England Golf votes unanimously to meet sport’s ‘gold standard’
England Golf confirmed its leading role in the modernisation of the sport when it voted unanimously today to take the final step to meet the Government’s gold standard for governance.
The General Meeting agreed to streamline the Board by reducing it from 15 to 12 members. There will now be eight elected directors, three independent members and the Chief Executive Officer.
It’s the latest in a series of measures taken by England Golf to modernise the way the game is run and which comply with the Code for Sports Governance.
England Golf’s Independent Chairman Nic Coward (pictured) said: “From the outset England Golf has been a high-performing organisation leading the way for change and today’s vote is another positive statement.”
England Golf has led moves to modernise the sport since it was created by a merger in 2012 to look after the interests of all the country’s golfers, clubs and counties.
Two years ago the organisation voted to appoint an Independent Chair and Nic Coward took office in April 2017. He has been followed on to the Board by the first two Independent Directors, Martha Brass and Michael Pask.
England Golf has made strong commitments on equality and diversity, with a minimum of 30% of each gender on the Board. This was reinforced by an equal representation of county representatives at the general meeting today.
• The Code for Sports Governance is designed to ensure that UK sports bodies lead the world with the highest levels of governance and transparency. Compliance with the Code is essential to qualify for public funding and England Golf currently receives £8.48m from Sport England, spread over four years.
