'The Mechanic' Miguel Angel Jimenez Warms Up On The Range with commentary from Peter Alliss

Miguel Ángel Jiménez is easily in my top five favourite golfers of all time. This just may have put him into the top three.

Kicking Back At Celtic Manor 2010. Job Done.

Last Of The Mohicans 'An Evening With Alliss'

Peter Alliss once held the record of being the heaviest baby in Europe, weighing in at 14lbs & 11 ounces. His father, Percy, head pro at a German golf club, gave a few Nazi's some lessons, purposely leaving them with a 'wicked incurable slice'. Between 1954 & 1969 Peter won 21 tournaments, including three British PGA championships - and was twice winner of the Vardon Trophy. He has a 43% Ryder Cup winning record. On occasion he still wears his 2004 Oakland Hills Ryder Cup bomber jacket.

‘An Evening With Alliss’ is pretty much what you would expect (and want) from a man who has earned his living for over 50 years playing & talking about his life passion. The above paragraph is pretty much a condensed version of the first 15 minutes of the show, apart from the bomber jacket bit. That one’s mine. (I bumped into Peter at Woburn Abbey a couple of years ago, just as he walked into the bar rocking that jacket like an octogenarian P Diddy)

Like Dave Allen, all he has onstage is a stool, a jug of water and unfortunately a pretty crap quality microphone. The timbre of his dulcet tones are reduced to a shadow of its BBC HD audio counterpart. That aside, Alliss is a great raconteur, expanding on stories that he may have told a thousand times, but I fancy he recounts them with a wicked freshness to every new audience. (Tonight's is the 41st on this tour) He has clearly enjoyed his life in golf, and maintains that golfers from yesteryear were the best technical players to have ever played the game, (& when he explains why, it’s hard to disagree with him). He does however hold some of the modern players in high regard. Seve, for instance is dearly loved by Alliss, & when someone in the Q+A section of the evening asks about Tiger’s shenanigans, he simply replies “Tiger was like a celibate monk compared to Seve” 

As my friend Tom & I were racking our brains to try and think of good, provoking questions to ask, Tom pondered “Is it possible to be a truly great player & a gentleman?” Peter was already kind of answering that one, as he was currently waxing lyrical about the great Jack Nicklaus. I wanted to ask him, “Who in the current crop of commentators or pundits, from either the BBC or Sky, did he think could fill his off the cuff, meandering, tan moccasins when he finally retires?”

After tonight’s show, I didn't need to ask. No-one can. Who else could come out with one of my favourite ‘Allissisms’ from last years Open Championship at Royal St Georges;

“Oooh, what a wonderful old clubhouse, I could just imagine looking through the windows and watching the Colonel bash one off”

Thanks Peter.

                                          Picture Tom Cox ©

 If you would like to support any of Peters charities, please click here thank you.