Henry Picard

Golfer

• Born: November 28, 1906
• Birthplace: Plymouth, Massachusetts
• Died: April 30, 1997
• Place of death: Charleston, South Carolina

Sport: Golf

Early Life

Henry Gilford Picard was born on November 28, 1906, in Plymouth, Massachusetts. A good student through grade school and high school, he intended to study accounting in college. However, his plans changed when, as a teenager, he began caddying and serving as a steward at the Plymouth Country Club. While working, he learned the finer points of golf. Donald Binton, Henry’s boss and the head professional at the country club, asked the youngster if he would like to accompany him and work at the Charleston Country Club in South Carolina over the winter. Henry asked his father what he thought of the idea; the elder Picard considered the opportunity to be a wonderful learning experience. Thus, Henry headed south with Binton.

The Road to Excellence

By 1925, nineteen-year-old Henry had become a professional at the Charleston Country Club. That same year, he won his first professional tournament, the Carolinas Open, and repeated as champion of the event the following year. He dreamed of touring as a professional.

By 1931, Henry had become the head professional at Charleston. However, he was told that because of the Depression, the club could no longer afford his salary. Many businesses in the area had gone bankrupt, and membership had decreased. For Henry, the news was ill-timed: His wife Annie “Sunny” Addison was expecting the first of the couple’s four children, the couple’s bank had failed, and they had no money on hand.

Luckily, Henry’s pleasant, modest disposition had earned him many friends in the community, and they helped to ensure that the young golfer would not only survive but also achieve his goal of becoming a touring professional. Whenever he played a par round of golf, his friends in the community paid him $5. He earned an additional $5 for each stroke under par. Henry realized that if he did not perform well, his family would starve. Therefore, he quickly learned to golf under pressure. In 1932, he earned his first PGA Tour victory, a three-way first-place tie with Al Watrous and Al Houghton at the Mid-South Open.

The Emerging Champion

Henry remained the professional at Charleston through 1934. In the meantime, he repeated as Carolinas Open champion in 1932 and 1933. In 1934, the year he moved to Pennsylvania to become head pro at the Hershey Country Club, he captured his second PGA Tour event, the North and South Open.

Selected for the 1935 U.S. Ryder Cup team to compete in match play against European professional golfers, Henry felt the need to improve his game. Therefore, one month before the tournament, he began taking lessons from Alex Morrison, a leading golf instructor. Henry hit hundreds of golf balls while practicing a foot roll that added distance and accuracy to his drives.

The results of all Henry’s practice became apparent immediately. In 1935, Henry won championships at five professional events: the Agua Caliente Open, the Tournament of the Gardens Open, the Atlanta Open, the Metropolitan Open, and the Inverness Invitational Four-Ball. This season was the first of a five-year run in which he scored at least two victories each year. A thumb injury suffered during his victory at the 1938 Pasadena Open forced him to change from an overlapping to an interlocking grip. However, the change in technique made no difference: Henry’s winning streak culminated in the most victories in 1939, when he was the PGA’s leading money-winner. Along the way, he triumphed in several major events: the 1937 Argentine Open, the 1938 Masters, and the 1939 PGA Championship, in which he won by 1 stroke in an exciting playoff against reigning champion Byron Nelson.

Continuing the Story

Henry continued to compete in PGA events on the circuit, but his career as a leading competitor was ending as younger golfers rose through the ranks. Henry had two victories in 1941 and won his final event, the Miami Open, in 1945. Though he participated in the U.S. Open until 1959 and The Masters until 1969, he never again finished higher than sixth place before retiring from the PGA Tour in 1973.

Known for his generosity, Henry, through his gentle suggestions, exerted a profound influence on other golfers who later became famous. He persuaded Sam Snead to turn professional. He also helped correct Ben Hogan’s hook and showed him how to hit with more power. Hogan later dedicated a golfing instruction book, Power Golf, to Henry. Furthermore, in 1941, when Henry left the Hershey Country Club to become head professional at Twin Hills Golf and Country Club in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, he recommended Hogan as his replacement.

In his later years, Henry served as golf professional at the Country Club of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Canterbury Golf Club in Cleveland, Ohio, and Seminole Golf Club in Palm Beach, Florida, before returning to the Charleston Country Club. There, in the early 1970’s, he helped instruct Beth Daniel, who later became a member of the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Hall of Fame. Even after his retirement, Henry kept playing well into his eighties. He died April 30, 1997, at the age of ninety. Henry, a member of the PGA Golf Professional Hall of Fame, was inducted posthumously into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2006.

Summary

A leading golfer on the PGA Tour from the mid-1930’s until the early 1940’s, Henry Picard won a total of twenty-seven PGA Tour events and two major championships: the 1938 Masters and the 1939 PGA Championship. A member of U.S. Ryder Cup-winning teams in 1935 and 1937, he was also instrumental in helping to improve the play of other golfers, including Sam Snead, Ben Hogan, and Beth Daniel.

Bibliography

Bowden, Ken. Teeing Off: Players, Techniques, Characters, and Reflections from a Lifetime Inside the Game. Chicago: Triumph Books, 2008.

Frost, Mark. The Match: The Day the Game of Golf Changed Forever. New York: Hyperion Books, 2007.

Lawrenson, Derek. The Complete Encyclopedia of Golf. London: Carlton, 2002.