17 May 2006

Mr Ron Edwards
President
Taupo Golf Club

Dear Mr Edwards,

I am writing to complain about the conduct of Mr Geoffrey Robinson on the recent Cavaliers competition held 17^th May this year.

I was drawn to play with Owen Howl, Frank Reed and Geoffrey Robinson. We were to start on the 7^th tee of Centennial.

When approached to “toss the balls” for choosing a partner, Mr Robinson declined to be a part of the four ball and said he would play by himself and suggested that Owen, Frank and I play a “Split sixes” match. He then stated he had “his reasons” for not playing a match that included me. He then amplified on that by stating to the other two members of the four that “Gregg does not pay his bills”. He said this within earshot of other members of the club also teeing off on the 7^th. I believe that 2 of those members were Bill Tito and Darryl Morris. I cannot recall the other players present but Bill Tito approached me at the time and asked if there was “some unpleasantness” (or words of that nature) taking place.

I challenged what Mr Robinson said by stating that he was not presenting the facts of the incident he was referring to - only to be rebuffed by him further asserting that I don’t “pay my bills”. At this stage I chose to keep quiet and not further inflame the situation.

I am deeply upset that a member of the club should choose to slander me to other club members on the course. One of the members of our group admitted to me after the game that after what had been said he thought that I must have owed Mr Robinson some hundreds of dollars in some business sense. He further stated that he couldn’t believe that this would be carried onto the golf course and that he felt uncomfortable.

I do not know how many other people have heard Mr Robinson’s version of events or how many feel that I have behaved in some underhand manner because of what they have heard. I do believe, from what I heard Mr Robinson say and the manner in which he said it, that he is likely to have made other damaging statements about me in the past and I would like to put the matter in the public arena so that other members of the club can at least hear my side of the story as well.

I believe that I am owed, in the least, an apology in writing. However this is unlikely to be enough to undo what damage has been caused and I feel that a public apology needs to be made.  

I see this incident as being a breach of etiquette on our golf course and that the Taupo Golf Club should censure Mr Robinson for his poor conduct.  

I believe that this has all come about because of a previous incident that took place on 13^th of October, 2004. The following is an account of what took place on that occasion

 

On the 13^th of October 2004 I played in the Cavaliers competition on Centennial Golf Course with Henry Crust, Darryl Morris and Geoffrey Robinson. After a “toss of balls” Henry Crust and I were to partner against Darryl Morris and Geoffrey Robinson.

Having played with Darryl in the past and knowing his “haggle habits” I suggested we play for $5 each nine and $5 for the match with an automatic “double” – the losers to put the money on the bar. Darryl and Henry readily agreed but Geoffrey stated that he would rather play for the money with no agreement to put the proceeds “on the bar”.  At this stage his partner, Darryl, disagreed and stated that if no money was going on the bar we would only play for “Vets stakes” and it would be $2 on each nine and $2 for the match  (the automatic double was assumed). No further discussion took place.

At the end of the match it turned out that Henry and I lost both nines as well as the match.

There was no agreement as to which player was to pay out to which member of the opposition team but I approached Geoffrey with $10 in my hand expecting to clear my $8 debt and get $2 change. Geoffrey asserted that the haggle was supposed to be $20 and refused to take the $8 that I was prepared to pay. Henry Crust was present when this exchange took place.

At that point Geoffrey left to attend to his business and Henry, Darryl and I proceeded to spend the $16 (in total), of the bets that were owed by Henry and I, on the bar.

I would like to re-assert that it could have been Henry that paid out Geoffrey and it was only the fact that I was the first to approach Geoffrey that makes him assume that I “owed” him $20.

I leave it up to you as President to make your own conclusions as to the veracity of the above statement and the relevance to the current situation. I am sure that both Henry Crust and Darryl Morris will back up what I have stated.

I would reiterate that I feel slandered by Mr Robinson and it hurts me deeply that this should happen in the environment of the Taupo Golf Club, an environment in which I expect to enjoy pleasant times and memories.

I would feel better if Mr Robinson could be made to see the error he has made and be encouraged to make amends.

Yours sincerely,

 

Gregg Sheehan