After 12 years, Cowie is stepping down from the role.
He has been involved with golf for most of his life as a talented low-handicap player, a coach of many Cromwell juniors and the driving force behind the Cromwell College Golf Academy.
He spent his early years in Tarras where his father, David, worked for the Rabbit Board. His introduction to golf, as an 11-year-old, was as a caddy for the late Stuart Jenkins, who took him to Wanaka.
''I had my leg in plaster for a long time and could not take part in running games and so I turned to golf,'' Cowie said.
''There was no golf course in Tarras in those days and so I began by hitting golf balls around a farm paddock.''
The family moved to Cromwell, where Cowie attended Cromwell District High School and continued to improve his golf.
He recalls the first tournament he played in on the Queenstown course, shooting 75 off a 12 handicap in the morning only to have his handicap cut to seven for the afternoon round.
On leaving school, Cowie went to Dunedin Teachers College, playing very little golf during that time.
His first teaching position was at Hawea Flat and he joined the Wanaka club, getting down to a handicap of five. He returned to Dunedin, teaching at Macandrew Intermediate and making his debut for Otago in the 1964 Freyberg Rosebowl on the Manawatu course.
Cowie played for Otago in five national tournaments but competing became more difficult when he returned to Tarras as school principal in 1967.
He moved to Cromwell District High School in 1972 as the deputy principal and started coaching golf in earnest in 1977.
When the school split into Cromwell College and two primary schools, Cowie remained at the college until 1986.
In 1987, he moved to Hamilton where, along with others, he had purchased the Westland golf course.
''This was a very difficult time, as 1987 was when the big sharemarket crash happened and income from the course dropped.''
Cowie returned to Cromwell College the following year as the school's guidance counsellor, a position he held for 15 years.
In 1998, Cowie's golf coaching role became more formal with the formation of the Cromwell College Golf Academy.
''The golf and outdoor pursuits programmes brought many outsiders to the school and they boarded at the Cromwell College Apartments.
''I have had boys and girls from all over New Zealand as well as from overseas. Four years ago I had an influx of eight students from Germany and this was a very busy time.''
Cowie has worked hard for the Cromwell club, having driven the Dunes housing development which has benefited the club by $450,000.
He was made a life member of the club a decade ago and, despite relinquishing the convener's's role, will remain an Otago under-16 and schoolboy selector.
But his greatest legacy will be from his junior coaching. Brad Stuart and Willie Moore played at No1 and No2 for Canterbury after leaving school, while Louise Stephens must rate as the top girl. Stephens played in the Otago women's team while at the academy.
Cowie's coaching and promoting role has not finished. Inia Logan and Liam Robertson are two pupils who are showing great promise. Logan (15) has already made his mark, winning the Otago schoolboy matchplay title at Chisholm Park this year.
