England Golf chief executive Jeremy Tomlinson talks about the success of the governing body’s governance guide – produced in collaboration with the association
It’s a vital part of the health of a golf club – and a partnership between England Golf and the GCMA has helped countless clubs navigate the murky waters of governance.
Last year, a new guide for clubs, produced by the governing body in collaboration with the GCMA, aimed to share good governance advice and help the successful running of a golf club.
Now England Golf chief executive Jeremy Tomlinson has hailed the impact of the handbook, A Blueprint for Good Governance, and explained a subsequent road trip with the GCMA to promote it had proved “so popular”.
Tomlinson said the passage of SafeGolf as a mandatory term of affiliation had shown England Golf the need to get closer to organisations like the GCMA.
That co-ordination helped produce the guide, which is designed to help clubs make structured improvements, break key components down into stages, and focus on different elements through a modular format.
“We had a governance guide for golf clubs that was some years old,” Tomlinson said. “It was in need of renewal, refreshing, and reinventing.
“We wanted to do it in a vested way and what better investment than to have the GCMA involved – certainly with regards to the golf club management perspective?
“So we set about producing a guide, which we launched, and then went on a road trip with the GCMA, with BIGGA, and several other participating parties.
“It has been so popular to discuss the whole governance piece with regards to golf clubs. We come back to this situation of clubs having a reference point.”
Tomlinson added: “Grassroots golf, just like other sports, is driven by volunteers at golf clubs. Invariably, it’s volunteers that are employing golf club managers and the whole team of people.
“What better way to make sure that the health of our sport at grassroots level is in the best place possible than trying to care of how we govern it at golf club level?
“It’s trying to make sure that even a simple scenario like whether you’re picking a committee, an executive, or a board is asking the question, ‘are you utilising a skills matrix?’
“Are we looking at it from an inclusivity perspective? Is there a spectrum? Are there enough women on there?
“Are there enough people from diverse ethnicities that are able to talk in the most open way about what a membership should or could look like and then how to look after them?”
Tomlinson said the procedures within the handbook, and making sure those were followed, could make a material difference – both financially and strategically – to golf clubs.
“Without a shadow of a doubt,” he said. “Probably one of the worst things that can happen at a golf club is for its membership to fall asleep, and even worse, to fall asleep with regards to the responsibility level of trying to make sure they’re represented in the best way.
“There’s always a situation where stakeholders and members need to be energised and passionate about making sure that if they can’t stand up and be that person to represent the rest of the membership, that they are at least looking to appoint better people.
“If you have good people, energised, passionate, progressive people, any club where you have that mix, those clubs are in a healthy state.”
You can download a copy of A Blueprint for Governance: Insight and Guidance to Build a Successful Future from England Golf’s website.
