Proposal to merge executive committee with board

SGU CLUBS TO DISCUSS STANCE
ON GOVERNANCE
REVIEW PROPOSALS

By COLIN FARQUHARSON

The way Scottish men’s amateur golf is governed will be on the agenda when representatives of all 16 areas affiliated to the Scottish Golf Union meet at Falkirk Golf Club on Sunday, December 3.
“Stirlingshire Golf Union has facilitated a meeting of all the areas to discuss the Governance Review,” said John Elliott, the Stirlingshire secretary.
The Governance Review is a report submitted earlier this year by an independent working group, chaired by Sir Craig Reedie and commissioned by the Scottish Golf Union to look at how the governing body of men’s amateur golf in Scotland could be made to function better than it does at the moment.
One of their recommendations is that the existing board of seven and the 16-strong executive council (one from each area) should be unified into an enlarged board of 12
Under that proposal the 16 areas would have only two representatives in total. The three other positions on the revamped board would be filled by the SGU president and vice-president and the chief executive.
Representatives of the 16 areas have to decide, by early in the New Year, whether to adopt any or all of the working group’s recommendations.
Indications are that at least some of the areas will come out strongly in favour of retaining the traditional 16-strong executive committee format.
As one area official commented: “Do they really expect the executive to vote for its own demise? It’s like asking a turkey to vote for Christmas!”
But SGU president Gordon McInnes, pictured above, says: “I believe these proposed changes would enable the Union to continue to attract able and committed volunteers to assist in the governance of our affairs in the future.”