James Braid (golfer)

James Braid, 1901.

James Braid (born February 6, 1870 in Earlsferry, Fife (Scotland) , † November 27, 1950 in London ) was a Scottish professional golfer who won the British Open five times in the early 20th century . He worked as a golf instructor for 45 years and, as a golf architect , designed the King's Course in Gleneagles and the Church Course in St. Enodoc.

Youth and early days as a golfer

Just like his later competitors Harry Vardon and John Henry Taylor , Braid grew up in humble circumstances. His father worked on a farm in Earlsferry, 15 miles south of St. Andrews. Although his parents were not into golf, he came into contact with golf through his cousins ​​at an early age. At the age of four he played with children's rackets for the first time. At the age of eight he already won the first youth tournament. At 13 he left school to do an apprenticeship as a carpenter. Just three years later he was a scratch golfer, so he had a handicap of 0. At the age of 23 he went to London and became a club maker. He could only play golf on Sundays or after work.

Success as a professional

Although Braid from the trio of Vardon, Taylor, Braid was the oldest, he was the last to win the British Open. For a long time his bad putting prevented him from achieving great success. In 1897 an exuberant putt at the Hoylake Open meant second place behind the amateur Harold Hilton. At the 1900 Open in St. Andrews, he came across a putter with an aluminum head. Although he was only third, his putting improved a lot. In 1901, 1905, 1906, 1908 and 1910 he won the British Open. He was the first to win this oldest golf tournament in the world five times. Other great successes were four titles in the British Professional Match Play (1903, 1905, 1907 and 1911) and victory at the French Open.

Though Braid was of sturdy build and his wide swing arc produced long strokes, his strength lay in the short game. Golf expert John Jacobs characterized Braid's game as follows: "It is no exaggeration to say that he was the king of liberation strokes in his day, similar to an old-fashioned Seve Ballesteros or an Arnold Palmer ."

Golf instructor and official

Braid worked as a golf instructor, partly parallel to his career as a tournament player. He was the first head pro at Walton Heath, Surrey, and stayed there for a total of 45 years until his death in 1950.

Braid was also involved in organizational matters. He was a co-founder of the British Professional Golfers Association. Later he was even their president. He also published one of the earliest textbooks, "Advanced Golf" (1908).

Golf architect

Braid was already advising golf clubs on the construction or refurbishment of courses at the beginning of the 20th century, but it was not until 1912, after his retirement from competitive golf, that he practiced the full-time profession of golf architect. He worked in a total of over 200 places in Great Britain, his fear of flying and seasickness prevented projects outside the British Isles. His most important designs include St Enodoc (1907), Pennard (1908), Gleneagles (Queen's Course 1917, King's Course 1919), Brora (1923), Royal Musselburgh (1926), Perranporth (1927) and Boat of Garten (1930). He also reworked a number of Open Championship courses such as Prestwick (1908), Royal Cinque Ports (1919), Carnoustie (1926) and Royal Troon.

His way of working was based on topographic maps and the preparation of detailed plans and sketches with which he tried to compensate for his limited travel activities. However, he did not always succeed in this, so that some of his places were built somewhat aimlessly and without guidance. Some of his designs, such as the Bukit Course in Singapore, were even created purely “virtually” without him ever being there. However, his best work correlates strongly with the projects in which he showed a high presence on site.

He had a special talent for difficult terrain, many of his designs ignore traditional layouts and consistently follow the terrain given by nature. For this reason, many of its holes are blind and the greens are often small and hidden. Instead of bunkers, which were often not possible due to lack of space, Braid liked to equip his putt surfaces with steeply sloping flanks, which made the face extremely difficult.

In 1976 James Braid was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame for his services to golf .

Results in the major tournaments

Braid only played the The Open Championship .

Tournament	1894	1895	1896	1897	1898	1899
The Open Championship	T10	DNP	6th	2	T10	T5

Tournament	1900	1901	1902	1903	1904	1905	1906	1907	1908	1909
The Open Championship	3	1	T2	5	T2	1	1	T5	1	T2

Tournament	1910	1911	1912	1913	1914	1915	1916	1917	1918	1919
The Open Championship	1	T5	3	T18	T10	NT	NT	NT	NT	NT

Tournament	1920	1921	1922	1923	1924	1925	1926	1927	1928	1929
The Open Championship	T21	T16	DNP	T49	T18	DNP	T28	T30	T41	DNP

Tournament	1930	1931	1932	1933	1934	1935	1936	1937	1938
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	CUT

DNP = not started
NT = no tournament played
CUT = failed at the cut
"T" = shared rank

Individual evidence

1. ↑ James Braid at golflegends.org ( Memento from December 15, 2018 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ James Braid at golf.about.com ( Memento from July 8, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
3. ↑ James Braid at worldgolfhalloffame.org
4. ^ J. Jacobs: Golf like champions: 50 tips from the biggest stars. Jahr Verlag, Hamburg 2000, pp. 14-17.

literature

• Bernard Darwin: James Braid . Batsford Limited, London 1992. ISBN 0-7134-6680-4
• John F. Moreton: Golf Courses of James Braid . Grant Books, Droitwich 1996. ISBN 0-907186-75-0