I formed the idea of the Maiden Clinic, the first of its kind in this country, because so many of the young professionals and assistants who sought my advice had such poorly shaped swings and only a vague knowledge of the fundamentals of the game of golf.

  The war years had been a critical period in the golfing careers of some of these young men, and I decided to try to help them make up the years that had been lost (at a golf school).

  Many of them had not had the opportunities during their formative years of studying the methods of the better players.

  Boys and youths coming into the game of golf, full of enthusiasm and with a keenness to emulate their elders may or may not be lucky enough to have a good model on which to base their own particular style.

  A golf player like Dai Rees, who developed a fine swing early, a swing which has stood the test of the years and kept him at the top for so long, obviously had a good model to imitate in those early impressionable days.

  Others are not so fortunate as I discovered after the war.  Sometimes at this fortnightly golf clinic (golf school) there were as many as forty, most of whom were scoring in the 80 to 85 bracket in those tournaments that they entered.

  One young assistant travelled sixty miles every other week on his day off to attend the golf clinic (golf school).  To earn the money for his fare and his lunch he gave up his evenings after the professional's shop closed at seven-thirty and went off to pick apples for cash.

  He soon became know to us as the "apple-picker".  I am happy to say that his keenness at that time duly brought its reward.  Today he is a full professional, nicely settled at a small but good golf club and doing an excellent job teaching golf.

  Some of these young men who passed through my hands at my Maiden Golf Clinic (golf school) had it in them to do really well in golf tournaments.

  One, Ken Redford, from Stanmore, Middlesex, went to South Africa and won the South African Open Championship soon after his arrival there.  Others were Eddie Ward, who finished well up in a number of golf tournaments after attending the golf clinic (golf school), Arnold Stickley, who won the P.G.A. Close Championship in i960, and Peter Loxley.

  These and others had the makings of really good tournament golfers.  Some chose the club professional's career, and I must confess I was more than a little disappointed that a few of them were not prepared to strive for that little bit extra which might have established them in the tournament field.

  But I never regretted the time I gave to this clinic throughout the two and a half years of its existence.  I have the satisfaction of knowing that the clinic brought marked improvement to a number of young men at a crucial stage in their careers.  Today they are better off, and their golf club members better served as a result.

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