Just before Christmas the Southern African Hall of Fame dinner was held at Oubaai. And much of the excitement of the evening was centred around the stars that attended: Ernie Els, Retief Goosen and Mark McNulty. As the evening progressed, 23 people were inducted into the Hall of Fame and, although all the obvious people were included, it was the ‘original golf people’ who stole the show.
Peter Sauerman, an ex-president of the SAGA and an ex-captain of Royal Cape, who is also the foremost historian on South African golf, introduced General Henry Torrens, Jimmy Prentice, Arthur Godbold and Douglas Proudfoot. He explained in his introduction how they brought golf to South Africa and what their involvement was in all aspects of the game in those early days, 125 years ago. I had the privilege of introducing Bob Grimsdell, South Africa’s prolific golf course designer, and RG Fall, who was involved with the original SA Golf Magazine from its inception in 1926 until his death some 50 years later.
Vincent Tshabalala introduced his contemporary from the ‘60s, Papwa Sewgolum. Papwa’s story should never be forgotten and now that he’s in the Hall of Fame he will not only be remembered, he will be honoured for all time.
Later in the evening, I overheard Ernie and Retief commenting that they had “learnt more about the history of South African golf tonight than [they’d] learnt in [their] whole live[s].”
That is exactly why the Hall of Fame and the Museum of Golf are so important. Current golfers should be able to find out who came before. Find out about the people who have made golf great. The history and the traditions are such an important aspect of the game and they need to be treasured. Imagine how much poorer golf would be without all the golf books which tell us about Walter Hagen, Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan, Sam Snead and Byron Nelson. I wonder how many of the younger golfers know as much as they should about golf’s ‘Big Three’: Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus.
There are many wonderful books published about the great champions of the past. James Dodson has written some superb books and two in particular should be read: the autobiography he wrote with Arnold Palmer, A Golfer’s Life and the biography called Ben Hogan: An American Life. Mark Frost has two books in the same vein which should also be read. The first was made into a movie, The Greatest Game ever Played, about the 1913 US Open won by American amateur Francis Ouimet, and the second, a book titled The Match, tells the story of a fourball match between the two best pros against the two best amateurs of the mid ‘50s. There is a very interesting link between the two books and the clever way he weaves in stories about all the different personalities. These are just four of many books that should be required reading for young golfers getting into the game.
The word-of-mouth stories are just as important. Denis Hutchinson and I were driving around East London Golf Club preparing for the commentary of the Africa Open and Hutch started telling me about the final of the South African Amateur in 1954. He had got into the final and was pitted against Alan Jackson. It was amazing. He remembered every shot that both of them hit in the 37-hole final. Hutchie tells a lovely story about that match when he was 5 up after the morning round and then gave Alan a lesson at lunch. After lunch Alan got the five holes back and then holed a 73-foot putt at the 37th to win. Later in the week I got a call from Bobby Verwey asking me why Hutch never chatted about that match in commentary. His version was that Hutch was 6 down after 18 in the 1952 Amateur and lost 4 & 3 to Alan Jackson. I loved it! I could catch out one of South Africa’s greatest golfing storytellers. Now all I need to do is hear Alan Jackson’s side of the story!
I had the benefit of growing up listening to the stories my dad and eldest brother John used to tell about the tour of their days. Just as much fun are the stories about the characters from the various golf clubs around the world. I love the story about Tinsley Pennick, Harvey’s son who took over from his father as golf director of Austen Country Club in Texas. One day a man walked into the golf shop, asked for Tinsley and said, “I’m almost 50 years old. I’ve made tons of money, I’m a pretty good golfer, a four handicap and I want you to give me lessons because I want to join the Senior Tour.” Tinsley took him aside and said quietly, “Why don’t you amble over to the driving range. There’s a fellow hitting balls who is also almost 50. He’s also made tons of money and he’s getting ready for the Senior Tour. Watch him hit a few shots and then come back to tell me what you think.” Ten minutes later the fellow came back and said, “I see what you mean.” It was Tom Kite on the range. At least the fellow had the good sense to finish off by asking Tinsley for a lesson anyway.
