Ron Skelton – 50-Years Proudly An AGW Member (1970-2020)

 Fifty years ago, the AGW was a very different animal. Much smaller, virtually all the members knew each other personally.  So, when I was admitted under the watchful eye of then Secretary Ron Heager, I felt very privileged to be joining an elite group of writers.

My first real contact with major golf was when I assisted at Gary Player’s Open victory at Carnoustie in 1968. The following year, as a result of a sad circumstance, I was offered the top job, servicing The Courier and The Evening Telegraph, a task I could not have managed without the warm welcome and camaraderie of the Scottish AGW members to the Rookie in their midst.

So, my first solo Open was Royal Lytham. Tony Jacklin’s victory.  And that changed everything. Suddenly we had someone who could beat the Americans home and away.

The years that followed were, in my opinion, the game’s golden era. There were so many great players on the stage such as Palmer, Player and Nicklaus. Soon joined by Trevino, Miller, Watson and Ballesteros and more. Not only great players but great, colourful characters. Giants of the game. And, always ready to help an AGW man with “a line” on the warm-up days.

And we Scots did not go hungry for want of home-grown colour either and thanks to likes of John Panton and Eric Brown who were followed by Brian Barnes, Harry Bannerman, Bernard Gallagher, Sam Torrance, Colin Montgomery, the list goes on.

But it was not just the players. Keith Mackenzie reigned supreme at the R&A and woe betide any careless writer who incurred his wrath. And just beginning to appear on the stage was one whose presence would help change the tournament scene for ever … Ken Schofield.

Our amateur game was not doing too badly either as we began to challenge seriously in the Walker Cup.

There were too some great teachers, including the AGW’s own John Jacobs who had the patience to cure me of a tendency to shank violently without warning!!!

They were indeed rich years and a dream time to be a writer. But they were not always perfect.

The working conditions were good for their times though once we moved into the computer-age we had these great desktop machines and I can remember an Open at St. Andrews where we were parked so far away from the Press Centre and it would require needing an assistant to carry the kit.

At another St Andrews Open we were hit by a strike by telephone engineers which meant no desktop telephones in the Press tent. Organisations made arrangements with private houses nearby to have the use of their telephones.

This required runners to take the copy to the phones. I employed my elder son Douglas to do this. Problem solved. Until the following day when he said he couldn’t work for me. Why not? Because I’m going to work for Mr. Mearing. (Ex Tel Boss, Paddy). He’s paying London rates.”

The AGW has had a lasting effect on not just me. My wife Georgie and I were fortunate enough to be included in an AGW group to spend holiday time in Penina and Soto Grande with the late Sir Henry Cotton. (See photograph).

He became her first and only teacher and her partner in the mini tournament which ended the trip. No prizes for naming the winners.

During one session on the practice ground, banging away at the infamous car tyre another pupil strode in seeking help from the Maestro…….Sean Connery. Introductions all round.

For Georgie golf has become an enduring passion culminating a few years ago as Lady Captain at Panmure Golf Club.

With age comes the right to revel in The Good Old Days.

So as the Festive Season approaches, I will certainly raise a glass to the AGW and the giants who strode across my stage ————- For the sake of Auld Lang Syne.

Ron Skelton, December, 2020