An almighty, destructive mess

Just four months ago I asked a rhetorical question in this column after Scottish Golf’s Future of Golf conference in Edinburgh; “Has the penny dropped, both ways?”

The answer, unequivocally from Saturday’s AGM of the organisation, is no.

The heady optimism of December’s conference, when it seemed at last that all of Scottish Golf was united and pulling to a modern, sustainable future, was dashed by the AGM.

Maybe I got the vibe at December’s conference all wrong. But having been there and listened to delegates and the board, I find it incomprehensible that the reduced £3.75 increase to the annual levy on golf club members was rejected on Saturday.

My miscalculation doesn’t really matter, but it seems SG chair Eleanor Cannon and the board made the exact same error, and theirs certainly does.

The rejection of what was a piecemeal increase – a bus fare, or less than the parking fee in Edinburgh to attend the conference – simply to part-finance SG’s operations seems to me a complete rejection of the SG board.

If I were them, I’d be resigning en masse and saying to those who opposed such a meagre rise in the levy, you run this thing.

Cannon and her board aren’t going to do that, it seems. But they have at least recognise that whatever it is they’re doing to explain why they need an increase in the levy, it isn’t getting through.

A reasonable element of this is, admittedly, some don’t want to listen. The SG board point the finger fairly and squarely at the Area Associations as the blocking point, and this dates from their equally fractious and often downright obstructive behaviour when the SGU and SLGA were merging.

Indeed, perhaps dating from that protracted process, Cannon even suggested there had been unacceptable and sexist behaviour from some within the Areas towards her.

She didn’t go into detail and said it would be dealt with “in the tent” so we can only take her word for it, but let’s face it, this is golf and it passes the smell test.

But equally it needs a crystal clear message from SG that the levy money, even this tiny increase, is being spent wisely and proactively for the good of the game and for the clubs.

Even allowing for the intransigence of some, the message obviously isn’t resonating the way I (and many others) thought it did with the delegates at December’s conference, or the increase would have sailed through on Saturday.

The biggest point from that conference, I thought, was the insane age demographic of golf club members in Scotland, with three-quarters of club members aged 45 and over and nearly 65% 55 and over.

Nobody can possibly want that to continue, right? I mean, our game’s going to die a slow death if that stays as it is.

Well, perhaps there are some for whom this doesn’t matter. For all the outstanding work of some clubs who are graduating their membership deals to appeal to younger players, there are still the grumbles from the crumblies about giving up their tee times, moaning about women and kids, and being obstructive.

The generation problem in golf isn’t simply confined to the undeniable fact of an ageing membership not regenerating.

It’s that a lot (not all, obviously) of the ageing membership think that their outdated practices are going to be tolerated by a younger generation and women who when they find there’s a restrictive dress code or they’re expected to play at anti-social or unreasonable times, would rather do something else where the rules reflect the 21st Century and not the 1950s.

If golf’s so arrogant to think it doesn’t have to change, then there’s a rude awakening ahead. It’s already happening in the almighty, destructive mess that is Scottish Golf.

No Rules Drama

I used to like leafing through “Decisions on the Rules of Golf”, but I appreciate this as pure trains-pottery behaviour on my part.

Anyway, the great old tome is no more, as the R&A and USGA have reduced the Rules of Golf from 34 to just 24, and the 1,300 sometimes outlandish examples in “Decisions” are now effectively redundant.

From 2019 the simplified Rules, each largely signposted as the long consultation process that has gone on over six years, will take effect.

And of course anything that simplifies something complex and makes it move forward faster is to be largely welcomed.

Grounding a club in a bunker or hazard (except directly behind the ball) is now OK. So is fixing that trench of a spike mark in your putting line.

You can stop worrying about oscillation (will that fine word ever be used regularly again?). You can drop your ball from your knee, the pin can stay in if you really want and there’s no need to go back to the tee if you hit OB. Oh, and take only three minutes over that lost ball, not five.

We should have far fewer exclamations of “Rules Drama!” from the media tent. That’s probably a good thing.

Even allowing for the intransigence of some, the message obviously isn’t resonating

Is golf dying a slow death due to a lack of young people playing the game? Outdated practices at certain clubs need to be addressed.