From Ibrox to Buchanan Castle, BIGGA's new president has left an amazing legacy
BIGGA is proud to reveal the appointment of former Buchanan Castle course manager Ronnie Myles as president of the association for 2025.
When Jim Croxton sat down for a conversation with Ronnie Myles at the BIGGA National Championship, the former UEFA-licenced referee could tell something was up.
“I had a suspicious conversation with Jim,” said BIGGA Life Member Ronnie, 67. “He was asking certain questions that made it intriguing. Then a fortnight later he phoned me and said the National Board had nominated me to be BIGGA president.
“I was absolutely flabbergasted. I was very proud and honoured, obviously, because I’ve been a member for 50-odd years. When I was made president of Scotland, I thought that was the pinnacle, but obviously that’s now been surpassed.”
Ronnie’s career in greenkeeping began in May 1971 at East Kilbride Golf Club. A golfer, he spent a lot of time at the club and the head greenkeeper, David Peacock, asked if he wanted a summer job. After two summers doing this, David offered him a permanent role and, despite being only 15, Ronnie accepted the apprenticeship offer and began what would become a lifelong career.
At first, his parents weren’t enthusiastic about their son becoming a greenkeeper, Ronnie said: “I took the job and went home and told my mum and dad and they went absolutely ballistic!” But eventually they came around.
Over the past half century, across roles at Erskine, Helensburgh, Scarcroft in Yorkshire and Buchanan Castle, Ronnie has witnessed many positive changes in the greenkeeping profession.
“I’ve seen massive enhancements in the profession and the trade and just the way that members now perceive greenkeepers,” he said. “Speaking to members from different golf clubs, they now appreciate what the greenkeeping profession does.
“Before, it was just a case of ‘they only cut grass’, but it’s become more and more technical. I can remember back in the 1970s when the first thing you threw on the grass in spring was nitro chalk to get the grass growing. If you got disease, you just sprayed it and there was no throught to what you were doing to the soil. So, we’re much better now.”
Ronnie was introduced to greenkeeper associations by Bob Moffat, the secretary of the Scottish & International Golf Greenkeepers Association from 1963 to 1976, and he joined his first committee aged just 20.
Ronnie said: “My first event was at Windy Hills Golf Club in 1971 and myself and Bob picked up a guy called Ian Fraser, who also became SIGGA secretary. We dropped him off at his house afterwards and I met his daughter Kay, who I later married. So believe it or not, SIGGA was what introduced me to my wife.
At Erskine, Ronnie hosted the Scottish Professional Championship, won by Sam Torrance and broadcast live on the BBC. The family then relocated to Helensburgh, where the venue hosted multiple amateur European championships. Ronnie continues to volunteer at high level events to this day, heading to The JCB last summer as Callum Wark and his team hosted a LIV Golf event, and volunteering for The Open Volunteer Support Team in 2022.
While still based in Scotland, Ronnie was actually leading a double life as a first class match official, overseeing Scottish first division matches. He’d got into this second career through a member at East Kilbride who was also a refereeing supervisor. Ronnie gave it a go and worked his way through the ranks, eventually running the line for an Old Firm game in January 1987 – despite being a lifelong Rangers fan.
He must have done a good job, however, as a letter arrived through the post soon after informing Ronnie that he’d been selected to join the officiating team for a European Cup tie in Copenhagen, a match that coincidentally was future Rangers legend Brian Laudrup’s first European appearance.
“It just shows you how one game can make or break your career,” Ronnie said. “Just that one high profile game and everything went right for me.
“It was funny because I flew out there with two other guys who had lots of experience. The chaperone picked us up at the airport and said ‘where do you want to go?’ The referee, David, said ‘We’ve a big game tomorrow, just take us to the hotel’. Well, I was wanting to have a look around Copenhagen so I was a bit disappointed.
“We got back to the hotel and David said ‘I’ll see you downstairs in five minutes’. He just wanted to get rid of the chaperone! We were refereeing a Champions League game at six o’clock on the Wednesday and we got in at three o’clock in the morning and then had to do a pitch inspection before lunch!”
Five more European ties awaited Ronnie, including a hair-raising trip to communist East Berlin, but the strains of doing a full-time greenkeeping job and match officiating were beginning to tell on the family. A broken leg suffered at his wife’s birthday party during an ill-advised attempt at skateboarding left Ronnie in a plaster cast for 16 weeks and it was soon after that he decided to hang up his flag and whistle.
Although Ronnie became a football coach for his two sons, he remained connected to the professional game through his friendship with Alan Ferguson, then the head groundsman at Ibrox and now head of pitches for FIFA. Being a matchday groundsperson enabled him to bring his family along to games, but there was yet another twist in the tale.
Ronnie explained: “The mascot at Rangers is called Broxi Bear and the guy who played him was unwell. Alan came into the ground and said ‘They’re looking for someone to be Broxi Bear today’ and stupidly I said ‘I’ll do it!’. I began doing every home game and before I knew it, I was doing it on a permanent basis, so for two and a half years, I was Broxi Bear.”
When changes circumstances in his greenkeeping career meant he could no longer play the role, Ronnie passed the costume on to an apprentice, who has since also forged a fantastic career in greenkeeping.
That ability to not take yourself too seriously, while the sense of authority required to be a high level official, has helped Ronnie throughout his career.
Ronnie said: “Alan McInally, who works for Sky Sports, was playing in a reserve game at Celtic Park. He had been nipping at me the whole game, so I called him over and said ‘It’s Tuesday night and I left the house to get away from somebody like you, so pack it in’. He says, ‘you must have a wife like mine, referee!’. It’s thing like that, that diffuse a situation right away. It’s the same in all walks of life. I don’t like conflict, but if you can diffuse the heat of a moment by having a conversation, it helps to manage people.
“It’s the same with members. If you tell them what you’re doing and the reason why you’re doing it, at least they know the facts and they’ll hopefully go away and digest what you’ve told them.”
Out on the golf course, Ronnie’s greenkeeping career took a twist as he made the decision to move the family to Yorkshire, taking up the head greenkeeper role at Scarcroft near Leeds.
“It was the best club I every worked for,” said Ronnie. “The things they did for me and my family were unbelievable.”
But the family failed to settle and after three years they moved back to Scotland, where Ronnie’s career continued at Buchanan Castle, the place he would remain until retiring from full-time work in 2022.
Ronnie’s deputy, Matt Housman, remains course manager at Scarcroft today and he’s part of a long legacy that Ronnie is particularly proud of. Among his former staff he now counts 11 current head greenkeepers, with many others in various roles across the golf industry.
After retiring from Buchanan Castle, Ronnie has taken up part-time seasonal work at Stirling, close to where the family now stays.
“This might seem strange,” Ronnie said. “But the last two years have been my most enjoyable in greenkeeping. I come in on a morning, I cut greens or whatever James [the course manager] asks me to do. Then I wash the machine, put it away and go home. I’m not having to worry about managing staff, managing budgets, managing everything and it has just given me great satisfaction.”
The BIGGA presidency role may mean he steps away from Stirling for the next year or so, but Ronnie sees it as an opportunity to give back to the profession that has given him so much.
“This year I hope we’re able to enhance the profile of greenkeepers and continue the progression of our association, which has come a long way over the last 10 to 15 years. Fifty years ago it was thought of as a dead end profession but now, there’s a real opportunity that comes with greenkeeping and the chance to build a great career.
“My first job was on the golf course, my refereeing career started on the golf course because the refereeing supervisor was a member at East Kilbride, and I met my wife through golf. It’s just amazing how golf has impacted my life.”
The Legacy Club
Through the greenkeepers he has worked with throughout his 50 years in greenkeeping, Ronnie has already left a remarkable legacy. But not content, he now sits alongside other Scottish greenkeeping veterans to develop the Legacy Club.
This is a group of BIGGA members who have been in greenkeeping 25 years or more and who are over 55 years of age. Anyone working in Scotland who falls into that category is invited to attend the club, which hosts events including the Legacy Championship in June each year. The group also decides the winners of several Scottish Awards categories and determines the president and vice-president of BIGGA Scotland.
But there’s also the opportunity for mentoring the next generation that Ronnie is keen to explore.
Ronnie said: “The Legacy Club is about having that expertise and passing it on to the next generation. We sat around a table one day, there was 24 of us, and we realised we had over 1,000 years’ worth of experience in greenkeeping between us.
“Trainee greenkeepers may not realise that the world is their oyster, but a greenkeeper trained in the UK is worth their weight in gold and that’s recognised the world over.
“OK, for four months of the year it’s head down, trying to battle against the elements, but from spring onwards when it’s bright mornings and the birds are singing, do you want to be stuck in an office or do you want to work in this environment? It’s such a wonderful occupation and I hope over the next 18 months the Legacy Club begins to help people appreciate that.”
For more information about the Legacy Club, contact John Young, BIGGA MSM for Scotland and Northern Ireland.
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