IT took exactly 60 years for Outlane Golf Club to be asked to supply the Halifax, Huddersfield and District Union with a president – and now they are on the verge of doing it twice in just five years!

For in March next year (2012), Outlane’s Phil Tatlock will take over the presidential reins from this year’s in-coming president, Bradley Park’s Richard Kaye, to follow in the footsteps of the Slack Lane Club’s first-ever Union president Allan Woodhead, who occupied the office in 2007.

“In golfing terms, I’m a relative newcomer to the game, having started playing only 25 years ago, and that came about by chance,” said Tatlock.

“My main sporting interest was clay pigeon shooting, but then one day one of my suppliers invited me to join him in a corporate golf day and from that point on I was hooked.”

Originally Tatlock was a member at Meltham, which is where he still lives with his wife Liz, but then transferred to Outlane in 1994, and within nine years he had become captain (2003) and then Director of House the following year.

His organisational skills were obviously noted elsewhere, and he’s been a member of the Union’s Executive for six years and was the Sponsors Secretary until last year, when he stood down because of work commitments with his business, Expressions Kitchens, which has been based at the traffic lights at Lockwood Bar for the last 20 years.

“Due to the economic climate and business pressure last year it was not easy to find the time needed to devote to the role with the Union,” he explained.

“However, I am planning to retire at 60, this April, so that will no longer be a problem.

“I was delighted to be asked to be president in 2012, particularly so soon after Allan occupied the role. It’s a bit like buses, really. Outlane had waited 60 years to have a president of the Union and then two come along almost at once!

“This really is a great honour, which I am looking forward to immensely, and my wife was right behind me with regards taking on the role of president.”

Tatlock has a rather unusual connection with three other former presidents of the Halifax, Huddersfield Union as along with Elland’s Peter Thompson, Woodsome Hall’s Albert Guest and Bradley Park’s Fred Ibberson, they were all captains on their respective clubs back in 2003.

“That year we had what was regarded as one of the hottest summers for very many years, and consequently the captains of 2003 – who frequently become a close-knit circle of friends for life – were widely regarded as The Sunshine Boys, unlike the following year, when it spent most of the summer raining, and the 2004 captains were called The Ducks,” he explained.

Tatlock will take up the first part of his office at the annual meeting next month, when he becomes new president Kaye’s right-hand man as President-Elect, before wearing the full badge of office in March 2012.

And he too will have plenty of support, as his Outlane clubmate and former president Woodhead, along with Meltham’s Chris Mear, have both recently been approved as Union vice-presidents, also taking up office in March.