Golf Australia-affiliated golfers will now have on-course protection through a new insurance product partnership between Golf Australia and insurer Sportscover. Provided through Sportscover s Lloyd s of London syndicate, the insurance will provide comprehensive cover for golfer s personal liability and also give them access, through their golf club, to cost-effective cover for personal accident and golf equipment insurance. Golf Australia Manager – Industry Development Alex McGillivray said the partnership would benefit Australian golfers. The lack of consistency in the personal liability cover previously provided to individual golfers at affiliated and non-affiliated clubs was of concern to Golf Australia, Mr McGillivray said. The situation was not ideal for the development of golf in Australia where potentially 80% of players were not covered. All affiliated players, officials, volunteers, and trailing participants in recognised development programs will now have $20 million Public Liability Cover from 1 July 2009 and the option for their club to come on board earlier if they wish. Sportscover Australia Ltd s CEO, Murray Anderson said, We are delighted to be working with Golf Australia to provide specialist insurance products that will be of benefit to the golfing community. As a keen golfer myself, and as someone working in the insurance industry, I know the importance of getting cover with an insurer who understands the risk and can offer A rated security. Golfers can be certain that they will have both with this new partnership. Mr McGillivray said it had been an extensive and highly competitive tender process. Our aim was to prevent another case like Magnetic Island where a claim for over $2 million was awarded against a golfer, this goes some way to avoiding that by covering affiliated golfers. The agreement has also seen cover secured for public liability and professional indemnity for registered amateur coaches, which is key to the development of the sport. We wanted to have a product that is competitive with other insurance options on the market and we re confident we ve achieved an outstanding result here, Mr McGillivray said. The new programme comes into effect through members affiliation fees from 1 July 2009 and when combined with the injury and golf equipment coverage could potentially save the Golf Club industry $2 million a year. The overall aim of Golf Australia was to assist the development of the sport and cover all participants that played the game. This partnership is an essential part of that ambition. Coverage for pay for play players will also be available at participating venues that take up Golf Australia s development service.