Peter Paxton (20 October 1857 – 3 July 1929) was a Scottish

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 ...

who played in the late 19th century. Paxton had three top-10 finishes 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 ...

. He took second place in the

1880 Open Championship The 1880 Open Championship was the 20th Open Championship, held 9 April 1880 at Musselburgh Links, Musselburgh, East Lothian, Scotland. Bob Ferguson won the Championship, by five strokes from runner-up Peter Paxton. A number of players were ...

five shots behind winner Bob Ferguson. Paxton was an expert club and ball maker. His golf ball inventions included the ''Bramble'' and ''Sirdar'' models, the former being the ball of choice for

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 ...

at one time. Paxton was also the designer of a number of golf courses, with Coventry Golf Club (Coventry, England) and East Berkshire Golf Club (East Berkshire, England) being among those designs.

Early life

Paxton was born in

Musselburgh Musselburgh (; ; ) is the largest settlement in East Lothian, Scotland, on the coast of the Firth of Forth, east of Edinburgh city centre. It had a population of as of . History The name Musselburgh is Old English language, Old English in ...

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 ...

, on 20 October 1857. Peter was born to James Paxton, a cab driver, and his wife Elizabeth Sharp. In September 1881 he married Sarah Hobley at

Upton-upon-Severn Upton-upon-Severn (or Upton on Severn, etc. and locally simply Upton) is a small riverside town and civil parish in the Malvern Hills District of Worcestershire, England. Lying on the A4104 (formerly A440), the 2021 census recorded a population ...

, Worcestershire, England. They had two children, George and Elizabeth. His older brother

George George may refer to: Names * George (given name) * George (surname) People * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Papagheorghe, also known as Jorge / GEØRGE * George, stage name of Gior ...

was also a professional golfer.

Golf career

1880 Open Championship

The

was held 9 April at

Musselburgh Links Musselburgh Links, The Old Golf Course in Musselburgh, East Lothian, Scotland, is one of the oldest golf courses in the world. The course is not to be confused with The Royal Musselburgh Golf Club or the Levenhall Links. Musselburgh Links is ...

, Musselburgh, East Lothian, Scotland. Bob Ferguson won the Championship by five strokes from runner-up Paxton who carded rounds of 81-86=167.

1883 Open Championship

In the 1883 Open Championship, again held at Musselburgh Links, he was tied for tenth place. Bob Ferguson dominated play from 1880-82 by winning three Open Championships in a row. Paxton shots rounds of 46-39-39-43=167.

1885 Open Championship

The

1885 Open Championship The 1885 Open Championship was the 25th Open Championship, held 3 October at the Old Course at St Andrews, Fife, Scotland. Bob Martin (golfer), Bob Martin won the Championship for the second time, by a stroke from Archie Simpson. Simpson was o ...

was the 25th

, held 3 October at the

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 ...

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 ...

. Bob Martin won the Championship for the second time, by one stroke from

Archie Simpson Archibald Simpson (14 March 1866 – January 1955) was a Scottish-American professional golfer. He was also a golf course designer and a golf club maker. He was runner-up in The Open Championship in 1885 (won by Bob Martin), and 1890 (won by J ...

. Paxton fired rounds of 85-91=176, finishing in eighth place, and won £1 in prize money.

Match vs. Albert Tingey, Sr.

Paxton met

Albert Tingey, Sr. Albert Tingey Sr. (1869 – February 1953) was an English professional golfer. Tingey finished tied for ninth in the 1899 Open Championship. He was a club maker, specializing in the production of putters. He served in World War I in a pals battal ...

in a memorable match on 27 October 1900 on a windy and wet day at

Tooting Bec Tooting Bec is in the London Borough of Wandsworth, south London, England. History Tooting Bec appears in Domesday Book of 1086 as "Totinges". It was held partly by St Mary de Bec-Hellouin Abbey and partly by Westminster Abbey. Its domesday asse ...

Golf Club in south London. Paxton, playing on his home links, was likely the betting favorite, although his results going in were not equal with Tingey who in October 1899 had halved against

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

and had been playing better golf in the short term. Heavy rain the day before had soaked the course making approach shots and putting difficult. Playing in stiff winds, the first 27 holes were stubbornly contested to a draw, but Tingey pulled away in the end winning 4 and 3.

Club maker

Paxton was an expert club and ball maker, his clubs being highly desirable in his day and beyond. Not unlike other golfers of his era, he began as a caddie at Musselburgh. He apprenticed as a club maker under David Park, the brother of

Willie Park, Sr. William Park Sr. (30 June 1833 – 25 July 1903) was a Scottish professional golfer. He was a 4-time winner of the Open Championship. Early life Park was born in Wallyford, East Lothian, Scotland. Like some of the other early professional gol ...

In addition to the tutelage he received under David Park, he also picked up a few useful skills when he later apprenticed under Tom Hood. He took a job as the professional from his brother John at Malvern’s Worcestershire Club and was later posted at Royal Eastbourne. Paxton exhibited considerable inventiveness when in 1892 he created a machine that would produce several thousand

gutta-percha Gutta-percha is a tree of the genus ''Palaquium'' in the family Sapotaceae, which is primarily used to create a high-quality latex of the same name. The material is rigid, naturally biologically Chemically inert, inert, resilient, electrically n ...

golf balls weekly. He received patents on a type of grip and also for square socketed clubs. Some of his clubs were made from an unusual type of hardwood that he called “sylviac”, but it could possibly have been itauba. He left Royal Eastbourne in 1893—with several skilled club makers joining him—and took up a new post at

. By this time, he had gained the royal patronage of the Duke and Duchess of York and therefore placed a crown mark on the clubs he made. Balls, clubs and other items made by Paxton were displayed on the golf stall at the Sports and Pastimes Exhibition at the

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

in 1893. .n.(August 1893). ''Baily's Magazine of Sports and Pastimes'', cited a
Peter Paxton 1890s SF Putter
Northwest Hickory Players. Accessed August 2015.

Later life and death

Paxton was professional at Old Colwyn Golf Club from 1910 before moving to Oakwood Park Hotel, Conway. Paxton died in

Romford Romford is a large List of places in London, town in east London, east London, England, located northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Havering, the town is one of the major Metropolitan centres of London, metropolitan centr ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, on 3 July 1929.

Results in The Open Championship

''Note: Paxton played only in The Open Championship.'' DNP = Did not play
WD = Withdrew
? = Finish unknown
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Yellow background for top-10

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paxton, Peter Scottish male golfers British golf course architects Golfers from Musselburgh 1857 births 1929 deaths