When The Beatles caddied at Bootle!

Last week marked the 50th anniversary of the release of The Beatles’ multi-million selling debut album ‘Please, Please Me’.

You may already know that.

What you might not know, however, is that three of the Fab Four – Paul McCartney, John Lennon and George Harrison – sometimes caddied to help fund the instruments they bought to play on that first record.

Bootle municipal golf course, built in 1934, was just a few miles from their homes in North Liverpool and, although there’s no record of any of them playing golf, the trio reputedly saw the opportunity to earn some pocket money offering to carry the clubs of local golfers round the parkland course.

Whatever money they scraped together was used as a down payment on various guitars they acquired from Hessy’s Music Store in the city where many Merseyside musicians knew they could get credit on their purchases.

They told the owners that one day they would be famous and they’d pay them back.

Yeah, yeah right!

The story was recalled when, as part of my own 65th birthday celebrations, I visited The Beatles Story exhibitions in Liverpool – achieving a lifelong ambition to re-live a childhood dream.

With their music echoing everywhere, I was soaked in nostalgia of my youth, before being shaken back into the present when I spotted a sleeve of three Beatles Story logoed golf balls for a fiver – alongside the posters, the re-mixed CDs (I couldn’t resist buying my favourite Revolver tracks again) and other Beatles memorabilia.

It got me thinking which of their songs might have been influenced by their visits to the golf course, including ‘For the Benefit of Mr Kite’. Sadly it turned out it was not the former US Ryder Cup captain but a name on a circus poster.

However, I’d like to think ‘Do You Want to Know a Secret’ referred to a putting tip, ‘Fixing a Hole’ was inspired by green keepers and ‘Getting Better’ followed a lesson from the PGA pro.

‘You Really Got a Hold on Me’ maybe referred to an improved grip, ‘Carry That Weight’ recalled a heavy bag of clubs, ‘Help’ conjured up a few miss-hits and  ‘Nowhere Man’ several lost balls.

Meanwhile all the local courses are still unplayable so allow me this little fantasy indulgence while I wait for Spring to finally appear...

Have any of your favourite musicians have a golf-related story? Tell us in the forum below or you can tweet us on @Golfmagic