All golfing eyes on Lindrick for 1957 Ryder Cup

The most prestigious team golf competition in the world, the Ryder Cup, came to Lindrick Golf Club in 1957.
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That year’s tournament was particularly significant because Great Britain and Ireland competed as a team against the US for the first time.

From then on it became Europe’s task to battle the might of the American golf challenge every two years.

The Lindrick club, off the A57 two miles out of Worksop, was founded in 1891 by a group of golf enthusiasts from Sheffield.

It is widely regarded as one of the best courses in the country.

Sir Stuart Goodwin, a noted Sheffield industrialist and fervent golf fan, was the man who ensured the cup would be played at Lindrick, with a personal donation of £10,000 to the PGA.

Praise was heaped on the course before the event started, with both sides enjoying the practice rounds and gearing up for what was destined to be an historic and momentous occasion, not just for golf but for the whole area.

Charles Scatchcard, writing for Golf Illustrated on 26th September 1957, said: “With its springy moorland fairways, cut through vast seas of golden gorse and limestone rock, Lindrick’s course ranks as one of the finest in the country.”

More than 15,000 supporters flocked to Lindrick to watch and cheer on the British team.

And they were rewarded when the British golfers swept to victory, winning 7-4.

Sports reporter Frank Moran wrote that the spectators ‘went hilarious with patriotic delight as the triumph mounted through an unprecdented thriller of an afternoon’.

He said the victory was one of the most stirring experiences in big golf.