As one of golf’s greatest names, James Braid has left an indelible mark on the game both in his own playing career and also in the art of golf course design and architecture.
Born in the Fife coastal town of Earlsferry on February 6th 1870, Braid took up the game at an early age despite his parents having no interest for the game. He learned to play the game using golf clubs he had reconditioned at Elie links and later trained as a carpenter and joiner, before working as a clubmaker from 1893. Following some success as an amateur, he turned professional in 1896.
An excellent tee-to-green player, Braid’s game was blighted by putting problems due in no small way to the wooden-headed putter he favoured; but a switch to a metal-headed putter in 1900 took his game to a new level and he went on to become a five-time Open Championship winner, lifting the famed Claret Jug in 1901, 1905, 1906, 1908 and 1910. Braid was also runner up in 1897 and 1909.
Braid formed part of the ‘Great Triumvirate’ which dominated the game in the early years of the 20th Century; the others being Harry Vardon and John Henry Taylor and between 1894 and the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, the three men won The Open no less than 16 times between them. Braid’s back-to-back victories in 1905 and 1906 remained as the last back-to-back victories in the tournament until Padraig Harrington repeated the feat in 2008 at Royal Birkdale.
Braid retired from tournament play in 1912 and took up a position as club professional at Walton Heath where he remained until his death in 1950. Braid also dabbled in golf course design after his retirement from the competitive game and he is reckoned to have influenced the design of at least 200 golf courses around the U.K.
Braid is also often credited as being the inventor of the ‘dogleg’ hole. His farming background ensured that courses were well laid out, with good drainage and easy maintenance.
Braid was a founder member of the PGA and later became its president; he was central in building the foundations of the professional game as it is today and he was inducted into golf’s Hall of Fame in 1976.
Today, whether in England, Ireland, Scotland or Wales, the work of James Braid can be enjoyed by golfers across the UK, with many golf courses bearing the hallmarks of Braid’s hand at work. From the famous links courses and tournament venues of Carnoustie and Gleneagles to the numerous lesser known courses found off the beaten track such as Pennard and Boat of Garten, Braid’s influence on the art of golf course design stretches far and wide, and even today golf course designers continue to apply the design principles first put in place by the famous Scot.
So famous is Braid that the man even has his own society – the James Braid Golfing Society – and there are even Braid golf tours available which allow players to play a selection of Braid-influenced golf courses across the UK in areas such as Cornwall, Inverness, Swansea and Donegal among a host of others, with each Braid golf tour featuring a mix of coastal links and inland park courses, as well as those famous and not so famous courses each bearing the Braid touch.
