Sponsorship information for:
Golf Australia chief executive, Stephen Pitt, says the sport's new centralised governance structure will help generate a "significant" uplift in sponsorship revenue.
The peak body's long-term quest to discard golf's federated governance structure and bring state associations under the Golf Australia umbrella, a model known as 'One Golf', took a major step this week.
The five state and territory governing bodies this week formally ratified the agreement to join forces with Golf Australia, signing service agreements that Pitt said would form the basis for a simplified management structure for golf.
The state organisations of Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory are now all signatories to One Golf, representing 55% of Australia's golf-playing members, according to Golf Australia's recently-released 2017 participation report.
However, Golf NSW – the sport's largest state by club participation, at 144,261 (a 37% share), has not yet been won over. Western Australia, which has an 8% share of golf participants, is also yet to ratify the agreement.
Pitt said that One Golf would streamline the sports management structure and deliver "economy of scale" savings worth $3 million to state associations.
“This will deliver great efficiencies for Australian golf, and allow us to maximise revenue and ultimately invest more back into growing the game," Pitt said.
The strategy will see sponsorship category exclusivity streamlined and coordinated across all signatory states as well as Golf Australia, something Pitt said would "create a more attractive system for our partners."
"I’ve no doubt we’ll grow our sponsorship revenue very significantly in the future," he said.
A sponsorship analysis of the strategy by Bastion EBA, conducted in 2015, estimated that One Golf would see sponsorship revenue increase by between $630k and $1.34m, and up to $2.24m by the third year of the structure.
KPMG and Gemba also consulted on One Golf, which has been in the works since 2014. As well as bolstering the sport's sponsorship offering, Golf Australia hopes that a consistent approach will enable it to arrest falling participation rates and boost golf's national profile.
Pitt said Golf Australia was in "ongoing dialogue" with the state bodies in NSW and WA to join One Golf.
"This is the most critical thing for Australian golf – to have really strong, aligned decision-making processes that share a vision so we ensure we are working in harmony towards one goal, not many, as has historically been the case," he said.
"Over the next decade we will see an enormous change in the structure of Australian sport, I believe, and it is great that golf can be at the forefront of this revolution, rather than being slow to adapt and risk being left behind."
