“That Was the Week That Was,” a television programme popular in the U.K. in the 1960s, was both a satirical and serious look back at what had happened in the previous seven days. One could say that for golf, last week was the week that was. In the midst of the most troubled time for decades in the grand old game, a time of civil war, came two surprise announcements in less than 24 hours.
On Wednesday morning, Martin Slumbers announced he was to retire at the end of the year as chief executive of the R&A and as secretary of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews. That was the first surprise, and it caused a bubble of conversation at a big golf dinner at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London that night.
As the conversation and the wine flowed, the name of Guy Kinnings was mentioned as a possible successor to Slumbers. Kinnings, 60, has spent all of his working life in golf, initially with the International Management Group, and then as deputy CEO of the DP World Tour with special responsibility for the Ryder Cup. He is widely liked and respected.
Six hours later, that theory was abandoned when a Canadian news outlet announced that Keith Pelley, who had been chief executive of the DP World Tour since 2015, was about to be unveiled as president and chief executive of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, a massive sports organisation in his native Toronto. By lunchtime the next day, his 60th birthday, Pelley’s departure was confirmed, and Kinnings was announced as his successor who would take over on 2 April.
Phew. Phew!
Slumbers is the fourth secretary or chief executive of the R&A whom I have known in my capacity as a golf writer and, since 2008, a member of the club. He’s the only one of the four not to serve for at least 15 years.
The first was Keith McKenzie, a bluff former military man whose considerable throaty bark was significantly worse than his bite. I liked McKenzie and used to enjoy dinners with him in the U.S. in the early months of the year when he was making sure that the American players would be competing in the Open. “Jack/Lee/Gary, you will be coming to the Open, won’t you?” was the sort of remark you heard him say to Nicklaus, Trevino and Player.
He faced down Muirfield over its men-only policy and thus got it back on the rota of Open courses, considerably expanded the size of the R&A staff and approved the development of a new staff building at St Andrews West.
Then came Michael, later Sir Michael, Bonallack, one of the greatest amateur golfers from the U.K. and a man respected around the world. Bonallack was quiet, calm and magisterial, a man who was born to be driven by others, not to drive. Everyone liked and admired him, too, and he was felt to have adorned the handsome office with distinction. It was once said of him that, “Michael will attend a meeting and not say very much. Then he will suddenly come to life and make a very shrewd observation before appearing to go back to sleep again.”
He was succeeded by Peter Dawson, a member of the Oxford and Cambridge Golfing Society, a congenial man who had been champion at several clubs and is still good enough to have beaten his age (75) on the Old Course at St Andrews late last year. He had a habit of removing his glasses when addressing a particularly pesky issue and fixing his questioner with a firm stare that could induce a nervous response in recipients. With a degree in engineering from Cambridge University, he could and would explain the intricacies of the coefficient of restitution of a golf club. Most of all, he had gravitas.
Slumbers is a good golfer with a very low handicap. Unlike his two predecessors, he was not a member of the R&A before he was appointed. Indeed, he was little known outside his golf clubs, which included Worplesdon and The Wisley, and to those who played in the Halford Hewitt competition for old boys of public schools where he represented Lancing College.
He arrived with a strong background in banking and commerce, and as chief executive of R&A, was charged, or felt it his duty, to develop the commercial side of the club. “Everything we do has to have a price point,” an employee once told me.
His achievements include integrating the Ladies’ Golf Union into the R&A, spreading the game with the introduction of new competitions in Africa, Asia and Latin America as well as an Open for disabled golfers, known as the G4D Open. He faced down Muirfield over its men-only policy and thus got it back on the rota of Open courses, considerably expanded the size of the R&A staff and approved the development of a new staff building at St Andrews West. He oversaw the modernisation of the game’s rules and, most recently and perhaps controversially, was a torch bearer for the rollback of the golf ball.
There are several theories as to why Slumbers resigned. He said right from the start that he would stay longer than five years but shorter than 10. He has done that.
But it also has to be remembered that he is secretary of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, which is separate from R&A Ltd. though under the same umbrella. There are members who would have liked more love and attention from Slumbers than he was prepared to give. “He didn’t come into the Big Room much” is a criticism, a reference to the room in the clubhouse overlooking the first tee where drinks and coffee are served and high-octane, and sometimes low-octane, conversation is to be heard. “He would be besieged by members in there,” one frequenter of the Big Room said by way of explanation. “His temperament was not necessarily to sit in a leather armchair with a glass of wine in hand and discuss the warp and weft of golf. He was not naturally a Big Room inhabitant.”
Mutterings by members about Slumbers’ reign centre on the alterations to the clubhouse, a project that is said to be costing much more than was originally budgeted, and the value of the Golf It! community-based entertainment facility in Glasgow, leading to suggestions that the R&A is overextending itself. Some members question the change in R&A’s Open policy from an open-to-all event to a ticket-only one, which, while it probably brings in considerably more income, is thought to threaten the atmosphere and ethos of the Open.
There are several theories as to why Slumbers resigned. He said right from the start that he would stay longer than five years but shorter than 10. He has done that. Having started after shadowing Dawson for five months, he took up office in 2015. Now he wants to enjoy himself free of responsibilities and spend time with his family, visit their house in Portugal and play golf. It should also be said that in his time, in addition to dealing with the workload of one of the most important jobs in golf, he has had to face up to the COVID pandemic and more recently to the intrusions of LIV Golf. Who is to say there are not more sizable and surprising issues heading the R&A’s way?
Slumbers will be 64 on 19 March. He has age and time on his hands. What will he do? He has a connection to Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and the face of LIV Golf. Might he find a niche in golf working for Al-Rumayyan or some other organisation in the Middle East? “He is a very bankable commodity,” one R&A member said. “It is easy to imagine the value he and his name would bring to golf in that part of the world.”
Slumbers has had a very successful reign, and leaves with his head held high. The R&A will have difficulty in replacing him – despite his absence from the Big Room.
E-MAIL JOHN
TOP PHOTO: DAVID CANNON, GETTY IMAGES