The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
‘Voice of golf’ tells of bonding with Sir Sean over Gleneagles course
The BBC’s “voice of golf ” Peter Alliss has told how his friendship with the late Sir Sean Conner y blossomed over the fairways of Gleneagles.
The legendary commentator gave Sir Sean some tips to look the part before a golf scene in Goldfinger in 1964.
Little did the two of them know that it was just the start of the James Bond star’s lifelong love affair with the game.
Alliss also hosted 140 episodes of the popular BBC series Pro- Celebrity Golf between 1974 and 1988 and Sir Sean, who died on Saturday aged 90, was among the celebrities who took part, and he partnered some of the top players in the game.
Alliss said Sir Sean was a “dear friend” and a “good companion” who “thought going to Gleneagles was fantastic”.
“As a young man he used to dream of going to Gleneagles and there he was,” he said.
“When we played at Gleneagles he used to stay on because he loved the place.
“He enjoyed playing wellknown courses and many of the people who played golf became his great friends.
“I got to know him on the fairways of Gleneagles and I remember he had just started the Scottish International Education Trust.
“I asked him to tell me about the charity and he suddenly stopped and said: ‘Peter, I’m no good without a script, give me a script and I’ll do it for you’.
“For a long period of time, words did not flow from him easily.
“He was quite
self-conscious but he liked his whisky and he liked men’s conversations and he enjoyed the ambience of golf.
“He was very proud to be a member of the R&A and when he was playing golf he was happy.”
Alliss said he first met Sir Sean in 1963 when he came down to Parkstone Golf Club near Bournemouth where Alliss was the club pro.
“He was just starting out and I gave him a few tips which were silly things really – how to look like you know how to putt; how to pick up a bag of clubs; how to carry your clubs; how to tee a ball up; and how to put a flag back in the hole.
“He was inexperienced in these things and the tips I gave him didn’t hurt him when he played golf in Goldfinger.
“We got on very well and we remained friends for almost 60 years.”
In the 1964 film, Bond and Goldfinger face off on the greens until the supervillain is caught cheating.
Alliss said Sir Sean loved golf but was never as good at the game as he would have liked.
He said: “Strangely enough he had so much rhythm when he walked but he didn’t have a great deal of rhythm when he played golf.
“When I hosted the procelebrity golf events on television in the 1970s and 80s I got to know him well.
“I’ve been very interested to read the reports of his life and times since he died but I knew a very different Sean Connery from the one which has been portrayed.
“He was handsome, 14st of muscle, a good looking man and very sophisticated, but he wasn’t like that in the early days.
“He grew into it through his own efforts.
“He was conscious of his roots but he wanted to learn. He was an ordinary person projected into this world of sophistication and romance, and he played it wonderfully.
“He did his job remarkably well and although he’s gone he will be there forever on film.
“He was a very interesting character and I shall miss him.”
Eighteen-time major champion Jack Nicklaus played the game with Sir Sean in Courier Country several times and described the Bond film legend as “just the best”.
He said: “In May of 1993, Sir Sean and legendary S c o tt i s h racing driver Jackie Stewart helped me open our new design of the PGA Centenary Course at Gleneagles.
“We even took part in a televised match together, playing with old hickoryshafted clubs on the famous Old Course at St Andrews alongside Glen Campbell and Ben Crenshaw.
“The game of golf allowed our lives to intersect often, and through that, we became good friends.”