A letter from the Board explaining our refund policy in the event of death of a family member. A member asked us to revisit our no‐refund policy, after a head count has been provided to a golf course, when there has been a death in the family. Our official policy, as stated in the handbook, is that we do not make refunds for any reason after the closing date of the tournament. Our unofficial policy, in the event of a death or medical emergency, has been to be as flexible as possible, up to the point at which a head count is provided to the golf course. At that point the monies for play and lunch are guaranteed to the course and any refunds would have to come out of the general fund. Even then however, we allow last minute substitutions and will do whatever we can to assist the member(s).
The board first talked about the member’s request in the fall and then decided we each needed to really take some time to think about the ramifications of changing the policy. At our last meeting in December we spent a significant portion of our time voicing our individual thoughts and concerns and brainstorming together to see if we could find an acceptable alternative solution. Sadly, we could not, and thus our policy will remain the same.
First off, there was not a person there who would not like to have refunded this member’s money as our hearts went out to her in her sorrow. But the reality of this organization is that the majority of our members are of an age where death and illness are not infrequent visitors. Do we state that it must be the death of a parent, a sibling or child or can it be any other close relation? And are we to judge whether the loss of a dear friend should count less than that of a family member? And what of illness – where would we draw the line as to what constitutes enough of an emergency that you deserve a refund but someone else does not? And how would we differentiate between team and individual events? Does an entire group of four get refunded or just one person? Who are we to judge the level of a person’s loss?
Under such broad criteria it could almost any week that refunds were requested and monies deleted from the general fund. And this money belongs not to the board but to the organization and thus it’s members. And our duty is to keep the organization healthy for the current and future benefit of all its members. Thus we have chosen, though not without regret, to keep our current refund policy in effect.
Sincerely,
The Board of OSWGA
Jackie Booth, Trudy Dufault,
Pat Dickson, Luanne Googins,
Liz Duguay, Kathy Chorney and
Carolyn Brown