Magazine: N.Z Joining Golf Nation
By Editor in Golf on 17th Sep 2008 6:00
Clubs have signalled sufficient support for an ambitious project promoted by New Zealand Golf (NZG) to go ahead. In all, 83 of this country's 392 clubs have indicated they will join Golf Nation, NZG's response to falling club membership nationwide.
NZG estimates at least 60 per cent of the clubs are in financial difficulty, at a time when membership numbers are dropping but labour and course maintenance costs are on the increase. Club membership has fallen at an average of two per cent a year in recent years, with overall figures slipping 129,902 in 2004 to 123,924.
Clubs joining Golf Nation will commit themselves to a series of criteria, including transferable memberships, which will enable members to play at other clubs at no or minimal additional cost.
NZG originally targeted an uptake of between 80 to 100 clubs to make the project viable in its early stages. Chief executive Bill MacGowan today said he was happy with the response, although there was concern about pockets of resistance in top of the South Island and north of the Harbour Bridge in Auckland.
Not one club in Nelson Bays or Marlborough has signed on, while the uptake in North Harbour and Northland is too thin to make the package viable in that area. As well, urban clubs in Auckland have largely said they are happy with the status quo.
"There are some holes geographically that we need to talk to some clubs about," MacGowan said. MacGowan said NZG officials would have one-on-one chats with clubs in those areas in the next fortnight before an official launch date was set.
Officials initially earmarked next month to start the project, but MacGowan suggested this could be delayed until November. MacGowan said certain regions – such as Wellington, Canterbury, Waikato, Taranaki and Bay of Plenty – embraced the concept with much more alacrity than others.
Source & More: www.stuff.co.nz
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