Graeme Fish

Golfing Herald met up, albeit via Zoom due to the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions, with PGA Advanced Professional Graeme Fish for our series ‘Meet the Professional’.

Hope you enjoy

First Tee

(Golfing Herald): I ‘teed off’ by asking Graeme how he first got into golf.

(Graeme): My father played the occasional game and we lived next to Temple Newsam Golf Club. To the right of our house, we had Temple Newsam golf course, to the front of our house lived Billy Bremner (Leeds United & Scotland footballer) and to the left of our house lived Percy Alliss (father of the incomparable golf commentator Peter Alliss). So growing up I was surrounded by sportspeople. I had a friend who lived in the flat above the Temple Newsam clubhouse as his parents were the steward and stewardess at the club but I just wasn’t interested in golf at all to start with.

(Golfing Herald): Were you interested in any other sports at that time?

(Graeme): I used to love football. Also, at the top of Temple Newsam Park, there was a crown green bowling green so I did a little bit of crown green bowling with a friend. But at the time it was mainly football. But then my father said come and have a walk around the golf course and you can caddy for me.

English Lessons

(Golfing Herald): That was kind of him!!

(Graeme): It was…so I went for a walk with him and caddied for him. Eventually, at some point later when I was at school I picked up the game. One day I decided to take my fathers clubs onto the pitch and putt course that was close to where we lived, wait until the Pro shop had closed up for the day, and hit a few balls over the next hour or so!! I didn’t have a clue but I was just giving it a go.

(Golfing Herald): By at school, do you mean Junior School or High School?

(Graeme): I think I had just started at High School when I started to think about golf as a hobby…I dropped crown green bowling, tennis and everything else I was having a dabble at and concentrated all of my efforts on golf. Then at school, I had an English teacher called Mr Bannell who I wasn’t particularly keen on but he was really into his golf…loved his golf and that was all he spoke about!! He used to use a lot of golfing vocabulary during his lessons…and he took me to one side one day and was trying to talk to me about discipline in the classroom and in golf…and if I started playing golf it would help me to learn a bit of discipline, and a good way of developing respect, and of learning rules and regulations, etc. because I wasn’t for one for concentrating in class!! I was the one at the back of the classroom throwing papers at everybody, all of the usual nonsense. I don’t really know, but I think he planted a seed.

Temple Newsam Golf Club

(Golfing Herald): And how did that golfing seed start to grow?

(Graeme): I started to play regularly as my parents got me a set of clubs for one of my birthdays and then I joined Temple Newsam Golf Club. I then played 3 rounds of golf with one of the committee members and I was allocated a 15 handicap despite playing cack-handed…a left-handed grip and a right-handed swing!! But I took a lesson off Paul, the assistant professional at Temple Newsam, to swap my grip around. That was the only lesson I paid for when starting out in golf. And then I realised that Billy Bremner’s son who was also called Billy Bremner was a golf professional and I got friendly with him and we started to do a bit of practising together and he really helped by fine-tuning my grip, my set up, and things like that. When we practised I used to take a Slazenger Ballesteros sand wedge and Billy Bremner used to say “you can play every shot in the book with a sand wedge, you have just got to learn”. You can drive a ball by thinning a sand wedge on purpose, get different heights with a thinned shot, hook, fade, punches, pitch, putting…the whole lot.

(Golfing Herald): It was quite appropriate that you were using a Ballesteros branded golf club as Seve was the master at manufacturing shots with any golf club.

(Graeme): Especially when he was attempting some of the shots on the beach.

(Golfing Herald): Just returning for one moment to your English teacher…outside of school, did you ever play golf with him?

(Graeme): Eventually, we had an ‘end of school’ competition and I think 3 of the teachers played, one of whom was Mr Bannell. It was the last week of school and I was absolutely determined to beat Mr Bannell…that was my #1 priority!! And I ended up winning and I was awarded a certificate for winning the competition.

Stableford

(Golfing Herald): How did your game then progress once you were a member at Temple Newsam and starting out with an official handicap of 15?

(Graeme): I started playing competitive golf in the Medals but I hated Stableford…in fact, I have only ever played 2 Stableford competitions in my life!!

(Golfing Herald): Dare I ask?

(Graeme): In my first Stableford (at Temple Newsam) I had not known about the rules of the scoring and I was adamant that golf was about getting the ball from tee to green over 18 holes with as few shots as possible…and points don’t come into it. If you don’t get the ball in the hole then that is your problem. If you need 15 shots to hole out on a Par 5 then you need 15 shots rather than just picking up your ball when you can’t register a point. To me, Stableford is a variation of speed golf and I just feel that Stableford is not golf. I have my ideas and I stick to them…I have always been strong-minded like that. It was a Stableford competition and even though I had no idea about the format I entered the event. I met up with 2 other members who I did not know on the first tee and on the 1st green one of them asked me how many I had played and the exchange then went something like…

“4”

“4 points?”

“No, 4 shots”

“But you just said 4 points”

“No, what I meant was that I completed the hole in 4 shots”

So anyway, I mark my score down and I asked him what he got and he said “2”. And there was me thinking he had just taken a bogey.

(Golfing Herald): What happened next?

(Graeme): Then on the 2nd hole he said “I got 4 for 2 there”…and I am thinking what is this all about as he got a 5!! So I replied by saying I got 3 to which he responded you didn’t get 3…you got 3 gross for 2. By now I didn’t have a clue so I just ripped my scorecard up and just said I am not playing. Stableford is just not for me.

(Golfing Herald): Dare I ask (once again) about your only other Stableford competition?

(Graeme): About ten years ago when I was in Austria there was a Pro-Am and they decided to play it under Stableford…but I had to play in it as it was a sponsored event and of course I knew the nuances and rules by then!!

First Job

(Golfing Herald): Think I get the picture that you are not a fan of Stableford!! Moving on, how did your amateur career unfold?

(Graeme): I ended up becoming junior captain of Temple Newsam Golf Club and playing inter-club junior league matches and I played a couple of matches or so for the scratch team. I always enjoyed playing for the juniors. It was serious on the course but a good laugh off the course. But then in the last summer holidays of school, I was sent off to the Austrian Tyrol by my parents for 6 weeks to work at the Hotel Marsoner in Seefeld, which was round the corner from a driving range. Whilst I was out there I spent time practising at the driving range. I also learnt how to drive a tractor and pick the balls up on the driving range. So when I got back home I was then really getting into golf.

(Golfing Herald): Talking of school, did you leave (school) at 16 or stay on to study for ‘A’ levels?

(Graeme): I left school when I was 16 and my first job after leaving school was at a company called Golf Factory Outlet. It was a brand new shop which was opened by Regency Golf and they started opening factory outlets everywhere. I remember I had an interview at the Marriott Hotel in Leeds and ended up getting the job.

(Golfing Herald): What was your role?

(Graeme): Shop Assistant…I had done work experience (whilst still at school) at Temple Newsam Golf Club in the Pro Shop and then I got my first real job at the Factory Outlet. I was there for about 18 months before I was made redundant but then 2 weeks later I started work at Oulton Park Golf Course, before it became Oulton Hall, as at that time it was still owned by the Leeds City Council. I was doing all sorts, such as shop work and collecting balls on the range…I was like a ‘Shop Assistant General Dogsbody!!’ But then Suzie, the Australian lady who also worked there, took me into her office one day and said “I know you are just here as a shop assistant but I feel with the quality of your golf you should be looking more at going into an assistant golf professional role”.

Professional Opportunity

(Golfing Herald): Up to that point had you ever considered Professional golf as a possible career path?

(Graeme): Yes I had…going right back our family holidays were out in Austria, staying at the Hotel Marsoner, which I mentioned earlier…twice a year until I was about 15 or 16 and we absolutely loved it. Whilst we were out there on holiday we used to go to the Seefeld Wilmoos golf course, which was one of the leading golf courses in Austria. We used to just sit on the terrace and have ‘schnitzel and a drink’ and I used to see the golf pros Mike Mawdsley and Gary Copeman…for some reason, those two names have stuck with me over the years!! And Gary Copeman used to drive one of the original old white VW Golf cars and I used to think ‘how cool is that…living in the middle of the Austrian mountains, teaching golf to a few people during the day, walking home with money in your pocket and driving a Golf Car’. I just thought it was a dream!!

(Golfing Herald): So I assume it was a ‘no brainer’ when Suzie suggested to you about becoming an assistant professional?

(Graeme): My first thought was thinking I could be like Mike or Gary!! To be honest, I didn’t know how good you had to be and what you needed to do to become a Professional. But then Suzie told me there was a training course which ran over so many years, that you would have to do a playing ability test by playing in so many events…and I just thought great, I will have a look into it. So I ended up writing a letter to the PGA requesting general details, or if someone could call me to discuss it, or if there were any leaflets or brochures.

Assistant Professional

(Golfing Herald): And long before being able to do searches for the same information via Google!!

(Graeme): Yeah…and long before mobile phones. And I got a reply from the PGA with a brochure enclosed in the post. I am thinking this is special as the PGA has written to me and I felt like somebody. The PGA, a huge governing body, had written a personalised letter to me which raised me up. At that time my handicap was 4.5 as I had got down from 15 to 5 in just under 2 years, but I eventually got my handicap down to I think 2.6 before I turned Professional (in 1994). Then I think it was about 2 days later when I broke the course record at Oulton Park!! But unfortunately, that was not a proper tournament so I couldn’t officially list that record score of 67 (for the Par 72 course).

(Golfing Herald): What was the actual (not a proper) tournament?

(Graeme): It was a friendly tournament organised by the John Smiths brewery and they held their annual golf day at Oulton Park…one player had dropped out so I joined in with them. So I was only a scorecard marker and not officially taking part in the tournament. But I played as if I was and shot 67.

Lofthouse Hill Golf Club

(Golfing Herald): What a fantastic start as an assistant professional!! Who was your mentor / Head Professional at Oulton Park?

(Graeme): The Head Professional was a chap called Brian Janes and he had a brother up in Sunderland who was also a golf pro. Brian was from Bloxwich (near Birmingham) and he had been the Head Pro at the West Lancashire Golf Club and he took me under his wing, which felt great as he was a recognised Professional…he carried his CV on his back!! Everybody in the industry knew Brian Janes. He was a very exceptional player as well. He took me on and I started doing the PGA training with him. But then there was a dramatic change at Oulton Park when it became Oulton Hall as the hotel bought the golf course. Brian Janes moved as they didn’t think he was the right person to take the Golf Club forward as he was a bit too old for their image…and he went to Lofthouse Hill Golf Club (near Wakefield). So I was then under the reins of Stephen Gromett…and Stephen was also a very well-recognised player. But then Brian approached me…headhunted me basically and said that he wanted me over at Lofthouse Hill. We will pay you more money, you will be able to use the company car, we will help you find a small rented accommodation close to the Golf Club. It sounded too good to be true.

(Golfing Herald): And was it (too good to be true)?

(Graeme): At the time they were building 9 holes so there was no golf course when he approached me!! But in time, they got the 9 holes open and I eventually went to Lofthouse Hill in 1996. At Lofthouse, I ended up building my own Pro Shop with my own 2 hands!! Carpeted, all the fixtures and fittings, etc. and running the business and doing all of the accounts whilst Brian was out helping with the landscaping to extend the course to 18 holes. It was a great experience…but cutting a very long story short, by the end I had had enough as I was owed 3 months in arrears and so I was unable to pay the rent on the accommodation for my little house and I really had to secure a position/role which was much more solid.

Rawdon Golf & Lawn Tennis Club

(Golfing Herald): So where did you move to after that not so nice experience at the end of your time at Lofthouse Hill?

(Graeme): I found a position with a guy called Simon Poot who was quite well known over in the Bradford area and so in 1998 I ended up moving to Rawdon Golf & Lawn Tennis Club. Simon also had Otley Golf Club and Bracken Ghyll Golf Club, the latter being a brand new golf course. So he had 3 golf courses and he said: “I can’t be at Rawdon so I want you to run the shop”. I was coming towards the end of my PGA studies so I was doing a bit more teaching…I also built a little workshop in an old tool shed and I built up a bit of a re-gripping service, re-studding, all sorts of stuff. I was running all of it at Rawdon…all of the tournaments, all of the society days, etc. and that was just great. And at Rawdon, I ended up finishing my PGA studies…finally!! I had done my final examinations but I had failed in club repair which was so annoying. I had a ladies length 8 iron that I had to extend to a standard length gents 8 iron. I also had a set of old blades that I had to do the ‘loft and lies’. When this guy gave me this set of clubs (for my exam) I couldn’t believe it…think someone must have been working on them for about 30 years, all the necks were screwed up and just bent to hell!! It took me forever to get those irons sorted out properly. I ended up failing because it took me too long.

Final Exam

(Golfing Herald): Did that mean having to resit your practical exam?

(Graeme): Yeah…I had to go back and resit the practical and the theoretical of club repairs, which was a nightmare. I didn’t particularly like doing re-shafting but I loved doing ‘loft and lie’, extensions, re-grooving…but I just didn’t like working with wooden heads. It was the last year of working with wooden heads at the PGA before clubs went to metal heads.

(Golfing Herald): The ‘good old’ Persimmon heads.

(Graeme): Yeah…the old Persimmon heads. My final exam was to refit a soleplate as 2 brass screws had broken in the soleplate…so I had to take off and repair the damaged soleplate and add 2 swing weights to the clubhead. It was a nightmare job as it takes forever!! I had been practising it in the workshop at Rawdon for weeks, asking all the members to bring their old woods in and let me work on them!! So thankfully, I ended up passing the PGA exam. I was back living at Temple Newsam and so travelled to work to Rawdon by bus as I didn’t have a car at that point…it used to take me an hour and 10 minutes each way (including having to change buses). Once a week I used to get the Golf Weekly magazine which doesn’t exist anymore and one morning I was on the bus reading the magazine and on the back inside page was a jobs page…and I don’t know why but that was the first page I always used to look at. And I saw an advert wanting a golf professional in Austria and I thought that sounded great…I could be like Mike and Gary now!!

Austrian Adventure

(Golfing Herald): That’s surreal following the story you recalled earlier from your family holidays in Austria. Did you actually respond to the advert?

(Graeme): I sent off my CV and a letter of application to this place in Austria…in fact, it was their equivalent of a (United Kingdom) P.O. Box. Then 2 days later I got a phone call from Austria to our home on the old landline!! It was from a guy called Matthias Mezei who is now the President of the Austrian PGA. He called me and said we would like to give you an interview. We want you to come over to Vienna in Austria, stay for a week in Vienna, we will show you the two Golf Clubs where we work and we will show you the sights of Vienna, interview you over 2 to 3 days…what do you think?

(Golfing Herald): Please tell me it was not another too good to be true scenario?

(Graeme): Not at all…it was an all-expenses-paid trip. So I flew over to Austria and this young lad called Mario Ruso meets me at the Airport. He hardly spoke any English and I hardly spoke any German and so together we get this great conversation going on the 25-minute drive from the Airport to Vienna!! They put me up in an IBIS hotel in the centre of Vienna and after dropping me off Mario said we will pick you up at 09:00 tomorrow. So I have a night out in Vienna on the first night…but it was the middle of winter, freezing cold and snow everywhere so I wasn’t really enjoying it. But the next morning I am having Breakfast when this grey-haired gentleman approached me, puts his hand out and says “you must be Graeme, I am Matthias”. I asked him how he knew it was me to which he replied something like…ginger hair, red skin…so you are definitely not Austrian!! So we have a bit of a chat at the hotel and he takes me to Süßenbrunn Golf Club…I am not kidding but the car park around the clubhouse and the concreted area up to the driving range was covered in ice about 3 inches thick!! And the grass on the range was also covered in ice…though Matthias explained that the ice would go and that during the summer it was beautifully green. He then pointed to where they gave lessons and took me to the range.

(Golfing Herald): What were the facilities like at the Süßenbrunn driving range?

(Graeme): Back then there was nothing there apart from a tiny hut with 4 bays…it looked like an old cattle shed that had been converted into a small driving range. No storage…just the 4 bays and a ball machine. He then said the job they wanted me for was actually at their other Golf Club at Donnerskirchen, which is on the Austrian – Slovakian border. But then he explained that nobody there speaks a word of English so I would have no chance!! But in Vienna, half of the population speak relatively good English. So in the end he suggested I would be better off taking the role at Süßenbrunn and they would move the guy from Süßenbrunn to Donnerskirchen.

Ten Days

(Golfing Herald): So they altered their plans to accommodate you?

(Graeme): Yeah…he then took me back to the clubhouse to meet Manfred Krainz who at the time was the Head Golf Professional of the golf school that was run at both of the Golf Clubs…and Manfred became President of the Austrian PGA 2 years before Matthias did. They then outlined how they had about another 20 or so people to interview but that they thought I would fit in straight away…did I want the job?

(Golfing Herald): And you said?

(Graeme): How long have I got to think about it? They said think about it but let us know as quickly as you can, but definitely before you fly back. So that evening I tried to call my parents from a landline in Austria to a landline in England but I had no idea about area codes…not a clue. The following day back at the golf club I explained to Matthias that I had tried to phone my parents but that there was some problem…at which point he said he would give me his mobile phone to use. I thought…WOW, this guy has got a mobile!! He then proceeded to pull out this ‘big brick’, entered the area code and then dialled our home number and I spoke to my parents. I then explained to them that it was fantastic out in Austria and that I love it to bits and that I have been offered a job…what do you think? My mum just said, “Take it…because you never know and you will regret it for the rest of your life if you don’t take it”. So I gave Matthias the ‘thumbs up’ and I eventually came back to England and I go to Rawdon and try to finish all of my lessons asap. I then spoke to Simon (the Pro) and said I was leaving and I am going to Austria and he didn’t have a problem with it and wished me good luck. Then Ray Adams, who was the secretary at Rawdon at that time, came into the Pro Shop and he had heard that I wanted to leave and move to work in Austria…and he said something like “Between me and you…you have been brilliant at the golf club and we will hold your position open but we will need to know in 6 months whether you are coming back or not”.

(Golfing Herald): That is just fantastic…a sort of safety net if your Austrian adventure did not work out.

(Graeme): Absolutely…how good was that? But I didn’t come back. From sending off my CV to landing in Vienna Airport with a set of clubs and a suitcase, nowhere to live and no mobile phone…it was all done in less than 10 days!! I got the phone call on Friday, went out to Austria on Sunday, flew back home on Thursday, and on Sunday I was back out in Vienna permanently…and Mario picked me up again at the Airport.

Schnupper Golf

(Golfing Herald): That is absolutely incredible, but shows what can be achieved when you don’t put boulders in the way of a clear flight path!! So what was your actual title/role when you moved out to Austria in 2000?

(Graeme): To start with I was a PGA Teaching Professional…they wanted several pros as the club was going to go ‘big time’ by advertising classes for beginners.

(Golfing Herald): And what about accommodation as you just said you arrived with nowhere to live?

(Graeme): The Golf Club had a 25 room hotel, sports centre, gymnasium, restaurant, bars, etc. and I ended up staying in a hotel room for the first 2 weeks. Matthias sent out club members to look out for cheap apartments around the area until one of them came back to me and said they had found a small apartment that is not massive but is tidy and he knew the woman who owned the complex….it will be great. So I get there and I am shown this one-room apartment measuring 34 square metres!! A tiny kitchenette, a tiny separate toilet and a tiny bathroom…and there is no furniture, nothing. I just said “I will take it” and signed on the dotted line. Matthias then took me down to the Nokia store and I purchased a pay as you go mobile phone. Then the new brochures appeared for the golf school with my mobile number printed…so they had effectively just been waiting for me to get all of the promotional stuff up and running.

(Golfing Herald): So how were the classes/courses structured for beginners?

(Graeme): We were doing beginners courses called Einsteiger courses…what they call ‘Schnupper Golf’ which is about giving people a taste for what golf is like as most of the beginners literally did not have a clue. So we would start with…‘this is a golf ball…this is a golf club…you hold this end’.

Post Shadowing

(Golfing Herald): Was that done visually or did they all understand English?

(Graeme): This is the thing…they said they wanted to do a beginners course and what they wanted me to do was shadow Mario and watch him do his courses…and observe the layout of the course, what we do at what time as it was all structured into times over the 4 hours on a Saturday and the 4 hours on a Sunday. Anyhow, I am shadowing Mario and not understanding a word apart from putter…that is the same in English and German!! So I was picking up the odd word but not really understanding it. Then the following week Matthias said I was doing the Einsteiger course and I responded with something like “you are having a laugh…there is no way I can do an Einsteiger course”. But he said, “just try it, do it, whatever…try it out and give it a go…you will get through it”.

(Golfing Herald): He obviously had a lot of confidence that you could run the course well, even after only a single stint of shadowing and not really understanding German.

(Graeme): Matthias had so much confidence in a lot of people, he is that type of person. So I am doing my first Einsteiger course and I need help because 32 people turn up and I am not allowed to teach 32 people!! So Matthias took 10, Mario took a dozen and I took the other 10…and Matthias split the (over-subscribed) course in such a way that the 10 people that came with me spoke at least some English. So I introduced myself to my very first group with…

“Hi, I am Graeme Fish, I am a golf professional and I don’t speak very much German…but I have been taught by the PGA how to teach people who are deaf and blind, so I can do very much hands on teaching to hit golf balls…I just can’t explain in German how and why…but I will get you hitting golf balls and I will get you having fun”

So basically it was a case of taking them up to the driving range and visually introducing them to left hand above the right hand and hitting the ball to their left (if they were right-handed)…but it ended up being the most amazing experience and still to this day I don’t have a clue how I got through that first course.

Deutsch Lernen

(Golfing Herald): Brilliant…a great example of how we can find a way. So following that experience, how did you go about learning German to enhance your overall teaching approach?

(Graeme): Each week, I practised German by learning 30 new words to do with the golf swing and after about 3 months I was stringing sentences together. Also, when I was out I was able to practise German when ordering food and drink. I was picking up German as quickly as I could.

(Golfing Herald): That is like a really strange parallel between how you learnt German through golf whilst back at school your English teacher Mr Bannell introduced golfing terms into his lessons!!

(Graeme): Exactly…though I had never thought of it like that. So I eventually spoke basic German and ended up over the years doing loads of stuff. We did Summer Evening golf events and chill-out lounges for various companies such as Tommy Hilfiger. We were always the first Austrian club receiving invites to do certain things…for example, the Donauinselfest (German for Danube Island Festival) is held every year in Vienna and it is a free music festival and they have something like 8 stages all doing different styles of music…it must be the size of the Glastonbury. And so we ended up doing free golf lessons at the Donauinselfest for a couple of years, teaching thousands of people, most of whom had never picked up a golf club…just an amazing experience.

(Golfing Herald): A long way from Oulton Park.

(Graeme): Certainly was…then over time Manfred Krainz left the golf school and Matthias took over, but then he left after a couple more seasons. Then a new guy took over as the Manager of the Golf Club and he brought in a Course Manager who overlooked the Pro Shop and also thought his remit included running the golf school, which he never did. It ended up with Mario being my assistant professional when Matthias left and I got him through his final exams. We ended up running the golf school…he was doing all of the admin whilst I was building the programme. At one time we had 7 pros…3 based at Donnerskirchen and 4 in Süßenbrunn. But then over time, this massive boom in beginners lessons fizzled off and so we were down to 1 pro in Donnerskirchen and 2 in Süßenbrunn. Having said that, we ran an advert in the Austrian equivalent of the Daily Mail saying bring the voucher code (from the advert) and you can get a free Schnupper course…we did that and 72 people turned up for a free 4-hour course.

Chance Encounter

(Golfing Herald): All with their vouchers?

(Graeme): Yeah…all with their vouchers and it was absolute mayhem!! But you do it and get through. Then in 2007, one of the guys who worked with us, Martin Omtvedt, a Dutch-born Austrian, was teaching in a beginners course when he fell ill and asked me whether there was any chance I could take over and run the course. I said something like “yeah, I will re-arrange all of my lessons and I will run the course for you”. And in that course, I met an Austrian lady who would eventually become my wife!!

(Golfing Herald): No way…having said that, as the famous saying goes “Everything in life happens for a reason”.

(Graeme): Absolutely…Susanne was there on a beginners course. Her parents had both passed away but her mother had once said she should start playing golf as that could be a good way of meeting someone!! I knew straight away there was something different about her but I didn’t know what. I used to offer 10 lessons for the price of 9 so after attending the beginner’s course she bought a block of lessons. Six months later we went out on our first date, not long afterwards we started living together and in November 2013 we got married, just before we moved to Scotland.

(Golfing Herald): And if Martin had not fallen ill and you had not stood in at the 11th hour…

(Graeme): Actually, Susanne had been booked on an earlier beginners course but because her mother had fallen ill she had to cancel and postpone it to a later date…and it was on that later date when Martin fell ill!!

Süßenbrunn to Golfstar

(Golfing Herald): That story is so ‘far-fetched’ you could not make it up so it must be true…so were you at Süßenbrunn until the end of 2013 when you and Susanne moved from Austria to Scotland?

(Graeme): No…I had become the Head Professional at Süßenbrunn and the Head of the Golf School, but the new guy who had come in who I mentioned earlier was driving me potty. For example, he was ‘forcing’ the Pros to pay rent for the use of the driving range. We tried to get across to him that if we can’t work because of the weather then we shouldn’t have to be paying for something that we can’t use. As an alternative, we suggested a commission on our earnings would be fine as that would only apply when we were working. We thought that would be a fairer system but to no avail.

(Golfing Herald): What happened next?

(Graeme): The club champion at Süßenbrunn was working in retail at the Golfstar Shop in Vienna and one day I just said to him “Florian, please get me an interview at the Golfstar Shop because you haven’t got a (golf) professional there and I would really be able to bring ‘guns blazing’ to that shop”. So for about a week, I was nagging this young lad to try to get me an interview. Then he came in one day and said “How much do you love me?”…to which I replied “Depends on what you are going to say” to which he said, “I have got you an interview”. Brilliant…so I went over, had an interview and got the job.

(Golfing Herald): So when did you start at the Golfstar shop and what was your actual role?

(Graeme): I started in 2011 after about 11 years at Süßenbrunn and my role was to be the Head Professional at the shop doing the custom fitting, doing the club repairs and organising the overall look and feel of the shop as it was the worst looking shop you have ever seen when I arrived. Accessories were everywhere instead of being grouped together…hats and gloves were all over the place so I brought the much-needed organisation to the shop. When I arrived there was no slat walls and only one pinboard…the walls were bare so everything was on the floor. So the owner just told me to go out and get some slat walls and I managed to order a pallet (of slat walls) from the UK from someone I knew. So I ended up reconstructing and slat walling the entire shop which measured about 1300 square metres over two floors….carpeted certain areas and built the workshop. At the back of the building there used to be a used car garage but the mechanic had sold up and the property was empty. So I suggested to the owner that he could expand and turn the garage space into a retail outlet for old or out of date stuff and keep all the good stuff in the main shop.

Business Acumen

(Golfing Herald): I take it he bought into your suggestion?

(Graeme): Yeah he did…so at the back of the building, half of it was deliveries (incomings and outgoings), packing and distribution and the other half was a retail area for all of the discounted stuff. Then eventually following the demo and test days from companies such as Ping, TaylorMade and Mizuno we bought the stuff (that would normally get dumped in a bin) and put it all in the discounted outlet to sell. In that way, the companies then made money (following demo days) and in return when anything came out such as limited editions, any big discounts or any deals, we got the first refusal. And we ended up doing that with every single golf company and effectively cornering the market in Austria!! Whilst I was there the turnover improved by over 25%.

(Golfing Herald): That is a substantial increase in turnover. One aspect you have not mentioned has been coaching/teaching which had been your primary role at Süßenbrunn…so was Golfstar exclusively retail?

(Graeme): Initially…but eventually we ended up doing indoor golf lessons. Indoor golf was massive (and still is) in Austria during the winter when they can’t play. So the discounted outlet became an indoor driving range and practise facility throughout the winter months. We had two simulators, one with Flightscope and the other one with Trackman. We had an indoor putting area, a six-bay driving range with proper golf balls hitting about 20 yards into nets. So I was able to teach during the winter when it was quiet in the shop. I worked there for two years but I knew already that we wanted to buy a Bed & Breakfast in Scotland as we had got the idea in about 2011…that was our end goal, that was our target.

Radical Change

(Golfing Herald): After working for nearly twenty years in the golf industry that is one hell of a change in direction…from Head Golf Professional to proprietor of a Bed & Breakfast in Scotland!!

(Graeme): Susanne had grown up in the mountains in Austria and her parents had a house where they had three little rooms that they would rent out and offer a bit of breakfast…practically a Bed & Breakfast. Then they converted the rooms into small apartments with kitchenettes. So she was brought up making beds, preparing breakfast, cleaning, etc. She then went to catering school and spent some time at the University doing tourism. Susanne was Head of the Fraud Department for Three (the mobile company) in Austria but she would come home every evening crying her eyes out because she had had enough and wanted out, and started to look at possible opportunities on what she did know in hospitality. Through my experience of working at golf clubs and at times working in the bar in the evenings to help out at functions or help out with a bit with waiting at tables…and I had done that 6 weeks as a young lad at the Hotel Marsoner in Austria. So we both had a bit of that background. I am good with people whilst Susanne is not so good but she is brilliant at organising, accounting, etc. So we decided that a Bed & Breakfast was a possibility.

Reconnoitre

(Golfing Herald): After deciding that running a Bed & Breakfast could possibly work for both of you, why did you choose Scotland?

(Graeme): Susanne has seen every film made from books by the author Rosamunde Pilcher …she writes love stories set against the backdrop of all these stunning Scottish landscapes. Susanne fell in love with Scotland but neither of us had ever been to Scotland. So she asked, “what do you think about a holiday in Scotland?”. So our first holiday to Scotland was in 2011 and we absolutely loved it. We both fell in love with the place…and whilst there we worked out it was a damned sight cheaper to live there than in Austria. So we ended up looking for places to purchase and started to come over to Scotland on a regular basis, 3 or 4 times a year until we found roughly where we wanted to stay. Sometimes flying… sometimes in the car doing the 21-hour drive from Austria!! We originally wanted to be based in the Grantown-on-Spey area on the whiskey trail and build something there and so we started talking to builders and architects. But every time we came over to Scotland our last stop before returning to Austria was at Torrdarach House in Pitlochry. We really liked the house and we got friendly with the owners and we told them about our project in Grantown-on-Spey…turned out they were looking at selling!! When we got back to Vienna one time we received an email from the owners saying “We want to sell, we know what you want to buy and that you like Torrdarach House, what do you think?”…and we ended up going for it. So I left Golfstar in October 2013 to have 2 months off to pack everything.

Bed & Breakfast

(Golfing Herald): And you got married during your 2 months off!!

(Graeme): Exactly…we had to organise lots of things but in December 2013 we moved to Scotland as the new owners of the Torrdarach House Bed & Breakfast. We then found out what an old, traditional, Scottish Highland house feels like in the Winter…this house was specially built as a Summer house so there is no insulation whatsoever because it was built to have air circulating around to keep it cool…so in Winter it is pretty cold!! So we were Eskimos for the first few months.

(Golfing Herald): Did you and Susanne have a clear vision/plan of how you wanted the Bed & Breakfast to operate having taken the reins of an existing rather than a new business?

(Graeme): Yes we did…a friend of a friend knew one of the Professors at the University of Vienna and he was always on the lookout for new schemes and projects for his students to do. So we asked what about a business plan for a Bed & Breakfast in Scotland? He had a student who worked in Business Finance, a student in Tourism, a student who was into building/construction, a student in Banking, a student in Marketing…and between them, they compiled a 55-page business plan for us over a period of 6 months for nothing. Concurrently, we were thinking of ideas of what we would like to do. When I worked in Süßenbrunn, through the winter months I used to do Golf Holidays abroad…to Majorca, Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, etc. Anywhere the members would like to go on a golfing holiday and I would go with them. I used to do about 3 to 4 holidays every winter, so I knew all the different aspects of organising that type of holiday. So I suggested (to Susanne) why don’t we invite all of my friends, ex-pupils from over the years, etc. over to Scotland and do them a plan of where some of the local golf courses are like Pitlochry, Crieff, Gleneagles and Blairgowrie…and another time they could go further afield to courses such as St Andrews and Carnoustie.

Golf Packages

(Golfing Herald): And that plan certainly appears to have been realised as I spent some time navigating around the Torrdarach House Bed & Breakfast website during my preparation for our chat and read with interest the various golf-related services and packages that you offer.

(Graeme): It is one of those things that just works. We have had one group who have come over 3 times and they are coming again this August….they just love it. And every time they come over they bring one extra person with them, so their group is getting bigger. With golf courses such as Gleneagles, if we send so many players a year on a golf package they then reciprocate with a commission cheque. Not just groups but also individuals…friends of Susanne’s, friends of mine…even people I knew from my time working in Leeds. Phil Boag, who was an assistant professional at the same time I was an assistant at Oulton Park, has been up to stay with his group from Garforth Driving Range where is now the professional.

(Golfing Herald): How do you accommodate the visiting groups and individuals on their respective Scottish golfing trips if you are fully booked?

(Graeme): We have been overbooked a couple of times. An example is through my professional connection with the United Nations Golf Club in Vienna when we had about 20 players come across in 2015…but we only have 7 rooms!! So we also filled up the Bed & Breakfast that is next door but one which has 3 rooms and we also filled a couple of rooms at another local Bed & Breakfast. So they all had Breakfast at their respective accommodation and then all met up at Torrdarach House before heading off for the day’s golf.

Theme

(Golfing Herald): On the subject of rooms, I also noticed on your website, that each of your rooms is named after an Open Championship venue.

(Graeme): The idea behind that was that most of the Bed & Breakfasts we stayed in whilst doing our homework (before moving to Scotland ) had a theme in their room names such as named after whiskeys, or Scottish Islands or Scottish towns. At first, we were thinking of naming the rooms after whiskeys but when you come down to Pitlochry you are miles away from whiskey territory trails, even though we have got the Bells and Edradour distilleries in Pitlochry. So I thought with the golf connection and with the Open being the #1 Tournament that is played on several courses, some of which are in Scotland, we named the rooms after some of the Open venues (St Andrews, Muirfield, Troon, Turnberry, Carnoustie and Lytham St Annes)…we also have the Bothy which is Room #7 and is a separate building and we called it Portrush. Every room has got either a picture of the course or the clubhouse and also a winners photo holding the trophy…and all are signed apart from the photo of Max Faulkner who won at Royal Portrush in 1951. And in the main hall upstairs we have a silhouette of the Swilken Bridge at St Andrews, a portrait of Bobby Jones and a bust of Old Tom Morris. And we are licensed so we have local whiskies and local beers and we also do Austrian wines. If we don’t sell the wines during the summer then Susanne has something to drink through the winter as they are her favourite wines!! As it happens, the Austrian winery we use was the only one which would supply Red, White and Rosé and deliver it, so every year we order a pallet of wine from Austria…though we don’t know yet the impact of Brexit on the cost of importing.

Easter to Halloween

(Golfing Herald): Any regrets about making such a sweeping change of direction and becoming the owners of Torrdarach House Bed & Breakfast?

(Graeme): No…but having said that it has been a lot different to what we expected it to be. We are not afraid of hard manual work…we don’t have any staff so we do all the work ourselves. There is also an acre of woodland garden which takes us about a week every year to clear the leaves!! So when we are full it is 7 rooms to clean every day, it’s breakfast, all of the admin around bookings and email requests, marketing and social media…takes forever and when we are open we do a 15 hour day, 7 days a week.

(Golfing Herald): I assume you are closed at this present time due to Covid-19.

(Graeme): We are…but typically we open at Easter and close at Halloween. That gives us enough time to, first of all, do the accounts, secondly do any repairs and touch up work, cleaning carpets and curtains, re-decorating and so on…all the stuff we can’t do when we have guests staying. So it is hard work over the winter and we normally finish everything by 1st March and so we get a few weeks off to lounge around and do nothing and try to recharge our batteries before the season starts again…so I don’t get very much time to play golf!! Probably play about 4 or 5 times a year.

Amazing Shot #1

(Golfing Herald): That’s spooky as the next topic on my crib sheet is a facet of golf we have not really covered…playing!!

(Graeme): In a nutshell, obviously played junior golf as we touched upon earlier. During my training with the PGA, I had to play so many competitive rounds a year to prove I could play. I think it was 1997 when I got my first hole in one at a PGA event. That was a proud moment at the Dore and Totley Golf Club in Sheffield.

(Golfing Herald): Dore and Totley is a beautiful course and I was really lucky to play there in a Pro-Am back in 2019 with professional Ben Mason, who as an Amateur reached the semi-finals of the 1998 British Amateur Championship…and (to me) he made the game of golf look ridiculously easy.

(Graeme): I actually played against Ben a few times as a junior!! A quick story about Ben…he was at Sand Moor Golf Club and I was at Temple Newsam and we played in a junior event at Sand Moor. I think it is the second hole which is a short dogleg par 4 and from the back tee you hit something like a 5 iron down the middle of the fairway and then it is a right angle to the green, and then it is just a sand wedge in. It was the first time I had seen a golf shot that amazed me so much that it encouraged me to go out with that (Seve Ballesteros) sand wedge and learn how to hit that shot. Ben hit this sand wedge and the ball never got above head height from 70 yards away and on its third bounce on the green it was a foot away from the flag. It stopped on a sixpence. It looked like he had thinned that shot and it was going at such a speed that I thought it was going well over the back of the green. My tongue hit the floor…I had never seen a golf shot like that before and I thought that is a shot I want to learn and I know it will pay dividends to learn that golf shot.

Amazing Shot #2

(Golfing Herald): That is a fantastic compliment and I will certainly drop Ben a line about your recollection of that particular shot.

(Graeme): It was an awesome shot. Another shot I remember (from my junior days and I am pretty sure it was a 6 iron) was at Horsforth Golf Club playing with Simon Hurd, who went on to become a European Tour player and now has the company ‘Druh Belts & Buckles’. I have only played the course once and on one of the par 3s he hit this 6 iron and the trajectory of the ball was like a plane taking off from an aircraft carrier. It was the most amazing golf shot, almost like a punch shot into the wind. So much control and that was another shot that I just had to learn. Looking back, I won lots of Pro-Ams around the Leeds and Bradford areas but nothing really major.

ACP Tour

(Golfing Herald): What about playing when you were working and living in Austria?

(Graeme): I started playing a lot more as I found I had more time, managing my time around my own diary. If there was a Tournament coming up I knew I could keep that time blank and maybe the day before to practise. There was a Monday league called the ACP Tour which was the Austrian Club Professionals Tour specifically designed for Club Pros to get out once a week and to keep them involved with Tournament golf. It also kept you connected with a lot of people and you got to play a lot of different golf courses. The Tour went all over Austria and so I played on this Tour and one year I think I finished 4th overall out of hundreds of pros. After that I thought to myself I have got a bit of a game here and so in 2003, I thought I would really have a go at the ACP Tour and play in every event and see if I could then get on the Telecom Tour, which was like a Challenge Tour.

(Golfing Herald): How did you then fare on the ACP Tour?

(Graeme): I won about 5 tournaments on the ACP Tour, including a couple of course records and a couple of hole in ones. I was starting to build a bit of momentum and eventually I played in the Austrian Open on the European Tour at the Fontana Golf Club. I was also coming back to England to play in the Open Championship qualifiers. This momentum kept going into 2004 when I set another course record. I also went over to Slovakia to play in this National Pro-Am to commemorate the opening of a course and there was appearance money. That was the very first time I got paid for turning up at a Tournament!! About 5 of us travelled over from Vienna, all piled into one car…and I think we all got about the equivalent of £500 for just turning up. There were so many prizes that the presentation seemed to go on for about 5 hours.

Trick Golf Shots

(Golfing Herald): Longer than your actual round of golf?

(Graeme): Yeah…but it was all free drink and free food and it was almost like an outdoor summer party, and we all stayed at this nearby castle overnight. In the end, we all came home with about £5000 each from this Pro-Am where this very wealthy guy was throwing money at everybody. And then I went to Hungary to play at Hensce Golf Club and they also had appearance money and that is where I met Damian MacPherson.

(Golfing Herald): That is not a name I am familiar with so who is Damian MacPherson?

(Graeme): Damian is a left-handed professional golfer who I think was originally from Sheffield and we met each other in the clubhouse. We had both played in PGA North Regional events back in 1995 or 96 and we bumped into each other in the middle of Hungary…and he was the Head Pro at Hensce Golf Club. We got talking and he told me that he had started doing trick golf shows. I had started doing a few trick shots and then he came up with the idea of us doing a trick shot as if there was a mirror in front of us….mirror imaging each other. Spur of the moment we ended up doing this impromptu trick golf show on the driving range with about 200 people gathered around watching us. Unfortunately, we never kept in contact so we didn’t take the concept of a joint trick show any further. I will never forget that tournament in Hungary as the winner(s) won their weight in wine!! The course was on the side of a vineyard. So they had these massive scales and they were weighing everybody…so you registered upon arrival to collect your scorecard and then you got weighed!! We ended up coming home from this trip in Hungary unable to open the doors on the car (a Vauxhall Corsa) without wine spilling out!! Honestly, we had to borrow some old netting from the greenkeeper and hang it inside the car in such a way that the wine would not fall out.

Austrian Open

(Golfing Herald): That is just a brilliant story…just returning to the Austrian Open which you mentioned earlier. How did you get on?

(Graeme): Unfortunately, I missed the cut because I had a bit of a Tin Cup moment on the Par 5 18th. I naturally hit a low ball flight and the closing hole at Fontana is almost a crescent-shaped hole around the lake and it is possible to reach the green in 2 shots. In the practise rounds I had been on the slight upslope on the fairway and then launching these shots and reaching the green in 2…happy days. Get to the tournament and I am about 2 yards short of where I have been in practice and I am on a slight downslope but I am thinking I can still reach the green. Hit a 4 iron, fell short and my ball hit the rocks before the green and bounced back into the water. Instead of going up and dropping I just said “I can do this”…I stood there and dropped another 3 balls in the same spot and ran out of balls and had to walk in!!

Wentworth

(Golfing Herald): Moving on from your adventures at Fontana…you said earlier that you now only play about 4 or 5 times a year, but can you remember your last competitive ‘outing’ before moving to Scotland to own and run the Bed & Breakfast?

(Graeme): Yes I do…my last competitive round before moving to Scotland was in October 2013 and at the time I was with Team TaylorMade and we were sent to play on the West Course at Wentworth and I was on Team Adizero. That was a new shoe which was the lightest shoe in golf. The other team was Team SLDR which was the driver in 2013. We all stayed at the Brooklands Hotel which is next to where they had the original curved bends motor racing track. We played off the back tees at Wentworth and I shot 69. I think there were only 3 of us that day who shot under par…just a great experience, playing Wentworth for the first time and going round under par.

Northern Open

(Golfing Herald): And was Wentworth your last competitive round anywhere?

(Graeme): That is what I class as my last competitive round but last year (2020) they opened up the courses again in Scotland after the initial (Covid-19) lockdown. Tournament golf started again and the Northern Open was played at the Spey Valley Championship Golf Course up in Aviemore, Scotland. It is the longest golf course I have ever played or it could have just been me getting old!! I was constantly playing catch up with the boys…I was struggling to keep up pace-wise, I was struggling to keep up distance-wise, I was struggling to keep up score-wise, it was blowing a gale, lashing down with rain and I think it was about 4 degrees on the first day and about 8 degrees on the second day. But I made the cut and managed to play all 36 holes but unfortunately, it got rained off…I was stood on the 18th tee in the second round when the hooter went!! Eventually, they decided to cancel the tournament. I wasn’t in a good position but my only goal, because I am only playing about 4 rounds a year, was not to be last….and I wasn’t last. I am a big goal setter so I set out to play 2 rounds and not miss the cut (and only play 1 round), and to get some idea of where my game is now. I felt as if my short game and putting was great but my driving let me down. I had no confidence in my driver and I used to have lots of confidence in my driver.

Best Facet

(Golfing Herald): One of my regular questions in these ‘Meet the Professional’ interviews is to ask the Pro what is (or was) the best facet of their game?

(Graeme): I used to hit every drive down the middle of the fairway…super confident with the driver. My long irons were always struggling whilst my short game was usually pretty good…chipping, pitching and bunker play. Putting was never a strong suit but if I had a good day on the greens I was going to have a good tournament. If I holed the first putt from 3 metres then I would have a good round.

(Golfing Herald): Setting the tone from the off.

(Graeme): Yeah…when I was an Ambassador for TaylorMade when I was working at the Golfstar shop in Vienna, they would give you the clubs and say you have got to play with those. You can’t stick with the old model, you have got to be seen playing with the new model. So I had the RBZ TaylorMade Stage 2 driver and it was awesome. All of a sudden I was consistently 10 to 15 yards longer off the tee and the drives were never off my aim point. Then one day they brought out the R1 driver and said I had to play with the R1 instead of the RBZ. I hated it but I had to play with it!! Now stupidly I sold the RBZ driver as I wasn’t allowed to play with it and really struggled with the R1, just couldn’t get to grips with it. And that is what I played with at the Northern Open last year…I was hitting it everywhere, to every unknown area on the course. A nightmare off the tee. So the first thing I did when I got home from that Tournament was to go on Facebook Marketplace and to put my R1 driver up for sale and within 2 days I sold my driver!! I am probably the only professional golfer in the world who is driverless. So I am now waiting for the lockdown to be lifted so I can go out and test some new drivers.

Best Ever Round

(Golfing Herald): Continuing on the theme of playing, what has been your best ever round? And it doesn’t necessarily have to have been your lowest ever score?

(Graeme): You get these players where they say that they were so concentrated on every shot and every shot was as important as the last and I thought nobody gets to that level…but then, I honestly think I discovered exactly what they meant when I enjoyed every single shot setting the course record at Golfclub Donau in Linz, Austria. It wasn’t the best of days as it had been pouring down and the course was playing exceptionally long and I shot 68 (4 under par). People were moaning about the length of the course due to the conditions when I arrived and signed in. But I played absolutely solid…18 holes of solid golf with every shot on the button. I remember being on the tee at the Par 3 18th and the club secretary was stood there and he said if I got a birdie 2 I would have the course record.

(Golfing Herald): No pressure then?

(Graeme): I thought I don’t need that!! He said he had been told to come and watch me as word had got around that I was on fire (his words not mine). I hit a 5 iron to about 6 feet past the flag on a green that sloped from back to front and the flag was at the front. So I had this downhill, left to right, exceptionally quick putt for a birdie 2 and the course record. And my putting is not brilliant at the best of times but I honestly thought I am going to make this…and I did. I was just ecstatic with that round of 68.

Favourite Golf Course

(Golfing Herald): You have shared some great stories from your time playing in Austria, Slovakia and Hungary but which is your favourite golf course in the UK?

(Graeme): It would be tough not to include the West course at Wentworth…but for a favourite course, there are just too many!! Moortown is a phenomenal golf course. I love the big championship courses, everybody does. But you know, what I really like are these courses that nobody really knows. I once played at Gifford Golf Club which is about 10 miles to the east of Edinburgh, Scotland. It is just a great 9 hole golf course and I played there with my wife Susanne. She doesn’t play very much but when I play golf with her I always enjoy it. She always feels as if she is a burden because she is not a fantastic player…but when she does ‘hit the golf ball’ she hits it really well. On a 9 hole golf course, she will join me as 9 holes are enough for her. We have played some lovely 9 hole courses but Gifford had such a lovely atmosphere and they made us feel so welcome.

Return to Golf

(Golfing Herald): Returning back to Torrdarach House, what are your plans for the Bed & Breakfast?

(Graeme): Well, the Bed & Breakfast is now up for sale!! I have started going back into studying online to learn a little bit more about Psychology, Sports Coaching and Coaching Coaches and Susanne has now got a baking company where they make artisan dog treats which are practically non-existent in Scotland. So we have branched out a little bit into that sector.

(Golfing Herald): Does that mean you are now looking to get back into golf, either part-time or full-time?

(Graeme): Yeah…I have lost contact with golf a bit too much and I would like to get back into golf. Susanne and I don’t want to continue with the Bed & Breakfast as 7 years is hard going. What we have found is that in Scotland that most people running a Bed & Breakfast only last between 2 & 1/2 and 5 years and then move on. We are not in a rush to sell but we are looking to move and build one of these (factory built) Eco houses.

(Golfing Herald): In Scotland?

(Graeme): Yes, still in Scotland but moving more towards Fife and that direction where there is a lot more golf and I could possibly find a role easier over in that area. So we are now planning ahead for the future. Hence last year I started my golf website, including a golf blog.

#TBT

(Golfing Herald): During my preparation, I read some of your golf blogs and I really like the variety of topics that you write about. The one I enjoyed reading the most was ‘My Favourite Golf Books’ which covers how you have been influenced throughout your career by various books.

(Graeme): My idea with the blog is to only ‘touch upon’ subjects because I feel once you start going in-depth into a certain subject then you are only attracting a certain audience. So I like just to scan various subjects.

(Golfing Herald): Something else that caught my eye that I wanted to touch upon today was a recent Throwback Thursday (#TBT) tweet you posted which included a photograph of you and a friend at the 2005 US Masters.

(Graeme): How that came about is that at Süßenbrunn I used to teach a guy called Walter Jöstl who at the time was an Investment Banker and he had so many connections worldwide, one of whom was the CEO of American Express and that is how we got the tickets for the US Masters. Walter Jöstl took me on a flight from Vienna to London and then a flight from London to Atlanta. We stayed in downtown Atlanta at the Marriott and every day we drove to Augusta on the freeway in this oversize, massive hire car. I don’t know who paid for it but it was a 5 night, all expenses paid trip!! We played golf as well at Bears Best golf course in Atlanta which is a Jack Nicklaus designed course with a collection of his best ever golfing holes. So they have taken identical holes from all over the world into one 18 hole golf course. At the Masters, we went to the practice rounds and the actual tournament and place are just absolutely incredible. I would love to go again but I am so happy that I have done it. A massive tick on my golfing bucket list.

(Golfing Herald): What is the current #1 on your golfing bucket list?

(Graeme): To play at Augusta. I don’t know if it is still true but apparently, the best way to play Augusta is to get in with the media group….all the writers, publicists, etc. get to play the day after the US Masters finishes and they say that is the easiest way of being able to play the 18 holes at Augusta.

The Nineteenth

(Golfing Herald): Sadly we have reached The Nineteenth so I would like to finish our chat with a bit of fun so who would you pick to join you in a Fantasy Fourball?

(Graeme): I have always looked up to Bobby Jones. Just a phenomenal golfer. He would definitely be my first pick.

(Golfing Herald): Bobby Jones is not a bad first pick for your Fourball!! Who would be your second selection?

(Graeme): When I first picked up a golf club there was a show on TV called ‘Around with Alliss’ where Peter Alliss would play a round of golf with various sportspeople or celebrities. So I would also pick Peter Alliss for the Fourball.

(Golfing Herald): And who would complete your Fantasy Fourball?

(Graeme): This is so difficult as there are probably a thousand people to choose from!! I would love to pick Tiger as he changed the game completely to what we know it as today. He really raised the bar in golf to a level I thought nobody else would ever reach. Then again Nick Faldo was always a massive influence on my golf…his waggle, his set up…and I used to wear the geometric Pringle sweater!! But I would probably ‘get hit’ if I didn’t say my wife Susanne because I really enjoy playing golf with her.

(Golfing Herald): Done!! So you and Susanne up against Bobby Jones and Peter Alliss?

(Graeme): Yeah, that would be a great Fourball….though we might need to be given 1 or 2 shots!!

(Golfing Herald): A great way to finish Graeme. Thanks so much for your time sharing such a passionate insight into your golfing journey so far and for telling so many great stories. All the best to you and Susanne in whatever direction your compass takes you.

For more information about Graeme then please visit his website by clicking Graeme Fish

Acknowledgements

And finally, a massive thanks to…

• Gwyn Jones ~ Secretary, Gifford Golf Club
• Dean Hardy ~ Treasurer, Temple Newsam Golf Club
• John Laidler ~ Secretary, Rawdon Golf & Lawn Tennis Club

…who so kindly provided assistance and support for this article.