I am delighted to have been awarded the British Golf Collectors Society’s 2019 Murdoch Medal, the Society’s most prestigious award, made to a member of the BGCS in recognition of a contribution to the heritage of golf within that year.
In my case, they acknowledged that the award was given for my contribution over a number of years towards ‘raising the bar’ of golf book design. Authors of five of my books have previously won this award for their writing. This year, the committee decided it was my turn to receive the honour, especially after the recent publication of both The StAndrews Golf Club 175th anniversary book St Andrews For Ever – A History of The St Andrews Golf Club, 1843-2018 (December 2018) and the Royal Liverpool Golf Club’s 150th anniversary book A Hoylake Celebration (May 2019).
The top photograph shows me with three authors of my books, namely (from the left) Blyth Bell, author of the Royal Liverpool GC book, Peter Crabtree, co-author of Tom Morris of St Andrews, The Colossus of Golf 1821-1908 (2005), and Roger McStravick, author of St Andrews in the Footsteps of Old Tom Morris (2016).
BGCS Past Captain David Kirkwood presented me with the Medal at the British Golf Museum on 15 August.
