Here is a tribute from Ken Jones: -
I first met Bert when I joined the ranks of the ‘Vets’ at
Ellesmere Port and it was my weekly rounds with him that enabled me
to reduce my handicap from 15 to 10 in 2 ˝ months. Bert was Handicap
Secretary and I would help him to check the cards after our
competitions. Although he was then in his late eighties nothing got
past him – he would often phone me if I made a mistake saying: “Ken,
you ought to go back to school”.
We often talked about his life in professional golf and the great
players he knew, who feature in this book. He achieved so much in
such a short career at the top and we will never know how many more
titles he would have won if war had not taken away his ‘prime’ years
in the game, as it did for so many of his contemporaries.
Bert always said that his brother Charles, who was badly disabled in
the First World War, was a better golfer than he was. I can only say
that Charles must have been some golfer. Mind you, that was the way
Bert was – a quiet, unassuming, gentleman. The best tribute I can
pay to him is that I hope some of his qualities have rubbed off on
me.
I will never forget Bert, nor will anyone who knew him. We were very
privileged to have such a great golfer – and great man – at
Ellesmere Port Golf Club.
Ken Jones
Ellesmere Port G. C.
2004 |
Bert Gadd was based in the North East from 1939 to 1959 as a
part-time professional and won 33 trophies one of them in nine
consecutive years, surely a record! In seven consecutive seasons
from 1953-1959 he won the Northumberland and Durham Golf Alliance
Cup for the lowest aggregate score, a trophy that had been won on
six occasions by his brother Charles. Bert’s friend and fellow
professional, Maurice Strong from the Chester-le-Street club, now
85, recalls how they carried their clubs on to buses and in to pubs
after playing in those tournaments.
A final tribute comes from one of Britain’s finest ever golfers, who
was a young assistant in the North East when Bert was dominating
golf in the region in the 1950s. The former Ryder Cup player and
Captain of the PGA in their centenary year of 2001, Dave Thomas, now
a respected course designer, had this to say: -
"When I first became a professional when I was 16 years of age, Bert
Gadd was a legend in the North East as the best player and it was
one of my ambitions to be as good as Bert Gadd. I used to go and
play at Brancepeth Castle in Co. Durham hoping to see Bert, but of
course wouldn't dare go and speak to him!
It was very pleasing for both of us when we met a few years ago,
when he was in his nineties, at the 2001 Nailcote Hall celebration
dinner in honour of Max Faulkner and he was amazed when I told him
he was one of my heroes. I was astonished when he told me that I was
a hero in his eyes when I became a Ryder Cup player.”
Dave Thomas,
Marbella
2004 |
NEXT
|