Hello Everyone,
As the new season approaches, I hope you have had the chance to catch up on some time off (or TOIL)! as well-being continues to be a major topic of conversation and action. We all know how volatile our industry can be!
2023 saw the SGCMA make great strides in our development, with the stabilising of finances, appointment of an Education Manager and the development of our relationship with Scottish Golf.
Our finances have stabilised due to the welcoming of a number of corporate partners into our family. Without them we would not be able to provide the education and support you need. My thanks to Simon Stevenson and Craig Bell for their work on attracting and looking after these companies, and Les Durno for managing the pennies. Should you be looking for a service that our corporate family can provide please get in touch with them and give them the opportunity to discuss your needs.
The appointment of Claire Middleton as Education Manager is a huge step for the SGCMA, and reiterates our commitment to providing training and support. Claire has been busy meeting with other associations in the Scottish golf landscape - BIGGA, PGA, SGL - and this should bear fruit later this year with a more industry wide, cohesive approach to education open to all. We will be sending you a survey to understand your education and support needs and the medium in which it will be best to provide these. Watch out for this coming through and please take the time to answer.
Last and by no means least, our relationship with Scottish Golf has vastly improved over the year with Andrew Baptie and Robbie Clyde joining them There has been a sea change in their attitude to Club Managers and Clubs, with a genuine desire to support clubs as much as possible. Our meetings with them - and there have been several - show this. I know there will be those who see this as another false dawn following previous failures, but I do believe this time the impact will be positive. Two of our Directors did apply to become non executive directors of Scottish Golf Ltd, One was interviewed but was not successful unfortunately.There is still a lot of work for Scottish Golf to do - and they realise this - but the signs are good.
2024 will see a programme of education and networking events for your enjoyment, and I hope you will be able to take time away from your office to meet with fellow managers and realise the benefit of such support. Further details will be issued in due course. One of the new events is a Captain and Club Manager event in May, which should help bring you and your Captain or Chairman closer together.
To my Board - David A, David B, David D, Les, Martin, Melanie, Simon - thank you for all your time and support this year, and to Craig who keeps the organisation ticking over and Claire for making such an impact in a short period of time.
The AGM at the R&A Golf It in Glasgow was an excellent day hearing about what they want to achieve to break down barriers in golf and get more people interested. See photo below of SGCMA member Alyson McKechin R&A Golf Ops manager at Golfit. We also had excellent presentations from new corporate family members Troo and Sweetspot as well as Clere Golf for the first time, Tomatin on their club involvement this year with coffee supplied by Nespresso. There was also a presentation from Husqvarna on course maintenance robotics (video link below).
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gUNUNJCui5A
The AGM went smoothly with all motions passed. We thanked David Brodie for his time as a Director and welcomed Andrew McIntyre of Hilton Park GC to the Board as Marketing Director.
I look forward to welcoming you to some of the events we have planned for 2024.
Click here is a full program of Education and Events - More information below.
Chris Spencer
Chair