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. Taylor is considered to be one of the best golfers of all time. He was a significant golf course architect. Taylor helped to found the British PGA, the world's first, and became respected for his administrative work. He also wrote two notable golf books.

Early life

Taylor was born in

Northam, Devon Northam ( ) is a market town, civil parish and electoral ward in Devon, England, lying north of Bideford. The civil parish also includes the villages of Westward Ho!, Appledore, Torridge, Appledore, West Appledore, Diddywell, Buckleigh and Silfor ...

. He was a member of the fabled

Great Triumvirate In U.S. politics, the Great Triumvirate (known also as the Immortal Trio) was a triumvirate of three statesmen who dominated American politics for much of the first half of the 19th century, namely Henry Clay of Kentucky, Daniel Webster of M ...

of the sport in his day, along with

Harry Vardon Henry William Vardon (9 May 1870 – 20 March 1937) was a professional golfer from Jersey. He was a member of the Great Triumvirate with John Henry Taylor and James Braid. Vardon won The Open Championship a record six times, and also won the ...

and James Braid, and he won

The Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

five times. Born into a

working-class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...

family, and orphaned as a boy, he began work as a

caddie In golf, a caddie (or caddy) is a companion to the player, providing both practical support and strategic guidance on the course. Caddies are responsible for carrying the player’s bag, managing clubs, and assisting with basic course maintena ...

and labourer at the

Royal North Devon Golf Club Royal North Devon Golf Club, commonly abbreviated as RND, was founded in 1864, and is the oldest golf course in England. The course was designed by Scottish golfer Old Tom Morris. Geography RND is located on Northam Burrows between Northam a ...

, near

Westward Ho! Westward Ho! is a seaside village near Bideford in Devon, England. The A39 road provides access from the towns of Barnstaple, Bideford, and Bude. It lies at the south end of Northam Burrows and faces westward into Bideford Bay, opposite Sau ...

, at the age of eleven. He was employed as a caddie and houseboy by the Hutchinson family and was tasked to carry the bag of

Horace Hutchinson Horatio Gordon "Horace" Hutchinson (16 May 1859 – 27 July 1932) was an English amateur golfer who played in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Hutchinson won the 1886 and 1887 Amateur Championships. He had three top-10 finishes in ...

Professional career

In 1890, Taylor became a

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

at the age of 19 and was employed by Burnham & Berrow Golf Club, the Winchester (later Royal Winchester) Golf Club – while there winning in successive years the first two of his Open Championships – then the Royal Wimbledon Golf Club, before eventually moving to the

Royal Mid-Surrey Golf Club The Royal Mid-Surrey Golf Club is a private Country club, golf club and golf course comprising two 18-hole courses located in Old Deer Park in Richmond, London, Richmond, south west London. Location The course lies in an arc of Crown Estate l ...

from 1899 until his retirement in 1946. 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 Bernard Richard Meirion Darwin CBE JP (7 September 1876 − 18 October 1961) was a golf writer and high-standard amateur golfer. A grandson of the British naturalist Charles Darwin, he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. Biography B ...

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 The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

from age 22 in 1893, until age 55, when he tied for 11th place in 1926. His five Open victories all took place before the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Open Championship wins: * 1894 –

Royal St George's The Royal St George's Golf Club is a golf club located in Sandwich, Kent, England. It is one of the courses on The Open Championship rota, and the only one in South East England. It has hosted 15 Open championships, the first in 1894 when it b ...

* 1895 –

St Andrews St Andrews (; ; , pronounced ʰʲɪʎˈrˠiː.ɪɲ is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fourth-largest settleme ...

* 1900 –

* 1909 –

Royal Cinque Ports Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club is an 18-hole links golf course, in the town of Deal in Kent, in southeastern England. The course is often known simply as Deal. Founded in 1892, its name derives from Deal's membership of an ancient group of trad ...

* 1913 –

Royal Liverpool Golf Club The Royal Liverpool Golf Club is a golf club in Wirral in Merseyside, England. It was founded in 1869 on what was then the racecourse of the Liverpool Hunt Club. It received the "Royal" designation in 1871 due to the patronage of Prince Arth ...

Taylor captained the 1933 Great Britain

Ryder Cup The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States, with hosting duties alternating between venues in Europe and the United States for each edition. The cup is named after the English businessman S ...

team to a win over the United States, and remains the only captain on either side never to have played in any of the matches. Taylor was also involved in designing courses across England including York Golf Club in 1903, Hindhead Golf Club in 1904, Andover Golf Club in 1907, Frilford Heath's Red Course in 1908, Hainault Golf Club's Upper Course in 1909,Hainault Golf Club
Heaton Park Golf Club (Manchester) in 1912, Hainault Golf Club's Lower Course in 1923, Bigbury Golf Club in South Devon in 1926, Pinner Hill Golf Club (Middlesex) 1927,
Axe Cliff Golf Club (Seaton, Devon) in 1920sFrom Wall Plaque at Axe Cliff Golf Club, Seaton, Devon and Batchwood Hall Golf Club (St Albans) in 1935. He is attributed with being the inventor of the 'dogleg', although holes of that form had existed on many courses before Taylor began golf course design (for example No. 7 at

Old Course at St Andrews The Old Course at St Andrews, also known as the Old Lady or the Grand Old Lady, is considered the oldest golf course in the world. It is a public course over common land in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland, and is held in trust by the St Andrews Links ...

and No. 4 at

Prestwick Golf Club Prestwick Golf Club is a golf course in Prestwick, South Ayrshire, Scotland. It is approximately southwest of Scotland's largest city, Glasgow. Prestwick is a classic links course, built on the rolling sandy land between the beach and the hi ...

). In 1957, Taylor was also became president of

Royal Birkdale Royal Birkdale Golf Club is a golf course in the United Kingdom in North West England, located in Southport, Merseyside. It is one of the clubs in the rotation for both the Open Championship and Women's British Open and has hosted the Open Cham ...

, whose course he had designed.

Awards and honors

* In 1949, Taylor was made an honorary member of

The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews is one of the oldest golf clubs in the world. It is a private members-only club based in St Andrews in Scotland. It was previously known colloquially as "The R&A", but in 2004, a new organisation kn ...

* A housing development in his hometown of Northam, JH Taylor Drive, was named in his honour

Tournament wins

''Note: This list may be incomplete'' *1891 Challenge Match Play (Eng) *1894

*1895

*1900

*1901

Tooting Bec Cup The Tooting Bec Cup is a trophy currently awarded by the Professional Golfers' Association of Great Britain and Ireland to the association member born in, or with a parent or parents born in, the United Kingdom or Republic of Ireland who returns ...

, Islay Tournament, West Lancashire Professional Tournament *1904

News of the World Match Play The British PGA Matchplay Championship was a match play golf tournament that began in 1903 and ran until 1979. Between 1903 and 1969, the event was sponsored by the now defunct British newspaper the '' News of the World'', and was commonly known ...

*1908

French Open The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...

*1909

, Cruden Bay Professional Tournament,

*1910

Southern Professional Foursomes Tournament The London Professional Foursomes Tournament was a professional golf tournament played annually from 1907 to 1911. In 1909 the southern section of the PGA took over the organisation of the event which was called the Southern Professional Foursomes ...

(with

Josh Taylor Josh or Joshua Taylor may refer to: * Josh Taylor (actor) (born 1943), American comedy and dramatic television actor * Josh Taylor (baseball) (born 1993), American professional baseball pitcher * Josh Taylor (boxer) (born 1991), Scottish professi ...

) *1912 German Open *1913

*1919 St Annes Old Links Tournament *1920 Amateurs and Professionals Foursomes Tournament (with James Braid) *1921

Roehampton Invitation Tournament The Roehampton Invitation Tournament was a British golf tournament played each April at the Roehampton Club from 1920 to 1935. From 1922 the tournament was played over three days. There was 36 holes of stroke play on the first day with the leading ...

Major championships are shown in bold.

Major championships

Wins (5)

Results timeline

''Note: Taylor only played in

and the U.S. Open.''
NYF = Tournament not yet founded
NT = No tournament
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Team appearances

England–Scotland Professional Match The England–Scotland Professional Match was an annual men's professional golf competition between teams representing England and Scotland. It was played from 1903 to the start of World War I and was then revived in 1932 and played until the star ...

(representing England): 1903, 1904 (tie), 1905 (tie), 1906 (winners) 1907 (winners), 1909 (winners), 1910 (winners), 1912 (tie), 1913 (winners) * France vs Great Britain (representing Great Britain): 1908 (winners) *Coronation Match (representing the Professionals):

1911 Events January * January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory are added to the Commonwealth of Australia. * January 3 ** 1911 Kebin earthquake: An earthquake of 7.7 m ...

(winners) * Great Britain vs USA (representing Great Britain): 1921 (winners) * Seniors vs Juniors (representing the Seniors): 1928 (winners) *

(representing Great Britain):

1933 Events January * January 11 – Australian aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independen ...

(non-playing captain, winners)

Writings

* ''Taylor on Golf: Impressions, Comments and Hints'', by J.H. Taylor, London, Hutchinson & Co., 1902. * ''Golf: My Life's Work'', by J.H. Taylor, London, 1953.

References

External links

John Henry Taylor
Profile at GolfEurope.com

The Great Triumvirate
John Henry Taylor
Profile at Golf Legends
Society of Hickory Golfers Archives
SoHG Archives *http://www.artisans.golf UK List of all Artisans Golf clubs {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, John Henry English male golfers British golf course architects British golf administrators Golf writers Winners of men's major golf championships World Golf Hall of Fame inductees People from Northam, Devon 1871 births 1963 deaths