A conference organised by the R&A World Golf Museum and the British Golf Collectors’ Society that focuses on golf club heritage has proved so popular that a bigger venue to accommodate all the delegates wanting to attend has been sourced.
The two-day conference, Looking Back, Moving Forward – Making the Most of Your Golf Club’s Heritage, which is being held in St Andrews from March 11-12, was due to be held at Forgan House and the number of attendees was not expected to exceed 60. However, more than 100 representatives from golf clubs across the British Isles have signed up to attend and the venue has been moved to the Hotel du Vin in St Andrews to satisfy the demand.
The popularity of the conference reflects the growing interest in golf club heritage. Many clubs are heritage-rich and, given their often sizeable clubhouses, large memberships and regular stream of visitors, are almost uniquely placed among sports organisations in their capacity to display such material.
Such wealth, however, can bring its own set of challenges as Angela Howe, the Museum & Heritage Director at the R&A World Golf Museum at St Andrews, explained: ‘We would have clubs approaching us asking for advice on how they could archive or care for sensitive material, or if we knew any exhibition designers. They would ask questions, so we would advise, but not in any structured or formal capacity. We just used the expertise from within the team to help where we could.’
The increasing number of requests for help prompted the museum to consider arranging a conference to cover the wide range of heritage topics Howe and her team advised on.
These thoughts were mirrored by Richard Williams, Royal Blackheath Golf Club’s archivist and curator and BGCS Honorary Secretary.
“Through my work at Blackheath I found I was coming into contact with a lot of other archivists at other clubs with shared interests,” he said. “I also got to know others through the BGCS and the one thing we nearly all had in common was we were amateurs. We might have a history degree; we might be interested in antiques, but that was the nearest it got to any form of expertise. So, we were stumbling into some form of self-help arrangement.”
Given their similarity of interests, albeit on different scales, communications between Howe and her team at the World Golf Museum and the BGCS are frequent. An exchange of views and thoughts over a cup of tea in August 2023, however, has resulted in that cooperation making a quantum leap.
The conference will cover a broad spectrum of topics that include cataloguing memorabilia, valuations, insurance and protecting collections against theft or damage. Furthermore, presentations on these subjects will be delivered by acknowledged experts.
“Some come from golf clubs and others from related industries,” said Williams. “They have been engaged to give us as much expertise as possible on their subjects and their names just leapt out at us.”
The presenters include Jane Jamieson, the Consultant Archivist at Royal Troon Golf Club; John Mullock an auctioneer and valuer specialising in golf memorabilia; Tony Norcott, an accredited Lloyd’s broker, who has been responsible for the insurance affairs of several hundred golf clubs, as well as the St Andrews Links Trust; and David Wright, a former PGA employee for 38 years, who set up the full catalogue of the Association’s collection of memorabilia.
Jim McArthur, Chairman of the R&A World Golf Museum Board, said: “The interest in this conference has been much more than we anticipated. Having more people than we can accommodate is a tremendous response to our first attempt at this type of conference. That’s very much down to the detailed organisation that’s been done plus the quality of the speakers and the range of topics. I think it clearly demonstrates we have identified a need for more information and co-operation in the heritage area and bodes well for the future, but we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves.’
From a BGCS standpoint, Williams is delighted The R&A has agreed to get involved and their thoughts concur with the Society’s.
“It’s a huge game-changer for us to get involved with The R&A in terms of the reputation of St Andrews and of the people we’re working with,” he said. “It has absolutely transformed the whole operation.”