re: Top 10 golfers of all-time

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Vardon won the Open championship six times between 1896 - 1914. Wasn't the Open known as the weakest major back then? From what I've read over the years, foreign players didn't travel to play the tournament.

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The opposite, most of the better (known) golfers in the world were European, specifically English and Scottish, the Open was the biggest tournament in the world, the US Open was nothing when Vardon started playing. The first time Vardon traveled across the ocean to the US (the time before he lost to Francis Ouiment in the 1913 US Open), he played matches against different pros and top amatuers in the US and didn't lose a single match. He played over 80 matches and won EVERY MATCH, and capped it off by winning the US Open.

By the time he got beat in the 1913 US Open, when golf was finally becoming big in the US, he was over 40, had spent 8 years dealing with Tuberculosis, and had a bad hand tremor from the disease that made 3 foot putts a challenge, and he was still the best player in the world.

Remember, not only did he win the Open 6 times and the US Open, he lost 7 years of his prime to Tuberculosis where he could have easily won 3-4 more. He also invented the grip we use today, and really was the pioneer of the modern golf swing that Walter Hagen perfected (by watching Harry Vardon)


ETA: he also played at a time where you had to hit around each others ball, you couldn't clean the ball off on the green, and you couldn't even replace it out of a divot on the green. And they also played Opens in two days, which meant 36 holes a day

Another note on Harry Vardon...

He was really the first "superstar" pro golfer. When he was playing, pro golfers were looked down upon as lower than amateurs. A lot of the great players of the day never even turned pro, they remained amateurs to maintain their social status. Pro golfers weren't allowed into clubhouses, Harry Vardon wasn't even allowed to be a member of his home course until way past his prime. The purses they won were a joke compared to what they are today, even after you factor in inflation. For most pro golfers, if you didn't win, you were broke. Harry Vardon is the pioneer who changed that, he was the first pro to not work at a club, he relied soley on his winnings in tournaments, and thankfully for him he usually won and became richer than he ever could have imagined. He got endorsements later on, but that isn't how he built his wealth, he won and won and won, and played matches everyday so he could make money

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The Greatest Game Ever Played is an awesome book to learn about the history of golf, Vardon, and the 1914 US Open.

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Yea I justed finished it, I'm like a Vardon era encyclopedia right now

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The first time Vardon traveled across the ocean to the US (the time before he lost to Francis Ouiment in the 1913 US Open), he played matches against different pros and top amatuers in the US and didn't lose a single match. He played over 80 matches and won EVERY MATCH, and capped it off by winning the US Open.

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Actually....

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For his 1900 tour of the United States, Vardon traveled over 20,000 miles, going as far west as Chicago and throughout the Southeastern states. Except for a break to return home to defend his British Open title (he finished second), his 1900 tour extended through most of the year.
At each stop, he played the "best ball" of the two best players in the town, or a top professional in a singles contest. He lost only 13 out of 65 best-ball matches and dropped only one singles match. In grand fashion, Vardon won the 1900 U.S. Open (even though he whiffed at a one-inch putt on the final hole). Vardon prevailed by two strokes and outdistanced the nearest American professional, David Ball, by 10 shots.

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Sweet. Thanks. I do have another question about Vardon. Now, the "knock" on him is that golf just wasn't very competitive in his era, especially at the pro level, which you've alluded to the reasons why. Now, I'm aware he was part of the "Triumvirate" of pro golf along with Taylor and Braid. Vardon won six Opens, but the other two guys won five. These three guys completely dominated the era, and I understand why guys didn't play the full "Grand Slam" even if it had existed, which it didn't.

My question is this: why is Vardon so much greater than Taylor and Braid? It seems their records are pretty similar, though I do find the bit about the grip to be convincing. Is there anything else? Or are we underrating the other two members of the Triumvirate?

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But what really solidified Vardons legacy is that he was out of golf for 7 years, often in a TB hospital kept away from the outside world, battled a disease that back then killed most people who got it. And he comes back, and a year after he is cleared to play wins the Open in 1911 at the age of 40, and then his 6th in 1914 at the age of 43

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Wow. Thanks for the reply. That's friggin' awesome.

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But he never told a sole about it

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Why would he be talking to feet?

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The counter to this is that golfers "back in the day" had to be more skilled because course conditions and equipment were decidedly inferior by todays standards yet they were still able to shoot low scores.

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You don't think courses haven't been made tougher to combat equipment?

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Thanks for the good stuff guys. I've learned a hell of a lot about Vardon today that I obviously didn't know before.

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I could talk about this stuff all day