Leaders' Drives: Winston Churchill

Forget all that stuff about the field of human conflict, we at GolfPunk believe that some of Winston Churchill’s finest oratories were those he delivered on the subject of golf. Take this peach, for example: “Golf is a game whose aim is to hit a very small ball into a even smaller hole, with weapons singularly ill-designed for the purpose.” Or this gem: “Playing golf is like chasing a quinine pill around a cow pasture.”

You’d be forgiven, then, for thinking that Churchill loathed the game and while it’s true he actually preferred polo, he did play a lot of golf as a youngster. It was only when he entered Parliament that his passion for the game died and rarely did he find the time to play, apart from the occasional thrash around Walton Heath with his Liberal colleagues Herbert Asquith and David Lloyd George.

In his book w: His Life In Photographs, Churchill’s son Randolph maintained that his father “had little aptitude for golf” and that his swing was less than impressive. “He fails to keep his head down and foozles his drive,” wrote his son. And the reason he preferred polo? Because the ball was bigger and easier to hit...

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