions to be proposed to the Meeting shall be notified to the Secretary at least seven days before the date of the Meeting and a copy thereof shall forthwith be posted on the Notice Board.
(iv) A rule may be suspended without notice at any General Meeting provided there is a majority of two-thirds of the members present and voting in favour of such suspension.
(v) Professional auditors shall be appointed each year at the Annual General Meeting.
21. Extraordinary General Meeting
Extraordinary General Meetings may be called by the Committee either on its own determination or on a written requisition to it for that purpose signed by at least forty Members. Notice of such Meetings shall be posted on the Notice Board of the Club (and intimation thereof shall be sent to every member of the Club) not less than ten days previous to the day of the Meeting and such notice shall specify the motions to be proposed to the Meeting. Notice of amendments to any motions to be proposed to the Meeting shall be notified to the Secretary at least three days previous to the day of the Meeting and a copy thereof shall forthwith be posted on the Notice Board. Fifty members shall be required to constitute an Extraordinary General Meeting and no resolution shall be valid unless it is supported by two-thirds of those present and voting.
22. Notices
No notice of any kind shall be placed in the Clubhouse except by the authority of the Committee.
23. Letters
No member shall address from the Clubhouse any communication (except of an official nature) intended to appear in any newspaper, periodical or other publication or addressed to any body or institution and which might purport to be an official communication from the Club.
24. List of Members
The Secretary shall maintain a list of the members of the Club and lists of the members of the Committee and of the sub-committees and he shall arrange that such lists are displayed within the Clubhouse.
25. Credit
All members shall defray whatever expenses they incur before leaving the Clubhouse, and the Club Steward has strict orders to refuse credit. The name of a member not complying with this rule shall be reported to the Committee.
26. Clubhouse Hours
(i) The Clubhouse shall be open at such times as the Committee may determine.
(ii) The hours during which excisable liquor may be served in the Clubhouse shall be the hours fixed by the Committee so long as they fall within the permitted hours contained in the Licensing (Scotland) Act 1976 or any subsequent amending legislation. The Committee may also apply for special permissions for the sale of excisable liquor outwith the permitted hours in respect of such special activities as shall to the Committee seem proper.
27. Sale of Excisable Liquor
No excisable liquor shall be sold or supplied in the Club premises for consumption off the premises except to a member of the Club in person for consumption by him or to a person holding an excise licence for the sale of such liquor or to a member of another club which meets the requirements of Section 125 (1) of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005.
No alcoholic liquor shall be sold or supplied to any person under eighteen years of age.
28. Bankruptcy
If any member shall be duly declared a bankrupt he shall, at the option of the Committee, cease to be a member of the Club.
29. Conduct of Members
(i) If in the opinion of the Committee, after due investigation, the conduct of a member, either in or out of the clubhouse, is injurious to the interests of the Club, the Committee shall be empowered to warn said member as to his/her future conduct, suspend him/her for a period of up to 6 months, or recommend to such member that he/she resign and if a member so recommended to resign shall not do so within one month from the date of such recommendation or from the date of the decision in any unsuccessful Appeal hereunder the Committee may expel such member. Any such member expelled or suspended from Membership shall not thereafter enter the Clubhouse, until, in the event of suspension from membership, the expiry of the term of suspension, provided always that no such recommendation shall be made unless the same is agreed to by three-fourths of the members of the Committee present at a meeting specially summoned for the purpose of considering the conduct of such member. In the event of three-fourths of the Committee present being of the opinion, after having afforded the member the fullest opportunity of making his own statement, that he should immediately be expelled, or suspended, they shall have the power to expel or suspend such member from the Club at once.
(ii) The Committee shall draw up a Disciplinary Procedure for the investigation of the conduct of any member that is deemed injurious to the interests of the Club and may amend said procedure from time to time. Such a Procedure and any amendments thereto shall be intimated to members and/or posted on the Club Notice Board.
(iii) Under this rule three-fourths of the members of the Committee with the power to vote shall be a quorum.
(iv) If, within five days of being suspended or expelled, the member registers an appeal against the decision of the Committee, which appeal must be in writing to the Secretary stating the grounds on which he is relying, there shall be convened from Past Captains of the Club a panel of three to hear the appeal. The decision of the Past Captains appeal panel shall take immediate effect and shall be final.
30. A copy of these rules shall be posted in the Clubhouse.
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