Roy Case (pictured left – photo courtesy of Tom Ward), a champion of junior golf for the past three decades, has accepted the nomination to become President Elect of the English Golf Union for the year 2008 with a view to becoming its President in 2009.
During his time in junior golf, Roy helped develop the careers of many current professional including Nick Dougherty, Justin Rose, Luke Donald, Graeme Storm, Lee Westwood, Mark Foster, and Oliver Wilson as well as current leading amateurs such as Paul Waring, John Parry, Matthew Baldwin, Ben Parker and new English champion Daniel Willett.
"This has come as a complete shock," he says. "I had no idea. It is not something I’d even thought would ever come to me, but I’m delighted."
Roy, currently the secretary of the Nottinghamshire Golf Union, has served the R&A and the EGU in various guises since the early 1990s but his involvement with junior golf dates back to 1980 when he took over as Junior Organiser at his home club of Radcliffe on Trent. He held that position for five years after which he was captain at Radcliffe in 1984 and ’85 and club president in 2000/1.
He has been chairman of junior golf in Nottinghamshire since 1984 and was instrumental in launching the McGregor Trophy, now the English Boys Under 16 Championship, in 1982. It began as a club competition and was later run by the Notts Union until the EGU took it over in 1993. In the beginning he persuaded Matt McGregor, a past captain at Radcliffe, to donate the trophy and he also launched a Nations Cup within the event in 2005.
Roy served on the R&A’s GB&I boys selection committee from 1994 until this year, while his involvement with the EGU also began in 1994 when he joined the Venues Sub Committee, of which he is still a member.
During his time as chairman of selectors, England won the Boys Home Internationals eight times from 1998, the World Junior Team Championship in 1998 and ’99, and the European Boys Team Championships four times, in 1994, ’95, ’99, and 2004.
In 1994, he was also a member of the EGU’s Executive Committee until 2005, took over as chairman of the England Boys Selection Committee, serving until this year, and was chairman of the Junior Coaching Committee from 1994 to 2004 where he was responsible for the administration and organisation of England boys’ coaching. During his time in charge he also established the ten regions for coaching as well as the School of Excellence.
From 1997 to 2004 he was chairman of the Junior Golf Committee as well as serving on the Championship Committee for the same period and from 1992 to 1997 was on the Junior Coaching Committee, becoming its chairman in 1994.
He is currently a member of the EGU’s General Committee as the voting member for Nottinghamshire.
Roy’s own sporting life began as an apprentice professional at Nottingham Forest FC in 1955/56 after which he went into the mining industry as a mine surveyor until 1963 when he joined a large retail store-fitting company, later becoming its managing director until retiring in 1993.
Roy, 68, was President of Nottinghamshire in 1990/1 and was presented with the Gerald Micklem Trophy, awarded for services to amateur golf, in 2000. He became Nottingham secretary in 2003 and has been a member of the Nottinghamshire Council and Executive Committee since 1987.
He is also proud of initiating the Nippers Tour in Nottinghamshire in 2002. "This provides events for youngsters under the age of 11 during the school holidays," says Roy. "It has already produced the likes of Alex Peters and Katie Best, who were England reserves for the recent Girls Home Internationals and Ed Peters, the Notts Boys match play champion and youth champion."
Roy, who has been widowed since 2002, has two children. Son Shaun, is a golf professional in Austria and daughter Sharon has two children, Adam, who has just graduated from Southampton University, and Tom, at Purdue University in the United States.
Roy is the first Nottinghamshire man to be invited to become EGU President while his year as President will co-incide with Radcliffe on Trent’s centenary.
Contact:
Lynne Fraser, EGU Marketing and PR Manager
Email: lfraser@englishgolfunion.org
Tel: 01526 354500
