My Journey through the wonderful game of golf (part 2)

The second part in a series of articles from golfshake.com'sy own John Pettitt . This part continues the story through the 60s. For the first part see here .

My Journey through the wonderful game of golf (part 2)

It was 1963 when I finally achieved my Scratch status and was picked for my first County match for Essex against Suffolk. I managed to scrape a half against a very good player by the name of David Whinney.

It was at this time that I moved down to Weybridge, Surrey because of work. Vickers Aircraft company at Brooklands was the company I worked for as an ‘Adrema ‘printing operator on permanent  night shifts, my job being to print out all the job cards for the VC 10 which was being built at that time.

Featured Content

Just across the road from the factory was probably the best inland course in Surrey and up there with the best in the country. I am talking about St.Georges Hill Golf Club. I was fortunate enough to be able to get ‘Artisan’ membership for the princely sum of £2 per annum with the proviso that I raked and trimmed one bunker on the course every Friday evening, ready for the week-end members to play. Golf here was a delight and we had a very competitive membership of 36 who attended very regularly. Our only restriction was that we had to be clear of the first tee by 0730 hrs in the morning at week-ends, but as our hut was in the trees by the second tee it was never a problem.


St. Georges Hill Golf Club

One Friday afternoon I was at the club and strolled down to the first tee where a three ball was getting ready to play, on seeing me as a single, they asked if I would care to join them. I immediately said yes and thanked them very much, realising at the same time that here I was about to play with, Charlie Drake, Eric Sykes and Spike Milligan. Charlie immediately piped up that they normally played for five a corner and was that alright with me. I replied fine, and then thought; well five shillings won’t break me.

As it turned out I took the money off all of them only to be gob smacked when they each thrust a fiver in my hand and asking me if I would care to join them the following Friday.  We played most of that summer and I was taking off them more than I was earning from my employment. Eric’s house backed onto the short third and he would always pop in for a bottle of scotch and so you can imagine the banter between them was hilarious to say the least. I can remember Charlie taking a divot up the  fifth about a foot long and he picked it up and waved it in the air asking Eric what he should do with it and the quick response was “Take it home and practice on it”.

The first hole at St. Georges Hill Golf Club, Weybridge, Surrey

The club held a 36 hole scratch event, the very prestigious” Silver Trophy” and although I never managed to win it, I did set a then course record of 66 which was a highlight for me.

I was fortunate to win the “Artisan Championship” at Wentworth in 1964 scoring 72, 70

I played in the “Berkshire Trophy” and in the third round compiled a very nice 64 on the Red, my best ever score.

I also played in the “Hampshire Hog” and two competitions of which I cannot remember the names of, at “North Hants G.C”, Fleet, and “Blackmoor G.C” at Bordon. Two excellent courses if you ever get the chance to play them.

Unfortunately in 1964, with my job then being made redundant I moved down to the West Country and Joined Clevedon Golf Club. I joined BRS as an Articulated HGV1 driver doing mainly Scottish runs so was away from home most of the week, although I did manage to get some games in during the light evenings in the Summer in Scotland, but golf was mainly a week-end only game for me, but even with this problem I still managed to keep my scratch status for four years until they changed the system to the SSS and everyone on scratch was immediately put up two shots. I managed to get back to one pretty quickly but never ever made it back to scratch although I did have a realistic chance one year in the last open of the season. This was the Long Ashton Vase and even though I finished second to David Hemmings of Yeovil G. C. my score was not good enough to be cut.

I also reached the final of the regional John Player Classic after my semi final opponent; George Irlam gave me a bye as he did not wish to play me at my home club, after I had turned down his offer of two strokes to play him at Weston, his home club. In the final I lost to a Yeovil G.C. player who played for Dorset, Trevor Griffin, on the last after I failed to make a rather long carry over a dog leg on the final hole. I cannot blame anyone other than myself for gambling on a difficult shot at a critical stage of the game. Another learning experience.

Check back next week to read on.

For the first part see here .