Overview

The story of Ernie Foord, the local Somerset lad who in 1897, at the age of 16, was appointed club professional at the fast-developing and prestigious Burnham & Berrow Golf Club. In June 1912, on its 18-hole championship links, he played arguably the most remarkable round in the history of golf, completing the course in 73 strokes, using only a single club, a putter. In the words of Bernard Darwin, golf correspondent of The Times, it was 'a truly astonishing score because Burnham is neither a particularly short nor a particularly easy course'. The following year, over 36 holes, Foord defeated the five-time Open champion JH Taylor. Then in 1916 he emigrated to the United States where he landed the plum job of professional at Oakland Hills. This is an account - factual in some parts, imagined in others - not just of Ernie Foord's career and achievements but of the golfing world as it was in the early years of the 20th century, with its snobbery as well as its opportunities.

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9781739929336

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Anthony Gibson was born at Totnes in 1949, the elder son of the broadcaster and cricket writer Alan Gibson. He read History at The Queen's College, Oxford, and spent most of his working life championing West Country farming and food with the National Farmers' Union. He was awarded the OBE for services to the rural community. He now spends his summers commentating on Somerset cricket for the BBC and his winters writing. Among his books are 'Of Didcot and the Demon', the MCC/Cricket Society Book of the Year in 2010, and two volumes - 'With Magic in my Eyes' and 'The Coloured Counties' - which explore the relationship between landscape and literature. He has been a member of Burnham and Berrow Golf Club for many years, his proficiency at the game never quite matching his enthusiasm for it!

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