England Golf has announced an investment of up to £500,000 to help support clubs that narrowly missed out on a grant as part of the original Covid-19 Support Fund.
Since August, England Golf has carried out a thorough and anonymised assessment process on all submissions to the Covid-19 Support Fund before distributing £2.55m, provided by The R&A, to 328 affiliated clubs and facilities all across England.
Clubs and facilities, which were able to demonstrate both a financial need and a well-structured plan designed to assist business resilience and promote future sustainability, have each received funding of up to £10,000 in the last month. A list of successful applicants to the fund can be found here.
However, with 775 applicants to the original support fund and these applications totalling over £7.2 million, England Golf was unable to satisfy all requests. That’s why today’s announcement of additional investment from England Golf will come as welcome news to a number of clubs and facilities who just missed out on the first tranche of funding provided by The R&A.
Chief Executive Officer, Jeremy Tomlinson, commented: “I hope this will help to make a real difference to clubs and facilities who have shown amazing resilience and resourcefulness in a year of unprecedented disruption. It was clear to us that if we could dedicate money to invest in sustainable projects at clubs in the short-term, then the long-term benefits could be substantial for our game.
“Throughout the pandemic we have communicated regularly with our clubs, counties and golfers and provided advice, guidance and practical help where we could. We have also listened to our clubs and worked with them for the good of the game. Sometimes, though, clubs simply need money to bring projects to life.
“I would like to thank the England Golf Board for sanctioning this additional investment, on top of the money we gratefully received from The R&A, and which has already been distributed to 328 clubs. This not only demonstrates the faith we have in our golf clubs as they build for the future, but also reaffirms our total commitment to driving the development of the amateur game in England.”
From the onset of the pandemic, England Golf worked closely with The R&A to set up the original fund, before devoting a huge amount of time and staff resources to make sure money could be allocated to clubs both quickly and fairly. However, at a critical time in golf’s development, there was a clear and present need to help more clubs where possible.
In accordance with England Golf’s policy of widening the appeal and improving the overall health of the game, clubs and facilities applying to the fund have also made a firm commitment to safeguarding and equality. Those clubs and facilities which stand to benefit from the increased investment have been contacted today with a view to grants being distributed during November.
