‘Golf clubs should be required to install defibrillators’

The commercial director of the Club Managers Association of Europe has said that golf clubs should be required to install defibrillators.

Craig Cotterill said: “Personally, having an AED [Automated External Defibrillator] installed at your golf club should be a requirement, not an option. Many clubs won’t decide to act until it happens to one of their own.”

This comes as research from Aero Healthcare reveals that more than 700 golf courses across the UK have already installed (AEDs) and registered their device with a national defibrillator database.

But this research also reveals that well over 2,000 UK golf clubs do not have such a device installed.

Warren Harris, a PGA teaching professional and former club professional at both public and private members’ clubs across the south of England believes that the adoption of defibrillators is a positive step but had this to say about the elements they cannot control.

“Having access to a defibrillator and CPR-trained staff at the clubs I have worked at has definitely been a step forward as far as member and guest safety, but a significant percentage of the clubs I have visited and worked at have areas of the course that are not convenient to get to and do not have secure buildings such as halfway houses to store an additional AED, which leaves anyone unlucky enough to have a cardiac emergency in those locations at significant risk.”

Installing a defibrillator in a golf clubhouse or resort hotel is a great way of ensuring the fastest possible lifesaving treatment is available. Former Ryder Cup captain Bernard Gallacher donated a defibrillator to Bathgate Golf Club in 2015, and it saved the life of amateur golfer Craig Bowes.

It is also recommended that golf clubs equip halfway houses with AEDs as they offer an ideal location; also provide mobile defibrillators and staff training. Ensuring course staff such as greenkeepers, marshals and caddies, are trained in CPR and carry a defibrillator will boost the chances of survival for a victim. aid? There is also significant value in educating golf club members on confident use of an AED.