Golfing Gadds

Since Bert's passing in 2003 I have had it in my mind to create a web site that would link up all the various family members, and guarantee that these pictures and this marvelous story would be available for all the children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, great great grandchildren and great great great grandchildren of Frank and Kate Gadd of Malvern, England.  If you are related to anyone in this family then this site is for you, and for your children.  This also includes those of you who were adopted in, who married in, and those of you who just have a big interest  in golf and golfing history.

For More About Gadd Family Genealogy
 

To The Brink of Fame By Gadd
The Life and Times of Bert Gadd – Professional Golfer
with John Marshal Cameron

Golf often runs in the family, but there have been very few in which more than one brother has been good enough to compete at the highest level and cases of three having such talent are rare indeed. The Whitcombe brothers are the most famous three-some, all having played in the Ryder Cup, but there were three other talented brothers from their era who came to the brink of fame. The Gadd brothers: George, Charles and Bert were three of six brothers, five of whom became professionals, born in Malvern, Worcestershire – a breeding ground for professional golfers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In the years between the wars, the name Gadd constantly appeared in the record books as George, Charles and Bert won several important events of the day, but never the Open title or Ryder Cup appearance that would have made theirs a ‘household name’. In the twenties and thirties, the eldest of the brothers, George and Charles, played with amazing skill and courage. Both lost their prime years to the First World War and Charles’ war wound was so severe that it prevented him from putting weight on his left leg, but he adapted his game very successfully and, between the wars, he won twenty-five regional tournaments in his adopted North East and the prestigious Northern Professional Championship. The local newspaper said: “His victory was extremely popular amongst his brother professionals, by whom he is held in high esteem, as he is indeed by all golfers in the North of England. The new Northern champion provides a fine example of courage and determination, for he has never allowed a physical infirmity to keep him from his chosen game”. George overcame injuries on more than one occasion, notably when he won the Northern Professional Championship in 1926 and previously in the 1922 News of the World Tournament when he was afflicted with a knee injury that meant that he also could put practically no weight on his left leg; He played ‘off the back foot’, fashioning a soft high slice to keep the ball in play and, giving the ball his characteristic ‘snappy blow’, as the famous golf writer, Bernard Darwin called it, he putted brilliantly to take the title. Darwin wrote of George: “He remains quite the most cheerful and good-natured sufferer of ‘the card and pencil fiend’ imaginable”. They may not be in the books of ‘Greatest Golfers’, but there were no greater examples of guts and determination than the Gadds.

This is their story told in the memoirs of Bert, the youngest of the three, born at the end of the Edwardian era into a world of austerity and hard work. It is set in the context of the historical and sporting events of the turbulent period in which he was brought up and pursued his career. Read More of Bert Gadd's Memoirs

 

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