\n \u2018Golf’s Golden Era – The Story of Rodney Foster\u2019\u00a0tells the story of the Shipley-born amateur who\u00a0represented\u00a0Great Britain and Ireland in five Walker Cups, captained the side twice, and competed\u00a0alongside some of the game’s biggest stars in the 1960s and 1970s in events including The Open and\u00a0The Masters.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n Rodney won the Yorkshire Amateur Championship five times and the\u00a0Bradford Open a record 10 times.\n<\/p>\n
\n He also played 125 times for his county\u00a0and\u00a0earned junior and senior caps for England between 1960 and 1973.\n<\/p>\n
\n Rodney also\u00a0won the European\u00a0Amateur Team Championship three times; and lifted The Berkshire Trophy (1964) and the Lytham\u00a0Trophy (1967 and 1968).\n<\/p>\n
\n In 1964, Rodney lost by just one hole to David Marsh in the English\u00a0Amateur Championship.\n<\/p>\n
\n One of his most outstanding individual performances was a tie in the English\u00a0Amateur Stroke Play Championship (Brabazon\u00a0Trophy) in 1969.\n<\/p>\n
\n Not satisfied with that, Rodney made\u00a0amends the following year by winning the title at Little Aston.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n A regular member of the GB\u00a0&\u00a0lreland\u00a0team in the Eisenhower Trophy (World Team Championship), Rodney\u00a0played in five Walker Cup matches during his career.\n<\/p>\n
\n Sadly, he had a serious accident in 1973,\u00a0which put an end to his elite golf career when he was at his peak.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n Held in the highest regard in amateur golf circles, Rodney was invited to be non-playing captain of the\u00a0 Walker Cup team in 1979 at Muirfield and in 1981 at Cypress Point.\n<\/p>\n
\n He also became the\u00a0chairman\u00a0of The Walker Cup selection panel.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n While authors\u00a0Robin Snook and Trevor Wilson\u00a0tell the story of Rodney’s career through\u00a0detailed individual\u00a0statistics, they also share insights into the matches he played against some of the best golfers in the world, with personal anecdotes and material which has never\u00a0been published before.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n A promotional flyer for the new Rodney Foster biography. (Image: UGC)\n<\/p>\n
\n One such story covers the time Rodney played in an exhibition match with Lee Trevino, Michael Bonallack\u00a0and Lionel Platts at Pannal.\n<\/p>\n
\n On the first tee, Rodney was stopped in the middle of his\u00a0practice swing by Lee, who had won The Open for a second year in a row the day before and was\u00a0carrying Rodney’s pyjamas, which\u00a0he’d\u00a0brought with him from Scotland.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n Rodney also shares the story of him competing in the 1966\u00a0Masters\u00a0at Augusta National. Despite the\u00a0initial\u00a0excitement, it was huge financial undertaking for a 25-year-old insurance\u00a0salesman.\n<\/p>\n
\n Having made the trip, the Shipley star was delighted\u00a0to find out he would be staying in the Crow’s Nest above the Augusta National clubhouse for just $1\u00a0per night.\n<\/p>\n
\n In addition, all his meals were $1, truly manna from heaven for a Yorkshireman.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n Rounding off a\u00a0memorable couple of days, Rodney attended the traditional\u00a0\u2018Foreigners Dinner\u2019.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n In 1966, there were\u00a0only 14\u00a0non-American players invited to compete and in the small group, Rodney found himself sat beside the legendary Bobby Jones for dinner.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n Now 84, Rodney remembers every shot he ever hit, every golfer he ever played with or against, and\u00a0every two-foot putt he missed, proving\u00a0he is just like every other amateur golfer, at least in some respects.\n<\/p>\n