Here’s the top three things I learnt while editing The Golf Business in December

From stealing buggy batteries to reducing the number of people on your board, Alistair Dunsmuir sees out 2017 in style

You can have too many people on your committee

Finding the right amount of people to sit on a board isn’t easy – too few and you risk decisions being made that could be better informed, too many and meetings can drag on for too long with no decisions being made.

England Golf to reduce the number of people on its board

To qualify for public funding, England Golf must comply with the Code for Sports Governance – and that means it is reducing the number of people on its board from 15 to 12.

Is 12 appropriate for a golf club committee or is that still too many?

This is a critical time for golf in Scotland

Based on the trend of losing about 50,000 members in the last 10 years, the next 10 could be disastrous for golf in Scotland.

According to data analyst and Scottish Golf board member Stewart Darling, the current annual subscription in Scotland is £478 – but it will be nearly £900 by 2027 to cover the loss of full members.

Annual golf subscriptions set to soar in Scotland

Many clubs are opposed to the proposed rise in affiliation fees but it is clear the game in Scotland is now at a crossroads – doing nothing is not an option.

Thieves are interested in the batteries in your buggies

At least four police forces in England have issued statements about thefts from golf club buggies in recent weeks, and we know of at least a dozen golf clubs that were hit in 2017, taking batteries collectively worth in the millions.

There has been a spate of buggy battery thefts from golf clubs

The thefts are causing huge problems for golf clubs ranging from business interruption as they cant offer buggies to golfers to increased insurance premiums.