John Huggan: Low fires R&A into new era

But club captain isn’t expecting big changes at golf’s traditional home

JUST OVER a month ago, the now new captain of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews played the Old Course with three friends. Walking off the 18th green, Alistair Low’s caddie told him he knew where he’d be standing when the time came (at 8am last Thursday morning) for the former Scottish international and British Youths champion to perform the annual driving-in ceremony from the most famous first tee in all of golf: “About 240 yards out and maybe ten yards left of where you are aiming.”

As tradition demands, a local caddie returned the ball struck by Low in exchange for a gold sovereign. The ball will be encased in silver and take its place in the R&A trophy room. All of which is but the starting point for the myriad activities that will largely occupy the next 12 months of Low’s life: club and county dinners across the UK, trips to the Asian Amateur Championship, the Masters and the US Open and, happily for a graduate of the University of St. Andrews, more time spent in the “Auld Grey Toon” itself.

Still, if anyone deserves a ceremonial break from more pressing matters it is Low, an actuary by trade. In his time, the 69-year old Dundonian, now resident in Gullane, has served as chairman of the Scottish Golf Union, captain of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers and chairman of both the R&A’s Championship Committee and General Committee. That represents a lot of time spent arguing the golfing toss around tables in darkened rooms.

Before that, Low was a golfer of some repute. A semi-finalist in the 1960 Scottish Boys Championship, he three times reached the last four of the Scottish Amateurs and twice represented his country in the Home Internationals. “I played for Scotland in 1964 and 1965, before I fell by the wayside,” he says with a smile. “I never made Walker Cup. I started work in 1964 and it became more and more difficult to devote enough time to my game.

“The changes in amateur golf have been amazing. The first time I played for Scotland was the first time anyone got a sweater. And I still have mine. We didn’t get any golf balls though. I remember telling Bernard Gallacher to take a few balls with him when he was capped. So changed days indeed.”

It was in 1980 that Low first experienced administration R&A style. He said: “My first duty was at the Open that year, which shows how much things have changed in that sphere of golf, too. I didn’t have to take any rules examinations or anything like they have to do today. It was straight in and get on with it. Nowadays it is so much more professional. And I think rightly so.

“I was on the championship committee for four years. Then I was off for a year, before I was asked back as chairman. I held that position for the 1986, 1987 and 1988 Opens. It was a fascinating time. I enjoyed talking with and learning from the star players.

“In 1984 at St. Andrews it was my job to set the pin positions. Which was great. If you are going to have that role then the Old Course has to be the most interesting place to do it. And what I came up with provoked good news and bad news. I remember Peter Thomson starting with three birdies and commenting on the fourth tee: “I don’t know who picked these pin positions but they are the easiest I’ve ever seen!

“That same day I found a place for the pin on the 14th green, way to the left of where it normally is. It was almost on the fourth green, the flag directly between the bunkers front and back. There was only about six or seven yards of flat green and that’s where I put the pin. Anyway, when Jack Nicklaus got there he said he’d never seen such a difficult pin position in his life! Those words made me feel a bit better.”

For all that, perhaps Low’s greatest contribution to golf in this country was made during his time with the SGU. When he assumed the chairmanship, the financial affairs of the union were, to put it mildly, in a sorry state because of the now infamous Drumoig coaching centre in Fife.

“Drumoig was a serious drain on resources,” reflects Low. “Although the SGU had been able to finance the project without borrowing – through grants from SportScotland and the R&A – the on-going running costs proved to be a lot higher than anticipated. Things were pretty dire when we were asked to help. But we did a pretty good job changing things round, even if not everyone would agree with that assessment. Looking back, I’m pretty happy with the way it all worked out. It was certainly an interesting time!”

On the perennially nagging subject of whether a discriminatory – and some say misogynistic – all-male body like the R&A should be charged with as much power and influence within a game supposedly for all, Low is understanding but ultimately uncompromising.

“The best answer I can give is that the present system works,” he says. “People seem to accept the way it is and get on with things. There seems to be no great pressure or enthusiasm – either within the club or from outside – to effect change. I do understand that those outside golf may look on the R&A as a bit old-fashioned or out of step in this modern world but, as I said, it works. Would it make any sense to change it, just because people with no involvement in golf think we should?

“Besides, ladies are involved to a great extent in the rule-making process; they are represented on all the relevant committees. And the Ladies Golf Union enjoys a great deal of support from the R&A. So it all works pretty well. I don’t see it changing any time soon.”

More topically, it would be remiss not to ask the new R&A captain his view on the legality or otherwise of longer-than-standard putters.

“If they allow people to continue playing golf, then that has to be a good thing,” says Low. “Which raises the question of whether we should have different rules for amateurs and professionals. In principle, it must be a good thing to have the same rules for everybody. But there is a case for having special rules for the two levels of play. I’m not convinced by that argument yet, but there is a case to be made.

“When I was on the R&A’s Championship Committee, we debated whether there should be one type of ball for the Open. My thought was that wouldn’t be fair. Whatever ball we chose, it was going to benefit one particular type of player over another. That can’t be right.”

His first drive as captain wasn’t though. Deflected by a despairing hand maybe 220 yards out, it was, according to one eyewitness, “high and pretty straight.” High? Of course. How could the start of a Low captaincy be otherwise?