Scottish Golf In Decline Again

[Grant85]

I think he has a point to an extent. Scottish Golf has absolutely nobody, Russell Knox has punched above his weight a wee bit and after that we have zilch. Diddly squat!

England has a wealth of young talent coming through.

Ireland has Rory and Wales has, well Wales has Gareth Bale!

Kids do generally like a role model.

Also, the top Scottish golfers that we have had have all been fairly quiet guys who don’t necessarily have a big personality or will really get a lot of coverage beyond Golf.

Lawrie, Knox, Laird, Gallagher- quiet hardworking guys.
Even Monty wasn’t exactly the easiest guy to really relate to.

Maybe need to go back to Sam Torrance for someone who would be a real likeable personality to all.

You imagine if we’d had a Darren Clarke or Sergio Garcia type personality, a bit of charisma that probably the average Scottish person would hear about and get behind.

And much like a lot of these things, it’s no one thing, but maybe a dozen little things that have all had this cumulative effect.

 

[williamalex1]

Yes - but membership numbers are falling because the average age of a golf club member is probably in the 60s. If Scotland has 5,000 fewer members, it's not unrealistic to think that a fair majority of that is people either dying or getting too old to play and giving up their membership.

This is not a problem that has just happened last year - it happened 25 years ago when clubs had 5 to 10 year waiting lists, joining fees, juniors were lucky if they could even get a game after school and there was very little done to 'advertise' or encourage new people into the sport.

Like I said, getting kids into golf is not a quick fix and you will not see returns from it for years, but it's basically a necessity to increase participation levels, and all clubs should be doing it regardless of whether they are in need of new members or not.

Lots of kids start playing golf then drift away as they get older , other interests come along like , oops I forget what they were now , but my 3 great grand kids are happy how things worked out. Hopefully some kids will return when life allows.

 

[Parmo]

I think as mentioned before, it's about creating a club with is inclusive, attracts kids & families and has the staff and facilities to coach whilst making it fun and competitive.

We have quite a bit for kids, it helps as we have a par 3 12 hole course as well:-

Term lessons
Holiday camps
Tiger Cubs with comps on the par 3 course
Jr team squad
Girl squad

 

[HughJars]

The Tiger boom is now kicking clubs in the teeth, too much choice back in the boom now too many courses, something will have to give and the strongest will survive. Not all club members will move to the strongest, quite possibly most won't but the strongest will be able to pick up the pieces.

there was no Tiger boom. The boom was in the 80s when there was loads of golf on council tv, Wossie, Lyle, Seve & Faldo were dominant and the Ryder Cup was huge news. Course were springing up everywhere, and converting from 9s to 18s. The slide in membership has been going on for a generation.

 

[davidg2010uk]

Nomad golf used to be confined to council courses. Now almost all private clubs are doing rounds on teeofftimes.co.uk for sub £20. £50 bar tab £15 sg fees for members - that could be another 4 rounds of golf as a nomad.

 

[patricks148]

Nomad golf used to be confined to council courses. Now almost all private clubs are doing rounds on teeofftimes.co.uk for sub £20. £50 bar tab £15 sg fees for members - that could be another 4 rounds of golf as a nomad.

trouble is those sort of cost are just not sustainable, clubs must be losing money and companies running these schemes cashing in. I can;t help feeling that golf at these places being cheaper than it was 20 years ago if going to contribute to the inevitable in that many many clubs will just have to close. TBH in reality all the clubs up here are short of cash with the exception of my club and Royal Dornoch. sadly up here now we have too many golf clubs for the % of the population that now play esp in the low population area like the highlands, i wish i knew what the answer was

 

[SammmeBee]

Anyone attend the thing in Edinburgh today?

 

[HankMarvin]

Anyone attend the thing in Edinburgh today?

Nope but if you listen to the SM from Scottish Golf it wet down well 🙈

It seems that a massive 50 clubs have registered

 

[Jacko_G]

You see I disagree with you and you sound just like a Scottish Golf representative.

Golf in Scotland for years has had the wrong attitude and the we'll charge what we like attitude. These scheme's have come in and they have a place. Why else do Scottish Golf now want a slice of the pie by operating their own system. That isn't for the good of the game like they claim it's to grab a share.

These "cut price scheme's" have probably done more to introduce Joe Public to the game at a reasonable price than Scottish Golf/SGU have done in their entirety.

Greed and assumptions have placed the game where it is.

This is gonna hurt!

I am going to have to praise Scottish Golf and admit I was wrong. The new booking system and software that they have brought in is entirely free and every tee time booked via this results in the FULL green fee being given to the club. No cuts or fees at all are being taken by Scottish Golf. That is HUGE for golf in Scotland. Well done Mr McKinlay. Great effort.

 

[HankMarvin]

This is gonna hurt!

I am going to have to praise Scottish Golf and admit I was wrong. The new booking system and software that they have brought in is entirely free and every tee time booked via this results in the FULL green fee being given to the club. No cuts or fees at all are being taken by Scottish Golf. That is HUGE for golf in Scotland. Well done Mr McKinlay. Great effort.

Let's see how it goes first, club's first need to sign up to it to allow golfers to book that particular course and golfers need to use the service so it's early days yet

 

[williamalex1]

This is gonna hurt!

I am going to have to praise Scottish Golf and admit I was wrong. The new booking system and software that they have brought in is entirely free and every tee time booked via this results in the FULL green fee being given to the club. No cuts or fees at all are being taken by Scottish Golf. That is HUGE for golf in Scotland. Well done Mr McKinlay. Great effort.

Does it include some kind of insurance cover, wasn't that their original idea , for them to increase the fees to cover golf insurance and provide the I.T software booking system to clubs.

 

[HughJars]

This is gonna hurt!

I am going to have to praise Scottish Golf and admit I was wrong. The new booking system and software that they have brought in is entirely free and every tee time booked via this results in the FULL green fee being given to the club. No cuts or fees at all are being taken by Scottish Golf. That is HUGE for golf in Scotland. Well done Mr McKinlay. Great effort.

Do clubs that have no need for a booking system as they have no visitors get a refund on annual subs?

 

[Garush34]

This is gonna hurt!

I am going to have to praise Scottish Golf and admit I was wrong. The new booking system and software that they have brought in is entirely free and every tee time booked via this results in the FULL green fee being given to the club. No cuts or fees at all are being taken by Scottish Golf. That is HUGE for golf in Scotland. Well done Mr McKinlay. Great effort.

I agree it seems like a great idea and one that surely many clubs will benefit from. I also see that they are offering a free website as well for all clubs, some will not need this but for others it will give them a chance to upgrade their websites to something a bit more user friendly.

 

[Jacko_G]

What an utter embarrassment and shambles of an organisation. This organisation really needs ripped apart and transparency implemented ASAP.

Loads of rumours flying around from being financially crippled (again to Eleanor Cannon being impossible to work with.

Either way it's a down right mess.

 

[Jacko_G]

I tend to think there's lots of folk with an axe to grind so hard to understand what's really going on. What's the latest you've heard?

I think it's rotten from top to bottom, I think once again the county unions are up in arms and I think you need to look at the very top and question her role in all this shambles.

I liked McKinley and think he talked a lot of sense and had some decent ideas.

It will be very interesting to see what comes out in the wash this time. I find the timing of this to be very strange.

 

[funkycoldmedina]

https://www.bunkered.co.uk/golf-news/scottish-golf-urged-to-refund-affiliation-fees-to-clubs
Interesting article in Bunkered. Their affiliates are hurting and sounds like they're not stepping up to the plate.

 

[User20204]

I don't really understand this, to be honest. Refunding that cash could well bankrupt Scottish Golf as it's their main source of income. And I presume the clubs aren't proposing to return it to the members who pay it onto of our subs?

Agree, seems pointless.

Our club has already emailed out to say there will be no refund of any kind so certainly not going to see that fee either.

 

[funkycoldmedina]

My understanding is the club's would be hoping to keep it to claw back the bigger losses they will be getting.
Do Scottish Golf have decent sized reserves?

 

[Jacko_G]

Just saw about Andrew McKinley, didn't know that when replying earlier. Bit of a shocker. I actually had a chat with him just before he took up the role and was impressed with him. Cripes it's all going a bit tits up.

Karen its an utter embarrassment and I think the County/Area Golf Unions also really need to have a damn good look at themselves and their actions, militant is an understatement. My mate (in his 40's) is in one of the Area unions and even he when talking to him last night questions what they bring to the table. He thought he could make a difference but says he's banging his head off a brick wall with old guys in blazers who just want a bit of importance and are so far removed from reality that they don't care or see the bigger picture.

Likewise I was not a fan of the old SGU however I thought McKinley talked a lot of sense and did genuinely believe he had the right vision and cared. This much maligned software is a great bit of kit. I've seen it and been shown round it by a club manager and even he thinks its tremendous, yes it needs a couple of tweaks here and there but overall very impressive yet clubs and Area's (many of whom have not seen it never mind used it) have revolted against something that will ultimately help them going forward.

This is a very accurate article from my point of view and I can't help but agree with Bryce.

https://www.bunkered.co.uk/golf-news/scottish-golf-a-never-ending-disaster-that-must-end-now

 

[BrianM]

It seems like Eleanor Cannon has a lot to answer for.
But no one is holding her accountable for her actions, or lack off.