A great Golf Foundation leader - Remembering Ian Peacock OBE
The Golf Foundation was saddened to hear of the passing of Ian Peacock OBE.
Staff and volunteers past and present from our charity remember Ian as a dynamic but conscientious Chairman whose shrewd business sense, backed up by his skills as a negotiator of excellence, set him apart. He was also universally liked for his humour, warmth, and interest in everyone connected with the charity.
One of the Foundation’s co-founders, three-time Open Champion Sir Henry Cotton, said that “we should give the game, without compromise, without intimidation, without prejudice, to as many as we possibly could”.
Ian was Chairman of the Golf Foundation between 1996 and 2003 and fully embraced Cotton’s desire to open up the game and all its life benefits to more young people from all backgrounds. He remained passionate about helping youngsters as he had been supported himself in the game as a boy.
Chairing a committed Board of Trustees, Ian led the implementation of a robust new development-led national strategy, supporting initially a 300-strong network of community golf club and school networks called ‘Starter Centres’; a number that grew at pace to increase opportunities to learn and participate in the game for children of all abilities.
To help make this happen, Ian played a key role in aligning the charity with the Home Nations and also raising significant fundraising assistance from partners including The R&A, the European Tour Group and The PGA, all of which have remained close allies of the Golf Foundation to this day.
The Board under Ian appointed Mike Round as the Foundation’s first Development Officer in 1997 (Mike would go on to lead the charity as CEO, 1999-2014), while one of the first four regional development officers for England and Scotland, Brendon Pyle, would take over the CEO role in 2014.
Both men shared Ian’s commitment to the new strategy; much of the charity’s work post 2005 drew deeply on the ‘skills for life’ that golf offers young people, leading to the ’Unleash Your Drive’ mental wellbeing programme of today, used positively by more than 2,000 schools and an increasing number of golf clubs.
Mike Round said: “Ian was an extraordinary individual who was both a visionary and a realist at the same time. He saw sport from so many different perspectives and very few people could match his knowledge and experience. He mentored and guided me during my years at the Golf Foundation. I'll be forever grateful for the influence he had on me and my career. I will miss him dearly.”
Brendon Pyle said: “Members of our team and the Board always had great respect for Ian’s business acumen and his ability to negotiate. I remember he was someone great to have on your side in any meeting. He had a natural style and charisma as a leader but privately he was also a very decent and supportive person. He was a great Chairman, and he and the Board’s understanding around the need for a strong development strategy, that offers opportunity and inclusion, remains central to all our work today.
“Ian remained interested in, and committed to, our work as a Foundation, attending our President’s Awards ceremony at Wentworth only last year at the age of 91 alongside his wife Philippa. He will be missed.”
Growing and improving the game was in step with Ian Peacock’s whole career in sport. He worked for Slazenger for 29 years, the last eight as Managing Director (he would liaise closely with such names as Seve Ballesteros and John McEnroe), before starting the research company Sports Marketing Surveys in 1984, which later became Sporting Insights, and he served as Chief Executive of the LTA from 1986 for a decade.
His father was a PGA Professional from Scotland (he competed in The Open multiple times), becoming the club professional at Wildernesse Golf Club at Sevenoaks for 40 years.
Ian was no mean player himself and once wrote: “Working in the pro shop for my father at the Wildernesse was my holiday job and I got to know the founding members of the Golf Foundation quite well. I never played golf with Henry Cotton, but carried his bag a few times and got to enjoy his colourful anecdotes.
“I did get to play with Gerald Micklem, however, at a time when I was an aspiring professional and he was interested in young golfing talent. My father arranged a game between us and after a rather indifferent nine holes on my part, Gerald politely recommended that I looked for a ‘proper job’.”
In Ian’s memoir ‘The Way I saw It’, he wrote that supporting the Golf Foundation was “a role which I had loved and cherished”.