PAUL FISHER TAKES OVER AS EGU PRESIDENT
Paul Fisher, the newly-installed President of the English
Golf Union, is keen to bring club golfers and the Union closer
together during his year in office.
"I am keen to improve the club golfers perception and
awareness of the EGU," he says. "Club members of
affiliated clubs are themselves members of the English Golf
Union. Those elected to EGU committees are active club members
who voluntarily give of their time to further and look after
the interests of the amateur game in England. They don't live
in ivory towers."
Mr Fisher, who was voted into office at the Union's Annual
Council Meeting at Woodhall Spa, is eagerly looking forward
to his duties particularly representing the Union at the forthcoming
US Masters at Augusta.
"I'm looking forward to the Masters and supporting Gary
Wolstenholme there but there will be other highlights this
year," he adds. "There is no Walker Cup but we have
the Eisenhower Trophy and I rate our chances of winning that
very highly.
"Back in the 1980s I enjoyed four fulfilling years as
Chairman of the Championship Committee and I anticipate being
President will be even more enjoyable."
Although cricket was his first love, golf has been a major
part of Paul Fisher's life for well over 40 years, and he
has served the Gloucestershire Union, Minchinhampton Golf
Club, CONGU and the EGU with distinction over that period.
Born in Minchinhampton 70 years ago, Paul began playing golf
as a youngster with hickory shafted clubs on Minchinhampton
Common. However, cricket was his first choice and throughout
his school days at Wycliffe College he developed into a good
class batsman. After school he played for Stroud Cricket Club
and the Gloucester Gypsies.
He spent his National Service with the Gloucestershire Regiment,
the Glorious Gloucesters, and at the end of his two years
passed exams for a regular commission and staying on with
the regiment as a lieutenant, serving in Kenya during the
Mau Mau troubles in the mid-Fifties.
On returning to Britain, Paul took up an instructional post
at Plymouth and it was while he was there that the golf bug
bit. He joined Looe Bin Down Golf Club and was taken under
the wing of the club professional, Doug Colgan. "He taught
me a lot and my handicap came down from 16 to two in a year,"
says Paul.
In 1959, Paul resigned his commission to join the family
textile business in Gloucester and eventually was responsible
for developing the soft furnishings side, opening stores in
Bristol, Bath and Swindon. He was Managing Director and Chairman
of the company until the business was wound up in 1988 after
which he became secretary/manager of Gerrards Cross Golf Club
for ten years until his retirement.
However, his work on the administrative side of golf goes
back to the Sixties. "I have been heavily involved with
Minchinhampton Golf Club since I was in short trousers,"
he adds. He was Captain in 1963, Chairman during the early
1980s and has been chairman of the Greens Committee.
Paul also played a key role in the development and construction
of the present newer courses at the club, which were built
some two miles from the original layout on common land. He
has served on the executive committee of the Gloucestershire
Golf Union since 1965 and was its President in 1970 when the
county was crowned English champions at Moor Park.
He has represented the county on the EGU Council since 1978,
while his work with the English Golf Union has been long and
varied. He is in his second spell with the EGU Championship
Committee, having served from 1979-'88 and from 1996 to the
present day, having been its chairman from 1985-'88
Paul also served on the Executive Committee from 1982-'88
and was re-elected in 2001, has been on the Standard Scratch
and Handicap Committee since 1985 and its chairman for the
past six years.
He has been on the Executive Committee of the Council of
National Golf Unions since 1998 and was its chairman in 2001
and a member of CONGU's Standard Scratch and Handicap Committee
since 1997.
Europe has also featured high on Paul's long list of appointments.
He served on the European Golf Association's Championship
Committee from 1998-2001 and still represents the EGU on the
EGA.
A member of the R&A since 1990, Paul referees in top
amateur events such as the St Andrews Trophy and Home Internationals
as well as many EGU tournaments.
In recent times he has been closely involved with course
rating, the EGU having introduced a system recognised by CONGU
as an alternative to the USGA method and now used in England.
On the playing side, Paul represented Gloucestershire with
a handicap of one for almost ten years, but never managed
to win the county championship although he still holds the
course record at Minchinhampton Old Course. His current handicap
is eight.
Paul is married to Ann, has three children, two stepchildren,
and 11 grandchildren.
He is believed to be the first president to come from Gloucestershire.
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