Brian Barnes
3 June 1945 – 9 September 2019
One of the great characters of professional golfing history.
With a pipe in his mouth and a bottle of vodka in his bag, Brian Barnes, who died aged 74 of cancer, cut a colourful, instantly recognisable figure on the European golfing circuit during his 1970s heyday.
Barnes was born in Addington Surrey, England, by Scottish parents, and represented England at amateur international level. He was educated at St. Dunstan's School, Burnham-on-Sea, and Millfield School in Somerset.
Taught by his father he represented England in the youth international against Scotland in 1964. In the same year he turned professional.
Also in 1964, after his promising career start, Barnes was enrolled in a special training program designed to develop a future British Open champion.
Photo:In the early days. The 1951 Open winner Max Faulkner acted as coach. (Brian cuts a sturdy figure at the back).
Financed by entreprenuer Ernest Butten the participants became known as the Butten boys.
The Barnes swing, like the man himself, paid only some attention to the rules.
The most significant deviation was how he started his swing. With a forward press( mostly used to relieve tension and inject life into the beginning) that complicated the motion, Barnes used the small muscles from the word go.
The early wrist break narrowed the Barnes swing-arc and contributed to a shorter-backswing. The photo shows that Brian Barnes was still able to find good position at the top, belying the standard rules.
After a short pause at the top Barnes returns with the knees first, and, like many top players with `shorter backswings,` he collects more wrist angle on the return.
Contact and beyond shows how well Brian Barnes stays down on the ball and allows the swing path to circle back to the inside. His right shoulder continues to rotate and ensures the wrists do not get over-active.
THE FINISH
Sandy Lyle
One of the great players of the eighties he will always be remembered for his Open win at Royal St Georges in 1985, and his great fairway bunker shot to win the Masters. Sandy was the first British winner since Tony Jacklin in 1969 and continued the rise of European golfers in the world scene.
Sandy Lyle-(born 9 February 1958) has won two major championships during his career.
In 1977 Sandy turned professional and decided to represent Scotland. His first professional win came in the 1978 Nigerian Open, and he also won the Sir Henry Cotton Award as European Rookie of the Year that season. Lyle attained the first of an eventual 18 European Tour titles in 1979.
