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Chapter 4. Gadding About
In 1927, the year of that first official Ryder Cup match, Charles
Lindbergh won the $25,000 Orteig Prize, first offered in 1919 by New
York hotel owner Raymond Orteig to the first aviator to fly across
the Atlantic - and I took up my first job as professional at Amport,
near Andover in Hampshire. It was a hotchpotch of a job, not much like that of
the modern club professional. I started, as most did in those days,
as pro/greenkeeper, with the emphasis on the greenkeeping aspect!
Amport was a private course on a country estate, at one time owned
by the Marquis of Winchester but now in the possession of Colonel
Sofer-Whitburn. To entertain their houseguests, his wife decided to
revive the golf course on which young noblemen had played as guests
of the Marquis. My brother George was brought in to lay out the new
course and he recommended me for the job of professional. I was
employed at a wage of £3 per week, not too bad in those days and my
main duty as pro was to be available to play with, or teach, any
member of the family or their guests. In the event, only the Lady of
the House played and hardly any guests wanted to avail themselves of
my services. On the greenkeeping side, I could call on an estate
worker to cut the fairways with a gang mower and the rough was kept
down by sheep – a bit smelly, but effective. I had only the greens
and tees to attend to; we had no bunkers, so I had plenty of time to
play, mostly with members of the staff. Some, like the butler and
greyhound trainer, were keen to learn and came regularly. Mrs.
Sofer-Whitburn was not so keen. A strong character, who enjoyed
country pursuits, she was a fearless rider and a crack shot – one of
the best in the country. She owned a string of racehorses and was
part owner of a large kennel of coursing greyhounds. She also had a
taste for fast cars and once took over the wheel of the Rolls-Royce
when the chauffeur was driving too slowly for her liking. She
frightened the life out of him. “A Rolls was never meant to be
driven like that”, he said. Golf was just too tame for that ‘fast
Lady’.
For much of the year the family were at their London house, often
for weeks at a stretch, which left me to my own devices. I assisted
the greyhound trainer, helping to exercise his 48 coursing dogs and
had a go at ‘slipping’, not very successfully for that is a real
expert’s job. I was ‘in digs’ with the Head Gardener and spent quite
a lot of time with him, sometimes lending a hand. On one occasion he
was preparing blooms for the London Horticultural show and I offered
to help in ‘dressing’ his giant chrysanthemums. I was handed a jar
of water and a small paintbrush with which to dress a truly enormous
bloom – a good ten inches across and twelve inches deep. Each petal
had to be separated and looped over your finger then smoothed out
with the damp brush so that they all lay in the
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