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A century of amazing tales from Britain's golfing capital
LANCASHIRE is richer in championship and major tournament venues than any other county in the British Isles...
So with the centenary year of the Lytham-based Lancashire Union of Golf Clubs coming up in January, writer David Birtill has produced a thorough, richly-illustrated history worthy of such a momentous milestone.
From the first hesitant steps in the years before the First World War to the steadily expanding union of recent times – there are now 142 affiliated clubs in Lancashire – the stories of triumph and tragedy, determination, despair, drive and delight are told in depth.
With commendable attention to detail Birtill recalls characters such as:
* Arnold Bentley, the man who forced Adolf Hitler to retreat
* Dick Burton, the Darwen weaver who won the Open at St Andrews
* Five-times county champion Sam Robinson.
* War hero and all-round sportsman John Zacharias
* European Tour player Nick Dougherty
* Rising stars such as Tommy Fleetwood, James Robinson and Matthew Nixon
* Gordon Whitehead, who won a Rolls Royce in a round of golf with a pal
* And songwriter and eccentric Howard Broadbent who once topped the pop charts in that capital of culture – Tasmania!
There's an affectionate portrait of Dr David Marsh who starred in a Walker Cup match and represented England on 75 occasions, later serving as captain of both teams.
He twice won the English Amateur Championship, was captain of the Royal and Ancient, president of the English and Lancashire golf unions and was an England selector at all levels.
He has had a real impact on the game regionally and nationally for more than half a century.
By the spring of 1910 there was a healthy quorum of clubs to establish the Lancashire Union.
The county quickly launched a championship event which produced both a first champion in George Smith and a first champion club in Lancaster.
The English Golf Union was founded in the mid-1920s and an early president of Lancashire, J. Rayner Batty, became its first president.
Two World Wars inevitably meant setbacks to progress.
However, from 1946, golf moved forward and the following years brought expansion, changes, improvements and an increasing popularity.
Top amateur golfers were well known in the early days.
Players such as Sam Robinson, of Southport and Ainsdale, the wealthy and much-travelled Bentley brothers from Hesketh, and Ivor Thomas, of Formby.
They were all internationals who performed with distinction in the years before the Second World War.
The names of the leading players who followed on are perhaps more familiar to a certain generation.
Ronnie White, of Royal Birkdale, rated by many the best British amateur of his time; Jackie Jones of Grange Park; Dixie Rawlinson and Geoff Roberts of Southport and Ainsdale; Geoff Birtwell, of Fairhaven, and Denton's Bob Bardsley, another five-times Lancashire champion, who all played for England.
Lancashire Links celebrates the centenary of the Lancashire Union of Golf Clubs and is being distributed from the county headquarters at Lytham St Annes (01253 733323). It is also available from club secretaries.
At 15, it is excellent value and fills an important need in Lancashire golf literature.
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Weather for Blackpool
Wednesday 30 May 2012
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