One of the questions golf clubs ask me more than anything else is: “How much cyber security do we actually need?” And it’s a fair question. Golf clubs aren’t big corporations with huge IT teams and unlimited budgets. You have a mix of full-time staff, part-time roles, volunteers, committees, and systems that have grown naturally over time. It’s completely understandable that technology feels like a patchwork sometimes.
What makes this question tricky is that the cyber risks facing clubs have changed dramatically. The systems you now rely on — bookings, tills, emails, online payments, competition software and member data — all come with hidden vulnerabilities. And because attackers use automated tools that scan the internet 24/7, even small weaknesses can put your club at risk.
But here’s the good news: you don’t need to go overboard or spend a fortune to be well protected. What you do need is clarity. A simple understanding of the basics, what truly matters, and what can wait.
In this article, we’ll look at what “good enough” cyber security actually looks like for a typical UK golf club, and how you can judge whether your club is protected — without needing to be an IT specialist.
When I visit clubs, the first thing I look at isn’t the technology — it’s the people and processes. A large proportion of cyber incidents happen because someone clicked something, shared something, or used a weak password. This is totally normal; clubs are busy, people wear multiple hats, and technology isn’t their first priority.
So instead of asking, “How technical should we get?” it’s far better to ask, “What are the simple, repeatable protections we can put in place that work for everyone?”
A strong cyber security foundation for a golf club is more about consistency and awareness than complexity. You don’t need cutting-edge technology — you need the right basics, put in the right places, and kept up to date.
Every secure golf club I’ve worked with has the same three things in place:
1. Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
If your club only relies on passwords, attackers have a much easier job. MFA stops the majority of attempts instantly.
2. Regular Updates and Patching
Clubs often rely on older laptops or systems that haven’t been updated for a while. Updates close vulnerabilities that attackers scan for every single day.
3. Secure Email Protection
Because most attacks start with a dodgy email, this one control can prevent financial loss, spoofing, and phishing.
These are the foundations — simple, affordable, and incredibly effective.
Cyber Essentials is one of the most practical and valuable things a UK golf club can do. It’s not a technical exam — it’s a health check. It confirms that your club is doing the essential things properly: managing passwords, controlling access, enabling firewalls, securing devices and keeping everything updated.
Most clubs who go through it discover small gaps that are easy to fix but were quietly putting them at risk.
(External link suggestion: Add NCSC Cyber Essentials link.)
Think of Cyber Essentials as your “is this enough?” answer — if you meet the standard, you’re in a good place.
MDR — Managed Detection and Response — sometimes sounds like something only big companies need, but the reality is very different.
Cyber attacks don’t happen between 9 and 5. They happen overnight, on weekends, and on bank holidays — exactly when your staff aren’t watching their inboxes or devices.
MDR acts like a digital alarm system. If someone tries to break in, move around your network, or run suspicious files, MDR sees it and stops it immediately. Clubs who add MDR often do so because they’ve either experienced a near-miss or realised just how blind they were to threats outside office hours.
If your club uses cloud systems, online payments, or stores member data, MDR moves you from “reactive” to “proactively protected.”
Here’s a simple way to think about it:
If your club would struggle to operate without its email, booking system or POS tills for even a day, then you need a level of cyber protection that reflects that.
If a single compromised email could trigger a financial loss…
If you have staff who process payments or approve invoices…
If you store any personal data…
…then your cyber security needs are higher than you may assume.
And that’s okay — because the solutions are straightforward and designed for exactly these environments.
Golf clubs don’t need enterprise-level cybersecurity, but they definitely need more than “basic antivirus and hope for the best.” The sweet spot sits right in the middle: strong core protections, sensible policies, a secure email environment, updated devices, and monitoring that catches what humans miss.
What you truly need is peace of mind — the confidence that if something suspicious happens, someone is watching.
When I speak to clubs who’ve been hit by cyber incidents, they all say the same thing afterwards: “We should have sorted this sooner.” It’s never about blame — it’s about not realising how vulnerable they were until it was too late.
LinksGuard helps golf clubs put the right level of protection in place with:
Cyber Essentials certification
Email security and phishing protection
24/7 MDR monitoring
IT security reviews
Clubhouse and Wi-Fi audits
Practical policy guidance
You don’t need to overcomplicate things — you just need the right foundations.