GARY Pearce has joined Fulford Golf Club as its centenary celebrations go on full beam.

But the new general manager is determined that amid all the 100-year magic throughout 2006, the club remains focused on being a thriving operation well into its second century.

And that means subtly shifting a perception that Fulford GC is an institution rooted in the past, albeit an illustrious one.

Said the 37-year-old Pearce: "When some people think of Fulford you'll hear them say 'oh yes, isn't that the club that staged a big tournament (the Benson & Hedges) so many years ago?'

"We want to be a club of the new millennium.

"I want to make sure the club remains at the forefront of golf in Yorkshire and that will mean breaking the idea that we are a club that belongs to the 1980s when the Benson and Hedges tournament was here."

That championship - a vibrant part of the British golfing calendar and burgeoning European Tour for close on two decades - provided the Doncaster-born Pearce with his most vivid memories of Fulford.

No mean golfer himself, his contemporaries at his Wheatley Hills GC base included current Euro Tour pro Ian Garbutt, Pearce recalled: "I was here with a group of friends in 1988 when Peter Baker got an eagle on the 18th hole to force a play-off with Nick Faldo. We then walked back along to the 18th and Baker got another eagle to win.

"Little did I realise then as a teenager that one day I would return here and be appointed as general manager."

Pearce first started playing the game as a 12-year-old after being encouraged by his parents, who were long-time members at Wheatley.

Pearce reconciled himself to the fact that he was not quite at top playing level, but began his business studies and recreational management degree course at Leeds Carnegie Sports College resolved to remain in the sport.

His first full-time job after leaving university was with the Marriott Hotel Group at the prestigious Dalmahoy Golf Club in Edinburgh.

Within two years he was head-hunted by the American Golf Corporation, which was seeking to establish a foothold. He spent just over two years at the Cottersmore club in Sussex, which comprised a hotel and 36-hole course.

Both he and his wife Carol, who have a six-year-old son Matthew and ten-month-old daughter Hannah, hankered for a return to their Yorkshire roots and Pearce was installed as director of golf with the Marriott group's Hollins Hall Hotel just outside Bradford in 1999.

Initially pitched at premium prices, the Hollins Hall complex was not attracting sufficient members. So Pearce advocated a change in policy that stimulated growth. It was also at the complex that he witnessed the professionalism of the likes of Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson, whose squad stayed at Hollins Hall in preparation for Premiership clashes against Leeds United and Bradford City before both West Yorkshire clubs' demise.

Pearce thoroughly enjoyed his time at Hollins Hall, insisting there were only one or two other posts in Yorkshire golf that would have lured him away. One of them was Fulford and in centenary year at that.

"I've never been anywhere where the members are so aware of the social set-up. If something needs doing then you instantly have volunteers willing to do it," he enthused.

"Since I have arrived everyone has been so welcoming and willing to lend a hand, which is fantastic.

"This is a club that does not need major change. It just needs everything bringing together especially for this, the centenary year, and also for many more years to come."

Updated: 09:55 Saturday, April 29, 2006