Scottish Golf to significantly reduce affiliation fee proposal

The governing body of amateur golf in Scotland is set to significantly reduce the increase in the amount it wants members of all affiliated clubs to pay.

Due to a funding crisis caused by a drop in members in recent years and reduced investment from sportscotland, Scottish Golf had proposed increasing the affiliation fee from £11.25 to £24, but this proposal was met with fierce opposition from members and clubs.

During the discussions the chief executive of Scottish Golf, Blane Dodds, quit and the vote on the price increase was postponed from December 2017 to March 2018.

With a new chief executive, Andrew McKinlay, starting shortly, the organisation is reportedly about to offer a new proposal – for the affiliation fee to be increased by just £3.75 to £15.

Scottish FA CEO Andrew McKinlay named as new chief executive of Scottish Golf

However, according to The Scotsman’s Martin Dempster, even this concession may prove to ‘be difficult to stomach for the majority of golf club members’.

“I personally think that the increase is still going to be difficult to stomach for the majority of golf club members as, although the actual amount is small, the percentage increase is 33 per cent,” Steven Brand, who is the match secretary at Aberdour, told The Scotsman.

“For club members to accept such a fee, Scottish Golf must address the issue of transient golfers who are not affiliated to golf clubs and they must also look to charge fees relative to a club’s turnover to help out the smaller clubs. Many members don’t see what benefit they receive from the affiliation fee, although through the match secretary role, I have experienced first hand how Scottish Golf staff help with handicap queries, rules queries and so on.

“At the moment, golfers are paying to be members of clubs, and then being charged an additional amount to be affiliated to Scottish Golf. Golfers who 
simply play golf at a different course every week pay neither membership fees or the affiliation fee. “Scottish Golf have to address such issues, and they need to forget about the CRM and centralised tee booking. I would also note from their accounts that, despite funding and subscriptions falling, salaries at Scottish Golf have increased year-on-year.”

The vote on the new proposal will take place at Scottish Golf’s annual general meeting at Dalmahoy early next month.

The new figure should raise £4 million over four years, states Dempster.

At a conference in December delegates were told average annual subscriptions to Scottish golf clubs will rise by more than 80 per cent in 10 years due to the current funding crisis.

Annual golf subscriptions set to soar in Scotland