Golf’s Most Astonishing Round

The story of Ernie Foord, the local Somerset lad who in 1897, at the age of 16, was appointed club professional at the fast-developing and prestigious Burnham & Berrow Golf Club. In June 1912, on its 18-hole championship links, he played arguably the most remarkable round in the history of golf, completing the course in 73 strokes, using only a single club, a putter. In the words of Bernard Darwin, golf correspondent of The Times, it was 'a truly astonishing score because Burnham is neither a particularly short nor a particularly easy course'. The following year, over 36 holes, Foord defeated the five-time Open champion JH Taylor. Then in 1916 he emigrated to the United States where he landed the plum job of professional at Oakland Hills. This is an account - factual in some parts, imagined in others - not just of Ernie Foord's career and achievements but of the golfing world as it was in the early years of the 20th century, with its snobbery as well as its opportunities.