It was my strongest wish that outgoing President Eddie Smith would have been able to run for another BOD term and would be writing this message instead of myself. As another BOD member recently said to me, “We have big shoes to fill”. The key word is We, because it is the collective We that is going to keep moving the organization forward on the course that Eddie has set.
In his two terms as ICG President, Eddie changed the tone and direction of our organization when he redirected the organization back to the mission of promoting clubfitting and club making internationally. In his January Presidential Message just before the 2015 PGA Show, he wrote “We started a journey almost a year ago, with the idea in mind, that the focus should be on the profession of Clubmaking and Fitting as opposed to the individuals within that group. Our goal was to elevate the profession, with the hope the individuals would join us along the way.”
Committees were disbanded and task forces were created, staffed with motivated and efficient individuals dedicated to accomplishing tasks in a timely fashion. In a short span, the ICG moved to a new web site, greatly increased our presence at the PGA Show, added a second certification exam, selected two COY classes, updated our certification question bank and upgraded to a stable testing platform, and grew our membership and sponsorship over 50%.
Eddie established the managerial principle of three. Any project had to achieve three goals. For example, COY awards encouraged professional development via continuing education and certification, promoted the ICG, and promoted the ICG member’s business. The 2016 BOD will continue to use this criteria to efficiently invest in future projects.
So what about the future? Chapters continue to fuel membership growth and professional development at local and regional levels. Last year, the Michigan Clubmakers Group became the The Great Lakes Chapter of the ICG and increased membership over 20. Thanks to efforts by ICG Europe VP Gerald Friz, ICG Spain VP Agustin Sanchez, and Neil Cooke, Europe membership tripled in size to 72 members. The Europe Chapter had its first meeting in Mallorca Spain last November, with 35 attendees. The BOD recently approved funding of conference facilities (1.5 days of workshops) in St. Andrews, Scotland for the Europe Chapter meeting this September (details to come soon). Agustin Sanchez is working with other members to form a Spain Chapter and the certification exams are being translated into Spanish. ICG Asia VP Eric Ng has worked diligently to achieve steady and real growth in Asia.
We’ll need your help in continuing to help the ICG accomplish its mission. Gerald Friz has created a form where members can check off expertise that they’d like to donate. You can volunteer your services here or at your member center landing page. Tasks which cannot be performed by our members will be outsourced as in the case of our IT web site services now being provided by Memberclicks. We have strong needs for PR services, accounting expertise, social media expertise, etc.
Your volunteering and active participation in the ICG will foster our continuing success. Become more active in our organization like the 19 members who volunteered to help at this year’s PGA Show, the 17 members who participated in the COY process, and the 28 members who signed up for our PGA Show Special.
Get more involved by joining a task force, participating on our forums, participating in our live webinars or watching them later, submitting an idea on how to improve the ICG and then doing the work to implement it. Join an ICG regional chapter. Not one in your region? Form one. Get more involved and I guarantee you that your rate of return on your personal investment will be many fold. Both the ICG and you will benefit.
We are the ICG,
Jacques Intriere
ICG President
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