Sir Bob Charles might have won the British Open among 70 golfing titles, but he’s never forgotten the debt he owes to Christchurch Golf Club for launching his career as the world’s first great left-handed golfer.
Today Charles lives with Lady Verity, his wife of 58 years, beside the Clearwater Golf Course, but the Christchurch club’s Shirley “links’’ remains his home club.
The venerable course, located near Horseshoe Lake, features in Sir Bob Charles -The Biography – a handsome 321-page book recently completed in partnership with Charles’ Clearwater neighbour, Geoff Saunders, a retired Christchurch lawyer who was a leading amateur golfer in the 1970s.
Charles, 84, met Stuff to discuss his book, and career, at the stylish clubhouse of the Shirley course, where he is a life member and club patron.
“Since I arrived in Christchurch in 1956, I’ve flown the banner for the Christchurch Golf Club. I’ve represented them, and likewise Canterbury. I’ve always played out of the Christchurch club,’’ he says.
An upstairs room in the clubhouse – rebuilt after the Canterbury earthquakes – is now named after one of Canterbury’s most foremost sporting personalities.
In pride of place is a replica of the Claret Jug – the trophy presented to Charles after his victory at the 1963 British Open at Lancashire’s Royal Lytham & St Annes course, where he became the first left-hander to win one of golf’s major tournaments.
“I feel quite honoured to have this room, the Charles Gallery, as a legacy, I suppose, to display some of my memorabilia,’’ he says, sitting in an armchair in the gallery. “I still retain a lot, but I think it gives a pretty good cross-section of the successes I’ve had over the years.’’
