Golf Ireland has launched a new five-year Strategic Plan that will help guide the game from 2022 to 2026.

Under the heading of ‘Golf For Everyone’, this is the first strategy of its kind from Golf Ireland, that comes after a lengthy consultation process, involving the input of 10,000 golfers and other stakeholders.

There are five key areas of focus – ‘Securing the Future of Golf’, ‘Supporting Our Clubs and Golfers’, ‘Leading Our Organisation’, ‘Delivering Our Events’ and ‘Nurturing Our Talent’.

These are broken down into a golf friendly 18 objectives and 76 action points against which delivery of the plan will be measured.

Golf for Everyone

‘Golf For Everyone’ is the first time in Ireland the sport will have a cohesive strategy that provides a framework to shape and grow the game of golf for men, women, boys and girls of all backgrounds and abilities equally.

The development of the strategy involved consultation with every corner of the golf community through surveys, focus groups and data analysis as well as research with non-golfers to find out more about how the game can be made open, attractive and accessible to them.

The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in a 12 per cent growth in membership in 2020, and 2.3 million rounds of golf were played over those 12 months.  It was certainly the case that the early return of golf after the first lockdown was good for the sport and it is coming off a stronger base than had been the case beforehand.

The timing then of looking at how to build on that, and on the advances made in the sport at a participation and performance level is spot on.

Research

Research conducted by Golf Ireland shows there are 500,000 casual golfers on the island and over 40% of the population are open to the idea of playing the game.

The challenge then is to provide opportunities for more people, to play more golf, more regularly, and to capitalise on the major decade that lies ahead with the return of the Open Championship, the revival of the Irish Women’s Open and the return of the Ryder Cup all alongside the global superstardom of players like Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry, Seamus Power, Leona Maguire and others.

“The creation of Golf Ireland was, at its core, the bringing together of women and men to work together for the betterment of our great sport.”, Golf Ireland CEO Mark Kennelly said.

“That spirit has been very evident in our first year of existence when our fantastic volunteers helped deliver an outstanding programme of top-class events.”

“That same spirit will be the key to the success of this first Strategic Plan. We invite the entire golf community –  Board, Committees, Regional Executives, Clubs, Players, Volunteers, Staff and Partners – to help us make it a reality.”

“It’s an ambitious plan for the sustainable growth of our sport”, Golf Ireland Chairperson Paul Haran added. “It places a special emphasis on the place of young people, women and girls in the future of golf in Ireland, and on excellent governance at all levels.”

Check out our exclusive report on the Launch of the Strategy and Interview with Mark Kennelly.

Download a full copy of the report here.