ENGLISH GOLF UNION DISCONTINUES ASSOCIATE MEMBERSHIP PROGRAMME
The English Golf Union (EGU) has decided to discontinue its
Associate Membership Programme after 11 years of operation.
The Associate Membership Programme (AMP) was established
when many clubs had long membership waiting lists and in many
cases a recognised handicap was a pre-requisite to be able
to join. The AMP, although not providing a CONGU handicap,
did manage an alternative handicap system that was closely
administered by EGU staff.
Since 1997 the number of golf clubs affiliated to the EGU
has risen a by 167 clubs to over 1,950 and, according to the
last research undertaken by the EGU, over 85% of its clubs
have membership vacancies.
With club membership being more readily available and many
facilities offering incentives to join as well as innovative
“entry levels” of membership, the overarching
purpose of the AMP to make the path to golf club membership
easier and provide access to play courses throughout England
by providing a recognised handicap, all be it not a CONGU
handicap, has diminished.
This has also been reflected in the decreasing number of
people joining the AMP in recent years.
John Petrie, EGU Chief Executive commented, “We are
really proud of the part the AMP has played in both delivering
new members to our clubs and keeping people playing the game
when their lifestyles meant that club membership was not appropriate
for them.”
“However the game has changed dramatically in the past
decade and clubs can now be far more flexible when setting
their membership criteria and when allowing visiting golfers
to play. The resources that were dedicated to the AMP will
now be redirected into other development activities and support
for clubs across England.”
Since it launch the EGU estimates that over 200,000 rounds
of golf have been played by AMP members and approximately
1,100 have gone on to join golf clubs when relinquishing their
AMP membership.
The members of the AMP have all been advised on the future
plans. The programme will continue to manage existing members’
handicap calculations and provide general membership support
until end of May 2009
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