Book marks Lancashire centenary

LANCASHIRE is richer in championship and major tournament venues than any other county in Britain and Dr David Marsh, doyen of the amateur game, says: “We are indeed lucky to live and play golf in an area with such a rich history. And we thank those whose vision and enthusiasm has left us such a great legacy.”

It is this colourful legacy which is brought vividly to life by journalist David Birtill in a new book charting the centenary of the Lancashire Union of Golf Clubs. 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 – the stories of triumph and tragedy, determination, despair, drive and delight are told with a casual style and an easy eye for the offbeat and the amusing.

With painstaking attention to detail he 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, er, Tasmania.

There’s an affectionate portrait of Dr Marsh (pictured) 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 & 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.

Who better to pen the foreword to this production – A4-sized, hardback and packed with pictures – and to sum it up: “Lancashire golfers should treasure this excellent book and the stories it relates.”

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 & 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. Ronnie White of Royal Birkdale, certainly the best British amateur of his time; Jackie Jones of Grange Park; Dixie Rawlinson and Geoff Roberts of S&A; Geoff Birtwell of Fairhaven and Denton’s Bob Bardsley, another five-times Lancashire champion, who all played for England.

The Lancashire centenary also marks David Birtill’s 25 years as the PGA North Region press officer. After a lengthy career with the regional and national press he retired in 2006 from the Manchester Evening News but continues to write golf for the newspaper and other publications. He lives at Withnell Fold and is a long-standing member of Chorley Golf Club.

Lancashire Links celebrates the centenary of the Lancashire Union of Golf Clubs and is being distributed from the county headquarters at Lytham St Annes (email secretary@lancashiregolf.org or phone 01253 733323). It can also be ordered from club secretaries. At £15, the 240-page hardback is an ideal Christmas present for anyone interested in the sport.