Golfing links with the past

LANCASHIRE is richer in championship and major tournament venues than any other county in Britain.

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 Oldham’s Alan Squires, who has made a record 192 appearances for Lancashire; 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 and rising stars such as Tommy Fleetwood, James Robinson and Matthew Nixon.

Not to mention 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 Tasmania!

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 but continues to write golf for several publications. He is a long-standing member of Chorley Golf Club.


“Lancashire Links” is being distributed from the county headquarters at Lytham St Annes (01253 733323).

It can also be ordered from club secretaries, priced at £15 for the 240-page hardback.