{{ubiquityData.prevArticle.description}}
{{ubiquityData.nextArticle.description}}
March 11 1991 was an important day for Richard Dixon, an unforgettable one even. In the morning he eased his sizeable frame into his tiny office as deputy secretary at the (men’s) Welsh Golfing Union, his first day in the job. In the evening, driving north to his home in Brecon, he rammed his car into the back of a Ford Fiesta at a roundabout near Cwmbran, South Wales.
The 30 years since have been eventful for Dixon and Welsh golf but there have been no more car crashes. When Dixon formally retired as chief executive of Wales Golf earlier this month, he did so with plaudits ringing in his ears. “Richard has grown with the job,” Andy Morgan, a past president of Wales Golf, said. “He has been part of all the changes in Welsh golf through the years, been at the heart of them all. He has been a very solid administrator.”
A lot can happen in three decades and a lot has. In Dixon’s time, the administration of men’s golf in Wales has celebrated its centenary, having formed a governing body known as the Welsh Golfing Union in 1895, 25 years before Scotland did likewise and 29 years before England. It changed its title to the Golfing Union of Wales and then, after becoming the first of the four home unions to merge its men’s and women’s administrations, changed its name again, this time to the punchier title of Wales Golf. Being involved in the bidding for and then the staging of the 2010 Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor, the first held in Wales, was a high point in Welsh golf these past 30 years and helping in the staging of the 1995 Walker Cup at Royal Porthcawl was another.
“It was more than a job for him at first,” said Tony Disley, who was treasurer of the Golfing Union of Wales when Dixon was first appointed. “When Richard began there had been a golden period for Welsh golf.”
Welsh players had won the Amateur, the British Boys and the British Youths. In 1991 Ian Woosnam won the Masters. In 1992 the boys won the Home Internationals, in 1993 Wales became European team champions, in 1998 European Youths team champions and in 2002 Wales won the men’s Home Internationals for the first time. “Pretty good for a country that is two-thirds the size of Yorkshire,” Disley said. “A lot of us put a lot of time into that and we had to have financial backing. He was very helpful in getting that.”
When you met Dixon for the first time you saw a big man, all of 6 feet, 5 inches, a friendly face and someone with an easy manner and a good sense of humour. “Global Golf Post is a great read,” he has said to me more than once. “Trouble is they haven’t got any decent writers.” He was a good amateur golfer, too, a former county champion of Shropshire and Herefordshire, where previous champions included Woosnam and Sandy Lyle, as well as of Brecon and Radnorshire.
“Dixie is not one to bang the table in meetings. He was very good at following things through and seeing they got done."
Andy Morgan
There is a caring side to him that is not present in many and it is no surprise to learn that he once worked for the ambulance service. In 2003, he donated one of his kidneys to his younger brother, a procedure he went through with complete equanimity. “This involved going to Cleveland, Ohio (where my brother lived at the time), for a couple of weeks,” Dixon explained in an email. “All went well and he is now living a normal healthy life in Austin, Texas, although, since the operation, he claims to have developed my big slinging hook off the tee without also benefiting from my excellent short game prowess!” In 2010, Dixon ran the London Marathon and raised nearly £10,000 for charity.
“Dixie is not one to bang the table in meetings,” Morgan said. “He was very good at following things through and seeing they got done. He developed his staff. I am proud of the fact that I was one of those who interviewed Hannah McAllister before she was appointed to her first job at Golf Development Wales in 2002 and now she succeeds him in the top job.”
As the incoming chief executive officer of Wales Golf, McAllister is one of the first female chief executive officers of a merged golf governing body in the world. “Richard was an outstanding leader,” McAllister said. “He chose his team and put his trust in them. He allowed you to make mistakes and he made sure you learned from them. He helped us develop internally and externally.”
Ben Waterhouse, chief operating officer at British Dressage, was performance director for Wales Golf in Dixon’s time. Brian Davis was director of development at Wales Golf before moving to Sport Wales where he is now interim chief executive. Nigel Edwards is the performance director of England Golf after holding several positions at the Golfing Union of Wales and then Wales Golf while also being one of Britain’s best amateur golfers.
“Richard was always flexible about me working for the WGU and also playing top-class golf,” Edwards said. “Once he saw how committed I was to working and delivering he was very good to me. When I think that I played in four Walker Cup teams, captained three more, I think how lucky I was. Other chief executives would not have allowed me such flexibility.”
Unlike many administrators, Dixon’s natural home was with the players. To them he was friendly and unstarchy and that made it easy for him to deal with golfers half his age. In return they appreciated a person in authority who was not cut from the cloth of a typical administrator.
“I remember when Wales won the 1998 European Youths we were staying at some downmarket hotel,” Disley said. “Normally at events like this there are lots of officials but this time Dixie and I were the only two. One night Dixie sourced a local restaurant where you could eat and drink as much as you liked for a set fee. The boys loved it. Craig Williams ate 27 oysters and the next day he set a course record. Richard got on great with the boys.”
Andy Ingram, the Great Britain & Ireland Walker Cup captain in 2017, played competitive golf with Dixon in south Wales for five years and the two were a formidable partnership. They have known each other for nearly 50 years. “When I think of Richard I think of his loyalty to Wales,” Ingram said. “He stuck with Wales (Golf) and got it through some pretty difficult financial times. That’s the word for him – loyalty. That’s a big word but then again he is a big man.”
E-Mail john