CEO Tom Brooke represented the association at both The Open and the AIG Women’s Open, discover his insights and experiences from the UK’s most prestigious golf championships.
As part of my role with the GCMA, I’m extremely fortunate, along with our Chairman, to receive an invitation to attend The Open each year, with the R&A very generously offering hospitality to representatives from all the main organisations involved in GB&I golf. Whilst we always try and get out on the course to watch at least a bit of the golf itself, it really is such a busy week as we benefit from attending numerous networking events and organise meetings with fellow stakeholders. Here are my highlights from attending this year’s event at Royal Portrush:
We met with representatives from the R&A’s Sustainable Golf team to discuss the progress made during our partnership over the past two years, and to look forward to continuing with this relationship into next year. We’re also working with the R&A on the subject of water management and seeking their support in providing information and guidance for our members, and the industry as a whole. on this critical issue.
Our meeting with England Golf helped to continue with some of the great work we’ve been doing together in recent years. We’ve begun plans for a series of club roadshow events scheduled for February 2026, which will be our third year in a row working together on this initiative. These events really help us to reach a wider audience and represent the role of the Golf Club Manager through engagement with club volunteers and officials. We’re also working together to look at how we can further support golf clubs with their governance structures and strategic planning.
We’re in discussions with Wales Golf to look at providing our support for their upcoming club roadshow events in October, again, a great opportunity to represent the role of the Golf Club Manager and the importance of a modern governance structure. We’re also looking forward to the launch of the new Wales Golf Governance Guide for Golf Clubs, a project that we’re grateful for being involved with.
Our relationship with our colleagues at BIGGA is becoming an increasingly positive one, and we took the opportunity to progress discussions on combined educational opportunities for Golf Club Managers and Course Managers, at both the GCMA Conference and BTME.
From a GCMA perspective, one of the key aspects of discussions with all of our industry partners throughout the week, was the need to better represent the benefits of a well supported, employed management team and the benefits that a golf club will receive from investing in recruiting and retaining great quality people to deliver leadership and management within their businesses.
We also attended some excellent networking events, including an invitation to the annual 18 Players golf day at the fantastic Bushfoot Golf Club, as well as the annual Open Championship Industry Lunch, generously hosted by Sporting Insights, the Golf Foundation and BGIA. We also had a group meeting with fellow CEO’s and Chairs from our four Home Unions, BIGGA and the Golf Foundation and Senior Execs from the R&A, where we took the opportunity to progress our collaborative projects on workforce development and water management. More news on these initiatives to follow soon.
It really is a huge privilege to attend the Open every year and represent the GCMA at the world’s greatest men’s golf event. It was a highly productive week as always and I have to say, of the five Opens I have now been to, Royal Portrush has to be my favourite! Huge congratulations to Danny Campbell and the whole team at Royal Portrush for your achievements in hosting such a superb event at your club and a huge thank you and congratulations as always to the R&A for the exceptional delivery of such an impressive event. I’m not sure any other sport would be capable of taking the biggest event in its calendar to a small coastal town in the UK and make such a huge success of it! One of the many unique characters of our great game.
In August, it was on to Royal Porthcawl in Wales, for the Women’s Open. It’s only the second Women’s Open I’ve been to, the other being two years ago at Walton Heath. I think it’s becoming increasingly important to show presence at the event to ensure we’re giving our support to the growth of the Women’s game so it’s certainly something I intend to continue doing. As an industry, we don’t give nearly as much of our attention to the Women’s Open as we do with the Men’s and I do hope this will change in the years to come, from my experience this year it certainly deserves it!
My overwhelming observation of the Women’s Open is the very different feel to the overall experience and environment compared to the men’s event. Whilst there is a considerably lower number of visitors in comparison to The Open, there was a hugely positive, relaxed and energetic feel to the whole event, with much more of a family feel to proceedings. For me, a real highlight was the central ‘Festival Hub’, which included crazy golf, free lessons from volunteer PGA Professionals, as well as garden games, a children’s activity zone, and a treasure hunt around the golf course! What a superb effort from the R&A in making a global golf event more appealing to a wider audience and to engage families and young children.
The players also made themselves more accessible to the crowds, always taking the time after finishing their round to sign autographs and pose for photographs with young golf fans. Many of the players also took part in Q&A sessions which were open to anyone to attend, giving so many children the opportunity to learn more about the game and inspire them to keep playing!
Congratulations to GCMA member John Edwards and the whole team at Royal Porthcawl for your roles in hosting such a fantastic event. Also a huge well done to both Wales Golf and the R&A for delivering such a superb experience for everyone that had the pleasure of attending, the largest women’s sporting event ever to be hosted in Wales!
If you’ve not been before, I really would encourage you to visit the Women’s Open next year, it really is a great experience.
By Tom Brooke
