Robin Landis

Robin Landis managed the Golf House, his father’s business for many years. In his interview he recalls the history of the building and the business, and the changing golf retail climate. In the excerpt he reminisces about celebrity golfers and Christmas parties.

Golf professionals would come in and just look for that odd putter. Bruce Crampton, David Graham [golfers] – especially David Graham, I remember, came in. He bought a ten dollar putter, took it out to the back in the workshop and then belted it with a hammer till it was in the shape that he wanted it. We also had links with a lot of other golf professionals for referrals and lessons, and we had many famous celebrities [who] would come in and buy golf equipment. Julie Anthony [entertainer], Delvene Delaney [television personality]; those are two that certainly stick out in my memory. Johnny Lockwood [actor] was a friend of Dad’s and – oh, and Christmas parties; we used to have fantastic Christmas parties in the old days. We’d invite the police from the detective squad and the rubbish collectors; everybody would come to our Christmas parties and we’d have beer and prawn and they would be a bit of a hit and we stayed open for business so that the customers would join in as well – because it was a family business; it was a family business in the true sense of the word and I spent fifteen years of my life there – people enjoyed coming there. Everybody in Sydney knows the famous sign, which went up in the early sixties; that was our famous landmark.

Interviewer
Richard Raxworthy