The Big Interview: England Golf

Fresh off a successful return to the Olympic Games roster, and with the Ryder Cup taking place this weekend, the sport of golf is in the spotlight once again. Recently appointed CEO of England Golf, Nick Pink, talks to sportindustry.biz to explain the next steps for the sport, and the importance in activating recent opportunities…

You’re seven months into your new role as CEO of England Golf, having previously worked with the International Cricket Council (ICC), have you noticed any major similarities or differences between the administration of the two sports?

I would say the major similarity between both sports is the global growth agenda and getting more people to play. They’re different games, but the basic principle remains the same, we just want more people playing the sport. The work I was doing with the ICC was much more aligned to supporting the member federations that we had and the tiers below the top ten. I worked very closely in Europe with the Scots, Dutch, Danes and Italians, for example. Initially it was funding initiatives to drive participation and performance and then it moved more and more into funding and supporting the organisations to become better – better people, better structures and better governance to ultimately improve what’s on offer to players at participation level.

That’s where we are at England Golf as well, we are moving into that space where we are supporting counties and golf clubs to essentially become better organisations and to support the better golf system to create better opportunities. There are a lot of similarities in that context, understanding a relationship within a members organisation. We are a membership organisation at England Golf, so we have the structure to support that through the county network.

There has been a similar challenge facing golf and cricket in recent years in a bid to grow its global audience. Cricket has, potentially, found the answer in short-form cricket. Can we expect a viable version of Twenty20 in golf anytime soon?

I don’t see why not; it’s just about determining the most effective format. One of the good things that T20 brings to cricket is that it’s still cricket in its basic form. It still has overs, it’s still most runs win, you take wickets the same way, so it’s important not to lose those basic elements, no matter what sport you apply it to.  

In golf, this year the R&A trialled a nine-hole championship just before The Open. It was a low-key event in many ways, with 32 players, which they’re looking to increase to 64 next year, and will be running a qualification process for English players to take part. It’s one possible starting point, and I would love to see more ideas trialled. T20 was rolled out over a number of years before investment in competitions like the IPL and Big Bash came along, then it really caught people’s imagination.

One of the things we’ve really campaigned on recently, since we’ve run a couple of pilots at county-level, is pushing Golf Express. It’s a shorter, quicker form of the game that is aimed at people enjoying the sport for an evening. It’s social, but you can still get a handicap and all the formal bits that you would need to play competitions and things. I still don’t think the sport can lose that side of it either, so it’s about getting that balance across.

You had a fair amount of success as a sport this summer with the Olympic Games. Considering the mixed reaction in the build-up about golf’s Olympic inclusion, many would argue the sport as one of the Games’ successes. Were you ever concerned at England Golf? 

Initially, before the Olympics started, I must admit there was some concern – let’s not lie about that! There were some top players pulling out, and there was also the wider debate of whether golf should be there in the first place.

However, I think the any doubters were proved wrong, and it was amazing to see the coverage for both the men’s and women’s events. Of course it helped that the quality of competition was fantastic as well. Some of the interest in the women’s game from the Olympics has been amazing. I’ve been reading some of the analytics from the Games, particularly in the Far East and Asian countries, and that’s really starting to boom, which can only be a good thing for us as a sport. The bigger the game is, the better the coverage, the better the access, and ultimately this is what is going to help inspire the next generation to take part.

From an English point of view to have Charley Hull and Justin Rose doing so well was a big plus too, of course. Justin was a great ambassador for golf and talked very passionately about what the Olympics meant to him, he did lots of interviews and spoke very articulately about the impact that the game had on him personally. I think he’s right, we’ve been exposed to a wider audience.

We have a real opportunity in Tokyo in four years’ time, they’re a very passionate golfing country – unlike Brazil – and so that’s where we need to really capitalise.  

Golf is remaining front of mind this week as well with the Ryder Cup. It’s Team Europe competing, but half of the team are English players, is this a reflection of England Golf?

Well we can’t claim any victory I don’t think, but there are six Englishmen out of the 12 and those all came through England Golf, so we’ll certainly be cheering on proudly. They all played club, county and represented their national side in one form or another over the past 25 years.

We hope it goes well for them, it’s such a great event and the exposure that it brings is outstanding. To have a team event like the Ryder Cup in an individual sport, we can hopefully capitalise on and inspire people to take up golf.

Is it a challenge for England Golf as a brand, working in an individual sport and then when a team event does come along, it’s Team Europe or Team GB?

Any exposure of golf in any market is good for us because it’s not necessarily about the branding, it’s just about playing.

We aren’t the major rights holder of the Ryder Cup or intrinsically linked to the Olympics Games, although we have a seat at the British Golf Association, which has a link to the British Olympic Association, so we are involved in selection for the Games. I think that the values that it’ll bring to the game of golf is what we need to capitalise on and align initiatives at various levels at clubs and counties across the country.

You’ve been in the role just over six months now, what do the next six months look like?

We’re aiming to be a little more campaign-led I think. Quite simply, if you are interested in taking up the game as a beginner, or want to come back to the sport but don’t know how to do it, we’ve got 700 golf clubs registered to our getintogolf.org site. That’s the message we want to get out there, and there’s no excuses not to pick up a club!

Also, in terms of some of the initiatives we are doing, Girls Golf Rocks, in partnership with the Golf Foundation, will work primarily in schools to get school children to take up the game. We are working really closely with clubs across the country using female ambassadors and players who have been involved with their county or club for a while. We’ve had some great success with that and some clubs across the country are already seeing an increase.

To find out more about England Golf, visit http://www.englandgolf.org/
Feature Photo: Leaderboard Photography