Harry Vardon: Did You Know?

To truly understand the magnitude of modern day accomplishments in the game of golf, one must first possess a knowledge of the game’s history.  

This is the second part of a series that will explore some obscure facts about historical events and players that may be unknown to most golf fans.

From teenager to Open Champion

Harry Vardon first began playing golf in his mid-teens. 

At the age of 20 he turned pro and six short years later he won his first of six Open Championships.

Can anyone say the word “natural?”

The Vardon Invasion

Due in large part to Hollywood’s depiction of the 1913 US Open in the popular film The Greatest Game Ever Played, most associate Harry Vardon with his unsuccessful trip to America in 1913.

However, 13 years earlier in 1900, the Vardon Invasion occurred.

While in the prime of his career, Vardon toured America for several months, won at least 70 out of 80 exhibition matches and concluded his tour by winning the 1900 US Open by two strokes over J.H. Taylor.

Vardon’s tour of America in 1900 more or less introduced this young nation to the game of golf.

Little did he know that 13 years later this introduction would come back to bite him at the Country Club in Brookline, MA.

The real streak

When we think of winning streaks in golf, three things come to mind.

1) Bobby Jones' four consecutive majors in 1930.

2) Tiger Woods’ four consecutive majors between 1999 and 2000.

3) Byron Nelson’s 11 consecutive wins in 1945.

But Harry Vardon has an impressive streak of his own, only it’s not recognized by most golf fans.

During the prime of his career, Vardon had a streak of 14 consecutive wins in Europe.  This is four better than Nelson’s streak of 11, only it’s not recognized by most fans and analyst because it took place over in Europe.

The Grip

Early on in Harry Vardon’s career he invented a new way of holding the golf club.

It became known as the Vardon grip and is still used by 90 percent of golfers today.

In modern times, most refer to it as the overlapping grip.

The record

To this day, no player has won more Open Championship titles than Harry Vardon.

Vardon's six wins at the Open put him one ahead of James Braid, J.H. Taylor, Peter Thomson and Tom Watson.

As we all know, Watson came within a hair of matching the great Hary Vardon last July.

The final trip across the pond

Although most thought that he was out of his mind, Vardon made one final trip across the pond to America in 1920 at the age of 50.

Like his previous two tours in 1900 and 1913, the 1920 tour culminated with an appearance at the US Open.

At the age of 50, Vardon lost by a single stroke to good friend and fellow Jerseyman, Ted Ray.

Among first members inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame

If you didn’t know how important Harry Vardon was to the game of golf, the fact that he was one of the first 11 players ever inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974 should make it clear.