On The Radar: September – UK/IRE Clubs

Running a club has never been only about the course and the clubhouse. As the season turns, the list of things a well-run club is expected to show, not just do, keeps growing. This month that list reaches from the bar and the function room right out to the irrigation system.

None of it calls for a panic. Each item rewards the clubs that prepare calmly with the time they have, and each one comes back to the same question: when someone asks, can you show where you stand?

Here are three things UK and Ireland golf clubs should know about right now, why each one matters, and where to go for the detail.

Harassment: the bar rises on 30 October

For clubs in England, Scotland and Wales, the next stage of the Employment Rights Act brings two changes on 30 October 2026. Employers will have to take “all reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment of their workers, up from “reasonable steps”, and will be liable for harassment by third parties such as customers or clients unless they have taken all reasonable steps to prevent it.

For a club, “third parties” means members, guests, visiting societies and wedding parties. The staff most exposed are often the younger, part-time team behind the bar and on function nights. In practice, meeting the new standard looks like a documented risk assessment, a policy that reflects it, training, and a record of reviewing and acting on what you found. Waiting for a complaint won’t be enough.

There’s a related change as well. From 1 October 2026, the time limit for most employment tribunal claims rises from 3 months to 6 months, so it’s worth keeping your records for longer. (Source: Acas. Obbi keeps risk assessments and staff training linked, dated and current.)

Water: golf is building its evidence base

The water industry and the Environment Agency have started a national study of how golf clubs source, store and use water, backed by England Golf, the GCMA and BIGGA. Independent researchers Sporting Insights are sending a survey to around 1,800 courses in England and Wales. It covers water use, sources and licences, on-site storage and irrigation.

The study follows a State of the Nation overview, and the backdrop is a set of legally binding targets. England must cut the water put into public supply by 20% by 2038, and businesses must reduce their use of mains drinking water by 9% by March 2038 and 15% by 2050. The long-term direction for golf is clear. Clubs are being encouraged to move irrigation off mains water and onto their own sources, such as boreholes, rivers and lakes, captured rainwater and runoff, or treated wastewater. They’re also being encouraged to build enough on-site storage to cover a full year of irrigation.

It matters in dry summers too. Under a hosepipe ban, clubs on mains water are generally limited to watering greens and tees, while clubs with their own boreholes, lakes or rainwater reservoirs are exempt unless the Environment Agency sets separate restrictions. The clubs with the most options in a drought are the ones that know exactly what they have.

So this is a good prompt to check what your club can actually show: annual water use, peak irrigation demand, any abstraction licences, storage capacity and the age of the irrigation system. If the greenkeeper can’t answer every question, the manager, secretary or committee can help, as long as the club submits a response. (Source: GCMA.)

FYI: Ireland’s minimum wage decision lands on 6 October

The Low Pay Commission has recommended raising the national minimum wage by 79 cent, from €14.15 to €14.94 an hour, from 1 January 2027. The Government will announce whether it accepts the recommendation in Budget 2027 on 6 October. The sub-minimum youth rates would rise in proportion.

If you run an Irish club with seasonal, casual or junior staff, it’s worth modelling the 2027 payroll now. Then you’re adjusting a plan in January, not starting one. (Source: RTÉ)

Different pressures, same question

A harassment tribunal, a water company and a payroll budget have little in common on the surface. Underneath, each one asks the same thing: can the club show where it stands? The clubs that stay ahead are the ones whose standard is already visible and provable on any given day, not pieced together when someone asks.