Paul Baxter, past chief executive of the English Golf Union, has accepted the nomination to become President Elect of the English Golf Union for the year 2011 with a view to becoming President in 2012.
The 67 year old retired in February 2008 after 23 years with the EGU, eight as Deputy Secretary and 15 as Chief Executive, having spent the previous 12 years as a golf club secretary.
“I was amazed but delighted when I heard the news,” he said. “When I joined the EGU in 1985 as Deputy Secretary it was the start of a wonderful part of my life. Never in those 23 years did I expect to be awarded the highest honour of being President.
“It was a great pleasure to be given the job of working for the Union but I never expected this. When I received the call I was speechless. I am really looking forward to my year, who wouldn’t?”
Paul Baxter was educated at Newark Magnus Grammar School and Mathew Boulton College in Birmingham and even then the ‘great game’ had an influence as he studied mechanical engineering as part of an apprenticeship with Golf Ball Development for Penfolds.
He spent five years there then moved on to Rolls Royce and the Bemrose Corporation, both in Derby. But it wasn’t long before he made a change of career, moving into the administration side of golf, becoming secretary at Chevin Golf Club in 1973.
Four years later he moved to Sherwood Forest before the switch to the EGU at its then headquarters in Leicester prior to the move to Woodhall Spa in 1996.
Paul has also achieved considerable success on the course after joining Sherwood Forest as a junior in 1956. He was English boy champion in 1960 as well as a boy and youth international. He captained the England youth team and also represented GB&I at boys level.
On the county scene, he was Derbyshire champion three times, match play champion four times and once Nottinghamshire champion. His involvement at the helm of the EGU restricted his playing opportunities but he was captain of the Midland Golf Union 1982–84 and President of the Nottinghamshire Schools Association 1983-84.
In 2001, Paul became an England senior international and for the past two years he has been a member of the Lincolnshire seniors team, becoming Lincolnshire seniors champion in 2009. He currently plays off a handicap of three.
He still lives in Woodhall Spa, is a member of the club and an honorary member of Chevin and Sherwood Forest.
Paul has been married to Carol for 46 years. They have two sons, Frazer who is the golf professional at Market Harborough Golf Club, and Iain, a Wing Commander in the RAF, and a daughter Sharon, who is a junior sister at a hospital in nearby Boston. They also have six grand children.
When he becomes EGU President in 2012, he will be the first from Lincolnshire since the late Neil Hotchkin in 1972.
English Golf Union Limited www.englishgolfunion.org