John Henry Taylor

J.H. Taylor
Personal information
Full name John Henry Taylor
Born 19 March 1871(1871-03-19)
Northam, Devon
Died 10 February 1963(1963-02-10) (aged 91)
Northam, Devon
Nationality  England
Career
Turned professional 1890
Retired 1946
Best results in Major Championships
(Wins: 5)
U.S. Open 2nd: 1900
The Open Championship Won: 1894, 1895, 1900, 1909, 1913
Achievements and awards
World Golf Hall of Fame 1975 (member page)

John Henry "J.H." Taylor (19 March 1871 – 10 February 1963) was an English professional golfer and one of the pioneers of the modern game of golf. He was also a significant golf course architect.

Taylor was born in Devon. He was a member of the fabled Great Triumvirate of the sport in his day, along with Harry Vardon and James Braid, and he won The Open Championship five times. Born into a working class family, and orphaned as a boy, he began work as a caddy and labourer at the Royal North Devon Golf Club (also known as Westward Ho!) at the age of eleven. He became a professional golfer at 19, and was employed by the Royal Mid Surrey Golf Club from 1899 until his retirement in 1946.

Contents

In 1901, Taylor was a co-founder and the first chairman of the British Professional Golfers' Association. This was the first association for professional golfers in the world. Bernard Darwin wrote that Taylor "had turned a feckless company into a self-respecting and respected body of men".

Taylor was a factor in the Open Championship from age 22 in 1893, until age 55, when he tied for 11th place in 1926. His five Open victories all took place before World War I.

Open Championship wins:

Taylor captained the 1933 Great Britain Ryder Cup team to a win over the United States and remains the only captain on either side to have never played in the matches.

Taylor was also involved in designing courses across England including Andover GC in 1907, Heaton Park GC (Manchester) in 1912, Pinner Hill GC (Middlesex) 1927,[1] Axe Cliff GC (Seaton, Devon) in 1920s[2] and Batchwood Hall GC (St Albans) in 1935. He is attributed with being the inventor of the 'dogleg'.,[2] although holes of this form had existed on many courses before Taylor began golf course design (for example #7 at Old Course at St Andrews and #4 at Prestwick Golf Club). He was made an honorary member of the R&A in 1949, and was president of Royal Birkdale, whose course he had designed, in 1957.

Tournament wins

this list may be incomplete

Major championships are shown in bold.

Major championships

Wins (5)

Year Championship 54 Holes Winning Score Margin Runner(s)-up
1894 The Open Championship 3 shot lead (84-80-81-81=326) 5 strokes Douglas Rolland
1895 The Open Championship (2) 3 shot deficit (86-78-80-78=322) 4 strokes Sandy Herd
1900 The Open Championship (3) 6 shot lead (79-77-78-75=309) 8 strokes Harry Vardon
1909 The Open Championship (4) 4 shot lead (74-73-74-74=295) 6 strokes Tom Ball, James Braid
1913 The Open Championship (5) 3 shot lead (73-75-77-79=304) 8 strokes Ted Ray

Results timeline

Tournament 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899
U.S. Open NYF NYF DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
The Open Championship T10 1 1 2 T10 4 4
Tournament 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909
U.S. Open 2 DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
The Open Championship 1 3 T6 T9 T2 T2 2 2 T7 1
Tournament 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919
U.S. Open DNP DNP DNP T30 DNP DNP DNP NT NT DNP
The Open Championship T14 T5 T11 1 2 NT NT NT NT NT
Tournament 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929
U.S. Open DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
The Open Championship 12 T26 6 T44 5 T6 T11 49 DNP CUT

Note: The Masters Tournament was not founded until 1934, and Taylor never played in it nor the PGA Championship (founded in 1916).

NYF = Tournament not yet founded
NT = No tournament
CUT = missed the half-way cut
DNP = Did not play
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.

See also

References

  1. ^ Pinner Hill Golf Club - The Course
  2. ^ a b From Wall Plaque at Axe Cliff Golf Club, Seaton, Devon

External links