The Royal Canadian Golf Association has embarked on a bold change of course.
Thursday, the RCGA trotted out its Vision 2010 strategic plan, laying out a lot of philosophy and some actions to help change both the effectiveness and the perception of an organization known to be stodgy, top-heavy and set in its ways.
At the core of its desire to change is money. The RCGA lost $5.5 million last year and expects another deficit of $2 million in 2008. The costs of 2007 had much to do with carrying the Canadian Open, which didn’t find a title sponsor in RBC until the fall.
RCGA president Andrew Cook said those deficits have nearly eaten away healthy past surpluses, and said the RCGA will not dip into its $34-million capital fund, what’s left from the 1999 sale of Glen Abbey Golf Club.
Since Open windfalls will no longer be funnelled back to the organization’s programs, drastic measures must make the RCGA self-sustaining.
To date, staff has been cut by nine and two national tournaments have been dropped, as have some programs and its agronomy division. Efficiency is now an organizational buzzword and the search is on for new revenues.
“We want to be narrow and deep versus wide and shallow,” said Scott Simmons, hired last July as the new CEO and executive director.
Vision 2010 is largely a self-examination as the RCGA takes on the official role as the national golf organization.There are a few eye-catching pages, including one that identifies in black and white its weaknesses, among them that its own organizational culture is elitist, arrogant and rigid, that its governance is ineffective and that it has poor communications.
One identified threat is critical — that the RCGA lacks relevance.
That was the question that Simmons fielded in about five different ways during a conference call Thursday.
“The average golfer doesn’t know who the RCGA is,” he said. “I would argue that as an organization, we’ve done a very poor job of communicating our value proposition, but I’m not saying it’s a poor proposition. We do wonderful things for the game.”
About six million Canadians play golf. It’s one of the highest per-capita rates in the world. But only 377,000 of those regulars are members of the RCGA, mostly through a $7 fee on club membership.
Already, Simmons has spearheaded a new style of leadership. He’s big on communication and has won at least one fan outside of Golf House in Oakville, Ont.
“Outside of Oakville, who really knows about the RCGA and what they do?” said Golf Manitoba executive director Dave Comaskey. “It’s open to debate, but I’m convinced they mean what they say, that they want to become more relevant.
“We are distinct and separate associations, but they’ve really made (the provinces) feel included. We deliver a lot of RCGA programs, so we’re partners that way. The we/they makes me cringe now.”
It’s a good sign because geography is a challenge — the farther away from headquarters, the less regard there is for the RCGA. But Simmons had provincial golf officials in for two days of meetings earlier this past week. The previous week, he made a trip to B.C. to press the flesh and meet with golf pros, course managers, sponsors and the like.
Pushing hard now on its public-player program, Simmons said the RCGA now wants to hear from golfers about what they want instead of telling them what they want.
A start down that road is the RCGA Golf Card (www.rcgagolfcard.org), which offers discounts and even free rounds to players at participating courses. So far, 175 clubs across the country are on board. In Manitoba, 10 have already signed up, including Bridges, John Blumberg, Minnedosa, Pinawa, Selkirk, Shilo, South Interlake, St. Boniface, Meadows and Winkler.
The RCGA doesn’t yet purport to have all the answers to its issues, but appears to be in a listening mood. We hope it’s not too late.
tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca
Vision 2010’s
goals for golf
New RCGA CEO and executive director Scott Simmons said: “I would ask you to judge us on our progress versus our objectives, versus maybe looking to the past.” Here are the RCGA’s stated measuring sticks for 2010:
150,000 additional children introduced to golf
80 per cent of all Canadian courses RCGA members (62 per cent today)
Canada’s participation rate in golf remains 21.5 per cent or higher
Men’s and women’s national teams finish top-three at World Amateur
18 of top 20 LPGA Tour players play CN Canadian Women’s Open
10 of top 20 PGA Tour players play RBC Canadian Open
RCGA is seen as a progressive and inclusive organization
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/golf/story/4180597p-4770084c.html
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