No golfer had more nicknames than Thomas Henry Bolt. “Thunder”, “Tempestuous Tommy” and “Terrible-Tempered Tommy” earned these due to his ferocious temper on the golf course. His success was overshadowed by his reputation for throwing tantrums and golf clubs like a frustrated duffer, but Tommy Bolt could play golf.

He played in two Ryder Cup teams. He won 15 PGA Tour titles between 1950 and 1965, including the 1958 US Open, along with five other professional tournaments. He finished tie-third at The Masters in 1952 and third at The PGA Championship in 1971. He also won 12 more times on the senior circuit, including the 1969 PGA Seniors Championship.

When he won the US Open, he beat Gary Player, who then invited him to come to South Africa to play a series of exhibition matches, and there are some great stories about this trip.

In Johannesburg, just before teeing off with many thousands of people already waiting to watch South Africa’s new sports star facing off against a US Open champion, he chose that time to tell Gary he didn’t feel like playing. Gary convinced him to play a few holes and to see how it went. Then he let Bolt win a couple of holes and all was forgotten.

I was just eight when my father took me to Pretoria Golf Club to watch one of the matches. Bolt was dressed colourfully and carried himself beautifully. When he walked, he would throw his feet forward and he had this slow, rhythmical golf swing. But it was his temper that everyone wanted to see. They wanted to see him throw or break a few clubs.

Some of the stories of his temper are legendary. At one tournament, he was 130 yards from the pin on the final hole. He asked his caddie what club he should use, and the caddie suggested a 4-iron. Bolt said: “A 4-iron, are you crazy; it’s only 130 yards?” The caddie said: “Tommy, that’s the only club you have left.”

At another tournament, as he stood on the 1st tee, he lifted one leg and released wind. After the round he was called into the Tour office and fined. Bolt’s reply was: “That’s the trouble with the Tour, you’re taking all the colour out of the game.”

In 1976 they celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Los Angelos Open, an event Bolt won in 1952, and all the past winners were invited to play a nine-hole exhibition match. Cesar Sanudo and I went out to watch Bolt. Even though he was nearly 60 years old, he still played terrific golf. In fact, two years later he won the Australian Senior Open.

I asked Cesar to ask Bolt who the best golfer was he ever saw. I was thinking he’s seen Walter Hagen, Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Bobby Locke and Gary Player, and we were both expecting one of these names. He walked another 10 metres and replied: “On a given day, on the right golf course, there was a man who could beat them all and his name was Thomas H Bolt,” and he just carried on walking.

And he was probably right, too. In playoffs, he beat the great Ben Hogan to win the 1960 Memphis Open and Sam Snead to win the 1955 Miami Open.

When he won the US Open, he was leading after three rounds and the headlines in the local newspaper read “48-year-old Bolt leads US Open”. He stormed into the media centre before the final round and demanded to know who had written that article. Tentatively, one pressman put up his hand and Bolt said: “Hey son, I’m 42 not 48.” The pressman replied “Sorry, it was a typographical error,” and before walking out, Bolt responded: “Typographical error my ass, it was a perfect 4 and a perfect 8.”