Vanity Fair print 66
This print of ‘Mr John Ball, jun’ from 1892
has something to say about the qualities of both 19th century golf and publishing. Vanity Fair was a British weekly published between 1869 and 1914, and each issue included a loose print of a caricature of a famous figure painted by various artists; the Italian Liberio Prosperi was responsible for the Ball likeness. The prints were accompanied
by amusing short biographies. Of Hoylake member John Ball Junior the editor wrote: “He has twice been amateur champion; has won the St. George Challenge Vase four times in succession, and - greatest triumph of all - has once carried off the Open Championship: a feat which has yet been achieved by no other amateur. He is now inclined to be the best non-professional golfer in England; and if he putted better he would probably be invincible.”
A combination club 67
It can’t be long before Elon Musk invents a
golf club that puts a ball in orbit. In the meantime, spare a thought for our forebears who had to play the game with implements that look like mallets suitable for knocking tent pegs into the ground. Just what this club ‘combines’ I know not, but it was wielded in the mid 1890’s by a Hoylake member called Robert Wilson, and was described by the legendary Harold Hilton as one of Mr Wilson’s “truly awesome instruments”. Its design is unlikely to make a comeback, but should serve as a sobering reminder to anyone who blames a poor round on his or her clubs.
Photograph of 1921 USA team
Walker, was keen to stage international matches but, in 1920, when the USGA invited all golfing nations to send teams to compete for his Walker Cup the following year, no country was able to accept. The Americans didn’t abort their mission and William C. Fownes, the 1910 U.S. Amateur champion, who had twice assembled amateur teams that played against Canada in 1919 and 1920, rounded up a third team. It included Charles ‘Chick’ Evans, Francis Ouimet and Robert T. Jones, and the venue was Hoylake. The opposition was a British team captained by Robert Harris. Though the match, staged the day before the British Amateur, was informal, it was contested keenly and the Americans emerged victorious, 9 and 3. The first Walker Cup proper was staged the following year at the National Golf Links of America, New York, though Hoylake can claim to be the Match’s spiritual home.
68 ROYAL LIVERPOOL GOLF CLUB 2018–2019 MAGAZINE 41
Almost a century ago, USGA President, George Herbert
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