The story of one of Yorkshire’s and England’s greatest amateur golfers has been record-ed in a new biography.
Golf’s Golden Era – The Story of Rodney Foster tells the story of a Shipley-born amateur who represented Great Britain and Ireland in five Walker Cups, captained the side twice, and competed alongside some of the game’s biggest stars in the 1960s and 1970s in events including The Open and The Masters.
Rodney won the Yorkshire Amateur Championship five times – in 1963, 64, 65, 67 and 70 – and the Bradford Open a record 10 times. He also played 125 times for his county.
He earned junior and senior caps for England between 1960 and 1973; won the European Amateur Team Championship three times; and lifted The Berkshire Trophy (1964) and the Lytham Trophy (1967 and 1968). In 1964, Rodney lost by just one hole to Dr David Marsh in the English Amateur Championship. He also reached the semi-final of The Amateur Championship in 1962 and 1965.
One of his most outstanding individual performances was a tie with Michael Bonallack in the English Amateur Stroke Play Championship (Brabazon Trophy) in 1969. Not satis-fied with a tie, Rodney made amends the following year – winning at Little Aston.
A regular member of the GB&I team in the Eisenhower Trophy (World Team Champion-ship), Rodney played in five Walker Cup matches from 1965 to 1973. Sadly, he had a seri-ous accident in 1973, which put an end to his elite golf career when he was at his peak.
Held in the highest regard in amateur golf circles, Rodney was invited to be non-playing captain of the Walker Cup team in 1979 at Muirfield and in 1981 at Cypress Point. He shares his Cypress Point experience in the book, along with that of becoming the chair-man of The Walker Cup selection panel.
While authors Robin Snook and Trevor Wilson tell the story of Rodney’s career through individual statistics, they also share insights into matches played against some of the best golfers in the world, revealing the true spirit of golf in this era through personal an-ecdotes and material which has never been published before.
One such story covers the time Rodney played in an exhibition match with Lee Trevino, Michael Bonallack and Lionel Platts at Pannal. On the first tee, Rodney was stopped in the middle of his practice swing by Lee, who had won The Open for a second year in a row the day before and was carrying Rodney’s pyjamas, which he’d brought with him from Scotland as they had been left behind.
Rodney also shares the story of competing in the 1966 Masters at Augusta National. De-spite the initial excitement, competing in the event was not a straightforward decision as amateurs had to pay their own travel and accommodation expenses. For a 25-year-old insurance salesman, it would be a huge financial undertaking. Having made the trip, Yorkshireman Rodney was delighted to find he would be staying in the Crow’s Nest above the Augusta National clubhouse for just $1 per night. In addition, all his meals were $1 – manna from heaven for a Yorkshireman! Rounding off a memorable couple of days, Rodney attended the traditional Foreigners Dinner. In 1966, there were only 17 non-American players invited to compete and in the small group, Rodney would find himself sat beside the legendary Bobby Jones.
Now 84, Rodney remembers every shot he ever hit, every golfer he ever played with or against, and every 2ft putt he missed – proving he is just like every other amateur golfer, at least in some respects.
Golf’s Golden Era – The Story of Rodney Foster is published by Caboodle Books Ltd and is available here.
