Andrew Woodworth has been elected as the Bermuda Golf Association’s newest president.

The avid golfer and Ariel Re employee ran unopposed for the top post, which he will serve in for the next two years, during the association’s AGM at Riddell’s Bay Golf & Country Club last month.

During his term, Woodworth hopes to achieve several objectives aimed at “resurrecting” what he termed as a “failing” golf industry.

He said: “As far as goals over the next couple of years, returning the association to solid financial footing and profitability, renew our members’ interests in participating in our events and doing what we can to resurrect what is a failing industry.

“A couple of our golf clubs are in receivership, a couple more that are not doing well, two that have closed being Horizons and St George’s and understanding the importance of the industry to both the tourism product and just to the social fabric of Bermuda, I think our desire is to keep that from falling apart and continue to build on it.

“Maybe some of the past administrations have had grandiose plans and we have thumbed it down a little bit to look at some small steps to just restoring grassroots interests in the Bermuda Golf Association and the things we do.”

He added: “If you look at the association, our primary goal is to keep increasing relevance to our members. The tournaments are starting to come along nicely, participation is up and the quality of the events is up.

“We have spent a lot of time in the last few years trying to rein in some of the spending of the organisation because funding has been dropping over the years and we have lost a lot of government funding, as have a lot of other sports, and we have to adapt to that.”

The BGA’s full board of directors now consists of Woodworth, vice-president Jarryd Dillas, treasurer Gary Burnet, secretary William Haddrell and committee members Valerie Nearon, David Burgess, Christopher Brough and Linda Down.

Haddrell and Down are the committee’s newest members, having replaced Susie Kendell Marshall and Anthony Mocklow. Marshall resigned as BGA secretary along with president Nicholas Mansell under controversial circumstances last year while committee member Mocklow did not seek re-election. Woodworth served as acting president after Mansell resigned.

“The new board has a lot of depth and experience in terms of competitive golfers and good depth in terms of people with business experience,” Woodworth said. “It is probably the most functional board that the association has had in a long time, with everybody sharing common vision and goals.”

Mansell stepped down as BGA president last October amid a difference of opinion over the association’s reluctance to hold last year’s Bermuda Goodwill Pro-Am after suffering a $19,000 loss running the previous event.

He was advised by fellow BGA board member Christopher Brough in an e-mail that the BGA “are not in a position to take on” the tournament in its present form. Brough expressed concerns that running the tournament presented a conflict of interest for the BGA. He said in the e-mail that running the tournament put a big strain on the BGA’s limited financial and manual resources, which he felt could be put to use elsewhere.

Asked if there was any possibility that the BGA would be involved in the running of this year’s Bermuda Goodwill Tournament, Woodworth said: “There is still a lot of discussions ongoing with what is going to happen with the Goodwill and what everybody’s involvement will be in that.”

After stepping down from their BGA posts, Mansell and Marshall formed a new company, Tee to Green, which ran last year’s Goodwill in the absence of the BGA.