Horace Hutchinson

Horace Hutchinson
— Golfer —

Hutchinson in 1889
(Photo courtesy National Portrait Gallery, London)
Personal information
Full name Horatio Gordon Hutchinson
Nickname Horace
Born (1859-05-16)16 May 1859
London, England
Died 27 July 1932(1932-07-27) (aged 73)
Chelsea, London, England
Height 5 ft 11.5 in (182 cm)
Weight 175 lb (79 kg; 12.5 st)
Nationality  England
Spouse Dorothy Margaret Chapman
Career
College Corpus Christi College
Oxford University
Status Amateur
Best results in major championships
Masters Tournament DNP
U.S. Open DNP
The Open Championship 6th: 1890
PGA Championship DNP
British Amateur Won: 1886; 1887

Horatio Gordon "Horace" Hutchinson (16 May 1859 – 27 July 1932)[1][2] was an English amateur golfer who played in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Hutchinson won the 1886 Amateur Championship and the 1887 Amateur Championship. He had three top-10 finishes in the Open Championship, his best result being sixth in the 1890 Open Championship.[3]

He was also a prolific writer of books on the subject of golf and other sporting themes.[4][5] Hutchinson was the first English captain of the R&A links at St Andrews Golf Club, Scotland.[6] He suffered from grave illness in the latter portion of his life and committed suicide in Chelsea, London, England, on 27 July 1932.[7]

Early life

Hutchinson, born 16 May 1859 in London, England, was the third son of General William Nelson Hutchinson (1803–1895).[1] He began his golfing career at an early age playing at the Royal North Devon golf club—also known as Westward Ho!—a course founded in 1864 and designed by Old Tom Morris.[8] By the age of sixteen he won the club medal championship. He attended Corpus Christi College for a time where he was a cricket player,[9] then Oxford University from 1878–81[10] where he made an immediate impression by playing number one on the Oxford golf team and led them to victory over arch rival Cambridge in the University Golf Match.

Caricature by Spy of Hutchinson (1890), from Vanity Fair magazine

During his Oxford years he would spend vacations at home playing the Royal North Devon course accompanied by a young orphaned caddy who was employed by the Hutchinson family as a houseboy. The young lad went by the name of John Henry Taylor. Taylor's future exploits in golf—which included winning five Open Championships—would become legendary.[11]

Hutchinson was a keen billiards player and enjoyed rowing, shooting and angling. He graduated Oxford BA with third-class honours in literae humaniores (1881) and entered the Inner Temple with a view to reading for the bar, but his health, always frail, temporarily broke down.[7] In 1890 he considered becoming a sculptor and studied briefly under G. F. Watts.[5] In 1893 he married Dorothy Margaret Chapman, daughter of Major Frederick Barclay Chapman of the 14th Hussars.[5][7][12]

The Amateur Championship

Hutchinson's major accomplishments in golf were his two victories in the 1886 and 1887 Amateur Championships. He became the first player to successfully defend the title by defeating the great John Ball on Ball's home course at Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake.

Hutchinson was an avid student—and later teacher—of the mechanics of the golf swing, so he decided to put forth in writing his suggestions on methods of play. He said, among other things, "The great secret of all strokes played for the most part is to make the club travel as long as possible in the direction in which you want the ball to go".[11]

In 1896, showing his humorous side on the subject of golf etiquette, Hutchinson remarked:

If your adversary is badly bunkered, there is no rule against your standing over him counting his strokes aloud, with increasing gusto as their number mounts up, but it will be a wise precaution to arm yourself with the niblick before doing so, so as to meet him on equal terms.[13]
— Horace Hutchinson

Business ventures

From 1910 a local director to their West End branch and later its chairman[14] Hutchinson was elected to the court of Directors of Royal Exchange Assurance Corporation in May 1919.[15] Following Hutchinson's death in 1932 the chairman of Royal Exchange began his address to their 213th Annual General Court by telling of his deepest regret. "He had the interests of the Corporation always very much at heart and the charm of his personality endeared him to his colleagues and to all those with whom he came in contact. He is very much missed by us all".[14]

In 1905, with his golfing friend H.C.B. Underdown, he became one of the two first directors of Commercial Cars Limited (Commer) which the pair of them set up to make Commer commercial vehicles. Their venture was intended to capitalize on a promising preselector gearbox invented for heavy vehicles. He remained on that board until his death.

Death

Although he lived to be 73 years old, Hutchinson suffered with poor health most of his life, and was for the last eighteen years of life incapacitated by grave illness.[5] Before 1920 he left his Sussex home, Shepherds Gate, Coleman's Hatch across Royal Ashdown Forest Golf Club from Forest Row and moved to 29 Lennox Gardens, Chelsea, London. Eighteen years after he could no longer play golf he committed suicide there on 27 July 1932. He was survived by his wife.[7] According to his 1932 probate, his wealth at death was £26,337 (£1.65 million today).[16]

Legacy

American golf teaching professional Mike Stevens said of Hutchinson, "In my mind, there is no question that Horace Hutchinson was a teacher extraordinaire and is clearly the father of golf instruction".[11]

Walter Travis, in 1904—shortly after his victories in the 1903 U.S. Amateur and 1904 British Amateur—said of Hutchinson:

All things considered, the golfer whom I most admired as a player was Horace Hutchinson. Over here we have read so many of his books and spoken of him so long as a veteran that one is surprised to find he is only forty-seven years old. He plays every shot for what it is worth and in perfect style, as free as any supple youth, and, all told, I pronounce him, to my mind, the ideal golfer.[4]
— Walter Travis

Tournament wins (25)

Note: This list may be incomplete.

Major championships

Amateur wins (2)

YearChampionshipWinning ScoreRunner-up
1886 The Amateur Championship 7 & 6 England Henry Lamb
1887 The Amateur Championship 1 up England John Ball

Results timeline

Note: Hutchinson played in only The Open Championship and The Amateur Championship.

Tournament 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889
The Open Championship T11 LA T16 T10 DNP DNP
The Amateur Championship 2 1 1 R16 R32
Tournament 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899
The Open Championship 6 T24 10 DNP WD DNP DNP DNP DNP CUT
The Amateur Championship QF DNP QF DNP R32 DNP SF DNP R16 DNP
Tournament 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909
The Open Championship DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
The Amateur Championship R64 SF R64 2 SF R128 R16 R64 R256 R64
Tournament 1910 1911 1912
The Open Championship DNP DNP DNP
The Amateur Championship R32 R64 R256

LA = Low Amateur
NYF = Tournament not yet founded
NT = No tournament
DNP = Did not play
WD = Withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place
DNQ = Did not qualify for match play portion
R256, R128, R64, R32, R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in match play
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10

Sources

Source for British Open: www.theopen.com

Source for 1888 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 10, 1888, pg. 11.

Source for 1889 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 8, 1889, pg. 10.

Source for 1890 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 2, 1890, pg. 8.

Source for 1892 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 13, 1892, pg. 9.

Source for 1894 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, April 26, 1894, pg. 11.

Source for 1896 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 22, 1896, pg. 10.

Source for 1898 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 26, 1898, pg. 11.

Source for 1900 British Amateur: Golf, July, 1900, pg. 20.

Source for 1901 British Amateur: Golf, June, 1901, pg. 414.

Source for 1902 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, April 30, 1902, pg. 10.

Source for 1904 British Amateur: Golf, July, 1904, pg. 9.

Source for 1905 British Amateur: Golf, June, 1905, pg. 340.

Source for 1906 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 24, 1906, pg. 8.

Source for 1907 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 29, 1907, pg. 12.

Source for 1908 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 26, 1908, pg. 13.

Source for 1909 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 26, 1909, pg. 14.

Source for 1910 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, June 2, 1910, pg. 8.

Source for 1911 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 31, 1911, pg. 10.

Source for 1912 British Amateur: The American Golfer, July, 1912, pg. 197.

Books written by Hutchinson

Note: This list may be incomplete.

References

  1. 1 2 "Mr H G Hutchinson". The Times. 29 July 1932. p. 14.
  2. ↑ "Mr. Horace Hutchinson". Retrieved 18 April 2015.
  3. ↑ Brenner, Morgan G. (2009). The Majors of Golf: Complete Results of the Open, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and the Masters, 1860–2008. 1. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-3360-5.
  4. 1 2 "Views of Travis – Says Hutchinson, the Noted Britisher, Is an Ideal Golfer". Rock Island Argus. 30 July 1904. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Oxford Index – Horace G. Hutchinson (1859–1932), golfer and writer". Oxford University Press. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
  6. 1 2 "50 Years of Golf, by Horace G. Hutchinson". Country Life. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "Oxford Dictionary of National Biographies – Horatio Gordon Hutchinson". odnb2.ifactory.com.
  8. ↑ Old Tom Morris Golf Course Architecture, 1 July 2006, accessed 30 January 2012.
  9. ↑ "Horatio Gordon Hutchinson". cricketarchive.com. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  10. ↑ "Players of Golf". The Evening Star. Washington, D.C. 4 May 1895. p. 13. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
  11. 1 2 3 Stevens, Mike. "The Father of Golf Instruction". usgtf.com. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
  12. ↑ William, Arthur; Pollock, Alsager (1870). "The Army Gazette, War Office, Pall Mall". The United Service Magazine. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  13. ↑ "Hole 4 – Golf Etiquette". Retrieved 18 April 2015.
  14. 1 2 Royal Exchange Assurance. The Times, Thursday, Apr 27, 1933; pg. 21; Issue 46429
  15. ↑ City News in Brief. The Times, Friday, May 09, 1919; pg. 19; Issue 42095
  16. ↑ Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Community Development Project. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Retrieved October 21, 2016.
  17. ↑ Hutchinson, Horace (1919). Fifty Years of Golf. Country Life, p. 29-34.
  18. ↑ Hutchinson, Horace (1919). Fifty Years of Golf. Country Life, p. 41-46.
  19. 1 2 Hutchinson, Horace (1919). Fifty Years of Golf. Country Life, p. 47-52.
  20. ↑ Hutchinson, Horace (1919). Fifty Years of Golf. Country Life, p. 59-64.
  21. ↑ The Golfing Annual, 1887-88, edited by C. Robertson Bauchope, London 1888, Horace Cox publishers, p. 179.
  22. ↑ Hutchinson, Horace (1919). Fifty Years of Golf. Country Life, p. 47-52.
  23. ↑ Hutchinson, Horace (1919). Fifty Years of Golf. Country Life, p. 71-76.
  24. ↑ The Golfing Annual, 1887-88, edited by C. Robertson Bauchope, London 1888, Horace Cox publishers, p. 211.
  25. ↑ The Golfing Annual, 1887-88, edited by C. Robertson Bauchope, London 1888, Horace Cox publishers, p. 178.
  26. 1 2 The Golfing Annual, 1887-88, edited by C. Robertson Bauchope, London 1888, Horace Cox publishers, p. 218.
  27. 1 2 The Golfing Annual, 1887-88, edited by C. Robertson Bauchope, London 1888, Horace Cox publishers, p. 206.
  28. ↑ The Golfing Annual, 1887-88, edited by C. Robertson Bauchope, London 1888, Horace Cox publishers, p. 221.
  29. ↑ The Golfing Annual, 1889-90, edited by David Scott Duncan, London 1890, Horace Cox publishers, p. 155.
  30. ↑ The Golfing Annual, 1889-90, edited by David Scott Duncan, London 1890, Horace Cox publishers, p. 243.
  31. 1 2 The Golfing Annual, 1892-93, edited by David Scott Duncan, London 1893, Horace Cox publishers, p. 170.
  32. 1 2 3 4 Hutchinson, Horace (1919). Fifty Years of Golf. Country Life, p. 150-155.
  33. ↑ Victorian Entertainments: We Are Amused An Exhibit Illustrating Victorian Entertainment at the Rare Book & Manuscript Library of the University of Illinois (Item 31: Golf in 1890, Item 32: Skating in 1892, Item 33: Cricket in 1888, Item 34: Cycling in 1887) online at library.uiuc.edu. Retrieved 18 April 2015
  34. ↑ "Hutchinson, Horatio Gordon ('Horace'). The Golfing Pilgrim on Many Links". christies.com. Longmans. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  35. ↑ Hutchinson, Horace G. (1899). The Book of Golf and Golfers (1st ed.). London; New York; Bombay: Longmans Green and Co. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
  36. ↑ Hutchinson, Horace G. (1912). The New Book of Golf. London, England: Longmans, Green & Co. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
  37. ↑ Hutchinson, Horace G. (28 May 1914). Life of Sir John Lubbock, Lord Avebury. Macmillan (London). Retrieved 18 April 2015.
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