Golding given Outstanding Contribution award

By Alistair February 26, 2023 09:43

David Golding has been presented with the ‘Outstanding Contribution’ award by the British & International Golf Greenkeepers Association (BIGGA).

In a career spanning more than 50 years, David drove educational opportunities for greenkeepers to new heights. Possessing a passion for education and desire to improve development opportunities for his peers in greenkeeping, David’s encyclopaedic knowledge of the industry helped lay foundations that continue to bear fruit to this day as proven with the recent establishment of the Level 5 greenkeeping apprenticeship and the continued development of the Level 2 and 3 qualifications.

David began his career as an apprentice greenkeeper at Buxton & High Peak Golf Club in his hometown. He spent two years as an assistant greenkeeper at Camberley Heath Golf Club in Surrey before returning north, firstly to Dore & Totley Golf Club in Sheffield. Aged just 21, he then got his first head greenkeeper role, working with Trafford Borough Council in a position that over the following 16 years would see him take responsibility for two busy municipal golf courses.

Upon the formation of BIGGA in 1987, David was appointed the association’s first Northern regional administrator. In 1989 he became BIGGA’s first education officer and then in 1993 he became education director of the Greenkeepers Training Committee, a position he would hold until his retirement.

BIGGA CEO Jim Croxton said: “David is a former colleague who I have long admired and who I was delighted we were able to recognise in this way. David was a crusader for the recognition of greenkeeper education standards and he was undoubtedly one of the most influential people in the history of the greenkeeping industry, in terms of bringing the professionalism of greenkeeper training forwards. At heart he was always a greenkeeper who believed that education was key to improving the profession for his fellow practitioners.”