Desperate days call for innovative thinking

Netherlands have perfected

the Nomad Golfer system

By JO MAES, Editor of Ireland's GolfBUZZ
The Nomad Golfer has landed!
Right lads and obviously lassies, the weather has improved the last couple of days but unfortunately we are still submerged in this doom and gloom with bankers and governments playing multi-billion Euro ping pong with all our futures as the ball.
News reaches us about course closures with the Blarney Resort and Tulfarris recently falling victim to the recession.
With redundancies across the industry, will this only be the tip of the iceberg and is there more to surface? Only time will tell but it's not good.
The one bright shining light at the horizon is the announcement by P J Collins, the Irish Golf Union's new president, that he would actively look into the 'Nomad Golfer' as this is quite a new phenomenon.
Well, he'll do well to wake up the sleepy characters currently guarding the amateur game in Ireland. The Nomad Golfer has been around ever since the game began.
The Netherlands perfected the system, bringing the game out of a slump. In 1986, there were only 30,000 golfers in Holland. Today there are more than 350,000. This has all to do with allowing 'white' golfers (as they were called) into the federal system, giving them the opportunity to get a handicap and not outcasting them.
Consequently, Holland, not so much a 'traditional' golf country, has countless professionals on tours all over the world, has very good amateurs coming through the ranks, has a thriving business golf scene with many magazines and websites and countless corporate events.
In short, it's an example to other countries as to what can be achieved with an open mind.
One year ago today, we applied to the Irish Golf Union to be affiliated as a golf club. The idea came about when playing Carnoustie and St. Andrews, not really contemporary golf meccas but they do have several golf club houses lining the fairways of these traditional links, all golf clubs using the course in agreement with each other.
Affiliation obviously incurs rules and regulations, the most important one, having access to a course. This was solved through an agreement with an existing course that had no Irish Golf Union involvement.
This application was not greeted with much fanfare as we were getting into the 'pay as you play' area. One must remember, the Irish Golf Union is a federation of golf CLUBS and not GOLFERS so everything starts at club level, which is fair enough.
After a year of writing, talking, appearing in front of committees etc., we finally were refused affiliation without appeal. The word 'discretion' (dictionary: the ability to make responsible decisions) was used and the 'definition of the traditional golf club'.
Now what is that exactly, the traditional golf club? Does traditional come to mind when the clubhouse is the lobby of an empty hotel in the middle of rural Ireland, when it is the playground of a multi-millionaire, where women are not allowed to be a member or where juniors can only play when senior members allow them to, where fees are so high only a select few can afford them?
Anyway, P J Collins did listen to what we had to say and we are glad he wants to look into this phenomenom as a way to tackle the crisis that engulfs us all.
I might have another shot at an affiliation for a true golfers' club, one where you can play all over Ireland, on different courses, have and keep an official handicap and in general contribute to the game of golf in Ireland!
What do you guys (and girls) out there think?
If you want to comment, you can get me at jmaes@golfhub.ie !

+Jo Maes is pictured above by Cal Carson Golf Agency.