Following the recently published Golf Club Membership Questionnaire 2004 results, the English Golf Union and English Ladies Golf Association have completed further analysis relating to each of the 35 golfing counties.
The Golf Club Membership Questionnaire research is completed every two years to assess membership structures, monitor membership trends, track initiatives to bring people to the game and identify where future resources should be best focussed. It is managed and funded by the EGU and the ELGA and is sent to over 1,900 golf clubs in England.
Detailed statistics have been produced for each county highlighting their strengths and weaknesses and identifying opportunities and areas of focus for future golf development. The results are already assisting the governing bodies in their ongoing strategic plan for England Golf as a whole, but they will also help each county to provide support to their golf clubs and create long-term development plans.
The county breakdowns provide comparisons to regional and national trends, with results highlighting membership vacancies, waiting lists, membership fees, joining procedures and valuable junior development matters including coaching, structures and competitions.
Richard Flint, Golf Development Manager for the EGU commented, “Junior Golf is the future of the game and much credit should be given to those counties who are already focusing on this area of development. Hopefully this research will enable counties to benchmark their efforts and track the success of their efforts over time.”
Counties who have the highest proportion of junior members are led by three northern counties: Northumberland with 11% of members being juniors, followed by Cumbria and Durham with 10%. The national average is 8%.
Those counties who are showing the largest increases in junior membership compared to the last survey in 2002 do vary when comparing boys and girls. Derbyshire leads the way for developing boy’s membership with 71% of their clubs showing increases, followed by the Isle of Man and Sussex both with 60% of clubs showing a positive trend. The national average is 44%.
Gloucestershire leads the way in improving girl’s membership with 50% of clubs showing increases followed by Northumberland with 46% and Bedfordshire with 43%. The national average is 34%.
County breakdowns are available upon request from the EGU. For more information please contact Lynne Fraser, EGU Marketing and PR Manager, Tel: 01526 354500 e-mail: lfraser@englishgolfunion.org
The EGU and ELGA are studying the results of the questionnaire further to identify trends and statistics for private members golf clubs and both the municipal and proprietary golf club sectors. The aim is to determine any specific needs and support required for these areas of the industry.
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