American Golf appoints new CEO

International Leisure Group in conjunction with Endless LLP has announced Nigel Oddy as its newly appointed CEO.

Oddy will succeed Gary Favell from 11 April 2023 and assume responsibilities for ILG, including Europe’s leading golf retailer, American Golf.

Before joining American Golf, Oddy most recently held the position of interim CEO of Matalan and prior to that, CEO of New Look.

He previously also worked in C suite and senior roles with The Range, House of Fraser, and Marks and Spencer.

ILG said that Oddy joins American Golf at “an exciting time, where the sport is enjoying heightened awareness and growth in participation”.

Commenting on his appointment, Oddy said: “I am very excited to join the team at ILG and have been a customer of American Golf for many years. I have watched the progress of the company as an omnichannel golf retailer since Endless LLP acquired the company in 2018, and the new store concept is best in class in the UK and European golf retail.

“Additionally, it has a market leading position in Custom Fit golf clubs, a portfolio of wholly owned brands, and is developing multi-dimensional golf leisure sites. This is a Group incredibly well positioned to maximise the opportunity created by the explosion of golf participation over the last three years.”

Richard Cotter, chairman of ILG, said: “We are very pleased to have Oddy join the Board of International Leisure Group as CEO, this is a very exciting time for the Group and for golf in general as participation levels remain very strong vs pre-covid numbers, with lots of new players joining the game and golf club membership flourishing.

“Oddy will bring a huge depth of experience having run multi-site retail, online and leisure businesses across Europe as we build on our position as the UK and Europe’s biggest and best golf retailer.”