Taylor on golf; impressions, comments and hints

Preface

THE vast extent and continual growth of the game must be my apology for Taylor on Golf. I trust that it may prove of benefit to players, young and old, and also to those who may be considering the possibility of becoming identified with the game.

I have dealt with the subject as concisely as possible, and my hope is that the path to success may, by what I have written, be rendered easier to my readers.

The point of view from which I have approached the Royal and Ancient game has been that of the professional, and I have attempted — I trust not altogether unsuccessfully — to represent the views of the class of which I am proud to be a member.

I must especially thank Mr. Fred W. Ward for

the assistance he has rendered me in the production

of this book, Mr. M. A. Nixon and Golf Illustrated

for the use of photographs, and Mr. G. W. Beldam

for his masterly snapshot photographs, which, with

those taken for me by Messrs. Gunn and Stuart,

illustrate the strokes I use in actually playing the

game.

J. H. TAYLOR

London, May, 1902

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I. The Rise, Progress, and Prospect of the Game . I II. Irish and Welsh Links. Caddies as coming

Champions . . ... 7

Chapter II

IRISH AND WELSH LINKS. CADDIES AS COMING CHAMPIONS.

SPEAKING in a general sense, very little is heard of the rise and progress of the game in Wales, yet some really good links are to be found within the Principality, and golf is in great vogue both north and south. The interested public cannot complain of the lack of opportunity for playing this game at its best, with such good courses as are to be found at Aberdovey, in North Wales, and at Harlech ; the former, indeed, is very nearly equal to anything I have seen or played over in any other part of the country.

There is, happily, no doubt that an exceptional field for the advancement of the game is to be found in Ireland. Its golfing capabilities have only just been tapped, and I have little hesitation in stating that before many years have passed it will have steadily risen into the position of a great golfing country. Its advantages are many. There you can find without difficulty a large number of natural courses, magnificent in quality ; and the extent of virgin ground yet to be opened up by the golf pioneer is an almost unthinkable quantity.

It is my candid opinion that golf may eventually prove to be the salvation of the country at large. The game will bring money from all quarters. Trade will naturally follow in its wake, for at a no very distant date tourists will cross the Irish Sea — not for the mountains, the lakes, or the fishing, but for the golf. This is not a fancy picture ; indeed, there are already signs of the attractions of the game in Ireland, and I have no doubt that time will prove the correctness of my estimate.

As for the courses already in existence, I will only mention three of the best with which I am acquainted. These are Portrush, Newcastle (co. Down), and Portmarnock, near Dublin. All are excellent; the most striking fact being that they are natural, though marked by the ever-necessary touch of artificiality at certain points.

Irish turf is like velvet in its texture, and the very finest putting greens in the world are to be found in the " disthressful counthry." This is only what might be expected, however, from the climatic influences that are at work the whole year round. Much more rain falls in Ireland than in England, the whole atmosphere is genial and moist in char-

IRISH AND WELSH LINKS 9

acter, and so the turf is springy, soft, and as true as could be desired by the most fastidious of golfers.

The links near Dublin and Belfast are very fine indeed, and the same may be said of those on the west coast, at Port Solon and Lahinch, co. Limerick. But the game has only come into real prominence of late years, since 1890 or somewhere near that date, if my memory is accurate. Since then its rapid advance is a happy augury for a highly successful future.

How golf was first introduced into Ireland is a moot point, but it appears to have sprung naturally to the front at about the time I have mentioned. Still, Ireland has yet to produce a really high-class amateur — a man who is a little more than equal to the task of holding his own in the best company. Perhaps the best Irish player is Mr. Harold Reade, a typical home-bred representative, and one of the best all-round, as distinguished from the superexcellent, players a man might desire to meet.

Nor has Ireland yet produced a professional player quite of the first class ; and at the present time an Englishman or a Scotsman holds the two leading positions in the island. This fact cannot be wondered at now, but it should be remedied in course of time. It would be more than strange if some of the caddies did not blossom later on into good players, capable of taking up the positions attached to their native clubs.

It is to our caddies we must necessarily look for our coming men. The small boy, as soon as he has satisfied the requirements of a paternal government, goes out upon the links, and learns the rudiments of the game right through from the very beginning, while his mind and his muscles are supple. It is very rare to find anyone who takes up the game late in life reaching the first class, although a notable exception is the amateur champion, Mr. Charles Hutchings.

While upon this subject, however, I would like to call attention to the fact that upon some Scotch courses caddies are not looked upon in the same light as in the south of England. In Scotland, curious to relate, it is very frequently found that a lad goes upon a course to carry the clubs at a comparatively early age, and becomes so imbued with the love of his profession that he never gives it up ; at fifty or sixty he is still proud to carry clubs for a living.

In the south a boy acts as a caddie until he reaches the age of fifteen or sixteen. Then comes the time when he has finally to decide upon a vocation in life, and he either follows up the game as a profession or he leaves it once and for all.

In Scotland, again, there is a better scale of pay-

CADDIES ii

ment in vogue. You may speak of a fixed scale as unalterable as the laws of the Medes and Persians, but when you are being attended upon by a man, and not a mere boy, you feel you must necessarily offer a man's, and not a boy's, wage.

As a matter of fact, this caddie business in Scotland is more or less a tradition, and at St. Andrews and other courses I might mention you will discover caddies old, bent, and frosted by many winters — decrepit, in fact — who have done nothing but carry clubs and tee the ball during- the whole of their lives. This, I may add, is a thing you will find in no other spot in the whole field of golf.

Chapter III. Golf Outside The United Kingdom

ARTISAN GOLF AND GOLFERS.

I HAVE spoken of the want of new space in Great Britain ; but in Greater Britain we shall find, and are already rinding, an almost unlimited field for progression. In the Colonies the game has been but recently recognised, and it is only just beginning to forge ahead ; judging by the progress of the game in America, it should have a great future.

The space at the disposal of the new enthusiasts is so great that they may extend their scope in all directions, and still, like Oliver Twist, but with greater success, cry for more. Australia and New Zealand have been fostering the game with jealous care during the past few years, but why they should have waited so long I am unable to say. Now it is satisfactory to hear that our cousins " down under " will not allow the grass to grow beneath their feet; they are flocking into club membership in increasing

GOLF OUTSIDE THE UNITED KINGDOM 13

numbers, and the British club manufacturer is rejoicing.

Almost the whole of the golf requisites have to be obtained from this country, and before long we shall probably find the Colonies holding out big inducements to our leading professionals, by offering high terms to them in exchange for their services.

The native players, naturally, will not come to the front for a time. As is invariably the case, the caddie is the future professional, and until the Australian and the New Zealand boy is trained, the Colonies cannot expect to produce players who are equal to those turned out by Great Britain. But the day will come, and possibly the Open Championship may yet go to the southern zone.

Great progress, if we do not judge from an English standpoint, has been made of late years with golf upon the Continent, and it is certain that this condition of affairs will continue. France, of course, is the principal playing country, as far as links are concerned, but courses are also to be found in Germany, Austria, Hungary, Italy, and Spain. There is only one drawback: the volatile natures of our Gallic neighbours do not exactly fit them for the earlier stages of learning the game thoroughly. Consequently they are not so keen upon it as might be wished, and the amateurs do not approach the game with English seriousness.

But in America, which I shall discuss more fully in a later chapter, there is a boundless future before the pastime. The first golf club organised upon American soil was that of St. Andrews, New York, formed in 1887. That was a long while ago, but since then clubs have sprung up in all directions, until to-day you find them in every quarter of the States. The game is booming tremendously. Though it stagnated, despite the best efforts, for a few years, it suddenly leapt into public favour, and has advanced with giant strides during the last five or six years. My own opinion of the cause of this is that visitors who had played during their vacations and tours in this country refused to throw off the attachment when they returned home. Golf they wanted, golf they would have, and golf they have got.

Coming back to the tale of English golf, there is another aspect of the game that should not be allowed to escape public attention entirely. I mean that golf for the people must necessarily be taken into consideration, and artisan golf — the game as played by the average working man — must not be overlooked.

With all due deference, I submit that it should be properly encouraged throughout the length and breadth of the kingdom, for, providing it is fostered in a proper spirit, there is a great future before it.

Let us take the public course situate on the Braids,

ARTISAN GOLF AND GOLFERS 15

at Edinburgh, as an argument in point. There you may walk upon the course and find immense numbers of bond-fide working men playing day after day. A small charge per player is made for each round played ; and when thousands wend their way to the links in order to enjoy a game during the course of a single day, it is an easy matter to recognise that a fair annual sum is readily placed in the coffers.

At Nottingham, I believe, artisan golf will be warmly supported in the near future on the old course of the Notts Golf Club. The members have left for fresh fields and pastures new, and on the scene of their former triumphs the general public are now catered for.

Objections to providing public golf courses will certainly arise, and I may at once say I quite recognise that artisan golf will, in the majority of instances, be possible to the greater proportion of the body of workers upon half-days and holiday occasions only, and that in some places the amount of rent would be prohibitive. Still, such courses are not infrequent in certain parts of the country; and with the long hours of daylight during the summer months, small fears need be felt regarding any lack of support.

Golf would tend to improve the physique of the town worker and his children. He would be afforded exercise and recreation at one and the same time, and though I do not anticipate the springing up of any fresh champions from the ranks of the artisans, yet upon hygienic grounds alone this feature of golf is, I submit, well worth consideration.

Chapter IV. University And Public School Golf

THE subject of University golf has been well threshed out during the past, and, taking all things into consideration, I think it may be said that there is really very little cause for concern. To my way of thinking the game at our Universities was never going more strongly than at the present time, despite all that has been said and written about it. Oxford is at present the most powerful of the two Universities. Golf there has advanced with great rapidity during the last two or three years, and their team of 1900 proved a magnificent one all round. Ten years earlier almost a scandal was caused by the request of the golfing team for a half blue. It was thought both outrageous and ludicrous. It is difficult to say why they should be at present so much the superior of Cambridge, but probably the superiority is nothing more than an accident. Oxford, for the time being, is merely possessed of the best natural players. The idea of superior links may be dismissed at once. The course at the disposal of the Dark Blues is certainly better than that of the Cantabs, but this is scarcely a sufficient explanation by itself.

In Mr. J. A. T. Bramston the Oxonians possess one of the first golfers in the kingdom, and undoubtedly a coming champion, provided that all goes well with him. He is a man who has played golf during the whole of his life; he has all the natural advantages most desired, stands some six feet in height, is a magnificent driver, and indeed I do not think I can sum him up better than by the expression that he is a "born golfer."

Mr. Bramston's first real appearance was in the Amateur Championship of 1900, when he distinguished himself by reaching the semi-final stage of the competition. Then he was beaten by the well-known St. Andrews player, Mr. J. Robb, after a terrific struggle.

I should class Mr. N. F. Hunter as one of the best of Cambridge players. He is a really fine golfer. He learnt the game at North Berwick, and has played since boyhood.

As regards the links at Oxford and Cambridge, they are of too purely an artificial character to compare with the courses found in other parts of the country. The Oxford course is very sporting. It is not very long, but it requires considerable skill.

UNIVERSITY AND SCHOOL GOLF 19

The Cambridge links are rather too flat to be interesting.

Still, I fear University golf will never reach the very highest class, the class attained by their rowing, cricket, and football, until the game is more strongly favoured at the different public schools.

At the present time, I regret to say, golf is discouraged more than anything else at the majority of the public schools, the scholastic authorities probably fearing that their cricket may suffer, though I feel certain the fear is utterly groundless. Golf certainly develops the litheness which is a most valuable quality in all games.

Whether cricket is bad preparation for golf is another question ; but some few cricketers become good golfers, such as Mr. E. H. Buckland, who played cricket for Oxford, Mr. R. A. H. Mitchell, and Mr. A. E. Stoddart, the famous international footballer and county cricketer. Mr. Stoddart has made immense strides in the game he only recently took up, while Mr. Mitchell a few years ago played very good golf indeed.

The discouragement of golf cannot be laid at the door of Winchester, I am happy to say. In this exception to the general rule the boys have had a golf course for the past ten years or so, and are encouraged to play the game. The links may not bear favourable comparison with many of the more zo TAYLOR ON GOLF

important courses, but such a thing cannot fairly be expected of them. They are situated inland. That alone is a great drawback; but still, they answer their purpose very well.

Mr. Bramston learnt his golf while at Winchester, I know, and at the present time the boys are fairly free to take the game up as a pastime. The greater part of their playing is naturally done during the winter term, but even that is a step in the right direction. The case is very different elsewhere, for at some of the public schools the boys are actually not allowed to handle a golf club, through the unfounded fear that this game would spoil or at least affect their cricket.

The Universities might assist the younger golfers of the public schools in dissipating this fallacy. Once the worth of the game were recognised, it would soon grow and increase in prestige, and a place in the golf team would be an equal honour with cross-country or other athletics, and the distinction afforded would assist the game to take its proper place. Cannot something be done in the matter ?

Chapter V. Championships I Have Played In

THE mere fact of a man being attached to a club either as a member or local professional does not necessarily mean he is able to play more than an ordinarily good game. The hall-mark of excellence is admittedly placed upon a player's reputation, be he amateur or professional, by his performances in the Championships held annually. Very real tests, too, are these struggles for supremacy. Nerve, stamina, and readiness of resource are each and all required, and occasional flashes of brilliance do not mean that a competitor will succeed in heading the field.

In a far greater degree than match play a Championship game is calculated to test the all-round excellence of a golfer's form. A far from ordinary or club game has to be played, nothing must be left to chance, fortune must not be tempted, and, in fact, every stroke and its probable bearing upon the result has to be thought out carefully as the rounds are being played.

When a golfer is participating in a match, the playing of one bad stroke will probably give his opponent an advantage sufficient to win the one hole, that is to say, supposing the opponents are upon anything like an equality as regards excellence of play.

But in the Open Championship it is the aggregate of strokes upon the full number of rounds that gives a competitor his position, good or bad, at the finish.

If it be considered for a moment what the playing of a bad stroke, and the attendant results, mean in these circumstances, my line of reasoning may be understood at once.

The mere fact of the enhanced value of every stroke is sufficient to make such a contest a terribly trying ordeal for the young player of either grade ; it is the one real test of his capabilities. He is playing at top pressure during the whole of the time ; he cannot relax his vigilance or allow his attention to be distracted from the business in hand for a moment ; and it cannot be wondered at that but comparatively few come out of the struggle successfully.

Even the seasoned player, the veteran who has taken part in many a hard struggle, feels the strain severely. How much worse, then, must it be for one who is new to the conditions governing the play !

Even now I do not feel entirely free from the

CHAMPIONSHIPS I HAVE PLAYED IN 23 tremor of excitement attending such a contest, although my first Championship game dates back as far as 1893. In that year it was played at Prestwick, and I tied for seventh place, after returning the lowest round that was made in the competition. The Championship was an entirely new experience for me, yet the curious thing was that I did not feel at all nervous — certainly not as nervous as I have felt in subsequent matches of these series, while my best score was made the first round I played.

This performance of mine naturally drew the greater portion of the crowd after me when I went out again, and I think I had better admit I lost my head, perhaps not an extraordinary thing to happen when the circumstances under which I was playing are considered. Be that as it may, the presence of the people affected my form ; I broke down badly, and so was finally put out of the first flight.

In 1894 the Championship was decided at Sandwich, and there I succeeded in securing the title of Open Champion for the first time. During the twelve months preceding this contest I had played far more professional matches, and so I suppose had schooled myself, and had secured additional nerve for the big event. I had become inured to the presence of a crowd, and so played right up to the very top of my form.

A similar experience awaited me a twelvemonth later, in 1895, when for the second time I won the Championship, on this occasion decided at St. Andrews. Tuned, fortunately, up to the hour, I found myself accustomed to the crowd, and the strain made no appreciable difference to me, although it looked at one time, after the third round had been finished, as though A. Herd was likely to become the ultimate champion.

The Championship of 1896, at Muirfield, provided one of the most exciting finishes upon record, for on that occasion I tied with Harry Vardon for first place, but he defeated me by four strokes when we played it off. In connection with this failure upon my part, though, there was nothing of an astounding nature. The best man on the day's play won, but what might have had an effect upon the result, I think, was an incident that occurred a month or so previously.

This was what happened. The Hampshire County Golf Association had arranged a team match against the Yorkshire Union, to be decided at Ganton, the links to which Vardon was attached. At that time I was in residence at Winchester, and was invited to accompany our local team. I agreed to do so, but unfortunately for me, I did not reach the scene of operations until late in the evening preceding the day upon which it had been mutually arranged to decide the match.

CHAMPIONSHIPS I HAVE PLAYED IN 25

In consequence of this belated arrival on my part, I had no opportunity of securing a practice round, or of forming an acquaintance with the course I had, later on, to play over. The sequel to this misfortune was that Vardon literally made mincemeat of me when we met on the following day, and I was badly beaten.

In the Championship a little later in the year he played a good game. That is beyond question, and I should be the first to admit it was the case; but (a troublesome thing, these "buts") had he not met me previously I should have been somewhat of an unknown quantity to him, and it may have possibly had some effect upon the result. As it was, he had beaten me once, and this fact gave him additional confidence.

I recollect Mr. Hilton, as we were walking down the road together after the tie had been played off, remarking, " You weren't beaten to-day, Taylor ; it was done six weeks ago " ; and I sometimes think myself there was a lot of truth in what he said. At all events, these things cannot be helped, and a man is not a sportsman who cannot smile under defeat.

My experience at Hoylake, in 1897, was one of the worst I had had during the whole of my Championship career. I really could not play, try as I might. My condition of health I might plead as a partial excuse. I had had too much golf during the preceding seasons, and was indeed much below my proper form right through the year.

In 1898, at Prestwick, I managed to secure fourth place, and in 1899, when we played at Sandwich, I had regained some, at least, of my lost form. Vardon, who eventually won the Championship of this year, only led me by a single stroke at the end of the first day, but I am sorry to say I was not so successful during the further progress of the play.

In 1900 I again won the Championship, this time at St. Andrews, being then in robust health and at the top of my form again. As for the play itself, the contest was of so recent a date that I think I may be excused from attempting comment of any kind. Last season, 1901, James Braid took the title back to bonnie Scotland, and a special chapter must be devoted to his achievement

Chapter VI. A Memorable Championship

THE SUCCESS OF BRAID.

MUIRFIELD and 1901 will take a prominent place in Scottish golf history for ever. Was it not on June 5th and 6th of the new century that Scotland reasserted herself? Not since 1893, when W. Auchterlonie secured the title at Prestwick, had a Scotsman proved successful in the Open Championship. But on the opening of the new century James Braid, of Romford, succeeded in finishing at the head of the talent, and the title went over the Border once again.

Naturally I should have rejoiced exceedingly had the Open Championship fallen to my lot, or to the lot of a fellow-countryman ; but regrets are useless, and it must be admitted that Braid played a great game, one of the greatest games of his life. He deserved his victory upon the form he displayed ; and looked at from a dispassionate point of view, the holding of the title by a representative of any one country for a number of years in succession is not calculated to assist the forward march of the game in the slightest A division of favours leads to the spirit of emulation being aroused, and so, next to winning the Championship myself, I am pleased that it went to Scotland, and especially to my old friend Braid.

As for the occasion itself, it was fair golfing weather, although a strong breeze on the first day bothered some of the competitors considerably. Prior to the start Mr. H. H. Hilton, Harry Vardon, Braid, and myself were favourites for the premier honours, but on the first round I think Vardon was followed by the largest "gallery." This did not disturb him in the slightest, and at one period it appeared probable that he would play a remarkably good round. This did not exactly happen, for his half round in was marred by a 6 at the eleventh green. He finished in Jj, Braid's figures being 79 and mine the same.

In the second round Braid played a much better game, or, possibly, his strokes were not dogged by ill-fortune, and his 76 was the result of really sound, indeed wonderfully good golf, the score he returned being only four strokes above the record of the green, which, considering the adverse circumstances, was a grand performance. Only one big hole, a 6, was played, and that was the second on the outward journey.

Vardon, though, had not quite maintained his earlier form, his round being accomplished in 78, which, however, placed him upon an equality with the ultimate winner. It was on the home green that he lost his chance of securing the lead, for a moderately easy putt was missed. As for myself, I will be contented by simply stating that my round totalled up to 83.

This being the condition of affairs as far as the leaders were concerned, excitement ran desperately high when the final day arrived. The weather was good, the crowd better, and superior to all was the play. Braid never lost his nerve, his driving was as strong as ever, and his short game remarkably good.

That he still remained favourite for first place was proved by the crowd that followed him when he started on his third round. He made no mistake, neither did he display any signs of weakness, for his first shot from the tee well-nigh carried the ball to the edge of the first green. Handling his wooden putter capitally, he ran up with the greatest accuracy, and the first hole fell to him in a 3.

His attack upon the second hole was not so successful, for slightly pulling his drive from the tee, he had a heavy lie from which to play. This made just a little difference, despite a capital stroke away to the right of the green, and as he failed to get down his putt, this hole required the playing of 5. Again going to the third hole, Braid overshot the mark and got into the rougher ground beyond the green. It was a somewhat difficult position to be in, but he extricated himself, pitched the ball dead, and got the hole in a 4.