A Broughty Ferry man who taught golf to movie stars and made clubs for a United States president has died aged 75.
Syd Garland won junior golf competitions in Angus and twice made the third round of the Scottish Boys Championship.
After leaving school he was a painter before applying to be an assistant to the famed golf teacher Bill Cox in London. A year into his training he went to play in the 1953 Open at Carnoustie.
Mr Garland was also known as Roy for 20 years because his employer did not think his real name suitable for a golf pro.
He had jobs at Fulwell and Thorndon Park in London and a spell at the golf school at Regent’s Park-where he taught Hollywood actress Katharine Hepburn. Between 1953 and 1955 he did national service in the RAF.
In 1959 Mr Garland headed for Australia, teaching in Melbourne before moving 400 miles north to Mildura.
A move to Santa Barbara in California led to him playing at the Valley Club in Montecito, where he teamed up with actors Bradford Dillman and Richard Widmark.
An interest in club manufacture saw him set up a shop at the famed Pebble Beach course, where he made clubs for stars such as Tom Watson. Around that time Mr Garland was approached by the US secret service to re-finish a set of clubs, thought to be owned by President Gerald Ford.
He died peacefully at Royal Victoria Hospital in Dundee on October 28.