Volunteer Research Report

Encouraging participation in golf clubs

a research report on golf club volunteering

Welcome Contents

At England Golf we were keen to enhance our understanding of the experiences of volunteers in golf clubs to enable us to provide support where it is needed the most.

Our strong existing relationship with Manchester Metropolitan University and their understanding of golf meant that, in commissioning them to undertake a PhD, they would provide valuable insight.

Furthermore, the experience of Chris Mills (PhD Researcher), aligned with MMU’s knowledge of golf, has impacted our work from the start of the PhD, not just in the final year.

The qualitative nature of the study has built on what we thought we knew, as Chris was able to dig into the reality of the journey and experiences of volunteers in golf clubs.

One of the most exciting elements of the research is how it joins the journey of a golfer and that of a volunteer. Too often we have considered these elements in isolation and the research highlights that if a golf club actively supports golfers to integrate and become volunteers this will, in effect, create uber Members. These members are loyal, committed and keen to contribute their time to help sustain the club into the future.

Volunteering has been a feature of golf clubs ever since the first clubs were formed in the nineteenth century. From the board room to the tee, volunteers continue to play vital roles in running golf clubs. Yet, to our knowledge, there has never been any research into golf club volunteers. Since volunteers represent some of a golf club’s most committed members, understanding them offers potentially valuable insights into participation more generally.

The research has been conducted as part of a PhD degree. It therefore benefits from the intense focus of a PhD candidate and the wider involvement of an experienced team of academics. The research also builds on prior work done by Manchester Metropolitan University on member retention and understanding golf club volunteers.

We have enjoyed researching golf clubs and their volunteers and have met many great people along the way. We are indebted to those that took part in the research.

We are grateful to the team at England Golf for facilitating this research, especially to Matt Bloor, England Golf’s Volunteer Manager, whose enduring enthusiasm and practical support has been invaluable.

We hope you find this research report interesting and that it inspires you to make some positive changes at your golf club.

Richard Flint

Chief Operating Officer

Matt Bloor Volunteer Manager

Chris Mills Dr Chris Mackintosh Professor Cathy Urquhart

From England Golf

From the research team

Executive Summary

We started our research with the understanding that golf clubs want to attract and retain more golfers and to engage members as volunteers in the running of their clubs. We were conscious that the long-term health of golf depends on engaging a diverse range of participants.

In our research, we sought to understand volunteers’ experiences within golf clubs. We explored how members became volunteers and what helped sustain their involvement. We considered how these experiences varied across different types of people.

Summary of key findings Summary of recommendations

Our research highlights how golf clubs are essentially social places in which everyday social interactions shape members’ and volunteers’ experiences.

The research found the following:

• There is a common pathway to becoming a golf club volunteer. This pathway involves a journey from feeling uncertain as a new member, through becoming an established member and culminating in active participation as a volunteer. Some members make this journey more easily than others, with the formation of social relationships being vital to this process.

• While life circumstances may limit each individual’s capacity to get involved, volunteering is also dependent on the availability of convenient opportunities. The availability of accessible opportunities that can be fitted in alongside other life commitments promotes participation.

• Volunteers encounter and interact with a wide range of members. Many discussions with members are constructive, but some are not. The nature of these interactions has a significant influence on whether volunteers feel supported or frustrated.

Volunteers are some of golf clubs’ most committed members. Understanding how they became a volunteer and what sustains their involvement is important . We can use this knowledge to encourage participation and commitment among all golf club members.

We recommend that golf clubs:

• Take a strategic approach to managing the pathway to participation to improve member retention and create a diverse pool of volunteers.

• Encourage participation among members with other life commitments by creating accessible and convenient opportunities to get involved.

• Nurture constructive member discussion of club affairs. This should help members find common ground and create a supportive environment for volunteers.

We provide detailed recommendations on pages 15, 17 and 20. By implementing these recommendations, golf clubs can create an environment that encourages and sustains active participation among all members. We recognise that clubs won’t be able to implement all of the recommendations. We therefore suggest two high impact actions on page 22 and 23.

Golf club volunteering is bound up with a sense of belonging, involvement and pride in the club. It’s not something that can be turned on and off like a tap. Volunteering thrives where the club actively and consistently supports member participation and where the culture is open and inclusive.

44,000 99% volunteers

The Research Process

Qualitative research

Since we were interested in the experience of golf club volunteers, we listened to what volunteers had to say – in their own words. It was also vital that we, as researchers, understood the golf club environment. The research, therefore, collected and analysed a range of qualitative data.

We collected data via the following means:

• Observing activities at four golf clubs, covering a range of geographies, size, cost of membership and club culture.

• Reading documents from golf’s governing bodies, golf media and golf clubs.

• Conducting in-depth, semi-structured interviews with golf club volunteers.

Data was analysed using coding techniques which facilitated the analytical comparison of similar and different experiences.

Golf clubs are heavily reliant on the ‘baby boomer’ generation, both as members and volunteers. This presents golf clubs with a challenge because younger generations often have different attitudes and expectations.

Who did we speak to?

We interviewed 28 golf club volunteers. The volunteers performed a range of roles, including board members, captains, committee members, junior organisers and grounds maintenance helpers.

We talked to a diverse range of volunteers:

• A third were female.

• Half were aged under 50 and in work.

• 28% had played golf continuously since being a junior, 40% had taken up golf as an adult, and 32% had returned to golf as an adult having initially learnt to play as a junior.

We are enormously grateful to all those volunteers that took part in the research. Without them telling their rich and vibrant stories, this report wouldn’t have been possible.

The Participation Pathway

From our research, we discovered a common pathway to becoming a golf club volunteer. The process involved several stages, with transitions between them. We term this a ‘participation pathway’ to reflect the idea that participation comprises different levels of involvement, from playing golf to volunteering. We describe this process over the next three pages and provide some illustrative quotes from interviewees. We then make recommendations for managing the pathway on pages 14 and 15.

On joining a golf club, new members are faced with a range of uncertainties. New member uncertainty may exist about club culture, behavioural expectations, social relationships and playing golf. While previous golfing experience reduces newcomer uncertainty, even the most experienced golfers described a period of adjustment when joining a new club.

Golfers described the transition from feeling uncertain to feeling comfortable as ‘settling in’. This transition was made possible by spending time at the golf club, developing confidence in playing golf and social interactions. Forming social relationships was particularly important. Newcomers with family, friends and work colleagues in the club tended to settle in more easily.

It’s important to note that not all new members make the transition from newcomer to established member. Bad experiences sometimes push newcomers back towards uncertainty. Several interviewees, who were now volunteers at their current club, had been unable to form social relations and become part of a group at previous clubs and had left.

After a period of settling in, golf club members begin to feel comfortable and consider themselves as established members. Routines and group participation are essential to feeling comfortable. Regularly playing and socialising within a group of members helps to develop strong bonds with the club.

Social relationships also play an important role in activating volunteering. Through social relations, there is a shared understanding between prospective volunteers and club members that they have something useful to contribute. Furthermore, established members are familiar with the golf club and the personalities involved, and can therefore make informed decisions about volunteering. Sometimes, knowledge of what is involved turns members off volunteering.

The pathway to participation tends to result in meaningful volunteering. Volunteers like to ‘give back’ to the club because they have enjoyed membership and the friendships they have formed. The golf club is a significant part of their lives. Some volunteers, especially those who experienced challenges ‘settling in’, identify changes that they would like to make to their golf club. However, most volunteers, because they have been socialised, tend to enjoy the golf club’s ways of doing things. Modification goals are, therefore, limited. In volunteering, members tend to preserve what they have become comfortable with.

An interviewee described how she felt as a new member:

“ The three of us would come down late in the evenings. Out of sight! We were frightened of getting involved in the golf club. We used to park up at the far end of the carpark and zip on to the course to play nine holes and back in the car and out. We never ever came in the clubhouse. We got people coming up to say, “When are you going to get your handicaps?” Very scary. We just thought it was very scary.”

The interviewee is now a volunteer at her golf club and runs a program to help new members settle into the club.

An interviewee described feeling uncertain when first joining a club:

“There is a supposition that you know what you’re signing up for. If you’ve never actually been in the club and been involved with it, well, how does it work?”

A volunteer described the importance of relationships:

“I think as soon as you get friendship in a club it means lots. It’s not coming just to golf, it’s coming for friends, and we sit and have a coffee and a drink afterwards and it’s all part of the deal.”

An interviewee described how he settled into his golf club:

“ When I joined, for the first couple of years I didn’t know many people….. There was a Burns Night supper here. I came with my wife. We sat on a table with a guy called Ed and had a great night and Ed said, “You want to join the club?” He said, “You’d really enjoy it.” I said, “Ed, I have joined the club. It’s costing me 500 quid a round at the moment.” Right, he says, “Get your arse down here tomorrow morning at 9.30, you’ve got a game.” There was a group called The Slugs and they meet every Wednesday morning and Saturday morning and I’ve never looked back.”

A board member described why he left a previous club:

“I was there for just over two years and I only ever played in the same four ball. I never ever got invited to play in another group. Never got approached ….. I was low enough to play in their first team. Yeah, I wasn’t overly comfortable there.”

The interviewee is now an active and influential board member at his golf club.

A volunteer described how becoming known to other members was central to him being asked to volunteer:

“I think because I integrated so well, I came to the attention of the men’s committee. They’re always looking for individuals willing to help out.”

A female volunteer, who had taken up golf as an adult and found it difficult settling into golf, describes the changes she wanted to make at her club:

“One thing I felt strongly about was that [less able golfers] are not always as visibly supported and valued. One thing I really wanted to do was to make as much of a fuss of them as the more elite players. I felt that was important. That was one of the things that I wanted to do.”

A board member described why volunteering was meaningful to him:

I’ll do something.”

“I like to give back. I’ve enjoyed joining the golf club, I’ve enjoyed the golf, I’ve enjoyed the social side of it, and I just thought

The pathway to participation model

Overall, the ‘pathway to participation’ process is both a strength and a weakness.

It is a strength because it generates volunteers who are committed to the club and for whom volunteering is meaningful. However, the pathway to participation is also a potential weakness because it tends to generate volunteers with similar socio-demographic profiles who reproduce the cultural practices and behavioural norms that have become meaningful to them. This acts as a potential barrier to change.

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It is important to think about who does and does not make their way through the pathway to participation. Why do some new members become established members, whilst others leave the club? Why do some established members become volunteers, whilst others never contribute? Management of the transitions - ‘settling in’ and ‘activation’ - should help to increase new member retention and improve diversity among volunteers. The

Recommendations

The research findings highlight the importance of golf clubs actively managing the pathway to participation.

We recommend that golf clubs adopt a strategic approach to integrating new members. Helping new members to settle in and form strong social relationships should improve

member retention. Helping new members settle in should also create a larger and more diverse membership. It is from among this pool of members that golf clubs can activate new volunteers.

Golf club actions

Reduce uncertainty for new members

• Provide a great welcome. Offer an induction meeting and a tour of the club’s facilities. Give new members the opportunity to ask questions.

• Hand out a welcome pack with essential information including the club’s history, vision, strategy, policies, rules, cultural practices, course information and personnel.

• Relax club rules and cultural practices , thereby creating a less daunting environment for new members.

Activate volunteering

• Encourage engagement in club affairs. Consult on strategy and major decisions. Reach out to all members to let them contribute and feel involved.

• Find out more about the skills and experiences of your members. Ideally, do this face-to-face and talk about how they could contribute to the club. Especially reach out to members on the periphery of the club.

• Ensure everyone has access to information about volunteering by advertising role vacancies via noticeboards, newsletters, social media. Include strong messaging around inclusivity.

• Where volunteer roles appear unattractive or overly demanding, redesign role requirements to make them more manageable and appealing (e.g. dividing the role and sharing out responsibilities, stripping out unnecessary activities).

Helping new members settle in and form strong social relationships should improve member retention. Helping new members settle in should also create a larger and more diverse membership.

• Emphasise the support that is available to volunteers (e.g. from management and other volunteers, availability of training, support from England Golf).

Help new members to settle in

• Provide an orientation programme for new members

Sustain this over several months and beware overloading them with information.

• Help new members form relationships with other newcomers so that they can support each other in learning about golf club life (e.g. create new member groups).

• Provide on-course coaching and support for inexperienced golfers, ideally in new member groups, as this helps members develop confidence in playing the course.

• Establish a buddy scheme that pairs up new members with established members who can provide informal advice about the golf club.

• Help new members find a playing group with like-minded members.

• Establish a ‘New Member Champion’ role and/or a working group of volunteers to design and coordinate an orientation programme.

• Find out why new members leave. Do this by speaking to them individually or asking them to complete an exit survey. Reflect and then act on your findings to improve new member retention.

Life Circumstances

Our research found that life circumstances affect how people engage with golf, including playing golf, joining a golf club and volunteering.

Volunteers often spoke about family commitments including partners or spouses, children, grandchildren and elderly parents. These family commitments affected how much time they could spend at the golf club.

Work commitments similarly affected the amount of available time. Where work commitments were flexible, members could more readily find time to play golf and volunteer.

For many volunteers, it was a change in life circumstances that created the space for greater engagement. Some interviewees talked about children growing up and how this left them with more time. Older golfers often talked about how retirement was a catalyst to greater engagement.

Although other life commitments act as a constraint on volunteering, it doesn’t make it impossible. During the research, we spoke to several golfers with extensive work and family commitments that were still able to volunteer. It wasn’t always easy for them, but if volunteering could be fitted in and around their other commitments it was possible. Indeed, we spoke to several younger volunteers that were having a significant impact on their golf clubs.

If golf clubs are unable to engage younger adults as volunteers, there is a risk that club governance will remain the preserve of older members.

Importantly, this research challenges assumptions that non-participation is due to selfishness or apathy. Rather, non-participation is often due to a combination of other competing life commitments and a lack of convenient opportunities . While not much can be done about the former, golf clubs can provide more accessible opportunities to participate.

A board member described how he had few opportunities to participate earlier in life: An interviewee described how with some adjustment, he was able to be club captain:

“I had a young son at the time who had some pretty significant health issues. I was working away in the week. I was travelling all over the place. The last thing I could do is come home and spend five hours playing golf before I left home on a Monday morning at five o’clock and saying ‘see you’.”

“I could only be there at weekends, not often during the week. Not with work and having a baby daughter and a partner I actually wanted to spend some time with….I say to anyone that will listen, “Look, if I can be captain of this golf club anybody can.”

Recommendations

We recommend that golf clubs take practical steps to encourage participation among all members, including those with work and family

commitments. Opportunities to participate need to complement members’ other life commitments. Busy people also need to be assured that they

won’t over-commit themselves. Providing some accessible time-limited opportunities to get involved may lead to more substantial volunteering.

Golf club actions

Create accessible volunteer opportunities

• Offer a range of different participation opportunities some of which should be less time-intensive (e.g. time-limited working groups to address a particular issue, one-off bite-size volunteering activities).

• Organise and manage meetings effectively Arrange meetings at times that people can attend. Hold short, structured and wellmanaged meetings. Support chairpersons to conduct productive meetings by offering them training on effective chairing skills.

• Use technology to involve members with busy lives (e.g. use online meeting technology).

A volunteer described how meetings were time-managed to avoid putting off younger adults:

Help members to integrate competing life commitments

• Reduce gendered organisation within the club. Reduce tee-times set aside for a single gender. Host more mixed competitions.

• Offer more family participation activities that involve both adults and young people (e.g. offer family tee-times, family tournaments or family volunteering activities).

• Allow people to stay connected whilst at the golf club (e.g. allow mobile phone use, provide WIFI, hot desks and meeting room space).

“ We limit each section to 10 minutes. No one filibusters or anything like that at these things. It’s 10 minutes and then that’s it. If there’s any questions that they need answering thereafter then we do it in the bar.”

Volunteer-Member Discussions

Through their role, volunteers encounter a wide range of members. Meeting lots of different people and developing new social relationships is one of the great things about volunteering.

Given their roles within the club, volunteers are approached by members to discuss various issues. As a result of this, volunteers often find themselves debating club affairs with fellow members.

Volunteers recognised the importance of discussing club matters with members. It was important that members should have their say and welcomed conversations about significant matters. Volunteers were often able to act and do something about issues raised. As long as discussions were constructive, volunteers found them helpful. Furthermore, by discussing issues with members and developing mutual understandings, volunteers could develop a feeling of ‘we-ness’. They felt supported by the members.

However, not all interactions were positive. Volunteers frequently talked about their experience with ‘moaning members’.

‘Moaning members’ tended to come from a vocal minority within the club. Volunteers described how they invariably raised trivial issues and how complaints were often based on speculation, misinformation or rumour. Volunteers observed how some members sought to legitimise their viewpoints by drawing on their status derived from previously holding high office, long-standing membership or golfing ability. Volunteers described how members occasionally adopted an aggressive or hostile tone.

Moaning members were a frequent source of frustration to volunteers. In some cases, it had a negative impact on volunteers’ enjoyment of their golf club.

A section captain reflected on the importance of members resolving differences:

“In any group of people, you’ll always have differing opinions and differences about how things should be done. And sometimes that can get a bit onerous. You get the older members wanting it all to stay the same, stay as it’s always been. You get newer blood, new people coming in, and they want to change things a bit. Both sides of the story have their merits.”

Volunteers noted that most members tended not to engage in discussions about club affairs. While some volunteers suggested this lack of engagement was due to apathy or consumerist attitudes, other volunteers recognised that their golf club could do more to encourage participation. In particular, there was a need to actively engage a more diverse range of members in club affairs and include the ‘silent majority’ and not just the ‘vocal minority’. Golf clubs face many challenges and embracing diverse perspectives could help generate positive change.

Volunteer-Member Discussions

A former club captain describes how member discussion affected his enjoyment of golf:

“I used to come up to play my golf on a Sunday to play in the competitions and you get accosted in the car park, “Mr. Captain, why is this being done? Why is this being done?” You have to stand and explain and so your golf for that day is affected…….. I’d then be thinking about it all of the way round when I’m playing golf. I did let it get to me.”

The Power of Three

We found younger adult volunteers were happier and more productive when teaming up with their peers. Having at least three like-minded individuals on board enhanced their ability to make change.

Access to reliable information

Who is involved in discussions

Source of legitimacy Tone

Golf club actions

• Involve members in developing a vision and strategy for the golf club. Consult widely and seek to engage members from across the club. Make it a ‘big conversation’. Try to reach consensus, or at least compromise, on contentious issues. Once agreed, promote the vision and strategy among members.

• Provide members with regular reports on progress against the strategic plan.

• Consult with members when developing club strategy and before major decisions are made (e.g. on significant capital expenditure). When consulting with members, encourage all members to participate by using a range of accessible engagement methods (e.g. member surveys, online tools, forums, workshops, consultation stands).

• Consider who among the membership is not contributing to discussions and make special efforts to involve all members in club discussions. For example, make sure new members, younger adults and juniors are included in discussions just as much as established older adult members.

• Report back to members on consultation findings and what actions have been taken as a result of member input.

Final Reflections

Golf clubs have large memberships. This represents a significant resource and activating the skills, experiences and enthusiasm of members has enormous benefits. Our research suggests that improving member participation can energise golf clubs.

At the same time, we recognise that golf is a leisure-time activity and that members’ primary interest is usually playing golf and socialising, and not necessarily volunteering. For this reason, volunteering must be engaging and enjoyable.

Importantly, our research has emphasised how social interactions with other members are a key feature of the golf club experience. The development of relationships and connecting with other members is essential to member retention and participation. Cultivating an environment that supports positive social interactions and relationships among members seems to us a necessary feature of a successful golf club.

Beware quick easy fixes though. Building social bonds does not simply mean organising social events such as a club dinner or a BBQ. Golf clubs need to develop everyday practices and club culture that fundamentally support positive social interactions.

• Treat internal member communication as a strategically important function Communicate regularly with members and share information. Use a variety of media (e.g. newsletters, social media, noticeboards) to ensure that members access information.

• Try to be open and transparent in the provision of information. It helps others to see what you are doing and why you are doing it and creates trust.

• Don’t leave member engagement to the AGM and other general meetings. At general meetings, members tend to vote according to preconceived ideas. Voting also tends to establish ‘majority rule’ by those most able to participate. Over-reliance on voting to make formal decisions risks discouraging and driving out dissenters.

• Emphasise the value of well-reasoned, creative and innovative thinking rather than historical precedence.

• Promote contributions made by nontraditional members and volunteers

• Develop and promote a set of club values as they help shape club culture. Consult with members to develop these values. Once agreed, regularly promote the values and make them visible.

• Recognise the contribution of volunteers through club communications. Encourage members to thank volunteers for their efforts.

Bring significant issues to the fore in club communications

Provide members with regular, accurate and reliable information

Value arguments based on their merits, not on who is making them

Promote civility and respect throughout the club

Make club discussions inclusive by encouraging all members to get involved

What high impact actions can you now take?

We hope that the research findings set out in this report have resonated with you and that they will inspire you to act.

Whilst this report makes a range of recommendations, we recognise that golf clubs have limited capacity and won’t be able to implement them all.

1Engage members in developing a club vision and strategy

If your club doesn’t have a vision and strategy, or your current strategy needs a refresh, engage your members in creating a new one. Start the process by consulting with all members. Make sure it’s a ‘big conversation’ with lots of different opportunities to get involved. Reach out to all members across your club, including new members and juniors. Encourage discussion and try to establish a reasoned consensus. Build a vision that is inspirational and will motivate all members to get involved.

We have, therefore, suggested two high impact actions, which should encourage and support participation in your golf club:

While this research was conducted prior to the covid-19 pandemic, we believe the two action points noted below are especially important in these unusual times. Participation in golf has increased

during covid-19 and many golf clubs have seen an influx of new members. Golf has been presented with an unexpected opportunity to generate and sustain growth. We strongly believe that pursuing the

two actions below will maximise a golf club’s ability to build and sustain new member participation and involvement. Achieve that and your club’s long-term future will be brighter for it.

2Create a new member retention working group

Establish a small working group of staff and volunteers to create a strategy and orientation programme for supporting new members. Recruit to this group a diverse set of volunteers with different skills and perspectives. Seek out members from sections of the club that don’t ordinarily volunteer. Include members that joined the club recently, because they will have a fresh perspective on the new member experience. When the group improves new member retention, celebrate their success.

If you need more support we recommend the following:

A governance guide for golf clubs

This guide provides excellent advice on formal golf club governance. Since member participation provides the bedrock for good governance, the recommendations in this report complement the governance guidance.

How to improve your governance

Take a businesslike approach to running your club and download our governance guide and pack

Club support network

England Golf has a network of Club Support Officers, who are well placed to provide advice and support to your club.

Your volunteers

Check out our full range of resources and support on golf club volunteers.