It’s hard to believe that the force of nature that is Liz Kahn, a pioneering suffragette if ever there was one, will be 90 on Monday.  Happy birthday Mrs K, have a great day and thank you for all those battles you fought and won on our behalf.  We youngsters owe you more than we can ever repay.  However hard we have had to fight our corner and justify our existence, we have you to thank for slashing a route through the jungle and making our working lives in golf much easier.

The indomitable Liz (her late husband David always called her Elizabeth – in my hearing anyway) was one of the first woman golf writers to concentrate mainly on the men’s professional game but she also aided and abetted Vivien Saunders, a fellow femme formidable and others in the setting up of the women’s professional tour on this side of the Atlantic.  The WPGA (Women’s Professional Golf Association), founded in 1979, is now the LET (Ladies European Tour), thriving beyond most expectations.

If you’d like to know more about all this, take a look at the LET website (ladieseuropeantour.com) or YouTube and have a look at the interviews with Liz and some of the founders and early members.  Find “Celebrating The Founders” and enjoy; there’s a lot of fantastic stuff in there.

In her interview, Liz recalls the days when you could wander up to a player, any player and ask for a chat/interview, what is now called a one-to-0ne and is held up as some sort of holy grail, a pearl beyond price.  Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Tom Watson, Tony Jacklin, properly big names, some of the greats of the game, were more often than not happy to chat to golf writers, most of whom they knew pretty well.  Liz once asked Watson for an interview and was pleasantly surprised when he sought her out instead of waiting for the appointed time.  Happy days.

All that reminiscing reminded me of the time that I was at The Tradition in Arizona on the occasion of Nicklaus’s senior debut and Dai had primed Jack, a sucker for a practical joke, to wind me up.  The press conference, which included Trevino, who’d been cleaning up on the tour, was packed and when Jack singled me out – I think I was the lone woman – everybody thought he’d lost the plot.

By some miracle I’d won the Barbados Ladies’ Open Championship a few months before and was called out on that.  One of the seniors, I can’t remember which one, had questioned that Trevino was dominating the tour because he was only winning by one or two, so Lee said,  “I didn’t realise you had to win by more than one.  You don’t get paid any more.”   Then he asked me,  “How many did you win by?”

“I won by ten.”

Collapse of all parties.  “There,” Lee said, above the laughter.  “That’s dominating right there.”

I have the tape of the exchange, given to me by the Westers, who did the radio stuff.  It’s entitled “Trish, Jack and Lee at the Tradition 3/28/90” (bear in mind they were Americans) and just looking at it cracks me up.  What’s more, I now have something to play it on, having bought an old-fashioned tape machine from Richer Sounds in their recent sale.

The snapper apparently gave Dai a copy of this photograph on condition that he never published it because it was a bit risqué, all those years ago.  I came across it (and the tape) during my never-ending sorting and thought they worked well together and enough years had passed for the pic to be less than embarrassing.  We should be able to work out the year because of who’s in the picture and because Trevino didn’t win his singles – and had promised his team he’d do something to them all if he didn’t….Who said American Ryder Cup teams never bonded.?!!

I managed 13 holes on the golf course on Tuesday without too many ill effects but was glad to take my wonky left knee to the osteopath yesterday for a bit of a going over.  It is behaving much better and I was quite perky after my treatment and promised to be more diligent with the exercises prescribed by the sainted K, who keeps a lot of the golf club in working order.  She can’t do it all on her own.  It’s up to me to do my bit.

On my way home the traffic ground to a halt unexpectedly.  Blimey, not another set of temporary traffic lights; there are so many in Lichfield and environs at the moment that getting anywhere requires precise planning – or very early starts!  If it’s not HS2, it’s gas works or putting in pedestrian crossings so that punters can reach the Bowling Green (a big pub in the middle of an even bigger roundabout) without risking life and limb – and that’s before having a drink.  Friends once walked there but had to get a taxi home because they didn’t dare attempt to cross the road.  True story.  No exaggeration.

Where was I?  Oh yes, in a queue, police car on hand, for no apparent reason.  What was going on?  Then I had to laugh – and take a snap (I wasn’t moving).  A lone sheep had stopped play.  See if you can spot it.

Hey ho, here we go again!

A few phone calls to establish that the two Madills were still in the land of the living and a couple of cheeky WhatsApps enquiring were we on a permanent holiday have encouraged Patricia and me to start tapping on our keyboards once more for our faithful blog followers.

We launched the blog back in May 2016 and the big sis suggested we try to keep it going until the Open was played at Royal Portrush, one of the clubs we joined as children and where we had hours of fun in Golf Foundation lessons.  That Open, unbelievably, was back in 2019 and this July will see Portrush’s second Open since winning its way back onto the Championship rota.  That all, rather frighteningly, means we are honing in on our ninth anniversary.  Ninth……..!  EEK!  Who’d have believed it …… and just where has the time gone?  This is turning into a seriously swift decade.

Not so swift, of course, is the pace of play on the golf course.  Quick out of the blocks as he was last week in Dubai with the standard of his play, nevertheless Tyrrell Hatton (top), in the final match, had at least a ten-minute wait on the 71st AND 72nd tees.  So, same old, same old……

The new year has commenced with the same lamentable pace of play issues as before with absolutely no serious attempt being made to address the number one drawback to the watchability of the game.  Evidence, if ever it were needed, that the golf fan is of no importance whatsoever to the professional tours.

I was pleased, however, to see Tyrrell win the Dubai Desert Classic with its instantly recognisable trophy.  I like Tyrrell;  I like his game and I hope he’s on the European Ryder Cup team this September.  I’m also slightly surprised at how his bad behaviour doesn’t seem to bother me despite it being the sort of thing my parents would have killed me for when I was growing up.

The Hatton frustration led to his smashing a tee marker and receiving a fine.  Perhaps it’s witnessing the truth of what the game means to a player and how it gets under his skin that is appealing.  Whatever it is, it is baffling to me that I don’t bristle at it.  However, I do get a little tired of the commentators’ po-faced apologies for his bad language.  Perhaps they should just have a permanent caption on the screen to mute the volume when Tyrrell appears and that way those with delicate ears could be nicely protected without the need for the aforementioned apologies.

Come to think of it, perhaps September’s Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black should be a silent broadcast.  The home fans from New York are renowned for their fruity language and eagerness to give their opinions on all and sundry.  Muting them would certainly make for a different kind of viewing.

The holiday season has not passed without its customary splits in the golfing world.  Brooks Koepka has severed relations (again!) with long-time coach Claude Harmon III (Butch’s son) as he searches to recapture the form that saw him win four majors in a two-year spell from 2017 to 2019 and then again a fifth title in 2023.  Pete Cowen and Jeff Pierce have been overseeing the American’s short game and putting for a while but will take over full-swing duties for the 2025 campaign.  Sometimes a player just needs to hear a different voice – even if it is largely delivering the same message.

Another split is that between genial Irishman Shane Lowry, and long-term manager Conor Ridge, founder of Horizon Sports, who has looked after the former Open Champion since he won the 2009 Irish Open as an amateur.  Shane is setting up his own management company and Conor is making a move out of management to concentrate on his other business interests.  All seems fairly affable still between the two.

I often thought that Conor Ridge was a great name for a golfer/manager as it would be an equally good name for a golf course.  It puts me in mind of the oft-told story from the mid to late nineties when a certain Scottish professional was asked,

“Do you know Tiger Woods?”

“No, I haven’t played there yet,” came the innocent answer.  It really doesn’t take a lot to amuse me.

For me the most worrying change of direction, however, concerns the young Irishman Tom McKibbin, who, it is rumoured, is about to jump ship to the LIV Golf Tour.  Perhaps by the time you read this he will have announced his decision.  His mentor Rory McIlroy has counselled him that he’d be giving up a lot for not very much and that it is a decision he wouldn’t make if he were in McKibbin’s shoes.

The money on the table is rumoured to be £4 million pounds – a nice sum indeed but how does it stack up against the ability to play in both Europe and America and have a clear run at qualifying and playing in all four majors, not to mention the Ryder Cup?  The answer is it doesn’t, so that leaves me with two questions to ponder:  Just what are his advisers thinking?  And are those of us of a certain age just completely missing the point as to what floats the boat of a supremely talented 22-year old?

Perhaps this generation of golfers, born this century, have no real understanding of, feeling for or interest in the tenets and history of the game that we hold dear and perhaps money is all that really does matter to them.  And……..perhaps the harsh truth is that it’s high time for us to accept the world is different nowadays and that we must move on and not allow ourselves to get stuck in the past.

It’ll be a sad day for us all if that is, indeed, the case.

 

 

I’m fond of a list – I’ve told you that before and, seeing as this is our final blog of the season, I thought I’d indulge myself with an end-of-year congratulations list to a few well-chosen folk.

I’m starting with Nelly Korda, world No 1, pictured above in her rather Christmassy Met Gala dress from last May.  Korda won six times in seven starts at the beginning of the season and won again at year’s end, managing to capture in a matter of months what would be a decent career’s worth of titles for anyone else.

But more than that, she stepped out into the wider sports’ world embracing for the first time being the face of women’s golf.  This is not a position she’s ever sought or wanted.  Rather, this naturally understated individual has found herself forced into it because, well, because her golf is just too LOUD to allow her to remain in the shadows.  Women’s golf is well represented.

Next, effusive praise and congratulations must go to Scottie Scheffler, the men’s world No 1, for a phenomenal season.  Eight wins is pretty special but we have seen that a couple of times before – think Vijah Singh, think Tiger Woods.  However, when you consider that Scottie’s wins included a green jacket, a gold medal and a season-ending Fed-Ex Cup title, you realise it’s a season a little out of the ordinary.

For me, though, it was his gracious handling of that ridiculous arrest while driving to the PGA Championship in Louisville, Kentucky, that marks him out as a wonderful human.  Humiliatingly photographed in an orange jump suit and placed in a cell, he waited patiently for the dense fog of the local police force to lighten somewhat.  Afterwards, not a word of criticism passed his lips.  Class, class and more class.  Can you guess I’m a Scottie fan?

Keep a look out next year for more success from our newest star from the Ladies’ European Tour (LET), Chiara Tamburlini of Switzerland.  Chiara swept the boards, winning three times and taking home the Rookie of the Year award as well as the Order of Merit title.  The cherry on the cake was being voted Players’ Player of the Year, the ultimate accolade accorded a player by her peers.  What price Tamburlini will become the second Swiss player to represent Europe in the Solheim Cup, following on from Albane Valenzuela’s debut this year?

Readers of this fluffy nonsense that we Madills churn out weekly (health and holidays notwithstanding) will be aware of the highlight of my year – namely the Curtis Cup at Sunningdale where GB&I recorded an outstanding victory over a very talented American team.

It’s a real joy to have so many friends gathered together in one place at the same time and the home team certainly gave us a lot to cheer about and a lot to enjoy.  Congrats to captain Catriona Matthew and all the players (it does take two teams to make a match, after all) and congrats to Sunningdale, one of my all-time favourite places, whose hospitality was exceptional.  I get a warm glow just thinking about it all.

Back last February one of the founder members of the LET, Chris Langford, took matters into her own hands as regards marking 45 years of the tour’s existence.  She organised a get-together of the founders, and assorted folk who were around near the beginning of things, at her club, Thorpeness.  Members of the tour’s current media department were also invited and a series of thought-provoking interviews and wonderful insights have now been documented on the LET website.

Single-handedly Chris has kick-started the tour into documenting some of its history which had been in danger of being lost because of huge gaps in the archive.  Bravo Chris – what a job.  Congratulations and thanks in equal measure……and looking forward to the next get-together in February.

Any congratulatory list from 2024 would be found sadly lacking were Kiwi golfer Lydia Ko not included.  This is the year she finally made the requisite number of points to gain entry to the Ladies’ Professional Golfers’ Association’s  (LPGA) Hall of Fame, arguably the toughest to access in all of sport.  She gained the final point required in Paris when she won the gold medal at the Olympics but there was certainly no resting upon her laurels.  Shortly afterwards she won the Women’s Open round the Old Course in St Andrews, the acknowledged Home of Golf.  Not too shabby.

Talking of the Home of Golf, I was delighted to hear that Karrie Webb, Australia’s seven-time major champion and mentor to so many of that country’s current stars, has been made an honorary member of the R&A.  A former world No 1 Karrie is not unlike the current holder of that position, Nelly Korda, in being of a quiet and unassuming nature.  Reluctant heroines, you could say.

I couldn’t be more thrilled to tell you that Karrie will have a great pal of mine as a fellow member.  Pam Valentine, against whom I played my first-ever match at full international level (she won!), has been a stalwart of Welsh golf for well over four decades.  Player, manager, captain, administrator, committee member, referee – you name it, Pam’s done it.  We’re all thrilled for you, Pam.  Enjoy being a member of the most famous club in the world.

And finally, congratulations and thanks to all our faithful readers who have stayed the course over the last eight and a half years.  Talk about stamina and resilience.

A very happy Christmas to you all and we shall see you when we reconvene some time in 2025.

 

It’s October, so it must be time for the July Club to meet.

Faithful followers of this blog will be aware of the existence of this little club of golfers, exclusive only in that it has four members, two Scotswomen and two Irishwomen.  One day our collective brainpower, such as it is, hatched the idea that we should have an annual golfing trip, lasting a week, and that we’d alternate each year between Ireland and Scotland.  The natives of that year’s host country were responsible for sorting out the accommodation and organising the golf courses.  Not too difficult, you might think, and certainly it wasn’t, as we all lived (or knew folk who lived) in places that were ideal centres for a golf week.

The get-together was to take place in October as that seemed the only realistic time of year we could reliably co-ordinate our diaries.  Eligibility for entry into this exclusive little club rested solely on being present when the idea was first mooted which means the full roster of membership reads as follows:  Gillian Stewart and Sandra Ross from Scotland and Mary McKenna and Maureen Madill from Ireland.

One of our early trips provided us with a catchphrase for our group.  We were staying down in the wilds of southwest Ireland with a great friend, Kay Keating, who introduced us to the gem that is Dooks, her home club.  She’d send us on our way each morning to wherever we were playing that day, saying she’d be waiting for us, “arms outstretched”, when we came home.  And indeed she was – arms outstretched, fire lit, meal on the go, wine open, all set for another evening of incomparable Kerry hospitality.  In ensuing years, when we would meet up again for our precious week in October there would be great arms outstretched reunions at airports to kickstart the trip.

Originally, the week would pan out something like this:  Sunday was travel day, Monday golf, Tuesday golf, Wednesday sightseeing, Thursday golf, Friday golf, Saturday sightseeing, Sunday home.  So, in the beginning at any rate, we played four different courses at each get-together.  One year we played Carnoustie, Kingsbarns and the Old Course at St Andrews – all on this week’s roster for the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship on the DP World tour.  I guarantee we had more laughs than we had a right to and our competitive juices were fuelled by the cut and thrust of fourball golf.  I think the fourth course we tackled that year was Ladybank, home of the late Dale Reid, a wonderful character and great friend.

It was realising that we’d arrived at the week of the Alfred Dunhill that set me to thinking of all the courses we have enjoyed playing as part of our little club.  How’s this for a selection?  Amongst others, our list comprises Royal Dornoch, Tain, Brora, Royal Aberdeen, Aboyne, Ballater, Banchory, Nairn, Castle Stuart, Royal Tara, Donabate, Seapoint, Co Louth, Dooks, Waterville, Ballybunion, Royal Portrush, Portstewart, Castlerock, Royal Co Down and The European.

Ah…..The European.  What a course…and what an ethos for a golf club.  Lovingly crafted by hand by architect Pat Ruddy and his entire family the course is a joy.  It’s for golfers by golfers………..everything is secondary to the course.  The clubhouse is modest – no Taj Mahal-like edifice here.  Don’t get me wrong – it’s perfectly comfortable but there’s certainly no hint of affectation nor any delusions of grandeur.

The only thing to come close to rivalling the course is the welcome and it was in the pro’s shop that Gerry Ruddy unwittingly provided the name for our little group.  He had us in stitches, making a right show of salaaming as the great Mary McKenna sailed into the shop.  She’s royalty in Ireland, rivalling the one and only Christy O’Connor (known as “Himself”) in the affection in which she’s held by the golfing populace.

Steeped in the game. Gerry instantly knew of Gillian’s prowess – three-time Scottish champion, Curtis Cup player and multiple Ladies’ European Tour winner, amongst her many other accomplishments.  He made the same good-natured fuss of Gill and I also got a few mock bows thrown in my direction.

Sandra thought she had him licked.  “Well, you don’t know anything about me,” she said, thinking that a mere scratch handicap and County Championship titles may have passed him by.

“Oh, yes I do,” Gerry responded quickly.  “You’re Miss July.”

After general astonishment and questioning, Gerry informed us that as an accredited photographer at multiple Open Championships, his visits to the media centre had made him very familiar with the sight of Sandra up a stepladder keeping the giant scoreboard up-to-date for the world’s media.  This was pre the electronic boards that are used now and each year Sandra was the leader of the team that manually put in every hole score for every player in the field.  She was blissfully unaware that her legs were at the eye-level of several hundred writers and snappers (mostly men) for an entire week for 32 years!!  Hence the nickname.

We all loved this yarn and forthwith decided that our group name would be the July Club – it still brings a smile to our faces, so thank you Gerry.

It’s some years now, with Covid and lockdowns and suchlike, since the July Club boasted four fully playing members.  The Irish half of the gang have somewhat fallen by the wayside, with Mary Mc now an avid, and accomplished, photographer, as opposed to golfer.  And over the last six months I’ve come to terms with the fact that my playing days are behind me and am currently exploring new interests and/or hobbies to take their place.  We won’t disband the club, however – it may just slightly change direction.

The 2024 meeting was at this year’s Curtis Cup at Sunningdale.

Time plans were afoot for 2025.