David Black, who was the professional at both Killarney and Houghton, has been a member of the PGA for 75 years, which may be something of a record. He was a sought-after teacher and one of South Africa’s most successful golf professionals. However, he was conspicuous by his absence at a lunch held in June to reunite giants of the game, after he took ill the day before.

Black would have joined fellow 94-year-old Denis Hutchinson as the oldest representatives at the lunch. Hutch has been a PGA member since 1960, a total of 66 years. Black was the President of the PGA and Hutch is the Honorary Life President.

Whilst Hutch was an excellent coach, counting John Bland amongst his pupils, he was also one of South Africa’s top players, winning both the SA Open and French Open. He is also the only golfer to ever play a tournament round with Golf’s Big Three – Gary Player was his partner in the World Cup, and they played with the American Team of Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer.

As Hutch’s playing career came to an end, he was discovered by TV and quickly became the Voice of Golf in South Africa and many other English-speaking countries around the world.

Cobie Legrange was also at our lunch. For nearly 10 years, Legrange was one of South Africa’s best players, winning two Dunlop Masters tournaments in Britain and going up against Nicklaus in the Australian Masters, beating the 18-time Major champion by one shot. He won a total of 20 tournaments in a short space of time.

Legrange then became the professional at Randpark Golf Club and changed the way people purchased golf equipment – his golf shop was next to the driving range so you could ‘Try Before You Buy’. Many young professionals got the opportunity to learn from him and went on to be successful golf pros themselves.

Allan Henning, the youngest of the four Henning brothers, was a natural talent. Harold has the best record because Allan disliked travel and being away from his family. Allan won the SA Open in 1963 at the age of 19. He was also runner-up on three other occasions. In seven of his 20 international wins he beat Bobby Cole and Hugh Baiocchi twice, and myself three times.

After a stint on the PGA Tour, Allan took the club job at Reading Golf Club, then Glendower Golf Club and finally, Royal Johannesburg. For many years he held the record of the lowest score on the Sunshine Tour – an 11-under-par 61 at Glendower in the Toro Tournament in 1970.

Gallery below

A special group of professionals recently met at Zwartkop Country Club to discuss golf and re-ignite old friendships.

Andries Oosthuizen, who also attended the Lunch, was tied for fifth in The Open Championship. Entering the final round with rounds of 69, 69 and 70, he eventually finished 12th. He had runner-up finishes in the Victoria Falls Classic and the Piccadilly Medal in Britain and won the 1973 SA Amateur.

Two of South Africa’s top club professionals were also in attendance – Athol Dowie and Mike de Villiers, who, between them, spent over 80 years serving their members at Pretoria Country Club and Modderfontein respectively. Both were excellent teachers and have had many successful amateurs pass through their coaching instruction.

Other fine players who were in attendance were Houghton professional Richard Kaplan, and Robbie Stewart, who coaches at The River Club.

Theo Manyama joined the occasion. He played on the Sunshine Tour in the 70s and 80s, then became the Sunshine Tour’s main referee. Theo has officiated at all four Majors, the Ryder Cup and the President’s Cup.

Two families that have been in the golf industry for three-quarters of a century also joined us. Gary Treger, who is now retired, took over his father’s golf bag company and grew it into a huge wholesale company. And Doug Vilas, whose father-in-law was the first agent for Ping in South Africa, still represents Ping in a partnership that has lasted nearly 60 years.

Paul Leishmann, the CEO of Royal Johannesburg, and Hans Jonck, who consults to Golf Clubs, also came along, with Zwartkop Country Club’s resident professionals, Crizelda Terblanche and Joseph Phiri. Diedrich Uys, the CEO of the PGA of South Africa, joined us and met a few of the old members of his organisation at this occasion.

Finally, one of my oldest friends, Selwyn Nathan, attended. He recently retired as Commissioner of the Sunshine Tour and told a few stories about his life in golf. Selwyn played on the Tour in the early 70s and then worked on the Sunshine Tour for a while. When he came back to the Tour in the 90s, he completely overhauled the operation and attained new levels, with co-sanctioned events with Europe and also started a very successful Sunshine Ladies Tour.

It was a lunch filled with memories of days of old. The characters like Simon Hobday, Tertius Claassen and many others now departed were acknowledged, tournaments won were celebrated, and fellow players and PGA members were fondly remembered.

In short, a great time was had by all.

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