Harry Vardon & Balmore

Harry Vardon - Designer of Balmore golf course. The design of a golfing genius.

Harry Vardon, (born May 9, 1870, Grouville, Jersey, Channel Islands—died March 20, 1937, Totteridge, Hertfordshire, England), British professional golfer, who pioneered accurate and reliable hitting techniques that are still the basis of the modern golf swing.

PROFESSIONAL MAJORS: 7 - Open Championship:1896, 1898, 1899, 1903, 1911, 1914.
The U.S. Open:1900.

2014 marks 100 years since Vardon won his last - and record setting - 6th British Open Championship title at Prestwick.

The winner of one US Open and 6 British Open Championships (a record which still stands), Harry Vardon was golf’s first superstar and the best player in the world and a true original.

On his own, he developed the Vardon Grip, used by 90 percent of top players today. Famous golf writer Bernard Darwin wrote of Vardon:

“I do not think anyone who saw him play in his prime will disagree as to this, that a greater genius is inconceivable.”

Vardon was made for golf. Although only 5-feet 9-inches and 155 pounds, he had enormous hands that melted perfectly around the club. He also possessed a sweet, peaceful temperament.

Most of all, Vardon had a swing that repeated monotonously. People flocked to see him in tournaments and exhibition matches up and down the country and he made an equal impression in the United States when he undertook a strenuous tour there in 1900. He returned as US Open champion.

Vardon won the British Open in 1896, 1898, 1899, 1903, 1911 and, at the age of 44, 1914. He was second on four other occasions.

After winning the British Open again in 1903, Vardon was diagnosed with tuberculosis. It forced him out of competition and into sanitariums for long spells until 1910. Heeled but enfeebled, Vardon validated his true greatness after the age of 40, winning the British Open again in 1911 and 1914.

In 1913, Vardon had been beaten in a three-way playoff for the U.S. Open at Brookline by American golf’s first great hero - the 20 year old amateur sensation, Francis Ouimet. A story told in Mark Frost's excellent book, The Greatest Game Ever Played: Vardon, Ouimet and the birth of modern golf.

In 1920, at the age of 50, Vardon led the U.S. Open by four strokes with only seven holes to play, before bad weather and a shaky putter left him tied for second. Vardon died March 20, 1937, in London.

On both the European and U.S. PGA tours, the Vardon Trophy is awarded annually to the professional with the lowest stroke average.