Player and commentator known as ‘Voice of Golf ’
Peter Allis golfer/broadcaster b February 28, 1931 d December 5, 2020
Peter Alliss, who has died aged 89, was one of Europe’s most successful golfers of the 1950s and 60s, competing in eight Ryder Cup matches against the United States before becoming British television’s most famous golf commentator, known as ‘‘the Voice of Golf’’.
He also had regular spells as a golf commentator for ESPN, ABC and the Australian and Canadian broadcasting corporations, which earned him far more than his 28-year golfing career, in which he won more than 20 tournaments worldwide, taking the British PGA Championship three times and being named Europe’s best golfer twice.
In a statement broadcast by the BBC, where he worked, his family said his death was ‘‘unexpected but peaceful’’. Alliss had commentated on Dustin Johnson’s victory at the US Masters last month, while broadcasting from home because of his age and coronavirus travel restrictions.
He had planned to retire next September, at age 90, after the Ryder Cup.
Alliss’ popularity as a commentator for nearly 60 years was largely due to his reassuring, dulcet voice, his knowledge of the game and its history, and his wry, deadpan humour, which sometimes generated controversy.
To some viewers, he sounded like a genial grandpa smoking a pipe and wearing slippers by the fireside. ‘‘When it comes to painting a picture with words,’’ a Daily Telegraph writer once wrote, ‘‘he’s nothing short of Rembrandt.’’ Golf Digest magazine once called him ‘‘the greatest golf commentator ever’’.
Alliss became widely recognised as a broadcaster, which, in turn, led to friendships – and golf rounds – with other celebrities around the world. When Sean Connery was shooting the 1964 James Bond movie Goldfinger, he asked Alliss to coach him for his screen golf duel against the film’s eponymous villain.
He also became a leading golf course designer, often working with his friend Dave Thomas. Together they created more than 50 courses, from England and Scotland to Mauritius, Japan and Ivory Coast. The Belfry golf resort in Warwickshire, central England, has hosted several Ryder Cups on its courses and is now home to the world’s oldest Professional Golfers’ Association.
Peter Alliss was born in Berlin, where his father, Percy, was the club professional at the upmarket Wannsee Golf Club. On his personal website, Alliss claimed to have set a European record on the day he was born – he weighed 14lb 11oz (6.6kg).
His parents hailed from the north of England, and the family returned to Britain when Peter was a baby, just before Hitler came to power.
Alliss was an infant when he received a set of 2ft-long golf clubs, and turned pro at age 15. His career was interrupted for two years by service in the Royal Air Force, but at 22, in 1953, he was selected to compete on the British and Irish team in the Ryder Cup. In the 1963 Ryder Cup, he beat Arnold Palmer and halved his match with Tony Lema on the same day.
He competed in the World Cup of Golf 10 times, beginning in 1954 when it was known as the Canada Cup. His biggest regret was that he never won the British Open, despite five top-10 finishes.
Alliss, his peers and golf writers all agreed he was magnificent from tee to green but suffered from the ‘‘yips’’, a sudden loss of skill, while trying to putt. With self-deprecating humour, he even got a car registration plate, ‘‘PUT 3’’, meaning three-putt. His putting, he once said, was ‘‘like setting fire to money’’. In the 1966 Masters at Augusta, won by Jack Nicklaus, he took five putts from 6ft.
To younger generations, Alliss was known more as a commentator than a golfer. At the 1999 British Open, after Frenchman Jean van de Velde blew a three-shot lead, took off his shoes and tried to play his ball from a stream, Alliss seemed to speak for everyone watching: ‘‘What on earth are you doing? He’s gone ga-ga . . . more Jacques Tati than Jack Nicklaus.’’
Once, on hearing an American spectator scream the dreaded phrase ‘‘Get in the hole!’’ when a golfer was driving from the tee on a 600-yard par-five, Alliss said: ‘‘Oh, he’s here again. Chloroform, nurse, please.’’ When Tiger Woods shot a third-round 81 in a major, he opined: ‘‘It’s like turning up to hear Pavarotti sing and finding out he has laryngitis.’’
And during a rain-swept tournament in Scotland: ‘‘One of the good things about rain in Scotland is that most of it ends up as Scotch.’’
His most contentious comments, which he eventually learned to avoid, involved women. For years, he opposed allowing female members into golf clubs. They’d ‘‘better get married to someone who’s a member’’, he said. When American Zach Johnson had a putt to win the 2015 British Open at St Andrews, a camera zoomed in on his wife. Alliss whispered: ‘‘She’s probably thinking, ‘If this goes in, I get a new kitchen.’ ’’
Alliss wrote more than 20 books on golf and was deeply involved in charities, notably involving power wheelchairs for young people with disabilities. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2012.
His marriage to Joan McGuinness ended in divorce, and in 1969 he married Jacqueline Grey. In addition to his wife, survivors include two children from his first marriage; four children from his second; four grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
On the homepage of his website, his sign-off line was simple: ‘‘Keep swinging!’’