JOHN PANTON AWARD - Bill Lockie receives 2018 PGA honour

Ayrshire golf professional Bill Lockie is the 2018 recipient of the Professional Golfers’ Association prestigious John Panton Award for outstanding services to golf, which was presented at the annual lunch of the PGA in Glasgow in December 2018.

Bill Lockie with the John Panton Award
Photograph courtesy of Kenny Smith Photography

A very well known and respected figure throughout the county and beyond, Bill’s roots remained firmly in his native Ayrshire throughout his career.

His playing expertise came to the fore as a boy when, as a thirteen year old playing out of the Troon St Meddans club, he won the Ayrshire Boys Championship at Irvine GC in 1961. He repeated his county boys’ title win in 1965, the year after he won the 1964 Scottish Boys Championship title.

In 1968 Bill won the Scottish Universities Championship before embarking on his professional career where he did his PGA training at Turnberry and worked for a short time at Royal Troon before taking the club professional’s post at Kilmarnock (Barassie) in 1974, where he remained for over 20 years.

Though his main focus was on his club duties and player development, Bill still competed when the opportunity arose, with successes including the 1970 Scottish Assistants’ Championship, the 1982 Scottish Alliance title, the 2000 Scottish Seniors’ Professional Championship, and the British PGA Seniors' Professional title in 2008. 

During his time at Kilmarnock (Barassie) Bill built an enduring reputation as a coach which saw him progress to coach many an Ayrshire youngster at club and county level as well as both the Scottish Mens’ and Ladies’ squads during his career, and he continues to use extensive knowledge to contribute to the development of the game as he still assesses PGA trainees during their training.

 Bill’s coaching acumen continues in the family, with son Neil, a former Ayrshire county player himself, employed as the director of golf at Jonathan’s Landing Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida, where he was voted Professional of the Year by the South Florida PGA Southeast Chapter last year.

It was wholly appropriate that the award was presented to Bill by PGA in Scotland chairman Alan Reid, who was a leading light in the junior section of Kilmarnock (Barassie) during Bill’s time at the club.

Sincere congratulations are extended to Bill from everyone at The Ayrshire Golf Association on this very well deserved award.