100+ Clubs Register Interest in Exciting New Digital Solution... National Conference Recap

Scottish Golf are delighted to announce a tremendous response to the launch of their new digital solution with over 100 golf clubs registering an interest within 48 hours.

The club management solution will be free of charge to all Scottish Golf affiliated clubs and includes a booking tee-sheet, handicap and membership management, point of sale, integrated payment processing, tour level live scoring software with more features to come.

In addition, golf clubs will receive a fully customisable and easy-to-configure website which includes complimentary hosting.

The announcement came at Edinburgh’s International Conference Centre on Saturday 1 December where 450 delegates attended their National Conference, with thousands more tuning in online.

For those of you who didn't manage to attend, they hope you enjoy this video recap of the day, starting with their CEO Andrew McKinlay who opened proceedings by outlining their vision for the future. 

To read more and see the videos  CLICK HERE

DOUGLAS PARK SECRETARY GIVES HER OVERVIEW AT THE SCOTTISH GOLF CONFERENCE OF THE GETINTOGOLF CAMPAIGN

After a very good campaign last year in the GetIntoGolf at Douglas Park Golf Club and further advertising -- Douglas Park Secretary Ann Scott gave an overview at the Scottish Golf Conference in Edinburgh yesterday

The official Scottish Golf video can be found by CLICKING HERE and you can go to approx 1hour 47 minutes and then to 1 hour 56 minutes. - to hear her interview (much better quality and sound) 

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE ORIGINAL EVENT LAST YEAR AND VIDEO

AND HERE FOR THE SCOTTISH GOLF REPORT

Paul Lawrie has described the new Scottish Golf App as Phenomenal

Paul Laurie 

By Martin Dempster

Paul Lawrie has described Scottish Golf’s trail-blazing new app as “phenomenal” and believes it can help turn the golf centre he owns on the outskirts of Aberdeen into a profit-making facility.

The 1999 Open champion delivered his glowing endorsement for the digital platform, which is being offered free to golf clubs around the country at a time when just 21 per cent of the total golfing population in the sport’s birthplace is made up of club members, as he attended the second Scottish Golf national conference in Edinburgh. 

Lawrie, who is actively involved in running his golf centre on the south side of the River Dee along with his wife Marian, also gave a thumbs-up to the governing body encouraging clubs to allow so-called nomadic golfers to gain handicaps by playing in open competitions.

“It is hugely challenging, no matter who you are,” said Lawrie during a chat on stage with Iain Forsyth, Scottish Golf’s commercial director, in front of 450 fellow delegates, when asked about his facility. “The golf industry has not gone through the best of times and hasn’t done for a long, long time. Our facility currently runs at a slight loss every year and has done for a wee while, but we are trying to change that.

“We’ve got a lot of talented people who work very hard for us and we have recently become a Scottish Golf-affiliated club so people can get a handicap with us now. We’ve put in a couple of new tees to give us two par-4s and seven par-3s. You can play a medal now and that has helped us a little bit, but, having said that, we only gained 28 or 29 new members through that, so it is still a little bit of a struggle. 

“But if people who are not members of a club are able to have a handicap, if that meant a club like us was able to lay on a competition that would see 40 or 50 new golfers paying a green fee every week, that could be the difference. That would be a lot of money for a golf club like our one that loses money.”

Lawrie was speaking before the new app, which has been developed by leading tech company OCS for Scottish Golf to allow clubs to fully exploit income from pay-and-play golfers, was rolled out to delegates, the majority of whom were golf club administrators and committee members.

“I just had a wee look at the app and it is just phenomenal,” added Lawrie. “For a golf centre like us, it will be great to have this free app. Who’s not wanting that as a golf club? I think people will be blown away when they see it. We will certainly be using it and we will be embracing it to try and turn a corner for us and I think it will.”

A more positive event than the inaugural one 12 months ago, when the focus was on the fact that 5,000 club members in Scotland had been lost each year for a decade, this conference started with chair Eleanor Cannon saying she felt confident Scottish Golf’s stakeholders had now “united” after a “turbulent time over ten years”.

In his address, chief executive Andrew McKinlay said that the governing body had a “firm financial footing” thanks to its stakeholders agreeing to an increase in the affiliation fee earlier in the year while Ross Duncan, the development director, updated delegates on a staff re-shuffle – seven regional development managers will be backed up by six central support managers – that is aimed at helping clubs in the ongoing fight with declining memberships. “Everyone has to be at the heart of change. Live it and breathe it!” he said. One of the main changes being sought is getting more women into the game at a time when females make up only 13 per cent of the total membership in Scotland. The governing body is also keen to change a culture that currently sees 83.5 per cent of clubs holding their main competitions on a Saturday reserved for men.

“Last year was a line in the sand,” said McKinlay, who attended that event as a member when he still worked for the Scottish Football Association, as he summed up this conference. “Since I came in I’ve felt nothing but goodwill. Everyone wants to go in the right direction. We have given them some specific things. Maybe they are not used to that. Maybe they are just used to talk. But I think people feel quite upbeat about what we are trying to do.”

Scottish Golf outlines ambitious plans for future at National Conference

By Michael McEwan (Bunkered Magazine) 

That was the rallying cry from chief executive Andrew McKinlay at Scottish Golf’s National Conference.

The event, which took place at the EICC in Edinburgh yesterday , was attended by over 450 delegates from across the game and saw the national governing body provide details of strategies it has devised to safeguard the sport’s future and that of its constituent clubs, as well as an update on performance across the spectrum of the grassroots game.

The underlying theme was one of looking to the future and “leaving Scottish golf better than we found it”

Referencing the book Legacy by James Kerr, which documents the culture of the All Blacks, New Zealand’s all-conquering rugby union side, McKinlay said: “They believe firmly in many things but one of those things is something called whakapapa, which means ‘to be a good ancestor’

“That is what we all must strive to be, as we are simply custodians of this wonderful game in the home of golf.”

The conference took place almost a year to the day from the first such conference, which was arranged with Scottish Golf in disarray following the resignation of McKinlay’s predecessor Blane Dodds and with the controversial strategy he had outlined having been stood down in the face of widespread criticism.

McKinlay was in attendance last year as a golf club member but, having been appointed chief executive of the organisation in February, had a prominent role today, where the mood in the room was considerably more optimistic than this time 12 months ago.

Well it might be, too.

After having been rejected earlier in the year, Scottish Golf finally saw plans to increase its affiliation fee pushed through in October. That, in turn, has allowed the organisation to budget better for the coming years and put in place a number of plans to help golf clubs adapt to match consumer behaviour. 

Central to those plans is a brand new digital management system, which was unveiled today.

Developed by OCS Sport, which works with more than 30 pro golf tours worldwide, it will allow clubs to “take control of business” through a single, centralised system. It will provide everything from tee time bookings, to a point of sale system to a free, to customisable website for every club, area and county in the country. What’s more, it is completely free of charge. 

The app will also be free to download for golf club members, enabling them to book tee times quickly and easily, as well as track their scores and access a virtual caddie. 

Non golf club members will also be able to download the app but will be required to pay a small fee for the privilege.

All of the revenue generated will be reinvested into the game in a bid to redress an imbalance 

Amongst other things, Scottish Golf believes this will help tackle the issue of handicap-only memberships and third party handicap providers. 

Improving finances is the third of three pillars of the new Scottish Golf strategy and, according to McKinlay, is the one that was the “most challenging” issue to come out of last year’s conference.

“I have spent much of my time since I came into the job working with our chief financial, Iain Forsyth,” he said. “A particular challenge was laid down at last year’s conference about our non-membership income and also around how we harness the wealth of the pay-per-play golfers within the Scottish golf family.”

Referencing Henry Ford, he added: “If you always do what you’ve always done, you will always get what you’ve always got. You don’t turn a circa £3.5m business into a £6m+ turnover, which is what we’re looking to do within the next four years, by getting a few sponsorship agreements here and there. You need to come up with something far more radical.”

The new club management platform would appear to be that “something”.

Former Open champion Paul Lawrie was amongst those in attendance today in his capacity as a golf centre proprietor and he said he was 'blown away’ by the new digital package.

“The app is just phenomenal,” added Lawrie, who revealed that his Aberdeenshire facility has been operating at a small loss ‘for some time’. “For a golf centre like ours, it’s going to be fantastic. We’ll be using it to try to help turn the corner.”

Of course, creating the tools is just the beginning; getting people to use them will be where the battle is won and lost.

That’s something that is in no way lost on McKinlay.

“Technology is only an enabler so it’s now all about the marketing of it,” he said. “We’re going to have to work hard to get the story out there, both through external channels and our own marketing." 

OTHER NOTES FROM THE SCOTTISH GOLF NATIONAL CONFERENCE

• Andrew McKinlay revealed that Scottish Golf had a “very, very positive” meeting with sportscotland recently and hopes to announce a “substantial” four-year commitment from the organisation in January.

• On the junior front, plans for a new “national junior framework” are “progressing well”, whilst the 12-strong Young Persons Golf Panel will start in January. Scottish Golf also intends a national roll out of its Junior Golf Sixes programme in 2019, with the final potentially taking place in the lead up to the Solheim Cup at Gleneagles.

• Scottish Golf is aiming to get 100 clubs signed up to the R&A Women & Girls Charter in 2019 as it aims to increase the proportion of female golf club members in Scotland (currently 13%). 

LIVE STREAM FROM THE SCOTTISH GOLF CONFERENCE TODAY

The meeting today was attended around 450 people of various golfing walks of life, was a largely upbeat and wide-ranging forum which promoted innovation and fresh thinking while attempting to address long-standing issues which continue to make for grim reading. 

The well-documented statistic, for instance, that only 13 per cent of Scotland’s membership is female remains a real problem  “It’s not good enough,” said McKinlay bluntly. In addition, around 83 per cent of clubs still have their main men’s competition reserved for a Saturday which alienates the working woman. “Women don’t have equal opportunities,” added Ross Duncan, Scottish Golf’s development director. “Change requires a significant shift in attitude.”

The whole LIVE STREAMING is on YOU TUBE  and conference begins at 12 minutes  - Just move the slider along to catch the different presentations;

Scottish Women players were highlighted during the conference and also the many volunteers including Mary Richardson, Yvonne Dickson  and Carol Fell - 1 hour 28.30 minutes approx

Eleanor Cannon -- 20 minutes in
Andrew McKinlay - 27. 40 minutes in
Ross Duncan 49 minutes in and introduces --
David Connor - Visit Scotland - The Solheim Cup 1 hour 33 minutes 
Club Panel introduction --  1 hour 41 minutes and interviews
Ian Forsyth - 2 hours 26 minutes
Our Offering Ian Forsyth and Paul Lawrie 2 hours 46 minutes 
OCS App presentation - 2 hours 59 minutes


Prestwick St Nicholas's Junior Member Rachael Foster was also on the club panel -- See below