Woburn Golf & Country Club was the venue for the BGIA’s AGM, Annual Dinner and Charity Golf Day on 6th & 7th April.
Members attending the AGM heard presentations from Richard Flint, Golf Development Manager of the EGU and Giles Greenwood from the International Association of Golf Tour Operators. An election to the Executive Committee produced four new members: Nigel Freemantle (Brand Fusion International), Ryan Lauder (TaylorMade-adidas Golf), Graham Martin (Callaway) and Doug Poole (Golfsmith Europe). David Wells, who was re-elected as the Association’s Chairman for another year, emphasised the value of membership of an industry association in difficult economic times.
Around 90 BGIA members and their guests sat down to dinner on Monday night and were entertained by snooker player, TV commentator and keen golfer, Willie Thorne, who spoke about some of the experiences and ‘personalities’ from his days as a top snooker player. He also got diners to participate in an impromptu game of ‘heads & tails’ which raised £710 for the Golf Foundation and won Jackie Wurr and three friends a weekend’s golf at Trevose Golf Club, kindly donated by the Gammon family.
On Tuesday, the golf teams enjoyed the tight fairways of the beautiful but testing Duchess course in bright sunshine and there were some excellent scores on the day.
Tom Stine, from Golf Datatech, excelled himself at the 198-yard, par 3 7th hole finishing 8 feet from the hole and winning the ‘Nearest the Pin’ prize donated by Golf Business Development magazine whilst Mark Hilton from Peter Millar International hit an enormous drive down the 14th to win the True Temper sponsored ‘Longest Drive’.
Golfers also participated in the ‘Charity Challenge’ on the tricky 2nd hole where Ping Europe offered a prize to those players who managed to land their ball on the green. This may not sound too difficult a task but the 182-yard par 3 has a two tier green sited in a natural amphitheatre surrounded by pines and protected by two large bunkers. In a swirling wind only 16 golfers were up to the ‘challenge’ with another £290 being netted for the charity.
Live scoring from eGolfScore added yet another dimension to the day. Teams were able to monitor their own scores and the overall leaderboard throughout their round bringing out their competitive spirit. The final scores were tight with Tom Stine’s Golf Datatech team and the Motocaddy team captained by BGIA Chairman, David Wells, coming in with 87 and 89 points respectively. However, the honours went to a team from Champions (UK) plc captained by Willie Thorne himself with 91 points. There was also a prize for the highest individual score which was won by Mark Palmer from Palmer Golf Company.
A good time was had by all and, more importantly, significant funds were raised to support the junior golf development work carried out by the Golf Foundation.
BGIA www.bgia.org.uk