Passing of Former APGC President Kiwi Neil Woodbury
Former APGC President Neil Woodbury with 2021 New Zealand Strokeplay Championship winner Tyler Wood. Woodbury has passed away at the age of 86. Picture by Golf New Zealand.
Wellington, New Zealand: Neil Woodbury, one of the Asia-Pacific’s best-known golfing administrators, has passed away at the age of 86.
Woodbury served as President of the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC) from 1993 to 1995. He also acted as New Zealand’s representative on the APGC Board for many years.
Taimur Hassan Amin, current Chairman of the APGC, said: “We are saddened to learn of Neil’s passing. His contribution to the development of golf in New Zealand and around the region is well documented. Neil was the 11th President of the APGC and to this day remains the only New Zealander to have held the Presidency or Chairmanship of the Federation.”
Woodbury was especially well known in his native New Zealand where he was an instrumental figure in the growth of the game during the 1980s, spending 10 years as Chairman and President of what was then the New Zealand Golf Association (NZGA), the country’s ruling golfing body that is now known as Golf New Zealand.
Philip Hassall, a successor to Woodbury as Chairman of the NZGA and the current Vice Chairman of the APGC, added: “I appreciated Neil’s encouragement on my move into national golf administration and involvement with the APGC, and his wise guidance and counsel.”
In the period that Woodbury was APGC President, the tradition was that the host of the upcoming Nomura Cup held the position of President. There was a separation of President and Chairman which were subsequently merged positions. The Chairman’s position has always been the more senior.
In a book entitled History of Golf in New Zealand, published in 2021, Woodbury was identified as one of the country’s leading golfing administrators.
Following is a passage from that book: “Neil, a pharmacist in Lower Hutt, forged his place in New Zealand golf as an administrator which started when he was elected Captain of the Hutt Golf Club in 1972. At national level he became a Councillor on the NZGA in 1979 and devoted 25 years to the organisation, spending the last 10 as Chairman and President.
“Much progressed during the Woodbury era and he was well supported by Roger Brennand and Executive Director Grant Clements. Each had their own strengths and opinions and there were many healthy debates, but at the end of the day each were working for the betterment of the game.
“The organisation’s finances strengthened, the New Zealand Open attracted new sponsors and, with the help of IMG, became a leading event on the Australasian Tour, playing numbers grew steadily for 20 years and our amateurs won the Eisenhower Trophy and many other amateur titles around the world. All under the regime of Woodbury and the team he led at the NZGA.”
Once asked about his involvement with golf administration, Woodbury said: “What I enjoyed about being involved with the NZGA was the association it gave me with other golfing bodies around the world. We went to a lot of events in different countries and met a lot of people in a similar situation to ourselves.
“That was the part that I enjoyed. It was meeting like-minded administrators, some of them, like the United States or Canada, had been involved in golf a lot longer than I had and then there were others who had just come through. They were all interesting people and we got on very well, particularly in the Asia–Pacific region. You learn a lot from each other.”
