AGW – 2025 Annual General Meeting – Royal Troon
1938 – 2024
2024 AGW ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Wednesday 16th July, 2025
10am, Media Centre, Royal Portrush GC
In attendance:
Philip Reid, Matt Cooper, Lewine Mair, David Facey, Adrian Milledge, Martin Dempster, John Hopkins, Nick Rodger, Jim Black, Brian McLauchlin, Greg Allen, Ian Carter, Peter Scrivener, Katherine Downes, Patricia Davis, Alex Micelli, Neil McLeman, Brian Keogh, Juan Luis Guillen, Spencer Robinson, Joy Chakravarty, V Krishnaswamy, Mark Lamport Stokes, Isabel Trillo Amores, Sal Johnson, Denis Kirwan, Peter Finnan.
Chairman’s opening address:
Philip thanked everyone who contributed to the annual dinner, particularly Matt: “Trojan work.”
He also thanks Brian McLaughlin: “Great job standing in for Ian. You batted it out of the park, so fair play to you.”
Philip advised that we have two new honorary vice-presidents. José María Olazabal, who very kindly agreed to become one, and Padraig Harrington, who has also agreed. “They were both delighted to accept. So that’s us back up to a full complement of vice-presidents.”
Minute Silence in Memory AGW Members Passed Away Last 12 months
For members Jeff Babineau and Graham Otway – with a mention also for John Collard, Peter McEvoy and Steve DiMeglio.
AGW Member Attendance Apologies:
Peter Higgs, Bernie McGuire, Fatiha Betscher, Dave Edwards, Michael McDonnell, Geoff Russell, Donald Steele, Silvia Audisio, Brian Creighton, Phil Casey.
Minutes of 2024 AGW to be found on AGW website.
The secretary noted that the minutes had not been printed out in order to respect the R&A’s drive to eliminate unnecessary paper waste. The minutes are online.
Proposed Brian Keogh, seconded V. Krishnaswamy.
Treasurer’s report
The secretary read Peter’s report. The key takeaways were that the AGW’s finances are “secure” and that the work of Bernie McGuire and Matt Cooper had helped with regard to rising dinner sponsorship. The treasurer did, however, add a note of caution that this remains at current levels or below going forward.
Proposed Joy Chakravarty, seconded Denis Kirwan.
Secretary’s report
The secretary reflected on his first year in the role, thanked his predecessor Bernie McGuire for being a significant help, and Peter Higgs for being a patient advisor, too. He concluded that the dinner had gone well and that an update to the handbook was the next project.
Proposed Martin Dempster, seconded Nick Rodger.
General business
The secretary began with the need to find a replacement for Peter Higgs who has done eight years sterling service for the AGW. Martin Dempster suggested that some members could maybe stand up who are getting a lot out of the AGW. Colin Harding put his hand up and said: “I actually know Peter very well.” Colin proposed visiting Peter to get an idea of the role and then he’d report back.
The chairman referred to a project John Hopkins and Ewan Murray undertook about membership. The pair advised the committee that the constitution’s definition of membership should be changed –
At present it is: “Membership shall be open to professional writers on golf for whom, in the Committee’s view, membership is needed for the execution of their job.”
The suggested amendment is: “Membership shall be open to those who, in the Committee’s view, make a demonstrable contribution to golf media.”
The committee like this change, but a change of constitution required an AGM vote.
John Hopkins added some explanation: “One of the things that we discovered was, I spoke to the rugby writers’ club, I spoke to the tennis writers’ club about changing the name, because they have faced the same thing.
“There are a lot of people who have become, and want to become members of those respective clubs, have become members, but they don’t literally write.
“We felt that it was time to allow other people to apply, and one of the rules of the constitution is that anybody who applies has to be approved by the commission, and we thought, well, if anybody wants to apply, then that’s still the case.
“They can do so, and we will consider. Certainly, the territory has changed in the last few years, and basically, we thought that, essentially, the constitution, or our rules, remain the same as they did before.
“Somebody who does a podcast, or anything else that isn’t right in the traditional way of newspapers or magazines, has every right to apply, and we have every right to consider them, and if necessary, say, we don’t think you fulfil the requirement.”
A vote was taken and there was no dissenting vote or voice towards change.
Joy Chakravarty explained that he has spoken to Martin Dempster and Lewine Mair about an idea that the Golfer of the Year Award should not be limited to a European-born player: “We have members now from Asia, we have members from everywhere, and I just think it’s not fair that if a New Zealand-born player does really well on the world stage and is ineligible.” Joy proposed the restriction being deleted from our constitution, and we make it open to everyone.
It was corrected that the detail was in the terms of the award rather than AGW constitution. Greg Allen noted that, unlike the GWAA which includes America in the title, we have no geographical limit so Joy’s idea is a neat fit.
After a show of hands, there was no-one against the motion.
John Hopkins raised a concern about the limitation of armbands at the US Open. “It seems to me that the system, if that is the system, is wrong. If we’re going to come 5,000 miles and spend £5,000, the least they can do is to take that into account and give us the accreditation that we deserve.
“We are promoting their events in newspapers and magazines back in Europe, and not to have an arm band is a significant inconvenience. So what I’m wondering is whether this is a policy that’s been introduced by the USGA in conjunction with the GWAA, or whether it hasn’t, and whether there is something that we ought to say on behalf of our members.”
The chairman added: “You’re absolutely right, John, and I was surprised.”
Alex Micelli – also a GWAA member – explained that he also didn’t get an armband. “I can’t answer to how the USGA does it. What I can say is that over time, and this is a little more recent than anything else, over time, they’ve become more and more difficult to deal with.”
John Hopkins suggested that the AGW write a letter to the USGA attempting to understand the system and explaining our concerns.
There was discussion about the possibility of a joint GWAA/AGW letter but that was decided against, at least initially.
Greg Allen and Iain Carter added broadcast media concerns about the USGA and asked to be represented on that letter.
Martin Dempster raised concerns about the slow security queues at the entrance – and lack of a media specific lane. The R&A had been made aware of the problem and cited a technical difficulty on Friday and a change of duty staff as exaggerating the problem.
The secretary discussed the Ryder Cup and the AGW’s awareness that media numbers will be down. The PGA of America say it is down from 1000 to 330. Everyone agreed the first number seemed a little unlikely but that the fact the number has been reduced so significantly was a concern. The secretary emphasised that member concerns about the late deadline date had been confirmed as a deadline date and that applications were being processed quickly.
Treasurer’s report for the year ended December 31st, 2024
I am pleased to report a successful financial year for the AGW. By returning a profit of £8,261 on the business conducted by the association in the 12 months up to December 31st,2024 we can safely say that the association’s finances look much more secure after a difficult period. At the start of this decade the AGW lost more than £8,600 for the years 2021 and 2022 and faced a perilous decline in our finances. Happily this trend was reversed in 2023 with a profit of more than £4,000 and increased by more than double that amount last year so that we have a healthy bank balance and do not need to worry for the immediate
future.
Much credit for this improved situation must go to former secretary Bernie McGuire and his successor Matt Cooper for their efforts in securing sponsorship deals for the annual dinner, our major outlay each year, which no longer runs at a loss. With more deals promised for 2025 we should again be able to cover the costs of the dinner. As we are not a profit-making organisation we do have to be careful about overdoing the sponsorship and I think we have reached our limit. Yet by guaranteeing healthy finances we have been able to peg the cost of subscriptions and places for members and their guests at the dinner. While we have money in the bank we can also maintain a high quality of the Christmas hampers, which we send out annually and which totalled 50 last year.
A closer look at the accounts shows that we brought in £2,00 less (£3,663
compared to £5,514), on subscriptions and joining fees, and there was no
advertising revenue compared to the £1,600 in 2023 because the handbook adverts revenue was not collected in 2024. The expenditure on trophies and engraving was down by almost £2,500 as we had stocked up on quaiches for presentations the previous year.
Can I end by thanking all those who paid their subs and dinner money
promptly and urge anyone who still owes money to cough up at the earliest opportunity to save me having to chase you.
Peter Higgs, Hon Treasurer, Association of Golf Writers.
Secretary’s report
Last year’s Open marked the secretarial handover from Bernie to myself, and it was lovely that we were able to make Bernie’s final dinner such a wonderful one. I was especially pleased because I had been guilty of flippant humour in the run up to the dinner which upset Bernie. I’d been trying to lighten the mood at a fraught moment and did the exact opposite. The event had the ultimately beneficial effect of making it clear how much it meant to Bernie to say farewell to the AGW at Royal Troon – and therefore we could mark the occasion appropriately – and also bring Bernie and myself closer together because I witnessed his passion for the AGW.
It was the first of many lessons and I have taken the view that the first year was always going to be the toughest given that pretty much everything was new to me.
With that in mind treasurer Peter Higgs has been a calm head and Bernie has stepped in whenever I’ve need questions answering. For example, I opted not to have a dinner committee because I thought having Bernie as a mentor – on call for all those queries – would be a more stream-lined option. I think that worked well.
If I were to review my first year I’d say that with the exception of a truly chaotic first attempt via zoom, the committee meetings have worked well. I got through the first dinner with a desire to improve on many things next year. The newsletters and email communications have been fine. I need, however, to work on the website. That element suffered as I prioritised other jobs (although I did counter a defeat a hacker at one stage). The X account is similarly a bit sporadic but that’s partly because X feels a little redundant these days.
With regard to duties undertaken for the membership, we continue to fight for excellent interaction with the players. I have also asked the likes of the R&A and European Tour for guidance on how we can improve our work practices. The theory is that if we show willing, they feel more inclined to support us. Early feedback is that we’ve moved in the right direction.
I did also mention that I’d create an online dinner application system. To explain why I didn’t, it’s because Peter remains the Treasurer and I felt we needed to minimise his stress. I sensed Peter preferred to keep the old system so wanted to keep life simple for him.
Matt Cooper
27/7/2025
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