Graham Glew, a PGA Honorary Member and indefatigable fundraiser for charity who served Taunton and Pickeridge Golf Club for almost two decades, has passed away at the age of 88.
Born in Berkshire, Graham began his career in golf at the age of 15 working in the pro shop at Wentworth where, in Jimmy Adams, he had a knowledgeable and distinguished head professional to guide him.
Adams had played in four Ryder Cups and twice finished runner up in the Open Championship, but Graham’s golfing education was interrupted by National Service in 1953.
He was called up to serve in the Royal Army Medical Corps in Somerset and his career in the game was put on hold until 1975 when there was a vacancy for a golf professional at Taunton and Pickeridge.
Graham had joined the club as a member and, having successfully applied to fill the role, completed the PGA’s qualification process and was elected to membership in 1982.
In addition to running the pro shop, coaching the club’s members and encouraging youngsters to play the game, Graham found time to raise money for good causes.
The proceeds from a book of his golf poems were donated to a local hospice and he was a member of a group that set a world record in negotiating a five-mile golf hole in another fundraising exercise.
Graham was awarded PGA Honorary Membership when he retired in 1994 and thereafter continued his love affair with the game through playing, studying its history as well as collecting and repairing antique golf clubs.
Indeed, such was his skill as a club-maker, he made a miniature golf club for each of his four grandchildren on the day they were born.
“That was typical of Dad,” said Sue Wilmott, one of Graham’s two daughters. “He always managed to weave his love of golf in to family life.
“He loved his job as a PGA pro, but he left no one in doubt that, although golf was his passion, his family were his life.”
Graham was pre-deceased by Phyllis, his wife, and survived by daughters Sue and Carol, and grandchildren Matthew, Claire, Peter and Alister. The PGA extends heartfelt condolences to them and Graham’s other family members and friends on their loss.
