Western Province | The history of non-european golf region by region: Western Province

P Dudley in action in the WP Coloured Championship.

A PERFECT ACTION STUDY.
One of the competitors in the Western Province Coloured Championship played over their six-hole course at Crawford, Cape. The player is P.Dudley, handicap 5, but judging by the action he won't be on a 5 for long!

At this time there were no less than four Non-European clubs under the jurisdiction of the Western Province (Coloured) Golf Association,  all with courses on the Cape Flats.

The winner of the Western Province Championship in 1954 was A November with scores of 76 78 – 154.  At a later function, prize-giving and dance, he was presented with the WP Championship Trophy which he had won at Somerset West.

“Conditions are never too good for the Non-European players.  They do all the work themselves and they are for ever under the shadow of losing their courses – security of tenure being nil – but they get a lot of fun out of the game at a very cheap rate.  Many of them are, of course, former caddies. Good luck to them.  They need a helping hand”.

Mr Rex S Walker, captain of the Westlake Golf Club, who was also a patron of the Thornhill Golf Club (Cape Flats) for Coloured golfers, issued an appeal for support of an application by the Western Province Golf Union (Coloured) to the Cape Town City Council for help in establishing an 18-hole championship course for the use of Coloured golfers.

In the course of his appeal Mr. Walker said: "The enthusiasm which the Coloured population has directed towards the establishment of golfing facilities, despite great difficulties, is much to be admired.  It is known that among the numbers of non-European golfers are several with undoubted ability and an opportunity of developing this talent is much to be encouraged.

“I am sure that our appeal to the sports¬men in the community to assist in this venture will meet with sympathy, con¬sequently I would be glad of any assist¬ance you can give, and would also like to know if you have any ideas that might help in the furtherance of this project.”

Anyone desirous of helping the Coloured golfers was invited to address themselves to Mr. Walker at Westlake Golf Club.

Actually, non-European golf was a much bigger affair than the average golfer would have imagined at the time.   The Transvaal Non-European Golfng Union was made up of more than 30 golf clubs, and with the help of Euro¬pean friends it was able to publish an annual.  The Johannesburg and Germiston City Councils, no doubt among others, granted facilities to the non-European golfers that helped them very con¬siderably.

Other centres that encouraged the non-European golfers to a certain extent were Kimberley, Bloemfontein, Durban, Port Elizabeth and Beaufort West.  “It is a right and proper thing to do”.  When the W.P.G.U. (Country) referred to a "championship" course it had its mind chiefly on the recrea¬tion facilities offered rather than on the holding of tournaments.

But when it came to the turn of the Western Province to be "host" club to a national championship golf tournament for non-European golfers, it certainly wanted something better than that which was offered, and accepted, at Thornhill.  The host club did not even have a tent to offer their guests, never mind about a clubhouse.  The course, despite the Trojan efforts of voluntary workers, was but a very poor imitation of what the non¬-Europeans in the Transvaal could offer.

“The Coloured golfers of the Western Province deserve their chance of providing themselves with decent facilities, and they should get it.  Who knows but  they could be held up later on by Europeans as an example of what can be done in the way of providing cheaper golf than is available to-day.   And the way they would do it would be to take their coats off and do something to help themselves.”

There had as yet been no further developments regarding the application put forward by the Non-European Western Province Golf Union to the Cape Town City Council for help in establishing a good golf course for the use of Coloured golfers.   Mr. Rex Walker, of the Westlake Golf Club, was championing the cause.   He had been in touch with Cape Coloured Affairs Department and also the Group Areas organization asking them to help him in this matter.  These schemes take time to get under way but Mr. Walker had already received enough support and encouragement that he felt that some good would come of the idea.

It is not out of place here to mention the help which the Westlake caddies received from the club both in regard to the aid from the Welfare Fund of the club and also the permission given to the caddies to play on the bottom nine holes at certain hours.  Far from damaging the course the caddies acted as unpaid caretakers, zealously safeguarding the club's welfare.

In connection with the application for land and aid in respect to a golf course for the Coloured golfers, a pleasing development was that Robert Grimsdell, the golf architect, had offered, on behalf of the Scottburgh Rotary Club, to assist Mr. Walker in a voluntary capacity with the preliminary lay-out plans.  “The golfers can consider themselves trebly fortunate should the application go through.”

Rex Walker received a letter from the WPGA telling him of their intention to launch a drive to raise 1000 pounds (R2000) by the end of 1958.  The Executive of the WPGU is listed on the letterhead as:

President:          V Hendricks
Chairman:          J Petersen
Vice Chairman:   J Adriaanse
Secretary:          B B Adriaanse
Treasurer:          R Brown

By September 1960 the state of play regarding the proposed course for Coloureds was as follows:

• - Bob Grimsdell, together with Rex Walker and R K Bromley, had inspected the proposed site in Athlone.
• - Grimsdell was to do the layout at no charge; Spencer Mayne, Chairman of Greens at Royal Cape, was to give every help with respect to turf maintenance; Helen Wilson, Asst.Sec. at Royal Cape was to help with the typing, etc. and the Royal Cape greenkeeper, Mr Trill, was to give whatever help was needed.
• - R K Bromley, Vice-President of the WP(N-E)GU, had established a fund in connection with the development of the course.  He had given 500 pounds (R1000) and in addition 50 pounds (R100) had been received from each of Ohlsson’s Breweries and Her worship the Mayor, Mrs J Newton-Thompson.  Trustees were MR J D Joseph, now the Chairman of the WP(N-E)GU, R K Bromley and Rex Walker.
• - The WP Coloured GU committee said they could get contributions from 1000 members at 10 shillings (R1.00) per month.
• - Grimsdell went on record as saying, “Apart from providing good golf, establishment of a course in Athlone will improve the township very much aesthetically  -  a green civilising influence.   The whole world, white, coloured, black, pink, yellow, could all do with some green civilising influence!!”

At the time of this historic event the office bearers of the Western Province Coloured Golf Union were as follows:

• President: R K Bromley
• Vice-Presidents: D Hands
                             A Whittles
• Chairman:  J D Joseph
• Assistant Chairman: S J Samson
• Secretary: Lionel Theys
• Asst. Secretary: C Daniels
• Treasurer:  K Watson
• M&R Secretary: B Adriaanse
• Asst. M&R Sec.: A November
• Rex Walker and R G Fall were elected the first life members of the Union.

Another potential setback later in the year was a motion put to the City Council to rescind the decision that 140 acres in the Vygekraal River Valley should be developed as a golf course for Coloured people.  The argument was that very few people would benefit from the course; that it would cost more than the members could pay to keep it in order; and that in years to come the course would become derelict.  The project was described as a ‘wildcat scheme’.    Strong arguments were put in favour of the original decision and after a two hour debate the motion to review and rescind the previous resolution was defeated.

As at January 1962, R29 000 had been obtained from the City Council for the construction of the course and donations had been received from such organisations as Caltex and United Tobacco for an amount of R4 000 towards a target of R10 000 for a clubhouse and course machinery.   One of the donors was Gary Player who gave R60 to the fund and R3 000 was given by the Government “as tangible proof of the Government’s desire to support the establishment of separate sports facilities for non-Whites”.   It was suggested that this was the policy the Government was holding out as justification for banning the previous week’s non-White golf tournament at the White Irene course.  As such it was described as “an apartheid grant” and many prominent members of the Coloured community were by no means happy with this.  The Irene banning is mentioned elsewhere in this history.

A very successful W.P. Non-European Championship was hosted by Royal Cape Golf Club in 1964, made all the more noteworthy by the presence of Papwa Sewgolum whose golf was of the highest possible standard.  With scores of 68 and a brilliant 65 in the first two rounds he left the field standing and his relatively modest final two rounds of 72 and 70 for a total of 275, 17 under par, brought him the title by the huge margin of 27 shots.   The runners-up were Ishmael Chowglay and Pieter van Dieman, both pretty good golfers themselves, but on the day no match for Papwa.   Papwa was perhaps at his best at this time, winning the Natal Open title against all opposition black and white in 1963 and 1965 and finishing second in the SA Open in 1963.  He was certainly a joy to watch and his behaviour both on and off the course was an object lesson to all golfers.

The success of the tournament was largely due to Royal Cape GC who did everything possible for the comfort and happiness of the competitors.  Players had special reason to be thankful to Mr Jack Plummer, an executive member of the WPGU and member of Royal Cape, who collected R500 prize money from friends and supporters.  As a result there was prize money for the first ten in the Championship; the first three in the net division handicaps 11-18; the first two in the 19-23 section; the four members of the Mountain View GC; a special prize for J Doos, an 84-year-old competitor; R5 for every round under 70.  Papwa was the only golfer to collect under this heading.   Mr Plummer and Virgoe Buckland (Sec of the WPGU) helped considerably in the organisation.

Ishmael Chowglay, for a number of years regarded as the best non-white golfer in the Western Province, won the 1967 WP Open Championship at King David CC with a score of 77 77 77 75  -  306.  He was the only player to break 80 in all four rounds.  Runner-up was W Lewis, also from the Western Province, on a total of 313, including the best round of the tournament, 72.   D Motati, winner of the 1966 SA Non-White title, was leading with nine holes to go, but he found plenty of trouble in the King David rough and took 87 for his final round and a total of 314.   His final nine holes must have been horrific!

Also in the field was the firm favourite, Papwa Sewgolum, who had just recently won the 1967 SA Non-White Open at Paarl, but he had to retire from the tournament after two rounds owing to ill health.   At this stage he was well in the running with a two-round total of 155.

The King David CC closed the clubhouse for the duration of the tournament and no European members or spectators were allowed on the course, much as they might have wished to see the play.

There was a large entry for this championship, which augers well for the new Coloured course at Athlone.