Comment: Going behind Area officials’ backs unwise

SCOTTISH golf may be about to achieve its much-publicised merger, but it’s bitterly disappointing that there seems to be a luck of trust in the men’s Area associations by the Scottish Golf Union.

Picture: Julie Howden

That’s the only conclusion this correspondent can come up with after contemplating why the SGU commissioned an independent poll of Scottish golf clubs before the 16 Areas deliver the decisive vote at the end of this month. Yes,

it was the Areas which stopped the proposal going through at the first time of asking four years ago, but they did so because, in their eyes, the proposal on the table wasn’t right for Scottish golf.

In truth, there are aspects of the new one that still don’t tick every box, but it didn’t take a genius to work out that, with better communication on this occasion, the Area associations would deliver the “yes” vote that is anticipated at an EGM at the end of this month.

Yet, in what can only be likened to doing something behind one’s back – even though we all knew about it – the SGU decided to go straight to the clubs to get their vote and, sure enough, the proposal has received overwhelming support.

That’s great, but what I didn’t like about the press release on it was that it made reference to the fact that “across all 16 Areas of the country, there was endorsement of the proposal”. In effect, that was the SGU telling the Areas that their vote should be 16-0 in favour of the move and it may well be.

It is a disgrace, however, that intelligent men are trying to be told what is expected of them. Forget anything you’ve heard about “blazered bufties” trying to hold on to their own bit of power. In the 30 or so years that I’ve had the pleasure of covering Scottish golf, I’ve hardly come across a single Area official who was involved in the sport to satisfy their own needs.

They give up their time to help run local events, ferry players to matches and, generally, play a key role in the sport at grass-roots level. We should be embracing these people as part of the unified body, not alienating them.