Martin Dempster: Club welfare to the fore as SGU takes initiative

THIS year marks the 13th anniversary of the Scottish Golf Union leaving its homely headquarters in a cottage at the bottom of the car park at the Royal Burgess Golf Society on the outskirts of Edinburgh to move to pastures new, first to Drumoig and now, even closer to St Andrews, at The Duke’s.

The organisation has grown arms and legs since 1999, when the late Ian Hume, a likeable character, held the position as secretary, the gregarious Graham Ewart was championship secretary and two people looked after the administration duties in offices where you’d have struggled to swing a cat.

A glimpse at the latest yearbook, which has just been published, reveals, on the ‘Meet the Team’ page, that the SGU’s full-time staff is up to 24 in total, the list comprising a cocktail of core personnel, event organisers, development managers, performance people and marketing and media executives.

In short, every base looks to be covered in terms of a modern-day business and there’s no doubting the fact the organisation is involved in many more facets of the sport than it was back in the Barnton era, even though some may opine it has become too big for its boots.

Those same people, no doubt, would accuse Hamish Grey, the Kiwi who has been in the post of chief executive for more than a decade, as having built his own empire, yet few could surely deny that the likes of Andy Salmon (development), Steve Paulding (performance) and Ross Duncan (marketing and sponsorship) have brought considerable skill and experience to the table.

Sponsorship, for instance, is at a record level heading into the new season, with the money invested in the SGU by club members in Scotland, through the annual per capita fee, now being matched pound for pound by what is generated from external backing.

Aberdeen Asset Management, in particular, have become a staunch supporter of the Scottish amateur game and it’s down to them, as well as the likes of businessman Johann Rupert and, of course, sportscotland, that the SGU is the envy of the other Home Unions due to leading players being dispatched to countries like Abu Dhabi and South Africa to attend training camps. As the SGU has grown as an organisation, however, an accusation often aired has been that it has only really shown interest in looking after the “elite players” and, by contrast, has done little for the foot soldiers, namely those club members who play a pivotal role in its funding.

The tide appears to be turning, though. The development team, which also now includes Kevin Fish, the former secretary at the Glen in North Berwick, is upping its game at a time when a whole host of golf clubs badly need support to survive troubled times due to membership losses in recent years. “We are investing an increasing amount of time and resource in the vital area of supporting clubs,” states Salmon on the SGU website.

Indeed, following a risk assessment undertaken within the past year, it has been agreed to release circa £500,000 from reserves – which, incidentally, were deemed to be too high – to fund a series of such initiatives over the next four years.

For instance, three club development officers will soon be appointed – one each in the east, west and north – for a fixed three-year period, during which they will use a tool kit of resources developed by the SGU to “advise and support Scottish golf clubs with the goal of having a positive impact on their businesses”.

The target of this particular initiative is to increase total membership by one per cent more than the SGU is forecasting over a four-year period. “If this is achieved and we take £500 as the average cost of membership, which is probably a conservative figure, then this will generate £3.2 million revenue for clubs over this period – a significant return on the investment,” says Grey.

Add in other new initiatives such as a club discretionary fund, which will supply seed funding for projects providing sustainable growth, and feasibility studies into renewable energy technologies and the bulk buying of electricity, gas and diesel, and a lot of effort certainly appears to be going into the bid to help clubs.

“In recent years the proportion of our investment in supporting clubs has grown significantly and this reflects the SGU Board’s commitment to maintain vibrant and healthy golf clubs, without which the game could not grow,” adds Grey. “We are closer to our clubs than ever before, as evidenced by attendance (over 400 clubs and over 1400 delegates) at our recent club seminars, and our main focus in 2012 is on supporting clubs and their members.”

About time, too, some would suggest.