James Braid (6 February 1870 – 27 November 1950) was a Scottish professional golfer and a member of the Great Triumvirate of the sport alongside Harry Vardon and John Henry Taylor. 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. He also was a renowned golf course architect. Braid is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Life

Braid was born in Earlsferry,

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, the son of James and Mary (née Harris). He played golf from an early age, working as a clubmaker before turning professional in 1896. Initially his game was hindered by problems with his putting, but he overcame this after switching to an aluminium putter in 1900. He won

in 1901, 1905, 1906, 1908 and 1910. In addition, Braid won four British PGA Matchplay Championships (1903, 1905, 1907 and 1911), as well as the 1910

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 ...

title. He was also runner-up in The Open Championship in 1897, 1902, 1904, and 1909. His 1906 victory in The Open Championship was the last successful defence of the title by a European until

Pádraig Harrington Pádraig Peter Harrington (born 31 August 1971) is an Irish professional golfer who plays on the European Tour, PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions. He has won three men's major golf championships, major championships: The Open Championship in 2 ...

replicated the feat in 2008. In 1912, Braid scaled back his tournament golf, and became a full-time club professional at Walton Heath; he had begun a relationship with that London-area club more than a decade before. He developed a very successful career in golf course design, and is sometimes regarded as the "inventor" of the dogleg, although holes of similar design had been known for centuries (for example, the Road Hole at the Old Course at St Andrews). Among his designs are the "King's Course" and the "Queen's Course" at Gleneagles, and the 1926 remodelling of The Open Championship venue Carnoustie Golf Links. In 1935, he designed and laid out Wishaw Golf Club.

Stranraer Stranraer ( , in Scotland also ; ), also known as The Toon or The Cleyhole, is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, on Loch Ryan and the northern side of the isthmus joining the Rhins of Galloway to the mainland. Stranraer is Dumfries ...

Golf Club's course was the final one that was designed by Braid in the year that he died, 1950. He was called out of retirement to plan Creachmore, which was to be his last commission. Braid never lived to see the course completed. He died in London on 27 November 1950. Harry Vardon and Braid collaborated on several editions of Spalding Athletic Library "How to Play Golf". Braid also wrote "Advanced Golf, or, Hints and Instruction for Progressive Players" in 1911. There is also a book about all the courses Braid designed as an architect titled "James Braid and his 400 courses."

Tournament wins (19)

''Note: This list may be incomplete.'' *1901

, Lytham and St Anne's Professional Tournament *1902 Tooting Bec Cup, Greenore Professional Tournament *1903 News of the World Match Play, Tooting Bec Cup *1904 Tooting Bec Cup *1905

, News of the World Match Play *1906

*1907 News of the World Match Play, Tooting Bec Cup *1908

*1910

*1911 News of the World Match Play *1920 Galashiels Tournament, McVitie & Price Tournament (joint winner with

Abe Mitchell Henry Abraham Mitchell (18 January 1887 – 11 June 1947) was an English professional golfer. Mitchell had eight top-10 finishes out of 17 appearances in the Open Championship, his best performance being fourth in 1920. He was runner-up in the 1 ...

), Amateurs and Professionals Foursomes Tournament (with J. H. Taylor) Major championships are shown in bold.

Major championships

Wins (5)

Results timeline

''Note: Braid only played in

''
NT = No tournament
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Team appearances

* England–Scotland Professional Match (representing Scotland): 1903 (winners), 1904 (tie), 1905 (tie), 1906, 1907, 1909, 1910, 1912 (tie) * 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)

Golf courses designed by Braid

Braid is reputed to have designed and remodeled over 200 golf courses. Braid disliked travel overseas, very rarely left the British Isles, and never traveled outside Europe. However, he did design two 18-hole golf courses for the Singapore Island Country Club in

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

, using topographic maps to plan his layouts there, which were then constructed to his orders."The Golf Course", by Geoffrey Cornish and Ronald Whitten, 1981, 'James Braid' in golf course architects section Some of the more notable courses worked on by Braid are listed here. *''OD'' denotes courses for which Braid is the original designer *''R'' denotes courses reconstructed by Braid *''A'' denotes courses for which Braid made substantial additions *''E'' denotes courses that Braid examined and on the construction of which he consulted

References

External links

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Braid, James Scottish male golfers British golf course architects Winners of men's major golf championships World Golf Hall of Fame inductees Golfers from Elie and Earlsferry 1870 births 1950 deaths