David Creamer excelled at the elite level in two sports which, while both involving small white balls of similar size, demanded vastly different skillsets, table tennis and golf.
As a golfer, David played in the PGA Cup, competed in more than 200 European Senior Tour events, worked as a head professional both at home and abroad, and coached on two continents.
Born in the London borough of Ealing, David first made his mark in table tennis, where he was one of England’s leading players.
He competed alongside two of the sport’s post-war greats, Johnny Leach and Chester Barnes.
In 1964, David partnered Leach to win the England Doubles Championship, while a year earlier he had played alongside Barnes when England contested the World Table Tennis Championships in the Swaythling Cup.
During one summer, David also put his table tennis expertise to good use by coaching holidaymakers at Butlins in Somerset.
David began his golf career working for Bill Cox at Fulwell Golf Club in Middlesex. After being elected to PGA Membership in 1968, he was appointed teaching professional at nearby Finchley Golf Centre.
His first experience coaching overseas came in 1969, when he worked in Spain, Switzerland and Sweden. He later returned to England, spending nine years as head professional at Ellesborough Golf Club in Buckinghamshire.
While at Ellesborough, David represented Great Britain and Ireland in the 1974 PGA Cup at Pinehurst, North Carolina. He also competed regularly in PGA tournaments and recorded a notable fifth-place finish at the 1977 Kenya Open.
David subsequently served as head professional at Bryn Meadow Golf and Country Club in south Wales for four years before opening and running the David Creamer Indoor Golf School in Bristol from 1983 to 1987.
This marked the end of his UK-based professional appointments, after which he took up posts as guest or head professional at clubs in Switzerland and Germany.
Alongside his club professional roles, David continued to compete at a high level. He won the Swiss PGA Central Championship in 1986 while working at Davos Golf Club in the Swiss Alps, followed by further success with victories in the German Senior Professional Championship in 1994 and the German PGA Open in 1995.
By then eligible for the European Senior Tour, David went on to become the first player to compete in more than 200 events.
He claimed victory at the Energis Senior Masters at Wentworth in 2000 and finished runner-up on six occasions, including the PGA Seniors Championship in 1994 and the Lawrence Batley Seniors in 2002, where he was defeated by Neil Coles in a play-off.
David retired from competitive golf in 2007, a year after being made an Honorary PGA Member
David is survived by his wife Josefine
