It's safe to say that Len Prior, arguably Bendigo's best ever amateur golfer, loved it.

When he was in his teenage years one of Prior's friends had asked him to come along one afternoon and play some golf, his first time stepping foot on a golf course.

Before the round Prior went to his local sport store and bought himself a 7-iron and then off he went to Quarry Hill Golf Club.

He didn't know it at the time, but that round of golf would blossom into a lifelong passion and successful amateur career spanning several decades.

Prior had played other sports, including football with an under-16 YMCA junior squad in the Bendigo Football League, but it was golf which he decided to master.

"I've always loved the feeling of hitting golf balls and to watch how the ball moved through the air really fascinated me," Prior said.

In his first year as a junior amateur he lowered his handicap down to 15 and by the end of the second year he was down to single digits.

"I made an effort to play as much as I could and at as many golf courses as possible," Prior said.

"I used to ride my bike around to all of the different golf clubs," he laughed.

He learnt the ins and outs of the game at Quarry Hill Golf Club, which he recalled was right as the Nicklaus era of golf was starting.

"There was a fascination with how Jack Nicklaus played it was almost animalistic in the way he was able to hit the ball so far," Prior said.

Day in, day out Prior would be on the course, but eventually he would make a move from Quarry Hill to the Bendigo Golf Club.

"In 1963 Bendigo switched from sandscrape greens to grass, which opened the door to a whole new era of golf," he said.

"It was also a big motivator for me to play there and focus on my golf."

He had found his new home at Bendigo, and the rest is history.

Throughout his career, Prior won eight Bendigo Golf Club Championships, four Veterans Championships, countless gold letter events, represented Bendigo at Country Week numerous times, played in the Victorian Open as an amateur, in addition to a list of tournaments, achievements and awards longer than most par-five fairways.

After finding great success as an amateur, the next step of turning professional was an avenue in life Prior had in mind.

"I always thought about it, but my mother always wanted me to have a career," he laughed.

"So I became a clerk on the railways."

Prior found a balance between working his day job and playing golf most weekends either at tournaments across the state or at home on the fairways at Bendigo Golf Club.

To this day he still holds the course record at Bendigo, 65 off the stick, which has only been matched by one of Prior's close friends, Chris Wilkinson, in 2001.

Prior's recording-setting round was at the Bendigo Golf Club's 1989 Easter Classic, which he also went on to win.

The seven-under par round was made all the more impressive in the way he finished it on the course's iconic 18^th green.

A solid tee shot with his driver to the left side of the fairway set him up to hit a three wood to the green, the ball finished up four feet from the pin for an eagle putt.

In true Prior fashion, in it went to set the new course record.

"I wasn't quite anticipating such a low score," Prior told the Bendigo Advertiser in April 1989.

"I thought my game was starting to come together, but I didn't think I would shoot so low.

"There's always a chance to play well...you never know with this game."

Prior might have an endless list of achievements and awards, but there is one simple personal achievement which he cherishes.

"When I broke 70 off the stick for the first time at Bendigo is up there, it was the third round of the club championships," he said.

However, with all of his great sporting triumphs there are always the disappointments.

There is one which Prior recalls clear as day.

It was 1975 and Prior was representing Bendigo at Country Week at Melbourne's iconic Huntingdale Golf Club.

After 36 holes, Prior and his Warrnambool opponent Ken Boyd had tied on 154, both finishing with two rounds of 77.

The pair were set for a 37^th hole sudden-death play-off on the 18^th to decide the championship.

Boyd sunk a long-range putt from one end of the green to the other to secure the win with a par compared to Prior's bogey.

Prior was front and centre during his amateur career, but behind the scenes he has also been highly influential in helping the game grow within the Bendigo district.

In 2016, Prior was presented with the Victorian Volunteer of the Year Award for his decades of commitment organising tournaments, junior clinics and helping out any way possible.

For decades Prior was integral to running junior programs around the district and over the years he has seen Bendigo district golfers turn professional including Andrew Martin, Kris Mueck and most recently, 2020 Omega Dubai Desert classic winner Lucas Herbert.

"They are all great golfers and also great blokes who are ornaments of Bendigo," Prior said.

"They project the quality of player from our region really well."

Great things have been achieved by Bendigo golfers, but there is one that stands out for Prior.

Herbert's nail-biting first professional win in Dubai on Australia Day.

"Who would have thought that a bloke from Bendigo, which isn't known as a great golfing district, could go on and win the Dubai Desert Classic," Prior said.

"It was quite an achievement, especially to comeback with that pitch shot after knocking it in the dam."

Prior, now in his 70s might not get out on the course as much as he would like, but he remains as passionate as ever.

He continues to help and mentor juniors and even though equipment and technology has changed, he is more than with the modern methods to analyse golf swings.

"We need to focus on juniors to make sure we move forward with plenty of players," he said."

Ipad in hand, Prior has endless videos of swings which he uses to help golfers to refine their skills.

The Prior name is synonymous with golf across the district and will always remain a part of Bendigo's sporting history.

Fellow Bendigo golfer Wilkinson said the Prior name was famous outside of the Bendigo district.

"When you talk to people from other areas and say Len's name, everyone knows him or has a story on a time they saw him play.

"Above all, he is known as being a top bloke in addition to a great golfer.

"He was always the man to beat, he's always been very accurate with the ball, has great distance control, short game and always managed himself very well around a course."

Wilkinson still recalled when he was a junior and came across Prior for the first time.

"I joined Bendigo in 1984 and a group of us who were juniors would get plenty of advice from Len on our technique," he said.

"He helped a lot of people with their swing, you didn't have to be a scratch player, he would help anyone."

In 2018 the Bendigo GC gave Prior life membership and also recognised his contributions to the club by holding two events named in his honour.

The Len Prior Trophy, which is a single round Stableford event and the Len Prior Medal of Medallists - which is contested among the club's Monthly Medallists in a stroke format with the best nett score declared the winner.

Have you signed up to the Bendigo Advertiser's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in central Victoria.