Irish Golf: in a great place but has problems at home
A piece published on Wednesday May 27th about the membership challenges facing Irish golf. For the Irish Times.
‘Golf, like the measles, should be caught young, for, if postponed to riper years the results may be serious.”
– PG Wodehouse
Irish Open week. While there’s a healthy prize fund and fine field hosted by Rory McIlroy at one of the island’s great courses, many Irish clubs are facing serious challenges.
These are auspicious times for Ireland at the game’s top level both on and off the course. We claim the world number one. Irish golfers have claimed nine of the last 31 majors. The leading lady amateur in the game, Leona Maguire, is Irish. The 2016 European Ryder Cup captain too, as was his predecessor; and the incoming captain of the The Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, Gavin Caldwell.
The R&A’s development committee will be happy that golf is continuing its global expansion – as of year-end 2014, there were 34,011 golf facilities in 206 countries (not including driving ranges or pitch and putt courses) – but the news is not all good. A 2015 report by KPMG’s golf advisory practice puts the drop since 2014 in the number of golfers registered with a European club or association at 77,000, with over 51,000 of those in Britain and Ireland…
