Harry Vardon

Golfer

• Born: May 9, 1870
• Birthplace: Grouville, Jersey, Channel Islands
• Died: March 20, 1937
• Place of death: Totteridge, Herefordshire, England

Sport: Golf

Early Life

Harry Vardon was born May 9, 1870, in Grouville, Jersey, one of the Channel Islands in the English Channel. He was one of seven sons born to a professional gardener. He attended the village school along with his brothers. The Royal Jersey Golf Club lay over the Grouville Common area, and at the age of seven Harry had his introduction to golf as a caddy.

Childhood in the Channel Islands gave Harry limited opportunities to play golf. His brother Tom was influential in continuing Harry’s involvement with the game. They made their own clubs from materials that were readily available; blackthorn was popular for the shafts and bent oak roots served as the club heads. The two materials were crudely united with nails and string. Later on, the brothers acquired real heads from broken clubs and attached them to the blackthorn shafts. The grip was smaller than what was common for the times. The grip had no felt or leather, so the boys modified the traditional ten-finger grip by wrapping their thumbs the top of the shaft. Thus, they established a new technique to avoid getting sore hands.

The Road to Excellence

By age twenty, Harry had played only two or three dozen times, usually on public holidays. Following the lead of his brother, who was making money at golf, Harry was appointed professional and greenskeeper at a new course named the Studby Royal Club at Ripon, Yorkshire.

Harry moved to Bury Club, Lancashire, where he played the first professional match of his life against Sandy Herd, who was then at Herdersfield Club. Herd won easily. From Bury Club, Harry became the professional at Ganton. In 1893 at Prestwich, he played his first British Open Championship to no great effect. J. H. Taylor made his first appearance that year and won the next two Opens in 1894 and 1895. Harry finished fifth in his second year at the British Open. In 1895, he led after the first round but finished ninth.

The Emerging Champion

Taylor was the biggest name in golf at the time. In 1896, about a month before the British Open, the Ganton members raised the money for a challenge match between Harry and Taylor. Harry won by 8 and 6 strokes. The two next went to play the British Open. Harry began with an 83 to trail Taylor by 6 strokes. Harry was still behind by 3 with a round to go. The final day, Harry and Taylor finished in a tie. After a thirty-six-hole playoff, Harry had won his first British Open by a 4-stroke margin.

Harry was one of the game’s greatest innovators in terms of technique. The grip he used, with forefinger and little finger interlocking and thumbs on top of the shaft, was called the “Vardon Grip” at the time and later the “interlocking grip.” Although the grip probably originated with a gifted amateur player named Johnny Laidlay, and was used by Taylor, it was Harry who was imitated.

When Harry came to prominence, the ideal swing was long with a tendency toward flatness. The idea was to hit the ball low. Harry showed that an upright swing with a high-ball trajectory worked well. As his reputation grew, other players began to copy his style. Many commented that he had the most graceful and easy swing that golf had yet seen. On the “take away,” he had a full shoulder and hip turn around a straightened right leg, which ended with his back turned toward the hole.

Harry’s play was most noted for accuracy. Some said he could not play the same golf course twice because his ball would land in his own divots. This statement was incorrect, however, because Harry seldom took divots, preferring to shave the top of the turf.

By the end of the century, Harry was considered the greatest of the “Great Triumvirate,” which also included Taylor and James Braid. He was playing at the peak of his game.

From his first British Open win in 1896, Harry went on to win a record six British Open Championships, in 1896, 1898, 1899, 1903, 1911, and 1914. He was runner-up in 1900, 1902, and 1912. During a nearly year-long tour of the United States in 1900, he won the U.S. Open as well. Astonishingly, he lost only one exhibition game during the time that he was touring the United States. Challenge and exhibition matches were played by golf professionals of the day, rather than the tournament format that became prevalent in the 1900’s.

Continuing the Story

Harry placed second to Herd in the British Open of 1901. Herd used a wound rubber ball for the first time while Harry used the gutta-percha ball, said to be the only one available at the time. During the 1903 British Open win, Harry felt so ill he believed he would not be able to finish. Shortly after the event, he entered a sanatorium, suffering from tuberculosis. Thereafter, he suffered from the disease, and some have traced his decline in putting to that cause. Harry’s putting became so poor as a result of his affliction that it was difficult for people to believe that he had been a major golfer. In the 1920’s, Gene Sarazen thought Harry was the worst putter he had ever seen. He remarked that Harry did not three putt, he four putt.

Harry may have been as good a putter as anyone, but, because of illness and age, he began to have more and more difficulty with short putts. Even during his early playing days, however, it was noted that putting had seemed to be his weakness. Harry died on March 20, 1937, in Totteridge, Herefordshire, England.

Summary

At the peak of his career from 1896 to 1914, Harry Vardon was one of the dominant players in golf. He was considered the best of the “Great Triumvirate” players. He was also a catalyst for change not only in style and technique but also in popularizing golf. A game that had begun as a strictly Scottish pursuit had gained worldwide popularity, much of which can be attributed to Harry’s admirable style and travel throughout the United States.

Bibliography

Frost, Mark. The Greatest Game Ever Played: Harry Vardon, Francis Ouimet, and the Birth of Modern Golf. New York: Hyperion, 2002.

Howell, Audrey. Harry Vardon: The Revealing Story of a Champion Golfer. 2d ed. Stroud, Gloucestershire, England: Tempus, 2001.

Vardon, Harry. Birdies Eternal: A Treasury of Timeless Tales and Tips from Harry Vardon, Golf’s Great Champion for the Ages. Nashville, Tenn.: TowleHouse, 2001.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. The Complete Golfer. Rev. ed. Trumbull, Conn.: Golf Digest/Tennis, 1986.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. The Gist of Golf. New York: Doran, 1922.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. How to Play Golf. Philadelphia: G. W. Jacobs, 1916.