Past and present clients include; AIG, Barclays, Bosch, Brake Bros, BT, BP, Compaq, Cisco Systems, Canada Life, CMP Information, GM, Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity, Hertz, Honeywell, JCB, Lancashire Insurance, Liberty, Lloyd’s Register, Marsh, Motability, Merrill Lynch, Microsoft, Nortel Networks, Patek Philippe, QBE, RBC, Rockwell Collins, Royal & Sun Alliance, Saab, Samsung, Sixt, Sparks Charity, Sony, Tokio Marine, UBS Warburg, Vauxhall and Willis.,
The combination of activities within the business makes Clarion Golf a unique company in the golfing marketplace.
Clarion Golf was originally founded in 1973 as Barwell Sports Management, a sponsorship consultancy and event management business. Back in 1973 the company was active in a variety of sports including athletics, badminton, equestrian eventing, football, orienteering, power boating, rugby and snooker. Non executive directors included gold medal winning olympian Dame Mary Peters, golfer Peter Alliss and Lord Gough.
In 1983, Ian Pilcher joined Barwell from The Dunlop Sports Company, bringing with him a wealth of golf event and player management experience and a small stable of exceptional golfers. Amongst them was Ian Woosnam, who signed a management deal with the company. Ian Woosnam went on to become arguably the greatest Welsh golfer of all time, with 52 professional wins including the U.S. Masters in 1991 and eight Ryder Cup appearances as a player and another as a winning Captain.
In 1989, with a change of directors, the name of the company was changed to Clarion Sports Management & Marketing and more emphasis was placed upon golf within the company’s portfolio. The degree to which the company specialised in golf steadily increased during the years that followed and led to increased success as the popularity of golf progressively grew.
In 1998 the company changed its name once more, to Clarion Golf Management & Marketing, reflecting entirely the company’s specialisation.
During the early eighties, the company was also responsible for the management of the British Caledonian Golf Lions, a team of twelve leading professionals who competed on the world tournament circuit.
The professional players, who wore their own distinctive apparel, included Sam Torrance, Carl Mason, Ewan Murray, David Llewellan, Sandy Lyle, Ian Woosnam, Brian Huggett, Gordon Brand and Bernard Gallagher; many went on to become household names.
