One afternoon at the end of May 2025, Gerald Bruce will mow his final green, drive home, and take his cocker spaniels Archie and Maisie for a walk.
The following morning, for the first time in 39 years, and at the age of 62, he will no longer be the Head Greenkeeper at Berkhamsted Golf Club.
Gerald Bruce has announced his decision to retire this summer, and after almost four decades Berkhamsted’s unique estate, which includes one of England’s most prestigious golf courses, will no longer be cared for by the club’s passionate, marathon-running, Watford FC-loving greenkeeper.
Extraordinarily, in all this time Berkhamsted GC has never had temporary greens. Gerald Bruce and his devoted team have seen to that.
Bruce has prepared the golf course for three dozen Berkhamsted Trophy tournaments. In the early springtime each year, the club hosts over 100 of Britain’s most talented amateurs in the traditional season-opening 72-hole event. The 64th Berkhamsted Trophy in April 2025 will be the first since 1985 without Bruce’s involvement, and year after year the golf course’s unique, mysterious challenge has out-foxed legions of elite golfers.
“There isn’t a single weak hole at Berkhamsted,” said Bruce. “Each year some of the best golfers in the country drive home after the Trophy and ask themselves, why couldn’t I take this course apart?
“Even though we have no bunkers, every hole here can beat you up and yet the golf course doesn’t look like it should be insanely hard. Willie Park, Harry Colt and most of all James Braid knew a thing or two, and we manage our hazards how the original architects put them together. There isn’t a single mound in an inappropriate position.
“This piece of land is totally and utterly unique, and in the early mornings it is one of the loveliest golf courses in the world. It has been a great honour to have been responsible for presenting it for our members and welcomed guests for such a long time.”
The club’s motto is ‘golf as nature intended’, and Bruce has ensured that Berkhamsted has never wavered from its duty of care over Hertfordshire’s largest expanse of natural heathland.
Dan Blesovsky, General Manager at Berkhamsted Golf Club, takes up the story. “The club will certainly not be the same without Gerald – he has steered us safely through so many changing times over the years. The foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in 2001, large-scale projects such as the complete new irrigation system which we installed in 2019, or our wonderful new short game area which we opened only last year, and of course the arrival of COVID-19 in 2020 have all presented us with fearsome challenges, but Gerald has always inspired his loyal team to face up to them in the most professional and dependable manner.”
Blesovsky continued: “We have been exceptionally fortunate to have had a man of Gerald’s calibre running the show, and under his guidance Berkhamsted is now one of the best-conditioned natural heathland golf courses in Great Britain.
“Clearly, he will be a tough act to follow but now the search for Gerald’s successor must begin. We look forward to working with the next custodian of the Common, and to the new opportunities which this will surely bring!”
So after almost 40 years, and so many projects, what will give Bruce the most pride when he looks back upon his career?
After witnessing Ryder Cup winners such as Luke Donald and Major winners such as Sir Nick Faldo compete on its fairways, and seeing the golf club named in multiple England’s top 100 lists, the answer – typically of Bruce – is more humble, and true to the authentic nature of the golf course.
“In 2007 we created the Blue Course here at Berkhamsted,” said Bruce. “We wanted to give some of our members who couldn’t hit the ball so far their own proper tees, presented to the same standard as the rest of the course, and measured so as to give them the same level of challenge as the one faced by the bigger-hitters off the back tees. To this day we maintain the Blue Course tees to the same standard as everywhere else, and I am proud that the Blue has been delighting all who play it for approaching twenty years.”
Bruce himself formerly played to a 2 handicap and represented Norfolk at county many times through the 1980s. After four years at another English classic, Hunstanton Golf Club, Bruce came to Berkhamsted in January 1986 as assistant to Dick Bowey, the club’s then Head Greenkeeper. 18 months later Bruce ascended to the top job when Bowey retired.
“Like the Commodores song, I’m easy like a Sunday morning,” said Bruce. “I can’t remember the last time I needed to set an alarm to get up. There aren’t many mornings when I don’t want to get up, and to come here half an hour before everybody else, and savour being at this place. It has definitely been my second home for a huge part of my life, and of course I will miss being here.”
Gerald and Julie became grandparents for the first time a few months ago, and with another grandchild now on the way he will soon have more time to enjoy life with his wife Julie, their children Hannah and Freddy, and their growing family. And, of course, the dogs.
“I am a family man through and through,” said Bruce, “but Watford FC is my second family, I have held a season ticket there for decades. I love my football, and my running. I always do the Berkhamsted half-marathon: Archie and Maisie will make sure that I stay fit. I am looking forward to having a lot more time to enjoy the simple things in life, but the golf club will always be in my heart.
“It is a very special place.”
Dan Blesovsky finished: “Gerald is a credit to himself and his family, and all of us here at Berkhamsted Golf Club wish him a long, happy and healthy retirement.”
Berkhamsted Golf Club is laid out on common land in a stunningly beautiful expanse of natural gorse and heather, with over five miles of bridleways and pathways running throughout the golf course and its 520-acre estate, full of natural beauty.
Situated north west of London, close to the western boundary of Hertfordshire, Berkhamsted Golf Club is easily accessible from the A41, five miles west of Hemel Hempstead and just 15 minutes from M1 Junction 8 (St Albans).
See www.berkhamstedgolfclub.co.uk for all golf club details.
