It’s taken a while for the summer to get going, hasn’t it? “Scottish Golf can’t control the weather, it would take quite a hike in the subscription fee to pay for that,” chuckled Robbie Clyde, the new man at the helm of the amateur game’s governing body.

The hike that Clyde did propose to the nation’s golf club members, meanwhile, was a bit more modest even though the prospect of any rise in fees can whip up the kind of heated, pitch-fork wielding reaction you got during the Luddite riots.

A £3.00 increase in the annual affiliation sub that club members pay Scottish Golf was unanimously approved at the AGM a few weeks ago.

With the war chest bolstered, Clyde can now crack on with some of the initiatives and appointments that he hopes can support, safeguard and strengthen the game at a variety of levels.

“The first thing people ask is, ‘what does Scottish Golf do?’,” said Clyde, who spent a lot of his first few months in charge travelling here, there and everywhere to spread the Scottish Golf gospel.

“So, we got on the front foot. We didn’t wait for that question to be asked at the various roadshows, we started with it ourselves and made it clear who we are, what we do and how we will spend the money.”

Reinstating regional development managers, strategically positioned at certain points of the country, has been part of Clyde’s wider battleplan.

“We are based in Rosyth and if we are to really help clubs, particularly in the more rural areas, we need boots on the ground in those areas,” he added.

“We need people who know the area and who know the challenges those clubs are facing. Those challenges are different across the country. Regional managers help us understand the challenges, but they also give the clubs in those areas a visible, identifiable first point of contact within an hour or two of where they are.”

How, meanwhile, do you solve a problem like female membership? It’s a question that would have the nuns of Nonnberg Abbey forgetting about their muddles with Maria and bursting into song.

“Only 12 percent of members are women and girls,” said Clyde of a figure that has always been one of the lowest in Europe.

“It shows how far we are away from equality. But is also shows the opportunity for growth because 85 per cent of clubs in Scotland are looking for members.”

Golf and golfers continue to evolve. Driving ranges, simulators and golfing entertainment facilities offer a fast-paced, gamified alternative to the traditional green-grass offerings.

The R&A’s come-all-ye Golf It centre on the site of the old Lethamhill council course goes like a fair while TopGolf, that high-tech hub near Rutherglen that has most folk thinking they might hoik a drive over the mesh and onto the M74, packs them in too.

“Golf It is introducing 40,000 school children to golf,” said Clyde. “We are trying to work with that. You’ve inspired them to give it a go. Whether 10 per cent or one per cent decides they want to go onto the next stage, then we have to make sure clubs are ready.

“Golf It is creating potential members of the future and we need to join the dots between those places and local clubs so those young people, and even older people who are new to the game, can make that connection.

“If someone is hitting a ball with a stick, they are potentially a golfer. If they’ve had a great experience at TopGolf or Golf It, where it’s fun, it’s engaging, it’s gamified, then they are perhaps thinking, ‘maybe golf is for me so how do I get involved?’

“Our membership agreed to some tweaks to our articles of association so now we can go to Golf It, Top Golf or any other facility and they can become members of Scottish Golf. We can then start working with those facilities and help people go from there into club membership.”

Clyde admits there is work to do too in other areas, from exploring fresh commercial opportunities to devising a new performance strategy for player development. He feels, though, that there is a renewed optimism surrounding Scottish Golf.

“At the AGM, I saw many smiling faces, from people who have worked passionately for their club, county or area for 10, 20, 30 years,” he said. “They looked genuinely positive about the future. The hard work starts now.”