In Loving Memory of Bert Gadd

It is four years now since Bert Gadd went to join his brothers and son, Tim in the Great Golfing Greens beyond... at least that is how I see him. I think Heaven would be of very little interest to Bert without a golf course and a good competition.

I never met him, only got to talk to him on the phone a few times and exchange a few letters. I only "discovered him" in 2001 and hardly had time to save up for a plane ticket to England before he was gone. Bert was my "great-uncle", a younger brother of my own grandfather, Charles Gadd (1892 - 1939) who died years before I was born.

I come from a family who didn't keep in touch and until 2001 I had no idea the younger brothers Bert (92) and Reg (91) were still alive. My father had not kept up with relatives from his boyhood, and there were no pictures. It was luck, or fate that encouraged me to run a search on the Internet and find a connection to Ipswitch Golf Club, the club where my grandfather was once the pro. The historian there had recently received a letter from Bert (coincidence?), and so kindly put me in touch with him. I wrote Bert a long letter and miraculously received a trans-Atlantic phone call in return.

What Bert has given to me is his legacy. He knew that I would take care of all his memories that had been so meticulously documented with John Marshal Cameron. If we had not been able to put his memoirs on the web I suspect there would have only been a few copies made, and that eventually, all would have been forgotten.

Bert's memories are the only link I have back into a past where my grandparents and great grandparents lived. I am 56 now, and see that in time so much can be lost if it is not carefully saved. I am so happy to share all of this with you, my sisters, cousins, nieces and nephews, second and third cousins. It turns out there are a great many of us, and we are scattered around the globe. Since I put the memoirs on the web there have been several emotional “reconnections” as various family members find the site and discover the rich treasure of family, as well as golf history there. It is my hope that over time many more will come onboard. It has made me so proud of my last name, Gadd.

Perhaps one day your children will want to know all about their “roots”, and you will run a search for "Gadd + Golf" and reconnect with this amazing story, and all the lovely pictures.

Muirfield memories for Bert - July 11 2002

By Harold Brough
Liverpool Daily Post and Echo


AS the survivors of the first qualifying rounds pursue their dreams of a place in the Open at Muirfield, Bert Gadd is looking back to his own distant days on the famous links, also playing in the greatest event in world golf. Bert, a member at Ellesmere Port, is 93 now and no longer plays the game. But in the years before World War II he was both a professional and an international and in seven Opens he was never out of the top 20.

They included Muirfield in 1935. Bert travelled by steam train on the way there and, as he remembers now, by bus or another train to a bed and breakfast or small hotel. He never owned a car but used a motorbike, not convenient for carrying golf clubs and kit.

"There were no stands at the Open then," he says. "No vast crowds, no tented villages. You could not imagine a scene more different from today."

Bert was placed fourth that year, his best Open finish. "I never thought I had a chance of winning," he says. "But I did think I might have come second but I got into a bit of trouble over the last few holes.

"I remember the winner got £100 and I got £30 in prize money. Well, when they made the presentation I was given a slip of paper saying the money would be posted to me.

"Three weeks later I had still not got it. I wrote asking what had happened and, after a day or two, I got the money and a letter saying the delay was caused by pressure of business.

"But then apparently that happened to Tom Lehman (American winner of the Open at Royal Lytham in 1996. He had to wait too. But then he got £200,000 which was worth waiting for."

Bert was one of six brothers, one of five to become professional golfers. He was professional at the old West Cheshire Club, now long gone, and in a long and distinguished career he won the French and Irish Opens, played for England six times and never lost a singles, and in 1939 he would have played in the Ryder Cup but World War II started the month before the planned match.

He played his first Open in 1932 at Prince's Sandwich, making the long journey with a friend in an old Austin. His partners includes the winner that year, the American Gene Sarazen, one of many stars he has known.

They include Henry Cotton. He beat Cotton, on the last green and also lost to him once, in the Penfold League Tournament and says: "He was very focused, always concentrating, a great player and particularly in the wind."

He never actually played with Bobby Jones but he watched the American at Royal Liverpool and says he is the best he ever saw. "He made the game look so easy. He never seemed to be in any trouble. Two shots to the green, two putts. You never thought he was doing anything extraordinary until you saw his score."

When he was in his 80s, Bert's son took him back on a sentimental journey to play Muirfield once again. "It's a real test of golf," says Bert. "You always get the wind and there it does blow."

He talks of the way the game has changed. "When I was in my 80s, with modern clubs and in normal conditions, I was hitting the ball as far as I could in the 1930s. That is the difference in golf equipment.

"But it is not a sport any more but big money now. Do you ever see anyone smile now? Or have a chat?

"The status of professionals is different too.

"Also away from your own club you were not allowed near the clubhouse. You changed wherever you could."

He remained a very fine golfer up the time a heart attack and chest infection ended his playing days.

When he was aged 88 he returned a gross 74. Now he does not even hit a few putts on the putting green. He admits he is envious of those he calls the youngsters aged 70, still playing. But he is still a member at Ellesmere Port, handicap secretary and vice president.

Almost 70 years after he walked the Muirfield fairways he will watch the Open there on television. "It will bring back lots of memories," he says. "I will see them play the same holes I made a mess of! "

Golf Mourns Stalwart - December 4, 2003

From the Ellesmere Port Pioneer

ELLESMERE Port Veterans' stalwart Bert Gadd, one of the region's most popular golfers, has died at the age of 94. He had not been well, but his death still came as a shock to his family and friends. Ken Jones, Ellesmere Port Golf Club's chairman of the Vets handicap committee, said: 'He had a fall at home a couple of weeks before he died and he broke his hip. 'But the operation to pin the damaged area was successful and I was looking forward to visiting him. 'I was really surprised and saddened when I heard the news.'

Bert was one of the country's top golfers in the 1930s, winning the French Open in 1933 and the Irish Open in 1937. He had course records at Brand Hall, Newcastle (County Down), West Cheshire, Brancepeth, Bishop Auckland, Seaton Carew and Whitley Bay as well as a best-ever 66 at Arrowe Park in the second round of qualifying for the 1947 Open Championship.

Bert played golf right up to the age of 88, carded a gross 64 at the age of 77 and, until recent years, was chairman of the handicap committee of the veterans' section at Ellesmere Port and vice-chairman of the club. His other notable achievements included representing his country six times in international matches, remaining unbeaten throughout. He was on the verge of a call-up to the Ryder Cup squad before war interrupted his career in 1939.

Mr Jones said: 'Not only was he a fantastic golfer, but he had a marvellous brain. He never seemed to make a mistake in his role on the handicap committee and he will be sadly missed. Even the juniors were in awe of him.' Bert's funeral will take place at Blacon Crematorium, Chester, on Friday at noon.

Farewell to a golfing gentleman - December 4, 2003

By Harold Brough, Daily Post
From the Liverpool Daily Post and Echo

THE MANY friends of Bert Gadd, from the golf community and elsewhere, will be gathering tomorrow to say a final farewell to a well-loved gentleman and a fine golfer, a professional and international. His past record includes playing in seven Opens where he was never out of the top 20. In more recent times his deeds at Ellesmere Port, where he was a member, included one round which will become part of local golf legend. There, aged 88, he returned a gross 74 - 14 strokes below his age.

He was 95 when he died following a fall and a broken hip. After the operation he suffered a heart attack. At Ellesmere Port Golf Club, Ken Jones, chairman of handicaps for the who knew Bert for the last 12 years of his life, says: "He was a jolly, unassuming man, very quiet, but meticulous in whatever he did." That included his work on handicaps for the veterans "I used to send him bits and pieces in the post," says Ken. "Ssometimes he would phone me back saying - you need to go back to school!"

Bert was one of six brothers, one of five to become professional golfers. He was professional at the old West Cheshire, now long gone, and, in a long and distinguished career. he won the French and Irish Opens, played for England six times and remained unbeaten in the singles.

He played his first Open in 1932, at Prince's, Sandwich, driving there with a friend in an old Austin. His partners included the winner that year, the American Gene Sarazen. Bert was fourth in the Open in 1935, eighth in 1938 and he was selected for the 1939 Ryder Cup. But then World War Two started the month before the planned match.

The last time we talked was last year before the Open at Muirfield, where he had played in the Open of 1939. He had travelled there by steam train and stayed at a bed and breakfast. He talked of the way the game had changed. "When I was in my 80s, with modern clubs and in normal conditions, I was hitting the ball as far as I could in the 1930s. That is the difference in golf equipment," he said. "But it is not a sport any more but big money now. Do you ever see anyone smile now?"

He also played with the great Henry Cotton. He beat Cotton once, lost to him on another occasion and recalled a player with great concentration, a great player, he said, and in windy conditions.

And the greatest? He never actually played with Bobby Jones but watched the American at Royal Liverpool and thought Jones, winner of the Open and the Amateur on both sides of the Atlantic in the same year, as the best he saw. "He made the game look so easy, two shots to the green, two putts. You never thought he was doing anything extraordinary until you saw his score," he recalled.

Bert's gross 74, aged 88, was something of a triumphant farewell. His playing days ended that year after a heart attack and a chest infection. He did not even hit a few putts. He admitted he was envious of those he called the "youngsters" - those aged 70 and still playing.

The youngsters include Ken, who is now 72 and who used to play off a handicap of six. His memories include the day when Bert was playing behind a chap who was "a bit bolshie". "Bert hit his second shot to the green, the ball spinning back about four feet to the hole. "The player in front asked: 'How do you do that?' "Bert told him if he went to the professional he would tell him and that the lesson would cost him about £30. But Bert told him how to play the shot anyway."

Ken recalls Bert's great golf achievements and thinks also of what more he might have achieved if that Ryder Cup of 1939 had not been cancelled because of the outbreak of the war. "I think in a way the war ruined things for him in golf terms. I think it did take a lot from what he might have achieved," he said.

But as a playing partner he remembers a golfer who was very accurate, a very fine ball-striker indeed. Like others, he remembers a fine gentleman.

The funeral is at Chester Blacon at noon tomorrow.