The Golf Foundation team is saddened to hear of the death of Peter Alliss, and our thoughts and best wishes go out to his family and friends at this time.
Pictured: Peter Alliss presented with the Spirit of Golf Award 2012 by former Foundation Chairman Charles Harrison (left) and Colin Montgomerie
Peter Alliss was a friend to the Golf Foundation over many years, mentioning in his BBC broadcasts our charity’s work that helps young people from all backgrounds to enjoy the game. Peter’s wife Jackie also made a significant annual donation to our charity.
Every year the Foundation presents its ‘Spirit of Golf Award’ to a golfer who does something remarkable to inspire a generation of young players (the list of recipients includes Tom Watson, Gary Player, Tony Jacklin and Laura Davies). Alliss’s formidable record as a professional player and his ability to inform and entertain audiences over decades as ‘The Voice of Golf’, earned him our Award during The Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes in 2012. On receiving this with grace and humour in the Spectator Village at Lytham, Peter then delighted all with an impromptu piece of funny commentary as Golf Foundation children played ‘Tri-Golf’ against the charity’s then-President Colin Montgomerie in front of assembled spectators.
The Golf Foundation was founded by Sir Henry Cotton and friends in 1952. Peter Alliss, a close friend of Cotton, was on hand in 2017 to help host a gathering of golf-lovers at 47 Crystal Palace Road, East Dulwich, London, to commemorate the boyhood home of Cotton. Peter made a short, warm speech about his friend before unveiling an English Heritage ‘blue plaque’ beside the front door of the house where the Cotton family lived in those days.
For more on Peter’s life see BBC obituary.
