The Royal Canadian Golf Association gets a tip of the hat for impeccable timing with the introduction of Vision 2010, but to suggest it was planned to coincide with positive news would be cynical and nothing more than a nudge-nudge, wink-wink to those who put the RCGA’s three-year, strategic plan together.
One of the objectives of the plan is to have the majority of the top 20 players on the PGA and LPGA Tours at the RBC Canadian Open and CN Canadian Women’s Open, respectively, by 2010.
Just a couple of days earlier, the RCGA announced that several solid names would be in the field for this year’s
Open at Oakville’s Glen Abbey and that several initiatives to lure marquee players were being put into place,
so in hindsight, that objective was out of the gate before the strategic plan was even introduced.
While that one seemed well-timed, the RCGA couldn’t possibly have known at the time that 2007 Canadian
Amateur champion Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., was about to qualify for the U.S. Open.
To have a current national team member qualify for the second major of the year, not to mention Taylor’s runner-up finish at the NCAA Division I tournament, was a positive sign for the Vision 2010 objective of placing the Canadian men’s and women’s teams in the top three at the World Amateur within three years.
It was also a shot in the arm when 17-year-old national women’s team member Sue Kim of Langley, B.C., took
on the pros and came away with her second consecutive CN Canadian Women’s Tour victory after already
clinching a spot in the field at this year’s Canadian Women’s Open at Ottawa Hunt.
The RCGA’s emphasis on player development also got a boost when Barrie’s Stephanie Sherlock tied for fifth at
this year’s NCAA women’s championship. All of these players aren’t expected to turn pro anytime soon, so top
three at the Worlds in the next couple of years may be a realistic objective within the plan.
There are legitimate reasons to be happy at RCGA headquarters, but the champagne will be kept on ice. By the time that bottle gets popped, it could be a rare vintage.
As ambitious as Vision 2010 is, it’s important to remember that it is just a plan, just like the Toronto Maple Leafs plan to win the Stanley Cup. On second thought, the RCGA plan is more realistic than that, but the strategic plan is only a beginning despite the positive developments mentioned above.
It’s premature to celebrate something that has a three year mandate in which changes and adjustments are sure
to be made by the RCGA, which will review it on an annual basis.
While introducing the strategic plan, executive director Scott Simmons stated that the RCGA can’t be all things to all people and he is correct from financial and manpower standpoints. Being spread too thin and trying to please all of golf ’s little fiefdoms has been a nasty, little RCGA habit for years. These fiefdoms will not go quietly into the night and will present a stern test for the refocused RCGA, which seemed to have lost its definition over the years. A perfect example was when Simmons was asked during the teleconference what the RCGA could do about
slow play. The only way to answer that question is with another question. What do you expect the RCGA to do about five-and-a-half hour rounds? Admittedly, slow play is one of the biggest problems facing golf everywhere, but it’s something that will be solved at the ground level, not by a national association.
The same holds true with affordability, one of the greatest challenges facing golf, according to the RCGA’s most recent participation survey of Canadian golfers, the end users in all the studies, surveys and plans done by all associations, yet a group that rarely has input, oddly enough.
The RCGA consulted with other associations, governors, media, sponsors and member clubs in putting together its strategic plan, but golfers and nongolfers, for that matter, were left out of the equation, although the RCGA says asking them their thoughts will be an ongoing process as the plan evolves. If anything defines the RCGA, it’s the people who it is supposed to serve, but as the game changed over the years, the RCGA became irrelevant to most despite carrying on with traditional, yet subliminal, duties such as rules, amateur status, handicapping and course rating.
“The problem is they’re not well known by the average golfer and aren’t really relevant to the average golfer, but they are imperative to the game,” said Simmons. “I would argue that (golfers) don’t know who the other associations are either.” However, the other associations in golf have their specific niches and the RCGA, especially now with its designation as national sports organization, is viewed as the umbrella organization for all things golf in this country.
While the RCGA has narrowed that definition to emphasize its professional championships, player development,
the growth of junior golf, having 80 per cent of all golf courses as member clubs and getting its own finances in order, there will be those watching closely to see that it meets those objectives.
There will be those keeping an eye on what adjustments are made annually within the three-year rolling plan.
There will also be those who feel left out of the plan and they will be vocal. Some will argue that the RCGA
shouldn’t be prepping elite golfers, while others believe that is important. Others will argue that the RCGA is
an amateur organization and shouldn’t be involved in the business of marketing pro events such as the RBC
Canadian Open or CN Canadian Women’s Open.
No matter which way you go on those topics, it’s obvious that the RCGA made a bold move by stating its
priorities in a public forum, but that’s just the beginning and there are potential landmines ahead. When it
starts making adjustments to its three-year rolling plan, the RCGA must resist the pressure put on it from selfinterest groups and critics who feel the RCGA is always good pickings.
The most important voice in all of this is the people the association is designed to serve. It’s about time that all
golf associations began to listen to their constituents and let grassroots golfers have their say.
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