Privacy Policy

#yourdatamatters

We take our obligations to look after your data seriously and this is where we tell you about ourselves, what information we collect and what we do with it.

There are a few legal bits in here too – we’ll try to explain these as clearly and simply as we can, but you can always ask us if you want any further information.

Here’s a clue to what we are going to talk about, with handy hyperlinks to make it easy:

Our general data privacy principles
The data collect, what we do with it and who says we can
Sharing your data
Cookies and online activities
Your rights
Who we are
How to contact us
If we change the way we handle your information

Our general data privacy principles:

Data forms a big part of our business, so it is important we treat it with respect. To help us manage our data we only use trusted partners who take data security and integrity as seriously as we do. We ask them questions about their security measures and processes and get experts to assess the answers they give us.

When we ask you to give us some information, we will make it really clear what we are asking for and how we are going to use it. Should we suddenly become very interested in another subject, like tractors, we’ll ask you before we assume you are also interested and want to hear from us about this too.

You should only receive marketing emails from us, and if you agree, from other organisations we have chosen carefully. We will make sure that any boxes you need to tick if you are happy to receive marketing are shown to you clearly and at an appropriate time.

We don’t want to know your inside leg measurement, or even the name of your dog, so we don’t collect that kind of information. In fact the only information we want is the bare minimum to provide you with the products and services you are interested in. Similarly, we only really want to talk to you about golf so we aren’t going to use your information for other things. And when we no longer want to talk to one another about golf then we will remove your information.

Don’t forget that anyone and everyone can see what you write if you comment or post anything on our websites, so make sure it isn’t something that you might not want the world to know about.

The data collect, what we do with it and who says we can:

This is the legal bit – bear with us:

We collect your information when you do one of the following things:

  • when you contact us for information
  • when you work with us in a commercial capacity, either as an advertiser, sponsor or partner
  • when you sign up for a newsletter
  • when you subscribe to a paper or digital magazine
  • when you download an app
  • when you use the website
  • through cookies
  • if you choose to reveal information in postings
  • if you complete your details on research questionnaires, and
  • when you enter sales promotions and competitions.
  • When you register for an event (including live streamed events), an awards programme or competition

We can’t just take it into our heads to collect your data without purpose. We have to have what’s known as a legal basis for processing, which is basically the reason we asked for it in the first place. This is complex stuff. It has made our brains hurt. But here goes:

  • For all data collected to sign up for a product and service such as a newsletter, an event or a magazine subscription we process the data using Legitimate Interest, i.e. you are able to access an extensive range of information in exchange for supplying your information, and we have a relationship where the balance of benefit is in your favour.
You always have a choice in the management of your data in this manner and can opt out of processing under this basis at any time.
  • Where you provide data in the course of the purchase of a product we process your data under Contract, i.e. your data is necessary for the fulfilment of the service.
Any additional contact, i.e. telling you about another product or service closely related to the product or service you have bought is managed under legitimate interest.
  • Any secondary processing of your data, i.e. sharing with third parties, sending you messages on behalf of third parties, transfer to third countries, is managed under Consent.

If you don’t like what we are doing you can always tell us to stop or change, and we will make this as easy as possible.
Sometimes, we use a bit of the information we hold about you to send you specific stuff. For instance if you live in Wales, we are going to tell you about things that are happening in Wales.
Occasionally we may send you emails on behalf of our commercial partners. We only do this if we have your permission to do so and you can tell us to stop at any time using the ‘unsubscribe’ button or contacting us.
If your data needs to go beyond the boundaries of the EEA we will make sure that there is an appropriate legal mechanism in place for keeping it safe.
We can’t keep your data forever, so we work out how long it is reasonable to keep it for, depending upon what we are using it for. Sometimes a higher authority than us says we have to keep things like details of financial transactions for a certain period of time, so we do as we are told.
When the time comes to say goodbye, we make sure that we erase your data from our system, minimise or pseudonymise it (aka data in disguise) or retain a little bit of it on our global suppression list to ensure that you do not get unwanted missives from us.

Sharing your data:
We will not share your personal information with others for marketing purposes unless you have given us your permission. If we have your permission, we will share your information only with other organisations we have chosen carefully.
We may make other organisations’ services available, through our website, although we are not necessarily operating these sites. We process any information which we collect when you access a service provided by another organisation within our own privacy standards. Information these other organisations collect is governed by their own privacy policies.

Cookies and online activities
Cookies are little text files which are placed onto your computer or electronic device when you access our website. Rather than give you chapter and verse about this now, we actually have another document for you to read – Cookie Policy
We use Google Analytics on our sites for anonymous reporting of site usage and for advertising on the site. If you would like to opt-out of Google Analytics monitoring your behaviour on our sites please use this link https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout
We may share some anonymised data with advertising partners, including commercial organisations that fund content labelled ‘Supported by’, ‘Paid content/Paid for by’ or ‘Sponsor content/from our sponsors’. So when you go elsewhere online you might be shown advertising based on what you have looked at her. We may also show you advertising on our site based on your behaviour on other sites.
If you wish to opt out from Google Remarketing or Similar Audiences you can do so by visiting Google’s Ads Settings here: support.google.com/ads/answer/2662922?hl=en-GB,
If you want to opt out of receiving online behavioural advertising, this does not mean that you will no longer receive advertising when you are using our site. It just means that the advertising you see will not be customised for you. If you would like more information about OBA and how to opt out of it, please visit youronlinechoices.com or optout.networkadvertising.org (if accessing from the US.)