Filling in time between shifts as a trainee chef by learning to play golf proved a recipe for competing in the Open Championship and a lifetime in the game for Frank Hill.
Frank who was born in Long Eaton, Derbyshire, began his working life cooking for the students in Nottingham University Cripps Hall of residence. He was well-paid, lived in and, with time to kill between services and no responsibilities to speak of the sports mad teenager began visiting nearby Wollaton Park Golf Club.
He knew nothing about golf at the time but was a good cricketer who batted left-handed. Which is how he held a right-handed golf club, left hand below right, until an assistant corrected his grip. Maurice Youngs, the club’s head pro, also let him practise and when asked by Frank what it would take to be an assistant pro, he advised him to call George Bell at Sherwood Forest in nearby Mansfield.
Frank was taken on immediately and began work primarily cleaning the members’ clubs and shoes. He was also allowed to practise and given plenty of opportunities to play, often with Walker Cup players and Carris Trophy winners who were members. Then, having been elected to PGA Membership in 1963, he excelled in Midland Region tournaments.
Having earned a reputation as an excellent ball striker and long hitter, Frank’s talents caught the attention of Harry Weetman, the 1965 Ryder Cup captain. Weetman, the head professional at Selsdon Park Golf Club in Croydon, south London, had been engaged by a London-based businessman to source young pros with the potential to become an Open Championship winner.
The enterprise replicated the Button Boys initiative that saw the likes of Brian Barnes and Tommy Horton coached by Max Faulkner and Frank joined Weetman in 1965.
He qualified for the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale that year and again in 1967 at Royal Liverpool. In addition, he competed in the Spanish, French and Italian Opens, often travelling with George Will, a Ryder Cup player based at nearby Sundridge Park. Closer to home, Frank went on to win the East Anglian Open at Stoke by Nayland in 1981 and, in tandem with amateur partner Brian Underwood, the PGA Super 60s Championship at Forest Pines in 2006.
It was while working at Selsdon Park that Frank developed his passion for Crystal Palace, the nearest professional football club to the course. And inevitably he was delighted when his 50-plus year wait for Palace to win a major trophy ended with victory over Manchester City in the 2025 FA Cup final.
As well finding a football team to support, Frank found a friend and mentor in Weetman. So, when Weetman perished in a car accident in 1972 Frank was devastated and moved on.
Initially he joined forces with three other pros keen to set up their own facilities. The quartet included Gordon Goldie, the founder of Chingford Driving Ranger which recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. By contrast, the group’s involvement with Lark Valley near Bury St Edmonds in Suffolk was less successful due to the recession in the mid 1970s and Frank landed the head pro’s role at Great Yarmouth and Caister Golf Club in 1978.
Despite its location in Norfolk, the club was part of the PGA’s Midland Region until the East Region was founded in 1987. Frank, who had moved to Eaton Golf Club in Norwich four years beforehand, played a major role in establishing the fledgling region, not least by serving as its Captain and on many PGA committees.
Frank remained at Eaton for 10 years until 1993 and then spent another two at Caldecott Hall Golf Club, a new venture near Great Yarmouth. While there, Frank exhibited another facet of his golfing talent by designing the club’s first nine holes.
He moved down the East Anglian coast to Thorpeness in 1996, five years after turning 50 and becoming eligible to compete in senior events and one after earning the most lucrative prize of his career, £5,500 for finishing 13th in the Senior British Open won by Brian Barnes at Royal Portrush in 1995.
Frank remained at Thorpeness until 2016, ending a love affair with the club that lasted two decades. The club rewarded him for his service by awarding him honorary membership and he continued to play every week with retired professionals Mark Angel, Stuart Levermore, Woodbridge pro Robert Joyce, and John Hudson, who was famous for consecutive hole in ones in the 1971 Martini International tournament at Royal Norwich.
“He loved it at Thorpeness, absolutely loved it,” reflected James, his son who followed his father as a PGA Professional before changing the course of his career.
“And the best thing about my dad is that he absolutely loved his career. It never rewarded him financially, but it didn't matter to him. Eddie Birchenough, his close friend who was head pro at Royal Lytham and St Annes for many years, summed him up perfectly. He told me: ‘the thing with your dad is he woke up a golf professional, and he went to bed a golf professional.’ That was so true – even when he was having a rare day off, he dressed like a golf pro.”
Frank is survived by Charlie, his wife, sons James and Ben, and daughter Becci. The PGA extends heartfelt condolences to them and Frank’s other family members and many friends on their loss
