THE Zimbabwe golfing community will have a chance to pay tribute to the late teaching professional Roger Baylis when Chapman Golf Club hosts a memorial service in his honour on Tuesday.
Baylis, who is credited with producing some of the country’s best golfers, died on Saturday in Harare aged 84 years.
The veteran coach was the head professional at Chapman Golf Club since 1986 when he moved from Warren Hills to replace Kevin Quinn.
He also coached the country’s national junior and amateur golf teams for several decades.
Chapman Golf Club has long been known as the home of junior golf in Zimbabwe due to Baylis’ selfless efforts as he helped establish the careers of some of the country’s leading golfers such as the Vincent brothers Scott and Kieran.
Thus, the Eastlea-based club will provide the setting for a memorial service to Baylis, in a public celebration of his life.
“The memorial service for Mr Roger Baylis will be held on Tuesday, 13 December 2022 at Chapman Golf Club at 1430 hours on the lower veranda terrace,” wrote the club’s acting golf director William Lake in a notice to members on Friday.
The memorial service comes at a time when tributes have been pouring from around the world in his honour.
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One of his former students Jane Howard-Hill, whose best achievement was a runner-up in a Ladies British Open Championship after losing in a playoff, said she owed her success in the sport to him.
“Roger Baylis was my first golf coach and I owed him so much. I lost in a playoff in the 1990 Ladies British Open and it was his coaching and dedication that took me so far. RIP Roger,” said Howard-Hill.
Baylis was born in Gloucester in the west of England in 1938 and only discovered golf at the age of 20.
He moved to Zimbabwe in 1979 to take up the role of professional golfer at Warren Hills Golf Club before moving to Chapman Golf Club in 1986, where he was the head professional until he retired recently.
