A walk to remember … for dad
It's always good to honour those who have gone before us.
It was a trip down memory lane for former Umkomaas Golf Club member Alasdair Taylor this Christmas.
He flew out from Florida, US, to set up the inaugural Stuart Taylor Memorial golf day, in memory of his late father, who died in November 2015.
His ashes have been scattered on Umkomaas’s iconic 14th hole, regarded as a hole with one of the more spectacular views in golf.
Alasdair is the younger, better looking and arguably more talented brother of Simon Taylor, the latter who played for the KwaZulu-Natal’s men’s and mid-amateur teams for many years.
Alasdair played for the Natal junior team two years in a row in the late 1980s, with Simon, nicknamed ‘Simple’ and now a member at Kloof CC, ironically perhaps, only playing for the province once at junior level.
“Simple moved ahead however, despite my obvious superior ball striking prowess, by hitting his fades, fat blocks and bunts all to the fairway or green no matter what,” laughed Alasdair.
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Some of their teammates in those days included Bradley Davison, the late Mark Burgess, Raymond Clark (Tim’s older brother), Grant Watson, Raul Gordon, George Johnston, Glen Murray (now on the bag for Sergio ‘Green Jacket’ Garcia) and Gary Mathews.
Since then, Alasdair has spent many years in the UK in the restaurant business.
He recently made a return to the golf industry, as a professional caddy for some of the world’s rich and famous in Florida during the UK’s winter months.
In between all this he returned to South Africa for a bit, where he made a small golfing comeback of sorts, playing some Wednesday golf at Victoria Country Club.
He played some league golf after a 10 year layoff and won the club champs there in 2010.
Talking about the event at Umkomaas, he said he’d like to make the tournament in memory of his father an annual thing, as it’s a great reason to get back home to see his family and enjoy the summer.
“It’s still such a great layout,” he said. “I only play about fives times a year, but the bug bit at Umkomaas, watch this space,” he laughed.
He really enjoyed seeing many of his ‘old mates’ and they reminisced on days gone by.
Umkomaas has produced some world-class golfers, including Tim Clark, Manny Zerman and Garth Mulroy, all based in the States.
Manny was in the area recently, as was ‘TC’, who came out to support the players.
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It’s a tribute to the work the Junior Foundation did back then, and still does.
It’s also a tribute to all fathers (and mothers) who introduced their boys to the game of golf.
Many people of Alasdair’s age (46) have lost a parent, if not both.
In some ways what he has done, is to acknowledge and honour all those parents.
Golf truly is the game of a lifetime.
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