DO YOU REMEMBER COLIN SNAPE,
THE MAN WHO SAVED RYDER CUP?

The Colin Snape Golf Consultancy has been providing the full-time services of Colin Snape as Golf Director to Alto Golf & Country Club on the Algarve in Portugal since September 2004.
Colin will be retiring from this post on December 31 and will be succeeded by Richard Marshall as Golf Manager from January 1.
All enquiries after this date should be addressed to Richard Marshall by e-mail to golf@altoclub.com or by post using the above address, telephone & fax details.
Colin Snape will continue to provide consultancy services on special projects to Alto and other clients in Portugal and elsewhere in Europe. His e-mail address for Alto projects is cs@altoclub.com

All other inquiries and correspondence for Colin Snape should be addressed to:

Colin Snape Golf Consultancy, Colin Snape Unipessoal LDA, NIF 50711386,
Rua Vasco da Gama Nº20 1C, 8500-028 Alvor, Algarve.
Telephone/Fax: 282 458709, e-mail: colin.snape@sapo.pt

Colin Farquharson writes:
In case you are wondering who is Colin Snape, let me tell you. At one time he was the most important administrator of professional golf in Britain.
Many people give Jack Nicklaus the credit for suggesting a change in the make-up of the Great Britain & Ireland team for the Ryder Cup matches. But it was actually Colin Snape, at that time the head of the British PGA who put the wheels in motion for the selection parameters to be widened so that it was a team representing Europe rather than GB&I who tackled the United States every two years.
By the late 1970s, the Ryder Cup matches had become so one-sided that interest had waned substantially. In 1977, Tom Weiskopf, a certainty for a place in the US team, chose to go hunting rather than participate.
And so it was that Colin Snape, a man whose name most American golfers would not even recognise and British golfers would not remember, the executive director of the British PGA, saved the Ryder Cup from extinction by bringing European professionals into the matches.
The struggles of the 1980s and 90s made golfing history with closely fought matches and strong patriotic fervour ringing from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
Ironically, as Colin Snape finally retires from a 9 to 5 job, the Ryder Cup wheel has turned full circle. Now it's the United States team who cannot compete. Perhaps we should revert to a GB&I team, not from Europe, in the bid to give the Americans a chance?
There are two other reasons why Colin Snape's place in the history of British professional golf should not be forgotten.
He was the executive director of the PGA when The Belfry was purchased.
In 1959 Jimmy Burns, an entrepreneur, purchased Moxhull Park, a private house at the time, for £18,500 and turned it into The Belfry. His expansion programme increased the number of bedrooms to 59 and made The Belfry a well known centre for wedding receptions and a place where in the 1960s such groups as Led Zeppelin, the Moody Blues, Slade and Status Quo performed live.
In 1969 Burns sold The Belfry to a group called Allied Vintners Investments which in turn was bought by Greenall Whitley. At this time the PGA had their headquarters at the Kennington Oval and it was there, over a pie and a pint, that Colin Snape, then the new Executive Director of the PGA, lunched with Peter Alliss, at that time in partnership with Dave Thomas as a golf course designer.
Snape felt that is was an imposition to be continually apologising for the surroundings as he ushered guests into the PGA's confined offices at the rear main stand of the cricket ground.
His dream of the PGA was a new headquarters which were geographically acceptable with two golf courses and modern offices.
Colin had looked at both Royal Birkdale in Lancashire and Foxhills in Surrey, but the then 28-strong PGA Committee felt that his plan was no more than a pipe-dream since at that time in February, 1973, the PGA's assets were a paltry £40,000.
Peter Alliss came to the rescue over lunch. He told Snape of an old hotel on the outskirts of Birmingham known as The Belfry which was being renovated and converted to a sports complex. Thomas and Alliss had originally been asked to design and build a pitch and putt course there.
Snape convinced the committee that expansion was a necessity. Ellerman Lines, the shipping company, was keen to diversify into leisure whereas Greenall Whitley, owners of The Belfry, lacked funds at that time as they were investing in a new brewery.
Thus Ellerman Lines formed a company called The Belfry (Sutton Coldfield) Ltd, taking 86.7 per cent of the equity with Greenall Whitley retaining 13.3 per cent for providing the hotel and land, and purchased a further 265.5 acres.
In 1975 work began on two courses - The Brabazon and the Derby - designed by Thomas and Alliss. The access was splendid with close proximity to the M1, M5 and M6.
The PGA lacked the funds to become involved but The Belfry Company built the new PGA offices, funding the cost of approximately £100,000 as part of the overall deal with the PGA for two Ryder Cups. Meanwhile Accles and Pollock, the sports equipment company, funded the furnishings of the PGA's Headquarters at The Belfry in addition to investing a significant sum over ten years in the PGA's training school.
In 1977 the PGA waved farewell to The Oval to begin a new innings at The Belfry with a peppercorn rent for a 99-year lease.
That year, with the existing hotel completely rebuilt, The Brabazon course was officially opened with a challenge match, Severiano Ballesteros and Johnny Miller against Tony Jacklin and Brian Barnes.
There is a third reason for Colin Snape to be remembered. He was the man brave enough to fine Laura Davies for being "improperly dressed" during a tournament from the forerunner of the Ladies European Tour. But that's another story!

ANY COMMENTS? E-mail them to colin@scottishgolfview.com