BEN Waterhouse will succeed Nigel Edwards as Welsh golf's new Director of Performance.
Waterhouse, until now a development officer for the English Rugby Football Union, fills the role vacated by the Walker Cup captain.
The 34-year-old takes over from Edwards, who has become the English Golf Union's new Director of Coaching, with the aim of building on his predecessor's good work.
In his role, Waterhouse will be putting structures and systems in place for the likes of national team coaches Neil Matthews and Jeremy Bennett to provide the technical expertise for the men and women respectively.
“I am really looking forward to this role,” he said. “I am hugely excited to be working for the Golf Union of Wales, maintaining everything Nigel has done while putting my stamp on it going forward.
“At the RFU I tried to surround myself with good people who are experts in their own field – so that is how it will work with Neil, Jeremy and all the other coaches with the expertise.
“I will let them do their job while I can come up with some other ideas to support and enhance what they can offer.
“Nigel has obviously done a lot right or he would not have been so highly regarded, but there are always things that a new person can look at.
“I hope it is a good thing that I am different, I am not a golfer in the same way, so hopefully I can bring something new to the table.
“I met Rhys Pugh before Christmas and I will be meeting up with the Men’s and Ladies’ squads in February and March. It is always refreshing to meet those players with so much potential who can go such a long way in the game.”
Waterhouse, a social golfer who is currently taking lessons to improve his game, is preparing to take over the management of the amateur coaching structure in Wales, including teams right the way through from junior to senior level.
“We were never going to be able to replace Nigel directly, so we wanted someone who could come into the role with a wealth of knowledge in sports development and creating structures to help elite sports people,” said Golf Union of Wales chief executive Richard Dixon.
“Ben comes in with that sports development experience, most recently in English rugby. He is knowledgeable, enthusiastic and he ticks so many of the boxes for what we were looking for.
“He wants to carry on the good work which has been done, rather than change things for the sake of it, which was very important to us because we feel Welsh golf is moving to a pretty good place for a small nation – though we will always strive to be better.”
Latest South Wales golf results
Fairwood Park
Saturday Stableford; 1. P. Wilkie 41pts, 2. S. Clarke 37pts, 3. N. Couling 36pts
Lakeside
Winter League; 1. J. Thomas 41pts, 2. D.J. Williams 40pts, 3. G. Tamlyn 39pts
Monmouth
New Year’s Day Stableford division one; 1. B. Kennedy 39pts, 2. S. Ford 38pts, 3. L. Bourne 37pts
Division two; 1. S. Roach 40pts, 2. B. Knapper 32pts, 3. M. Pryce 31pts
Pennard
Hind Apart Afore; 1. L. Harvey net 64, 2. D. Rose net 65, 3. V. McCarry net 66
Ladies Texas Scramble; 1. J. Dickson, L. Bowen, J. Davies, C. Rees 39pts
15-hole Stableford silver division; 1. H. Jennings 32pts, bronze division; 1. J. Edwards 27pts
Pontypool
Club Stableford 0-14 Hcap; 1. P. Leighton 41pts, 2. R. Green 40pts, 3. K. Thomas 37pts
15-18 Hcp; 1. R. James 43pts, 2. I. Price 41pts, 3. M. Hale 38pts
Southerndown
January Hardy Annuals (stableford); 1. B. Jeffreys 40pts, 2. C. George 40pts, 3. R. Johnson 39pts
The Grove
Leon Warne Order of Merit 15; G. Lowe 41pts, M. Thomas 40pts, M. Gordon 39pts
Tredegar & Rhymney
Boxing Day Texas Scramble (teams of three); 1. W. Price, D. Dennehy & D. Theobald net 36, 2. S. Philpotts, C. Philpotts & M. McCarthy net 37, 3. G. Board, J. Jones & F. Barter net 37.5
Xmas holiday away day stableford; 1. A. Jones 34pts, 2. B. Llewellyn 30pts
Wernddu
Club Stableford; 1. T. Millard 39pts, 2. A. Powell 39pts, 3. S. Shaw 39pts
Boxing Day Stableford; 1. S. Johnson 47pts, 2. M. Batkin 40pts, D. Lewis 39pts
By David Williams
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