Excellence recognised at the Wales Golf Awards

25 March 2026

GCMA members were among the winners at the Wales Golf Awards, held in the Twenty Ten Clubhouse at Ryder Cup venue Celtic Manor.

Mountain Ash General Manager Gareth Evans and Machynys Resort GM Nick Daniels enjoyed a day to remember at the Wales Golf Awards as both picked up major honours.

The ceremony, sponsored by Topracer, was held in the Twenty Ten Clubhouse at Ryder Cup venue Celtic Manor. Among the winners was Gareth, who made the move into golf club management in 2024 after a distinguished career with Citizens Advice.

He was named Manager of the Year following a transformative period at Mountain Ash, where his leadership has delivered significant growth in both membership and green fee income, alongside a renewed focus on positioning the club as a welcoming community hub.

That progress has been underpinned by a strong commercial approach, with Gareth driving cost efficiencies, increasing engagement and modernising the club’s offering.

“I never in a million years thought I’d achieve Manager of the Year,” he said. “It was a big gamble changing career, but I’m really pleased with how it’s worked out. We’ve made a lot of changes to futureproof the club and learned from past mistakes. To be recognised like this is a massive, proud moment.”

At Machynys, Nick oversaw the club being named Club of the Year, recognition of the scale and cohesion of a proprietary operation that spans multiple departments across golf, leisure and hospitality.

Having worked his way up from Assistant Professional to GM, Nick has placed a clear emphasis on aligning teams across the business, creating a more unified culture that has driven progress across all areas of the club.

“It’s a massive honour for us,” he said. “The buzz around the club has been fantastic and it just shows what can be achieved when everyone pulls together. We’ve got 86 members of staff across different departments and every single one has played a part in this – it really is a team effort.”

A total of 17 awards were handed out across categories including Sustainability Project of the Year, which the host venue claimed, and Competition Venue of the Year, which went to Pyle & Kenfig Golf Club.

“We had some amazing entries for this year’s awards, both in terms of a record number of entries but with the quality to go with the quantity,” said Wales Golf chief Executive Hannah McAllister.

“It shows there is so much good work going on across the Welsh golf clubs, not only through our impressive set of winners but also many of those who missed out this time round were incredibly strong candidates as well.”

Wales Golf Awards winners

Club of the Year: Machynys
Manager of the Year: Gareth Evans (Mountain Ash)
Sustainability Project of the Year: Celtic Manor Resort
Competition Venue of the Year: Pyle & Kenfig Golf Club
Visit Wales Golf Tourism Award: Conwy Golf Club
Women & Girls Project of the Year: Whitchurch Golf Club
Junior Club of the Year: Swansea Bay Golf Club

By GCMA Content Team

More from Your Community

‘AMP courses have made me a better manager’

24 Mar 2026By GCMA Content Team

The Advanced Management Programme is helping to shape stronger, more…

Why Royal Blackheath introduced member focus groups

16 Mar 2026By GCMA Content Team

Ben Driver explains how member focus groups can uncover recurring…

Delivering a pro shop refurb on a budget without losing the wow factor

11 Mar 2026By GCMA Content Team

Hallamshire’s budget-friendly shop refurb shows how smart thinking can elevate…

John Steele

John Steele is a former professional athlete, sports coach, Olympic Leader and is the Executive Director of Sport at Loughborough University. He has been Chief Executive across a range of sectors. Drawing on leadership experience of nine different Olympic and Paralympic Games (including the amazing events at the Rio Games), John reflects on the lessons from this unique period in British sport and relays his fascinating views on creating high performing teams.

Indeed, inspired from PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games, by the most successful performance ever for Team GB, he has a whole host of new business and leadership insights into how this was brilliant performance was achieved and how it can translate back into your organisation.

John moved into the corporate world, before he enjoyed an outstanding career as a professional rugby player achieving international honours. After his playing career, he turned his hand to coaching and achieved the highest accolade for a British club coach by winning the European Cup with Northampton Saints. He then became Executive Director on the Saints Board during a period of unprecedented growth, and served on the England Rugby Board during the successful world cup campaign of 2003. It was no surprise that John’s talents were called upon to drive through a change and modernisation programme as CEO of the Rugby Football Union – a challenge that became controversial and ended in his departure from the post after only a year, but with his dignity and professional pride intact.

Headhunted by UK Sport, John took up post as CEO the day before London won the 2012 Olympic bid – and this promising start was sustained as he embarked on developing the UK’s high performance sport system, which he led for a six-year period of unprecedented success through the Beijing and London Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Post-London 2012, with the Olympic legacy in place and an obligation to continue inspiring a generation, John took up his post as Group Chief Executive of the Youth Sport Trust. He has also succeeded Steve Cram as Chairman of the English Institute of Sport, an organisation described as ‘the team behind the team’, which delivers a range of performance impacting solutions to over 40 Olympic and Paralympic sports and some non-Olympic sports.

This will close in 0 seconds

Dr Jo Salter MBE

Dr Jo Salter MBE is famed for becoming the first female fast jet pilot, having flown the Panavia Tornado ground attack aircraft during her services in the Royal Air Force. Joining the RAF aged 18, Jo has since taken Air Cadets into the skies as part of Air Experience Flights, become the Director of Global Transformative Leadership for PWC, and most recently become a Global Advisory of GenAI for PwC.

Jo has piloted flights in the Air Cadets Air Experience Flights and inspired countless budding armed service members to pioneer a male-dominated sector, having been the leader of an all-male squadron. Since leaving the military behind, Jo has established a strong business career working in roles such as Head of Technical Services for NetConnect, European Operations Manager for Automated Power Exchange and Managing Director of Saltin Ltd.

Having developed first-class expertise in leadership, analytical thinking and performing under pressure, Jo is now a highly sought-after public speaker to share stories from her time in the skies.

Jo is a passionate Trustee of The Royal Air Force Club and an Ambassador of the Global Angels charity, an organisation that gives communities around the world access to clean water, education, healthcare and encourages female and youth empowerment. Jo has also authored two books, titled Energy: 52 Ways to Fire Up Your Life and Become an Energy Angel and Energize: Spring Clean Your Mind and Body to Get Your Bounce Back Today and Every Day.

In recognition of her achievements throughout her career, Jo has also been named as one of the 50 Most Inspiring Women in the World by Harpers & Queen. She is now working as the Director of Global Transformation Leadership at PWC, after working in other roles such as Director of Risk Technology Strategy, Director Chief of Staff to Head of Technology & Investments and the Director of People & Organisations.

In 2022, Jo was invited personally by Tom Cruise to attend the premiere of Top Gun: Maverick. Most recently, Jo received an honorary doctorate of Arts from Bournemouth University.