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ELGA History
The English Ladies' Golf Association
was formed in 1952. Before that golf, in England,
came under the jurisdiction of the Ladies' Golf Union,
which as the governing body of women's golf in Britain,
decides essential policy regarding golf generally
and deals with International events.
The headquarters of the English
Ladies' Golf Association has been based at Edgbaston
Golf Club in Birmingham since 1988. There are over
1,780 ladies' sections of golf clubs affiliated to
the Association in England, resulting in a membership
of over 135,000. The game of golf became increasingly
popular at the end of the 1980s and as a result there
was a surge in new course development. This came to
an abrupt end in 1990 with the economic recession,
and a number of major projects, which had been started,
failed before completion. However, there are many
new golf courses attracting a new and inexperienced
club membership and in particular most of these are
proprietary owned.
The management of the Association
is vested in the Executive Committee annually elected.
The Committee consists of a President, eleven members
elected by the four Divisions and two English members
of the LGU Executive Council. In addition to the Executive
Committee there are sub-Committees dealing with the
various aspects of ladies' golf in England, for example,
Finance, Girls, Handicapping, National Championships,
National Training, Rules & Regulations, Selection,
Venues, World Class, ELGA Trust Management and ELGA
Trust Marketing. The Executive Committee is supported
by a team of professional and enthusiastic staff headed
by a Chief Executive Officer. See our “Secretariat”
page for further details.
The work of the Association
is very varied but its overall objective is to further
the interest of women's golf in England. This involves
the Association dealing with all the areas detailed
above and in particular trying to raise the profile
of ELGA thereby keeping us to the fore of women’s
golf. This means ensuring representation at meetings
with other bodies, by marketing our organisation in
a more professional way and by working with Government
departments to tap in to the funding streams that
we know are available to National Governing Bodies.
The challenge for the future is to bring more people
into the game, retain those who are already participating.
This will involve ELGA in developing a whole sport
plan for golf in England and working with the English
Golf Union and the Professional Golfers’ Association.
In 2004 ELGA adopted the CONGU
system of handicapping, which now means we have the
same handicapping system for women and men in Great
Britain and Ireland. This means ELGA has equal representation
on the CONGU Executive Council along with other women’s
and men’s governing bodies this is a significant
step forward to safeguarding handicapping in the future.
Golf is a very individual game, which is governed
by discipline of both mind and body. It differs from
many of the other ball games in which the player reacts
to someone else's actions. Here, the player is solely
responsible for her own actions. With a system of
handicapping, two players of a very different standard
can have a good, competitive game, and this is valuable
in encouraging ladies and girls that are starting
in the sport, as they are able to compete at club
level at an early stage.
The National Championship is
held in May each year and in addition there are Stroke
Play, Mid Amateur, Girls', Under 15, Under 13 and
Senior Championships. A county golf championship is
held for the counties in England and Wales and the
winners of the four divisional finals qualify to play
in the County Championship Finals.
Senior, Ladies, Junior and Girls’ teams are
selected to represent England in events held in Great
Britain and Europe. At present England are the holders
of the Girls’ and Senior Home International
titles. England training is given the highest priority
and over 100 players are involved in the World Class
training programmes, funded by a Lottery award. Each
receives coaching from golf professionals appointed
by ELGA throughout the country. In addition, four
Elite Squads receive training in autumn and spring
at home and overseas under the guidance of our Director
of Coaching Pat Smillie, Physiotherapist Lynn Booth,
and a Sports Psychologist, Karl Morris.
The Association is also responsible
for the organisation of several handicap events. The
winners of the Silver and Bronze Medal competitions
organised in the clubs are invited to take part in
one of eight National Finals. The Australian Spoons
competition is organised for Bronze Division players
and every club is entitled to enter the Rose Spoon
competition and Open Challenge Bowls meeting. The
Abraham Trophy competition is for girls of any handicap
who have not reached their 18th birthday before the
1st January each year and aims to find the most improved
player.
In 1982 the ELGA Trust Fund
was formed to provide girls with financial assistance
for some of their expenses. Help with the purchase
of essential equipment, the cost of coaching and competing
in championships can be offered to girls applying
through their Counties. ELGA is extremely grateful
to the clubs who support this fund by their annual
contributions.
Funding of the work of the
Association is from contributions from every female
member of an affiliated golf club in England. The
current subscription fee is £5 which gives an
annual income of just over £650,000. The amount
collected may only be changed by agreement of the
members at an Annual General Meeting.
ELGA is also very fortunate to
be in receipt of Lottery funding awarded to the World
Class programmes. These funds are for training our
talented young players and the top amateurs, thereby
releasing ELGA income from subscriptions, which has
been mainly diverted into Junior Golf Development
and the appointment of a Team of Development Officers.
The ELGA website gives
a great deal more information about many of the areas
highlighted above, so why not spend a pleasant half
hour learning more.
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About
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