Sir Bob Charles had only been playing golf professionally for three years when he made history aged 27 as the first - and only - Kiwi to win the British open, in 1963.
The longevity of his professional career - which spanned 50 years, proved he's anything but a novelty.
He racked up 75 world tournament wins, including five on the North American PGA Tour.
In 2010, Sir Bob finally stepped back from competitive golf, and now at age 86 has had a biography published of his remarkable life and career.
He first picked up a golf club as a boy when he was growing up in Martinborough, he told Afternoons.
“I had a friend across town, the son of the bank manager, and they had a vacant section there next to them and we went out and hit balls with hickory-shafted clubs.”
The family then moved to Masterton and Sir Bob became a member of the Masterton Golf Club at 15. He won his first NZ open as an amateur aged 18.
When he arrived in the UK for the Open, he had just won a tournament in Houston and was in good form, he says.
“I arrived at Lytham (Royal Lytham & St Anne’s Golf Club) for the Open having just won my first major tournament about two months earlier and so I was full of confidence going in there and I had a lot of experience playing links golf in the United Kingdom.”
Everything fell into place and his putting game saw him through, he says.
“It was on the putting green, over the putter, that won the tournament for me as is the case for most people when they win golf tournaments. You can't win golf tournaments without being a good putter.”
This was the golden era of golf. With greats like Gary Player, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus playing the game, the young Sir Bob knew who he had to beat.
“When I went to London in July of '63, I felt there were probably only five players that I had to beat and that was Palmer, Player and Nicklaus and the other two were the two Australians Kell Nagel and Peter Thompson.
“At that stage, Tony Jacklin hadn't come on the scene, while I think he did play in the event, he wasn't one of the recognised better players in the UK at that time.
“So, all I had to do was beat those five and there I was.”
It kicked off a long and hugely successful career, but much has changed since he first started playing, he says.
“In my day, the longest hitter out there was Jack Nicklaus, 275 yards on the average, I was 25 yards behind him, but now if you can't hit the ball 300 plus you're not gonna win very much. You might as well stay at home.”
Players nowadays hit “rockets” off the tee he says, and it’s a development that does not sit well with him, making some of the best courses in the world almost redundant.
“The only defence which St Andrews has against the long ball hitters is the weather, the wind and the rain - the elements.
“Merion in Philadelphia, one of the great golf courses, great history it's become obsolete because of the distance that the guys are hitting off the tee.
“Merion has got nowhere to move, Augusta has a little bit of room to put a new tees.”
And longer courses mean longer rounds of golf, he says.
“In my day, a round a golf would take between three and a half hours, because of the length of the golf courses, now they're taking five and a half hours.
“The last time I played in the Open at St Andrews they were taking five and a half hours to complete the round of golf which is a bit of a turn off.
“People, and certainly all amateurs, play the game for fun and when you're playing out there for four and a half, five hours that's a turn off.”
He is a champion and admirer of the women’s professional game, he recently played with Kiwi Amelia Garvey in Christchurch.
“She's on the second-tier ladies tour in the USA. And I will tell you a little story.
“I played with her a couple of months ago here at Clearwater, and we played off the same tees. I shot 80 and she shot 70. And she was on average about 70 yards past me off every tee.
“And so that gives you an idea of how you can only be competitive with distance. And she certainly got the distance off the tee.
“I hope that she can get on the regular LPGA very quickly because she has tremendous ability, a great golf swing and huge distance off the tees, which is what the game is all about these days.”
Although the history books say he’s the first left-hander to win the British Open, he’s naturally right handed, he says.
“Nobody can get their head around this, I'm right handed, I write with my right hand, I play tennis with my right hand. But whenever I grip anything with two hands, it's instinctive for me to put the left hand below the right and stand on the right-hand side of the ball, hit it on the right-hand side of the club and hit it to my right.”
He reckons it’s a factor in his famously accurate putting.
“My strong right eye is looking at the target the hole to my right rather than to my left.”
