Close on 100 delegates representing more than 80 golf clubs from across the UK, as well as ones in Germany, Sweden and Ireland, attended the two-day conference, entitled Looking Back, Moving Forward: Making the Most of your Golf Club’s Heritage, which covered a wide range of subjects relating to golf heritage.
Speakers included auctioneer and valuer John Mullock, Glasgow Golf Club archivist Nevin McGhee, David Powell, archive manager at DC Thomson, Tony Norcott, an accredited Lloyds insurance broker, golf historian Mike Morrison, and R&A Director of Philanthropy Caroline Wallard.
The conference, which was held at Hotel du Vin in St Andrews, also saw delegates attend a reception at the R&A World Golf Museum followed by a tour of the R&A’s iconic clubhouse and dinner there in the presence of R&A Captain Ian Pattinson.
The conference, which is believed to be the first of its kind held in the UK, was over-subscribed, and the original venue changed at the 11th hour to accommodate the demand.
‘Having to change venue because more people applied to attend the conference than we were expecting is a tremendous response to our first attempt at this type of conference,: said Jim McArthur, Chairman of the R&A World Golf Museum. “It clearly demonstrates that we have identified a need for more information and cooperation in the golf club heritage area. And it also indicates to me that there is a latent demand for more structure and interaction in the golf club heritage area. In that respect, we will now take some time to reflect on and review the proceedings over the last two days and look to build on what the conference achieved.”
McArthur’s comments were echoed by Richard Williams, the British Golf Collectors Society’s honorary secretary and Royal Blackheath Golf Club archivist who was on the conference organising committee.
He said: “We were delighted by the success of the conference. It happened with double the attendance we were expecting and ran smoothly and on time. The presentations were good and feedback positive with delegates finding the content very practical and enjoying the opportunity to network and exchange ideas with friends and colleagues at other clubs – just what we wanted to achieve.”
He added: “It was a great honour for the BGCS to be involved and, for example, for Nigel Notley in his capacity as our captain, to be the event’s main speaker in the R&A Clubhouse’s Big Room. We are very grateful to the R&A, and its individual members who attended, for their warm welcome and generosity. And it was wonderful to see representatives from more than 80 clubs and such a wide range of delegates from several young club chief executives as well as some of the Society’s founders.”
Matthew Dickinson, from St George’s Hill Golf Club in Surrey, was one of the younger delegates, likewise Valter Andersson, who represented the Royal Dublin Golf Club.
Commenting on the two days, Dickinson said: “It’s been a fantastic conference, very enlightening, unbelievably good speakers and I’ve learnt more than I could ever hope to learn. I’ve been doing this job for about a year so for me there was a good mix of subjects – some were practical, others inspirational.”
Andersson was similarly effusive about his conference experience. ‘I’m the staff representative on Royal Dublin’s heritage committee and have a keen interest in the game’s history,” he explained. “It’s been an absolute pleasure to be here, and I couldn’t believe the places that we’ve been such as the museum and R&A Clubhouse. I’m quite young to be involved in this, but it’s not just my interest that has brought me here. As well as being very curious, I would love to help the committee do what we need to do to celebrate Royal Dublin’s 150th anniversary. That’s in ten years’ time, but we’re starting the process of collecting everything we need for that now.”