Golf Australia has announced its acceptance of a grant of up to $200,000 over three years from the Australian Sports Commission, as part of the Commission&aposs Building a Better Sport: Better Management Practices project. The funding is a three-year agreement based on $150,000 with the scope to apply for an additional $50,000. Golf Australia plans to use the funding assistance to increase women&aposs participation in the golfing industry at all levels of playing, coaching, administration and governance. The ASC program is designed to assist with research and developing solutions to issues that emerge in individual sports and the sports industry. It also benchmarks, promotes and advocates national best practice in high performance, and governance and business management to Australian sports. Nick Green, Director of Game and Club Development, Golf Australia, said, “As a fairly new entity it is exciting for Golf Australia to be granted this support. This acknowledgment from the ASC validates our achievements to date in line with our driving objective to grow the sport in Australia. This funding will enable us to focus on developing ways of involving more women in golf and more importantly getting them into more decision making positions.” This partnership has opened up an opportunity to employ a Women&aposs Development Officer at Golf Australia who will be starting this July. Research conducted by Golf Australia in 2004 (then as the Australian Golf Union) found only a third of golf clubs have female representation on their boards. “This is just one of the areas we will be targeting with our project. A more balanced level of gender representation on boards will add greater understanding of issues as they arise, as well as an invaluable mix of skills and ideas,” added Green. Director of ASC National Sport Programs, Greg Nance said, “The Australian Sports Commission remains committed to improving the involvement and professional development of women across all levels of Australian sport, particularly in leadership and decision-making roles.” “Australian sport stands to benefit from a greater number of women in leadership and decision-making roles which contribute to the depth and diversity of Australian sport,” Mr Nance said. “We&aposre pleased to partner with Golf Australia in this great initiative to improve the involvement of women in roles as athletes, coaches, managers, trainers and officials across many levels of Australian golf.” The agreement will commence from July 1 2007. Golf Australia is fortunate to be one of only two recipients of this grant. The other is Bowls Australia.