Associotion of Golf Writers – Annual General Meeting
Royal Liverpool GC, July 1,6,2014
Chairman Derek Lawrenson opened the meeting by saying how well he thought the AGW dinner the evening before had gone and thanked lain Carter for his excellent contribution to the evening in interviewing our guests, among them Tony Jacklin and lan Poulter, both of whom received awards from the AGW for their contributions to the sport.
He said the feedback, as with the previous year, had been highly positive. Derek also made special mention of Deborah Garside, whose incredibly hard work and patience, he said, had made the evening run so smoothly.
Treasurer’s report: Copies were circu lated. Proposed : Jamie Corrigan. Seconded: Bill Elliott.
Bob Davies said that a number of members were still behind in paying their subs and that others seemed to have disappeared from the scene altogether. lt was suggested, and agreed, that they be removed from the AGW forthwith.
Chairman’s report: Copies were circulated. Proposed: John Whitbread. Seconded: Jock MacVicar.
Derek said that one issue of concern was the car parking policy at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth which had been inadequate and problematical for the week. Derek said he would be taking up the AGW’s concerns with Scott Crockett and the European Tour and hopefully having better arrangements in place for 2015.
Election of officers: Derek pointed out that Peter Dixon would be standing down as secretary in the coming year but had agreed to stay on in the interim.
Treasurer: Bob Davies. Proposed: John Whitbread. Seconded: Martin Dempster.
Hon Secretary: Peter Dixon. Proposed: Bill Elliott. Seconded: James Mossop. The rest of the committee were re-elected: Proposed: Jock MacVicar. Seconded : John Whitbread.
Any Other Business: John Whitbread asked if there was anything to report regarding the setting up of a new library to place the books that had been kept in storage at Valderrama, which was now under new ownership. There was nothing new to report, but Bill Elliott suggested that perhaps a few members of the AGW could go to Spain to collect them. John Hopkins said it was urgent because things had changed considerably at Valderrama with many of the old members having left the club. David Facey said he thought that Wentworth would be a good place to store them. lt was agreed to test the water with Wehtworth.
Doug’Ferguson raised the issue of bringing players to the media centre quicker at the WGCs. He said he had asked Ty Votaw not to take all the players to the TV area first and pointed out that such a policy worked against those with UK deadlines. Doug suggested a joint approach from the AGW and the GWAA to Ty Votaw to try to get things improved for the written press.
John Hopkins asked if writers were being “downgraded” in the eyes of tournament organisers and said we needed to stand up and say, “This isn’t good enough.” He said we had been pushed to one side at Augusta National, while at the Ricoh Women’s British Open there was a show of hands to see if we wanted the leader brought in. This, JH said, was far from normal. Derek Lawrenson said the organisers will generally ask them to come in, but if we don’t want to talk to them, they won’t.
Meeting closed.
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