13th December 2022 (Last Updated 14th February 2024)
Gerald Micklem was a major figure in the world of golf for the 30 years following the end of World War II. First as a leading player and then as a distinguished captain, selector and administrator.
Gerald Micklem
Gerald Hugh Micklem was born on 14th August 1911, to Hugh and Isabella, in Burgh Heath near Banstead in Surrey, England. Hugh was a stockjobber in the City and made a sizeable fortune trading oil and mining company shares. In 1920 the family moved out to a huge mansion near Sevenoaks in Kent and Gerald and his sister Joan, who was born in 1914, enjoyed a privileged upbringing.
He was educated at Grange Preparatory School and Winchester College before going up to Oxford University in 1930. He enjoyed playing football and cricket at school but was more successful in the classroom than on the playing fields. He started to play golf as a teenager at his local club Wildernesse.
Perhaps lacking in motivation, due to his family’s wealth and a career path that was no doubt already laid out for him, he flunked his studies in philisophy, politics and economics at Oxford. He became obsessed with golf whilst at University and was determined to win a blue. He finally achieved his aim in his final year playing for Oxford in a University match in 1933 at Prince’s G.C., albeit he lost both his foursomes and singles games.
His education at Winchester and Oxford opened up two golfing opportunities that Gerald would enjoy throughout the rest of his life.
He represented Winchester in the Halford Hewitt public school ten man foursomes team competition on 37 occassions between 1933 and 1971. He played 85 matches at Deal with 11 different partners winning 51, losing 32 and halving two. Winchester won in 1948 with Gerald and his partner Peter Foster winning all five of their matches during the tournament.
The Oxford and Cambridge Golfing Society, which was hugely influential at the time, was the other group he would go on to fully participate in. He would certainly have been delighted to win the President’s Putter in 1953 beating ‘Laddie’ Lucas in the Final. He played in 36 consecutive Putter’s between 1934 and 1976 winning 76 of his 111 matches on the Rye links. He became a member of the Society’s committee in 1938 and would go on to be President (1971-74), Captain (1964-65), Secretary and Treasurer (1953-59). During his life he played in 248 fixtures for the Society against the two founding Universities and other Golf Clubs and Socieities.
After University Micklem joined the leading London stockbrokers Cazenove where his Uncle Charles was a senior partner. He would practice at Wildernesse early in the morning before catching the train in to the City where he immediately made a positive impact in a business development role.
On the golf course he proved to be a late developer. There were few successes and his early playing years were notable for his poor temperament than high finishes. He got to the semi-finals of the President’s Putter in 1936, partnered Arthur Lacey to a runner-up finish in the 1936 Addington Foursomes and reached the last 16 of the English Amateur in 1937 but there was generally little to show for his efforts. Whilst he was clearly improving his temperament was not best suited to the vagaries of match play which most of the leading tournaments utilised at this time.
He finally made a break through when he won the 36-hole Prince of Wales Challenge Cup at Royal Cinque Ports in 1939 but any momentum was lost with the onset of the Second World War. He joined the Grenadier Guards in February 1940 and saw action across Europe and in North Africa.
Unsurprisingly he returned from war a different man and his peak playing years proved to be 1946 to 1955. He was now mature enough to manage his own mind and no doubt benefitted from the reduced participation in sports during this post-war period of austerity. Gerald was able to capitalise due to his commitment to practicing and the availability of time and money to pursue his passion.
He was made a partner and moved into a research role at Cazenove in the late 1940s. After his father died in May 1951 he received a considerable inheritance which enabled him to acquire Titlarks Hill House, a property which backs onto the 16th hole of Sunningdale’s New Course. In 1954, aged 43, he retired and with no family commitments settled fully into a golfing life.
Gerald Micklem
He first came to national prominence on the playing front when he beat USA favourite Frank Stranahan 4&3 in the last 16 of the 1946 Amateur Championship at Royal Birkdale before losing to the 1937 champion Robert Sweeny Jr in the Semi’s.
He played in 17 Amateur Championships between 1933 and 1958. He won 30 of his 47 matches but never came close to victory.
Micklem’s greatest success came in the English Amateur Close Championship which he won in 1947 and 1953. In 1947 he beat Charlie Stowe by 1 Hole in the 36-hole Final at Ganton before more impressively beating Ronnie White 2&1 at Royal Birkdale – White was one of the world’s best players at the time and was playing on his home course. In total he played in 12 English Amateurs between 1937 and 1955, winning 30 of his 40 matches.
Micklem played in the Brabazon Trophy (the English Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship) seven times between 1947, the year it started, and 1956. He finished in the top five on four occassions but suffered heartbreak at Ganton in 1952. Needing just a bogey five to win he contrived to take an eight on the par 4 72nd hole.
He won the Berkshire Trophy by 11 shots in 1955, 28 36-hole competitions, including the Royal St. George’s Grand Challenge Cup in 1952, and 10 18-hole gold medal events. These open club competitions were the staple of his annual golfing calendar.
Away Walker Cup matches enabled him to play in the 1949 and 1957 U.S. Amateur Championship’s and the 1953 Canadian Amateur but with no success.
He was a keen foursomes player and had some success in this format too. In 1948 he partnered Charlie Ward to victory in the Daily Telegraph Pro-Am Foursomes Tournament at Royal Lytham and won The Antlers event at Royal Mid-Surrey in both 1951 and 1956, partnering David Blair and Alan Bussell.
Micklem became a regular in international matches during this period mainly down to his results but also in no small part due to the fact he could contribute to the travel costs and had the time to play.
He played in four Walker Cup matches; 1947, 1949, 1953 and 1955. GB&I lost all four of them and his individual record read played six, lost five, won one – a foursomes with John Morgan in 1953 at Kittansett.
Amateurs v. Professionals matches were played frequently throughout this post-war period often as part of a Ryder Cup or Walker Cup warm up. Gerald played for the amateurs in 1947, 1949, 1954 and 1955, captained the team in 1956 and 1958 and was a selector for the final one in 1959.
He represented England in the Men’s Home Internationals for nine consecutive years between 1947-55. England won on four occassions with Gerald winning 15 singles and 13 foursomes and halving two singles and three foursomes in 25 matches.
He also represented England in their match with France in 1947, 1948 and 1954. England won all three of these contests with Gerald contributing five wins and one half in a successful record.
In total Micklem represented England on 55 occasions winning 33 of these games.
The 1949 Walker Cup team played a match against Canada on their 1949 trip. The match was drawn 6-6, Gerald winning his singles but losing his foursomes with Max McCready.
In 1954 Micklem helped organise the inaugural Commonwealth Tournament at St. Andrews which was arranged to celebrate the bicentenary of The R&A.
He retired from competitive golf in 1955 and immediately moved into international captaincy and selection for both the England Golf Union and The R&A. Working closely with Raymond Oppenheimer they professionalised the selection process and, leveraging their positions within both organisations, effectively ran British golf in the 1950s and ‘60s.
Micklem had been a selector for the England Boys team from 1952 (a role he continued until 1984 !) and stepped up to the Men’s in 1956. He captained them to a big win against the French and at the Home Internationals before leading the British Isles against the Continent of Europe in the first St. Andrews Trophy match. Shortly afterwards he was appointed GB&I captain for the 1957 Walker Cup match. He was re-appointed to all of them, including the GB&I Eisenhower Trophy in 1958, for a number of years. An organised person with an eye for detail he looked after his players and with a clear competitive streak proved to be successful. He fully embraced coaching and ensured all of the players received quality support, normally engaging John Jacobs in this regard.
He captained GB&I’s Walker Cup team in 1957 and 1959 and with the help of his great friend Raymond Oppenheimer, captain in 1951 and chairman of selectors in 1955, scoured Britain for the best players whilst also trying to raise playing standards. It was to no avail as two more defeats were chalked up during his period in office. Micklem then moved upstairs becoming the Chairman of Selectors for GB&I teams between 1960-63.
Micklem and Oppenheimer both saw it as their duty to develop junior golfers. They encouraged The R&A to take over the running of the Boys’ Amateur Championship in 1948 to raise its profile and were key in the formation of the Golf Foundation in 1952 which greatly widened access to the game. The Gerald Micklem Charitable Trust, a grant-making trust and a registered charity established by the will of the late Micklem in 1988, donated £60,000 to The Golf Foundtion in 2013.
Roy Ullyettt’s Association of Golf Writers Menu Cartoon, June 1966
Micklem joined The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews in March 1946 and quickly established himself as a keen Committee member. In an unprecedented length of service he held the following R&A Committee positions, which exclude his selection roles, and became a hugely powerful figure:-
Committees
General – 1955-58, 1960-71
Championship – 1946–48, 1951-53, 1962-65 (Chairman 1963-65)
Rules of Golf – 1954, 1956-57, 1960-63 (Chairman 1960-62)
Sub-Committees
Amateur Status – 1964-67 (Established and Chaired by 1964-67)
Decisions 1955-57
Equipment 1955-57
As Chairman of the Championship Committee in the early 1960s he played a key role in re-establishing The Open as a major Championship by improving the field, via exemptions to qualifying, raising prize money and improving the spectator experience. Other roles saw him help with the introduction of the larger 1.68” diameter golf ball, favoured by the USGA, which raised playing standards throughout Britain and Europe. He was also instrumental in the gradual relaxation of the amateur status rules much of which was formalised after he stood down.
He became Captain of The R&A in 1968 and despite being an existing member was upgraded to Honorary status in 1982, reflecting the contribution he had made to both to the game and organisation. One can assume he continued to play an active role in R&A affairs well into the 1980s.
He was made President of the English Golf Union in 1965 and the European Golf Association in 1967-69.
He recorded every round of golf that he played from August 1946 until his final round in 1984 in 19 bespoke golf diaries – over 4,600 rounds. Between 1947 and 1958 he averaged an astonishing 228 rounds of golf each year showing an impressive appetite for the game for a man around 40 years old. By the mid-1960s he was playing considerably less golf as his adminstrative responsibilities, declining performances and ill health started to take their toll so he also started to record the numerous events he attended and watched.
Micklem was a member of 12 golf clubs, namely, Wildernesse (where he learnt to play and was his home club, president 1954-64), Sunningdale (the club he played at most frequently; captain 1960, president 1984-88), Addington, The R&A, Royal Liverpool, Royal St. George’s (captain 1975), Royal Worlington (captain 1966), Rye (captain 1953), Southfield (the home of Oxford University), Swinley Forest, Temple and Woking. His favourite course was unquestionably the Old at St. Andrews.
After a lengthy illness Gerald Micklem died on 21st May 1988 at the age of 76. A very well attended Memorial Service was held on 6th July at The Guard’s Chapel in Wellington Barracks, London.
His contribution and life were and have since been celebrated with numerous awards and commemorative tropies.
The Gerald Micklem Trophy was inaugurated in 1954 at Woking Golf Club. To this day the top public schools of Eton, Harrow, Wellington, Charterhouse, Rugby, Bradfield, Winchester and Stowe compete against each other in this golfing competition.
In 1965 he was awarded the Golf Writer’s Trophy awarded annually by the Association of (British) Golf Writers to those deemed to have made the best contribution to golf during that year.
He was awarded a CBE by H.M. Queen Elizabeth II in the 1969 New Year Honours for his services to golf.
Demonstrating that his influence extended across the Atlantic too Micklem also received the Bob Jones Award from the USGA in 1969, the Walter Hagen Award from the Golf Writers Association of America in 1970 and the Donald Ross Award from the American Society of Golf Course Architects in 1980.
The Gerald Micklem Cup is a men’s over 35 54-hole scratch open played over the New Course at Sunningdale G.C. It was established in 1988 to celebrate Micklem’s legacy.
In 1990 the England Golf Union established the Gerald Micklem Award. This is issued annually to the person who has made an outstanding contribution to further the interest of amateur golf in England.
Gerald Micklem – A Life in Golf (Photo: The R&A)
A biography ‘Gerald Micklem – A Life In Golf’, written by John Littlewood, and published by Grant Books, with the financial support of The R&A, was released in 2014. Much of the information in this article came from this excellent book.
In February 2024 Micklem was included amongst a group of 12 golfers inducted into the new England Golf Hall of Fame.
Micklem was posh and oozed wealth – he was chauffeur driven in a Bentley to most of his engagements – which inevitably led some to incorrectly conclude that he always favoured the Oxbridge set over the rank and file. He was an introvert with few friends and a serious personality that occassionally bordered on rude. However, he had many acquintances and could clearly work with others towards a common goal. It appears that over time he successfully earned respect and some fondness through his gravitas (physical size and deep, staccato voice), knowledge, dedication and generosity, albeit much of the latter was undertaken quietly and anonymously.
Gerald Micklem was a good player but an even better administrator. He is probably the greatest voluntary contributor in the history of British golf and arguably all of our sports. He may have been a benevolent dictator at times but sometimes that is exactly what is required to move important matters forward.
ME.
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