Industry news
NZ GOLF FORMS INDUSTRY
COUNCIL TO HELP GROW THE GAME
I
n December 2015, New Zealand Golf and
several other golf industry bodies gathered
at the Royal Auckland Golf Club to form an
initiative with the common goal to coordinate
efforts between associations within the NZ golf
industry.
With over half a million kiwis picking up a golf
club every year at one of the country’s near 400
golf clubs, making the game the leading formal
sport practised in the country, the industry
saw a need for a common council to unite the
industry on agreed industry-wide initiatives.
Following the two successful one-day forums,
the contributing organisations sector has now
announced the formal establishment of the
New Zealand Industry Council (NZGIC).
With NZ Golf trailblazing the format in New
Zealand, Australia has successfully used the
same model through the Australian Golf Industry
Council (AGIC) since 2006, aiming to bring key
sectors of the industry together to help grow,
support and promote the game of golf.
The NZGIC inaugural meeting in 2015 invited
a wide section of New Zealand’s Golf industry
including manufacturers, distributors,
publishers, and association and club managers.
The first-ever forum was concluded with
all stakeholders agreeing the format of the
initiative were mutually beneficial for all
within the industry. According to the council’s
constitution, an annual general meeting will be
held henceforth within four months of the end
of the financial year.
According to golferpacific, New Zealand Golf
CEO Dean Murphy said: “we are pleased the
NZGIC initiative has launched and hope that it
will bring the industry closer,”
“For some time we have believed that a more
united and aligned sector can only be beneficial
for us all and I do hope we will make some
good progress…”
With an initial Board established with
representatives from New Zealand Golf,
the PGA of New Zealand, Golf Managers
Association of New Zealand, NZ Golf
Tournaments, NZ Golf Tourism, NZ Golf
Course Superintendents Association and the
New Zealand Sporting Goods Association,
the Council has been incorporated with the
following objectives:
• To encourage a coordination and
collaboration between organisations in the
New Zealand Golf industry;
• To provide a forum to bring together
all key sectors of the New Zealand Golf
industry to work in a coordinated way to
grow, support and promote the game of
golf.
• To coordinate and optimize industry
research and other agreed industry
projects.
• To identify matters that are of common
interest to the members and on which
broad industry consensus view can be
logically achieved.
• To provide an effective medium for
disseminating relevant communications,
news on developments and projects
undertaken and or achieved by the New
Zealand Golf industry both within and
external to the industry and its individual
members.
The next NZGIC meeting is planned for
Wednesday 27 September alongside the
MCKAYSON NZ Women’s Open Championship
at Windross Farm Golf Club in Auckland.
Golf Industry Central I Spring 2017
9