HEART OF THE SURVEY: THE CERTIFICATION PROCESS

By Alistair Collier | The Business of Golf Magazine

In issue 5 we looked at some high-level areas in terms of the John Collier Survey for 2024, and discussed what it takes to win the Top Club Award, and we are now in discussion with Alistair Collier (AC), JCS’s founder, about the certification process, which is at the heart of the survey.

BG: As we discussed in BG issue 5, winning the Top Club Award is a huge accolade, but that said, the certification process of the individual clubs is equally, if not more important, as it shows each club where they ‘are’ in terms of their ESG activities. Is this a fair summary, and how are the clubs informed of their current status?

AC: It is, and all the participating clubs in the John Collier TOP CLUB AWARD process have been informed, in writing, of their respective ESG compliance level certification.

BG: Is there much of a ‘shake up’ each year with the compliance levels’ lists, and who were the ‘big movers’ this year, if any, from the previous survey’s results?

AC: Generally, there are no major ‘jumps’, other than new clubs coming into the listing for the first time While there were some new entrants into the GOLD ESG compliance certification level, there were also a couple of courses that slipped out of the SILVER ESG certification category into the BRONZE ESG category, which was mainly as a result of some of their data becoming out of date.

We also noted a couple of new entrants receiving BRONZE ESG certification, and no doubt these, and other clubs, in the process of updating their data, might well see an improvement in their ‘scorecards’, and receive the appropriate recognition in ESG compliance certification level.

BG: Can you give us a summary of the numbers in the three categories – gold, silver and bronze?

AC: Of the total clubs reviewed in the ESG compliance certification process, 12% achieved GOLD ESG COMPLIANCE certification, 23% achieved SILVER ESG COMPLIANCE certification, and 65% of clubs achieved BRONZE ESG COMPLIANCE certification.

As was the case last year, the southern cape’s golf union is again the TOP GOLF UNION of South Africa, with most of the golf clubs within this union participating in the process, which means that their combined ESG compliance certification levels, clearly contributed to the union’s ESG compliance success.

BG: The other important category is the Top Club by region, so who came top of the class in this year’s survey?

AC: The top clubs per region as defined by the listing of the provincial unions are as follows:

Boland Pearl Valley
Border Olivewood
Central Gauteng Eagle Canyon
Eastern Cape St Francis Links
Ekurhuleni Ebotse
Free State Heron Banks
Gauteng North Blair Atholl
Kwa Zulu Natal Umhlali
Limpopo Elements Private Golf Reserve
Mpumalanga Highland Gate
Northern Cape Magersfontein
Northwest Gary Player Country Club
Southern Cape Fynbos
Western Cape Westlake Golf Club

As a summary: For the 2023-2034 award period, some 26 clubs achieved GOLD ESG COMPLIANCE CERTIFICATION (22 clubs in the 2022-2023 award period), within which, as we have discussed, ELEMENTS is the TOP CLUB and Umhlali and Olivewood received special mention awards.