While the recent resignation of the NGCOA and PGA of BC from AGA-BC has resulted in fewer people and organizations involved in helping move the British Columbia Golf Industry forward as one group, we remain strongly committed to advancement by proactively and thoughtfully addressing the issues and challenges we face.
Over the past 10 years, AGA-BC has developed remarkable government relations with both governing and opposition parties. For golf to continue building these relationships, remaining member groups feel it’s critically important we continue without immediate support from the NGCOA and the PGA of BC. Hopefully the situation is temporary as the original vision in creating an allied group was to have all golf industry sectors at the table, working together for our collective betterment.
Government has always been very candid with us in how they choose to be involved with interest groups. Their preference is to hear from one voice as it provides simplicity facilitating industry issues concerning both bureaucrats and politicians. The goal of AGA-BC in terms of lobbying, is to provide structure for the BC golf industry as a whole, to challenge provincial golf industry issues while communicating with respective memberships the value of that work.
More than advocating single issues, AGA-BC works with the provincial government to increase golf awareness, promote the health, environmental and economic benefits of golf and grow the game. Through the British Columbia Golf Marketing Alliance (BCGMA), a member group that falls under the umbrella of AGA-BC as a legal entity, $250k in annual shared golf marketing dollars is generated via government partnership.
There is a lot of lobby work however and I hope you continue reading about the current hot topic, proposed regulations put forward by WorkSafe BC requiring rollover protection (ROPS) and seatbelts on all golf cars driven by workers and the AGA-BC Position on Proposed WorksafeBC Rollover Protection and Seatbelts (ROPS) Regulations.
In addition to this project, we have completed and vetted all but 2 pages of the Integrated Pest Management Manual, a valuable tool for turf management of golf courses and funded entirely by the BC Ministry of Environment. It will be ready to run past the Board for approval first week of November, after which it will be made available from our website as an open-source (free) resource.
To close, we would like to congratulate Trisha Larsen, Exec. Director of the BCGMA and her Advisory Council, for a new all-time sales record for golf packages through the BCGMA central reservations office with sales of $1,019,624 to September 22, surpassing 2018’s total with an increase of 9.2%, 34% from 2017 and dispersing revenue through nine different golf areas of the province.
“Golf is good for our health, our environment,
and the economy of British Columbia.”
Sincerely,
Trevor Smith
President, AGA-BC
Tel: 250-320-6411
Email: president@aga-bc.org
