Cornwall Golf Union

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Cornwall Golf Union

UNIFICATION

Joint Statement CLCGA & CGU

Briefing Note (October 2024)

What is Unification?

Unification is the bringing together of the Men’s Golf Union and the Ladies Golf Association.

Why do we want to Unify?

A “bit” of History

1996 Sport England was established by Royal Charter, they were given the responsibility for developing and increasing participation in sport and in particular at the grass roots level.

They currently dispense some £250M each year to sport from the Government and National Lottery.

One of their missions was to break down all the barriers to sport – one of those barriers was gender.

From 2009 Sport England worked with National Governing Bodies (NGBs) driving forward unification.

2012 saw the merger of the English Golf Union (EGU) and the English Women’s Golf Association (EWGA) into one body – England Golf (EG).

2017 saw the Ladies Golf Union (LGU) merge with the R and A.

No surprise that unification was to be cascaded into the Counties

Since 2014 when EG have actively encouraged Counties to unify, and to date some 10 counties (see Appendix 1) have merged into one body. 3 including Cornwall are committed and are planning for unification, and a further 6 are in the initial discussion stage.

What’s happening in Cornwall?

In 2023 both the Cornwall Golf Union (CGU) and Cornwall Ladies County Golf Association (CLCGA) agreed to unification in principle and a working group was set up to prepare for unification.

The working group consists:

Carole Waights Chair
Alan Creber Vice Chair
Chris Pountney Secretary
David West CGU – Treasurer
Amanda Harvey CLCGA – Treasurer
Pauline Clifton CLCGA Vice Captain
Martin Edwards CGU President
Mo Hammond CLCGA President 2023/24
Nikki Hodge CLCGA President 2024/26

What are the Benefits to Unification?

These benefits have been realised by the unified Counties, but not in all cases

A single common purpose, vision and strategy
Tailored approach to golf development for all, including a junior academy programme to develop future golf club members
Simpler structure for Clubs and Members to work with
Enhanced efficiency and economies of scale
Pooling of resources and experience amongst the Board, Sub-Committee members and volunteer
Improved communications and standardised image of Cornwall Golf (new website)
One organisation representing the views of the County affiliated clubs at both regional and national levels
A significant symbolic step towards breaking stereotypes
Promotes equality within the game
The place to go for all golf in the County (one-stop shop)
Improved efficiencies
Increase in County’s resources and eliminated duplication
Employed administrative staff – releases the burden on association volunteer roles
Smaller less time-consuming volunteer roles
A wider pool to recruit volunteers for county events
Opportunity to refocus and rebrand golf in the County
One competition software and reduced costs
Enhanced opportunity to represent all golfers in one place
Increased opportunity for sponsorship
Tailored diary events across all sections
Greater opportunity to communicate to the family audience
Improving the image of golf in Cornwall with one marketing and communications plan

What has been done so far?

During 2024 we have had 6 meetings where we looked at what other Counties had done and identified the following:

Our new Name – Cornwall Golf

It will be an incorporated company with limited guarantee

We recommend we have a Chair supported by a Board with either 7 or 9 directors with discreet areas of responsibility (which I will cover later) all with voting rights plus The President and Vice President who will be non-voting. It is proposed the position of President will rotate on an annual basis between Male and Female. The composition of the Board will be a minimum 30% Male and 30% Female.

The Board will be supported by committees drawn from existing and new volunteers. As with the Board the gender balance will be 30% Male and 30% Female.

Responsibilities and Committees

Part of the exercise in analysing what we wanted for the future of Cornwall was identifying key areas we wanted and needed to influence for the future of golf in the County. The Directors will have responsibility for the following and if we have 9 Directors we will have 2 Directors with no portfolio.

Finance
Governance
Golf Development
Coaching and Teams
Marketing and Communications
Club Services
Championships and Competitions

We created our Mission and Values

Cornwall Golf will oversee all things related to golf in Cornwall

We will welcome new players and members alike. Our aim is to increase participation in golf irrespective of age and gender
We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and the development of golfers and golf clubs in Cornwall

Our Vision

To promote and support Golf for ONE AND ALL

Our Values

Inclusive – welcoming and enabling everyone to be involved with golf in Cornwall

Honesty – acting with integrity, trust, fairness, reliability and transparency

Supportive – working together to make golf better for everyone, inspiring people to achieve goals

Excellence – continuously improving, exceeding expectations and setting high standards

Responsible – being personally accountable and passionate about driving a strong future for golf

Cornwall Golf will stand for

At Cornwall Golf we will be committed to growing the game in Cornwall
We will offer day-to-day help and support clubs, working together to resolve issues and challenges in our game
We will organise County wide competitions for all sections and encourage participation
We will lead on Equality, Diversity and inclusivity, creating greater opportunities for access, promoting the physical and mental health benefits of playing golf, inspiring more participation regardless of gender, age, ethnicity, ability, disability or background to play golf
We will continue to be dedicated to developing talent, providing accomplished coaches and defined pathways at all levels, which in turn will enable us to put out high performing and successful county teams
Continue to inform educate and share best practice (via workshops or similar) with the affiliated clubs and their members
We will have a new logo (as per the heading on this briefing note) and new branded team kit etc.

We are currently working on