New Zealand Golf has a new chairman.

He is Murray Ward who had been a New Zealand Golf director for the previous six years. He replaces Paul Fyfe from Wellington who had been chairman for three years.

Ward lives on the North Shore in Auckland and has a background of developing and managing companies in the information technology sector, both in New Zealand and overseas. He now spends his time as a professional company director serving a number of New Zealand’s leading organisations in a diverse range of industry sectors.

Ward is a keen sportsman and plays off a single figure handicap at Omaha Beach Golf Club and the North Shore Golf Club. He is passionate about the game at both local and governance level and is a past president of Omaha Beach Golf Club.

A new deputy chairman has also been elected. He is Michael Smith who is a Tauranga-based lawyer with an extensive corporate and commercial legal background. Smith is an experienced company director having served on public company boards in New Zealand and Australia and is currently a director of Port of Tauranga Limited and chairman of Quayside Holdings Limited.

He is also chairman of Quay Street Assett Management Limited, Craigs Investment Partners Superannuation Management Limited and is a director of Craigs Custodial Services and First Mortgage Trust. Smith also sits on the New Zealand Community Trust Regional Advisory committee for the Bay of Plenty.

Smith became hooked on golf after caddying for Ryder Cup player Peter Oosterhuis at the age of 12 and has since had an extensive participation in the sport as a player at senior interclub level and as an administrator.

The full board of New Zealand Golf is:

Murray Ward (chairman), Michael Smith (deputy chairman), Anna Shires, Maryanne Marlow, Adrienne Greenwood, Mike Howard, Max Walker and Matt Kenny.

New chairman for New Zealand Golf