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Thursday, February 10, 2022

Dear Harvey: The Stage Golfing Society (London)

Harvey on the practice tee at Austin CC
Dear Harvey,

Our social life in Richmond is picking up steam! Last Sunday, I played another round at The Richmond Golf Club as the guest of my Texas ex-pat friend, Brad Berwick.

The four-ball included Brad's friends, musician Alan Price and actor Stephen Greif. Alan and Stephen played well and were generous in not taking their deserved strokes. ("All bets won or lost on the first tee" comes to mind.) Brad and I took on the two prominent Brits and managed to scrape out a win coming from two down on the final three holes.

Do you remember the British rock band, The Animals? Alan was the keyboardist and produced the smash hit House of the Rising Sun. Here's Alan performing a 1980 non-charting UK single, a re-interpretation of the Animals' # 1 hit from the Sixties. Enjoy. It is an absolute classic and one of my favorites.


Stephen Greif is a UK-born, award-winning stage, film, television, and voice actor. On television, he is best known as Travis in Blakes 7, a British science-fiction program produced by the BBC. You will not believe this, but Stephen was good friends with Bud Shrake! (See The Making of The Little Red Book.) Bud and Stephen worked together on several theatre projects, including Benchmark, a play Bud wrote starring Stephen and Jerry Hall!

After the round, I enjoyed learning about The Stage Golfing Society. Alan and Stephen have been active members of society for years, which has its home at The Richmond Golf Club.

The Stage Golfing Society (SGS) was founded in 1903 and is the second oldest golf society in England. Our members are both men and women creatively involved in the Entertainment Industry. George Edwardes, the celebrated Impresario, founded the Society for the members of his theatrical companies. Rumour has it that his idea was to ensure his actors stayed out of the pubs during the day and were therefore sober when they went on stage in the evening.


Stephen and Alan have graciously invited me back for a chance to see The Stage Room, which looks impressive on the website. Be sure to click through and read the History of the Stage Golfing Society Trophies by John Baddeley. The poem, In Praise of Stableford, deserves some commentary, as that is the preferred way of playing matches in England, and I find it quite fun.

Below is a photo of our group and a beautiful view of the clubhouse taken from the 18th fairway. Lastly, enjoy some rare archive footage of golfers who were members and friends of The Stage Golfing Society between 1909 and 1946.

Left to right: Brad Berwick, Alan Price, Stephen Greif, and me

Beautiful finishing hole


Great stuff, Harvey.

We miss you (and that driving range!),

gPage

Letters to Harvey from The Kingdom:

Other 'golfy' scribblings:
"Millions of people were charmed by the homespun golf advice dispensed in Harvey Penick's Little Red Book, a sports classic that became the best-selling sports book of all time. Yet, beyond the Texas golf courses where Penick happily toiled for the better part of eight decades, few people knew the self-made golf pro who coaxed the best out of countless greats -- Tom Kite, Ben Crenshaw, Betsy Rawls, Mickey Wright -- all champions who considered Penick their coach and lifelong friend." - Kevin Robbins, author of Harvey Penick: The Life and Wisdom of the Man Who Wrote the Book on Golf.
"And if you play golf, you are my friend." - Harvey Penick

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