The Times We Lived In: Golfing in 1960s Sutton down to a tee

So there you are, a two-time Dunlop Masters-winning golfer, and you’re all lined up and about to tee off – when some antsy little guy starts jumping up and down and fiddling about with your ball.

The caption on today’s photo, published in the winter of 1962, reads: “At the opening of the Sutton driving range, yesterday are (left to right) Mr J Doran, Mr D Henderson and Christy O’Connor.”

At the time O’Connor senior was well into his professional stride and was clearly the focus of our photographer’s attention as, clad in natty shoes and Royal Dublin sweater, he posed for the picture.

For the reader, however, the real question is: who is the man in the middle, and what on earth is he up to?

The accompanying story identifies the third man as the “live-wire Canadian driving range promoter, Doug Henderson”, in Dublin to show off his patented automatic golf tee. This nifty device would, Paul MacWeeney reported, “absolve the customers from the laborious routine of bending down to tee up each ball before despatching it into the middle distance”.

It was heady stuff for the early 1960s, when golf practice ranges were themselves a new-fangled invention. With an eye to mass conversions on this side of the Atlantic, Mr Henderson had put up a prize which pitted three professionals – O’Connor, Nick Lynch and Christy Greene – against the three amateur golfers Joe Carr, David Sheehan and Noel Fogarty.

The real star of our image, therefore, is arguably Mr Henderson and his up-again down-again dance. But the charm of the picture lies in its informality: the folks in the background, none of whom appear to be unduly bothered about what’s going on; and the mischief in O’Connor’s raised eyebrows and half-smile.