Heinz Biemer, who has died, aged 78, was the secretary of the German Golf Federation (Deutsche Golf Verbrand) between 1968 and 1989, and one of the great supporters of the development of The European Tour through his participation on the European Golf Association (EGA) Professional Technical Committee.
The son of a Burgermeister, Heinz served his country in World War II. He surrendered to the Northamptonshire regiment in Austria in 1945 and, because of his command of English, he was appointed a liaison officer between the prisoners and the British troops. Heinz made such a success of this role that he was permitted to wear British Army uniform and he was extremely proud to be accorded such a concession.
His diplomatic skills were to come to the fore in golf. Having emigrated to the United States, where he was to become one of the first employees of Mark McCormack at the International Management Group’s headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio, he returned to his native Germany where he took on the role of secretary of the German Golf Federation.
In 1974 at the German Open at Krefeld, Peter Beames, an English professional, was brought to task by a German official for wiping his golf shoes on a dirty towel in the clubhouse. The Club President was less than amused and demanded that Beames be disqualified and expelled from the course. The matter was referred to Tony Gray, who only that year had joined the Tour as a Tournament Administrator.
Gray recalls: “We had a very irate Club President and, quite honestly Peter’s ‘crime’, if you could call it that, was to have been caught innocently drying his shoes with a used towel taken from the basket in the locker-room. I had only met Heinz that week but I was immediately impressed with his diplomatic skills as he swiftly diffused the situation. The press, of course, wrote about the incident, and you can imagine the headlines, and when the Tour bus arrived at Hilversum for the Dutch Open the next week the secretary requested that Peter left the bus first and he was presented with a huge Club towel for his exclusive use!
“Seriously, Heinz was not only an outstanding administrator but also a most convivial host to players, officials, media and all attending German Opens. I spoke to him on the phone a week before he died in September, and, as always, he was most interested on what was happening at the Tour with whom he had a long and happy association.”
Heinz Biemer had a love affair with golf. He was delighted to visit the Masters Tournament on many occasions, mostly in the company of his good friend, Ted Osterman, the renowned German publisher and golf writer, but he was dedicated to the progress of the game at all levels.
Wolfgang Scheffler, the golf correspondent of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, said: “When I took over as golf writer in 1980, Heinz told me that it is impossible to write about golf without playing it. He arranged a club membership for me which in the 1980s in Germany was no small feat.”
During his 21 years at the helm as secretary of the German Golf Federation, Heinz Biemer witnessed the number of golfers in Germany increase from 19,200 to 124,209. Born on April 23, 1925, he died in Eltville am Rheim in Germany on September 13, 2003.
Ken Schofield, the Executive Director of The European Tour, said: “Heinz Biemer was a most remarkable man. He had a unique ability to generate enthusiasm in all new ventures with the Tour, and he instilled great confidence in all who worked alongside him. The game of golf, and specifically the game in Germany, owes much to a man who put his heart and soul into his role as secretary of the German Golf Federation. The European Tour sends its condolences to his wife Adelheid, and we know Heinz is greatly missed by family and friends.”
