Martin Dempster: Scottish Golf affiliation vote handed huge snub by member clubs

As the dust settles on Scottish Golf's failure to get backing to raise the affiliation fee paid by club members, a question that needs to be answered by the governing body is how many clubs out of the near 600 in the country actually voted. According to one past club captain '“ one of many people to get in touch with this correspondent about the state in which the governing body now finds itself '“ it could be fewer than 200.

If so, what does that actually tell us about the importance of Scottish Golf to the majority of clubs? They’re just not interested in anything other than their own existence and, in truth, can they really be blamed for that?

Here’s something else to chew on, having been suggested by someone who works in the game. “Is it ridiculous to see a future with more than one governing body?” he asked. “One for old-school blazers
and another with a more modern approach?”

That would surely be a last resort, but there’s certainly an unedifyng divide right now in Scottish Golf.