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Sadly the Club has very little in the way of memorabilia relating to its most famous and successful member, John


Ball. It is believed that he won at least 168 scratch medals of which Hoylake has just three - his Open Championship medal of 1890, one of his 8 Amateur Championship medals and just one of his over 90 RLGC Club medals. The whereabouts of the other medals remains a mystery. Imagine the thrill therefore when, totally out of the blue, we received several years ago a telephone call from a solicitor who was acting as executor in an estate and who was trying to realise the deceased’s assets. He had, he said, a gold half hunter watch bearing an inscription:-


Presented to John Ball Jnr By the members of The Royal Liverpool Golf Club to commemorate his victories Amateur Champion 1888, 1890, 1892, 1894, 1899 Open Champion 1890


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Queen Victoria had 9 children, 5 daughters and 4 sons. It is said that her third son, Prince Arthur, was her favourite. It is uncertain as to how the Club Captain in 1871 and 1872, Lt. Col. E. H. Kennard, became


acquainted with Prince Arthur, but it is suspected they may have met whilst serving in the army in Ireland. What is clear, however, is that there was an exchange of correspondence between the two resulting in the Prince agreeing, in June 1871, to become the Club’s Honorary President and, as a result, the club assumed the title ‘Royal’. The Prince was aged just 21 at the time and he remained our Honorary President and Royal Patron for a record 70 years until his death in January 1942. In 1872 Prince Arthur presented the club with what is now known as HRH Duke of Connaught’s Star, a medal awarded to the individual with the best scratch score on the 2nd day of the Spring Meeting. It was however not until 24th May 1874 that Queen Victoria made him HRH Duke of Connaught and Strathearn and Earl of Sussex as part of the celebrations to mark her 55th birthday.


The medal itself is a silver star with the club crest in gold in the centre, flanked by


a thistle and rose, with a background of enamel, surrounded by the words Royal Liverpool Golf Club in gold on a silver ring. The whole star is surmounted by a ducal crown in gold and enamel. (See Chris Moore’s article on page 32 to find out how the star fits into the evolution of the RLGC crest.)


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At Hoylake, for the first 30 years at least, tee pegs as we know them did not exist - golfers (or more likely their caddies) had to craft a mound from dampened sand found in a box near to the


teeing area. The ball would be placed on this mound ready to be swept off by the wooden driver. Then, circa 1900, metal tee moulds were developed. One of the first was


the Ransome ‘Double Tee Stamp’ which gave the golfer a choice of two teeing heights depending on whether a wood or an iron was being used. Another was developed by a Scot named Douglas who produced his ‘Tee Gun’, an example of which the Club displays in the cabinet on the top landing. This is made of stainless steel and has a spring-loaded plunger which, when depressed, ejected a perfectly formed tower of sand. He advertised his product thus: ‘any caddie can use it…it makes perfect moulds…always the same height…thus ensuring consistent driving’.


ROYAL LIVERPOOL GOLF CLUB 2013 MAGAZINE


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“Might Royal Liverpool be interested in buying it?” he asked! The writer’s recollection is that the Club paid just the value of a good condition gold watch - with no added golf memorabilia value. We are extremely fortunate to have it. In 1899 Club members had contributed to The John Ball Commemoration Fund set up to mark his 5th Amateur Championship win. They raised a total of £299.15s.6d which was used to purchase the gold watch (£47), to commission the portrait on the main staircase (£120), and to purchase and erect the clock on the Clubhouse tower overlooking the course (£98.18s.0d). With the surplus monies left over Council decided: ‘In view of the fact that Mr Ball has proceeded with the Denbighshire Yeomanry to South Africa it is thought appropriate to join with two other clubs of which John Ball was a member in providing him with a charger.’


John Ball


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