AYRSHIRE GOLF ASSOCIATION SPECIAL MEETING - Clubs circulated with details of meeting to discuss SGU and SLGA amalgamation proposals

All member clubs will receive a letter over the next few days, by post or email, inviting representatives to attend a Special Meeting of The Ayrshire Golf Association

at

Caprington Golf Club

on

Tuesday 10th May

at

7.30 p.m.

to discuss the proposed amalgamation of the Scottish Golf Union and Scottish Ladies Golfing Association.

Club members and officials will will no doubt be aware of the forthcoming proposal to amalgamate the Scottish Golf Union and Scottish Ladies Golfing Association to form a single governing body for amateur golf in Scotland.

As one of the 16 shareholders in the Scottish Golf Union Ltd, The Ayrshire Golf Association will be called upon to vote for or against the proposals at a forthcoming Special Meeting of the Scottish Golf Union Ltd.

There has been considerable consultation undertaken over the last year or more before the final proposals were tabled recently. The Ayrshire Golf Association Executive have raised a number of points and concerns in relation to the proposals throughout the process and these have been considered.

Consequently, the Ayrshire Golf Association Executive have agreed to support the amalgamation proposals, subject to the approval of the member clubs.

All clubs should have been circulated with copies of the amalgamation proposal documents by the SGU and these documents are also available to download from the Scottishgolf website at www.scottishgolf.org .

Whilst the Ayrshire Golf Association will be the voting shareholder, it is considered vital that our vote reflects the feeling of our member clubs and consequently the Special Meeting has been arranged to assess the views of member clubs in order to facilitate a final decision on Ayrshire’s position prior to the SGUL Special Meeting on 26^th May.

The decision to be made at the SGUL Special Meeting is an important one for amateur golf in Scotland and will potentially affect all clubs in the country.

All member clubs are encouraged to send a representation to this meeting to allow the AGA Executive to assess the feeling of all our member clubs and ensure that this position is reflected in any vote taken on their behalf at the SGUL Special Meeting.

Clubs should note the following points

·         A vote will be taken at the meeting, for or against supporting the amalgamation proposals

·         No proxy votes will be considered – if clubs have a view for or against they will need to be represented at the meeting to vote

·         Member clubs are invited to send up to two representatives, only one of which will have a vote

·         To assist with arrangements, all member clubs are requested to inform the Area Secretary, Alasdair Malcolm, of their intention to be represented at the meeting, or otherwise, by Friday 6^th May.

A considerable amount of work has been undertaken on behalf of member clubs throughout the consultation process leading to the final amalgamation proposals, and the AGA Executive are keen to ensure that the views of member clubs are properly considered before any vote is cast on their behalf in such an important decision for Scottish amateur golf.

The association look forward to meeting with club representatives to discuss the proposals.