WESSEX HISTORY (Two recognisable faces in the picture, Maurice Hutchins 2nd (ish) in from the right and a youthful Eddie Robertson 3rd row back, centre right. Eddie Robertson, the current Wessex Regional Secretary, first arrived in Dorset in October 1990 to take up the post of Secretary at Ferndown Golf Club. In order to remain in the Association of Golf Secretaries (AGCS) he was left with two alternatives; to transfer to either the Southern or the South West Region of the Association of Golf Club Secretaries (AGCS)

The Clubs in Dorset were, in the main, ‘administered’ by the Dorset County Golf Union (DCGU) which consisted of just over 20 clubs. The DCGU arranged the venue and date of the Spring Meeting and the secretaries of what is now the Wessex Region had no control over that. Although it was conducive to talk to our colleges from Dorset it did limit the exchanges from the other clubs from a wider area.

The most significant barrier to the secretaries in the area was travelling time to either the Southern Region or to the South West meetings. “Stuck in the middle” of two large geographical regions, meant either early starts and late finishes or not going at all. A solution needed to be found.

The birth of the Wessex Region came to fruition when David Matthews, the Club Manager of Came Down, suggested that we should organise ourselves and that perhaps a new region within in the AGCS needed to be established. Before Eddie Robertson was tasked to approach the Secretary of the AGCS, Ray Burniston, he informed the DCGU Secretary, Maurice Hutchins, that it was the wish of the managers of the Dorset Clubs to create the Wessex Region of the AGCS and Maurice agreed immediately.

In 1996 The Wessex Region was born with David Matthews as the Captain, Eddie Robertson as Secretary and Neil Hallam Jones as the AGCS National Representative. 

Initially, although a relatively small region the boundaries have been extended to include Wiltshire, Hampshire and Somerset, hence the name of Wessex.

The Wessex Region plays a full part in the National Association, having had a National Captain, chairmanship of the now defunct Institute of Golf Club Management and provided a National Committee Representative over the years since its inception.