Peter Thomson on his early years; golf, school and life around Brunswick: video

Here is a wonderful interview with Peter Thomson filmed as part of Victoria University’s 2016 Centenary celebrations.

This fascinating interview with Peter Thomson does touch on golf, it focuses a little more on his early life.

Thomson recalls life as a boy growing up in Brunswick in war times, playing golf around Royal Creek, topping the class at Brunswick Tech and then going on to Footscray Tech for further education.

A couple of comments from the five-time Open Championship winner stood out. Particularly this one which seems especially poignant after reading the epic ESPN piece on Tiger Woods last week:

“I made use of the place because it attracted me just hitting the ball and finding a ball for a start, and then hitting it. That was fun and it just captured me I suppose. And that’s why I didn’t have a lot of friends.

“I was a bit of a loner, I’ll admit that. But that’s a golfer’s life I think.”

And this one on his job working for Spalding who had a factory in Sunshine, Victoria:

“And one of my jobs was that I would hit a ball into a net 20 times and then examine it to see if it stayed in one piece. Sometimes it didn’t.”

And this gem:

“When they talk about golf going forward or backwards, they think of the professional side of it. You know, like Greg Norman came along and he won all these things. The real golf is being played in the clubs by people who are not good players at all.”

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