Challenge for SGU new man


Douglas Connon as


membership numbers drop

FROM THE SCOTSMAN WEBSITE
By MIKE AITKEN
Douglas Connon, newly appointed chairman of the Scottish Golf Union, has identified falling memberships and the possibility of some golf clubs going out of business in Scotland as the biggest challenge currently facing the organisation.
A member of various clubs throughout Scotland himself, Connon is well aware of the anecdotal evidence which suggests the economic downturn is forcing golfers to trim their expenditure and indicated the SGU will have to cut their cloth accordingly.
It is thought around 6,000 golfers gave up memberships of Scottish clubs last year and even more may relinquish their playing rights in 2009.
With income certain to fall from the £2.1 million brought in last year, when club members paid nearly £1.3m in subscriptions, Connon expects the SGU will have to reduce costs as well as do more to support troubled clubs.
"We'll have a better idea in March of where we are with this when members have paid their subscriptions," said Connon."But we know already that there is going to be a drop in membership and that's going to have an effect. Like every other business in the downturn, budgets have to be revised almost every other week.
"There are a handful of clubs we know are in difficulty, not just membership, but the whole nine yards. Our challenge (at the SGU) is to retain or increase our sponsors and try and increase the money we get from public bodies.
"With golfers who have been members of two or three clubs in past years also reducing their involvement to a single subscription, it's possible the Scottish club scene, which previously numbered around 194,000 members, will be even more badly affected in the downturn than the rest of the UK.
"Against a background where we're not really sure of all the facts, we know we're going to have to be more innovative with the money we've got," added Connon. "At elite level, we're going to have to be cleverer with resources, because money is scarce. I'll be on the case of costs because that's what we're all having to do in our businesses.
"Every club in Scotland now needs to pay attention to the young because it's the juniors who will be their future members."
The managing director of corporate affairs for Alliance Trust, who previously filled a similar role with Aberdeen Asset, Connon was an army officer for nearly 30 years and was awarded the MBE in 1992.
He doesn't rule out a merger with the Scottish Ladies Golf Association, which would make sound administrative sense, but would be surprised if anything happened on that front other than in the longer run.