“I’m Not Dead Yet” – The Best Locker Doors In Golf

This from friend Michael Scott.  He has sent the attached photos of a locker room recently visited in England with partner Nick Green.  This is one of a million things that make you chuckle about the game…at least it made me chuckle…borderline chortle.

Dear Rick,

I’d like to nominate something for your Best In Golf Blog.

A few weeks back I was in London and had an opportunity to play golf on a Monday morning. As you know, there are several great heathland courses around Southwest London that we’ve all heard of: Sunningdale, Wentworth, Walton Heath, The Berkshire. Truly amazing golf.

We end up at New Zealand Golf Club just about a mile from Sunningdale. New Zealand was built about the same time as these others but is truly one of those hidden gems.

So the three of us (me, my business partner Nick Green and one of his friends who lives nearby) show up at 9am as “visitors”. No introduction is necessary here. It is a private club. But like most in Britain, they keep their monthly dues low by taking money off of visitors like me. In America, we pay to keep the unwashed masses off our private clubs. There they like to keep the dues low. Different strokes and all of that.

Anyway, we have a fantastic round with some really fun holes. Finish in 3 hours toting our own bags (the way golf should be played). We don’t see anyone out on the course. Afterwards we head into the clubhouse and order lunch (3 Shepherd’s pies please with a pint of lager), and then head into the lockerroom to change shoes.

It was there I discovered what I have never seen.

Their lockers, which are original from the 1920s, have been passed down from member to member…with the previous occupants all listed above. When a member dies, his name is scratched out and the next guy inherits the locker. I know at Deepdale on Long Island there’s a similar tradition, but I don’t believe they scratch the guy’s name out!

Anyways, chalk this up as the Best Locker Doors in Golf.

And I highly recommend the Shepherd’s Pie.

Yours sincerely,

Michael Scott

Thanks Michael…sounds like you better not miss too many Saturday morning games at New Zealand or you just might lose your locker. I can hear the board meeting now:

 “Anyone seen Purlmutter lately?  No, not for some time.  Scratch him off then and be quick about it.”