Amalgamation back on track

Plans to unify men’s and women’s golf in Scotland have re-started

bunkered can reveal that the process of amalgamating Scottish golf’s two govering bodies is officially back on track. 

Tom Craig, chairman of the Scottish Golf Union, revealed that a new joint working group met last week to discuss a proposal to unify the SGU and the Scottish Ladies’ Golfing Association.

An original proposal failed in May 2011 after the SGU’s shareholders, comprising the 16 area associations, rejected the amalgamation proposal by a 10 to 6 majority.

The SLGA had already successfully passed the proposal at their end.

The official line since then has been that amalgamation talks have been ongoing. However, Craig’s admission that a joint working group has met to discuss the merger again is the clearest indication yet that the process is back on track.

“The amalgamation process has re-started,” confirmed Craig ahead of this weekend’s SGU AGM at Tulliallan.

Addressing concerns that enthusiasm for the amalgamation has waned following the original proposal’s failure, Craig, a member of the joint working group, added: “I won’t divulge any confidences from the meeting last week but both organisations are going into it with a very positive outlook and a shared objective.

“What we have agreed with the SLGA is that anything we discuss will be joint but there is not much more to say on it at this point.”

There have also been murmurings that some ill feeling remains over the original proposal, which may undermine these latest efforts. However, Craig insisted that he is unaware of any such issues so far.

“That is something that will only come out when the committee does its work but I cannot really say one way or another,” he said. “But there is work to be done otherwise we wouldn’t need the committee.”

Craig also refused to be drawn on when a new proposal might be in a position to be taken to a vote.

“We haven’t set any timetable,” he said. “The committee has been asked to try and look at what timetable might be possible but given that it only met for the first time last week, it’s rather early doors.

“We’re talking about something that is really, really important for the long-term of golf in Scotland, so we need to make sure have consulted with people and taken people with us, so it will take time.

“The other big issue is obviously that all of the people on the committee are golfers and playing golf is what they want to do with their time. They don’t want to be stuck in committee rooms.”

Some people have suggested that it might not reflect well on Scottish golf if the country is seen to be unable to unify its men’s and ladies’ governing bodies by the time the 2014 Ryder Cup rolls in to Gleneagles, where the eyes of the sporting world will be fixed upon the ‘Home of Golf’. However, Craig is less concerned with that and more concerned with the long-term implications of the amalgamation proposal.

He said: “My own personal view is that we have to take the time to get it right because we’re not playing for the next year or two years. We’re playing for the next 20, 30, 40, even 100 years. We want to get it as close to right as we can. So, would I be disappointed if the process hasn’t reached a positive conclusion by the time of the Ryder Cup? Well, let’s just concentrate on getting the right solution.”

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Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Deputy Editor