Harry Colt was the youngest of six children born to a solicitor father who died when he was only two years old. His mother then moved the family from London to Malvern, where he played golf at Worcestershire Golf Club’s original course on the common, becoming a proficient, plus-handicap player.

After attending Monkton Combe School in Bath, Colt studied law at Clare College, Cambridge. Twelve months after his 1887 enrolment, he joined the committee of the Cambridge University Golf Club and in 1889 became the club's first captain. After graduation he was admitted to the bar, becoming a solicitor and partner in the Hastings law firm of Sayer & Colt.

In 1894 he laid out the new course at Rye with Scottish professional Douglas Rolland and in 1895 was appointed Honorary Secretary of Rye Golf Club with Rolland becoming the club’s first professional. Between 1901 and 1913, Colt served as Sunningdale Golf Club’s first Secretary. Interestingly, when he first took up his appointment at Sunningdale his annual salary was £150.00, about a tenth of what he would have earned had he remained in the legal profession.

In 1907, twelve months after he reached the semi-final of the Amateur Championship, 

 (the first Honorary Secretary at Alwoodley Golf Club) called upon Colt to help him design a new course on the outskirts of Leeds, and the doctor later joined 

 becoming Colt’s second business partner. Two years later, Colt’s new course opened at Stoke Park, framed by the iconic backdrop of the 18th century mansion house, designed by James Wyatt, architect to King George III.

His “least bad course”, Swinley Forest, quietly opened for play in 1911. Authors Henry Lord and Peter Pugh, commented in 

Masters of Design – Great Courses of Colt, MacKenzie, Alison & Morrison

 as follows: “One of the most astonishing things about Colt’s routing was that it was mapped out in his mind’s eye before any of the thousands of pine trees covering the site were removed.”

Already within his portfolio were Blackmoor, St George’s Hill and Camberley Heath. Colt had also visited France and laid out Golf de Saint-Cloud in Paris. He had also sailed to North America and designed new courses for the Toronto Golf Club and the Country Club of Detroit. Additionally, Colt worked with 

 at Old Elm Club and routed Pine Valley with Philadelphian hotelier, George Crump.

In 1913, prior to the outbreak of the First World War, unable to remain committed to his duties at Sunningdale, Colt resigned as Secretary, having now established himself as one of the world’s leading golf course architects. He was now utilising the services of Suttons Seeds, along with George Franks and Claude Harris, who had formed the first golf construction firm, Franks Harris.

“When peace returned at the end of 1918”, remarked Henry Lord and Peter Pugh, “Colt wrote to all his old golfing contacts offering the services of Colt, Alison and MacKenzie… in 1920, [MacKenzie] was increasingly keen to branch out on his own, following Alison to North America and the prestigious commissions he so craved.” MacKenzie left the Colt and Alison partnership in 1923 so “Colt brought a new assistant, the 30-year-old 

, into the fold… In 1922 he began helping Colt with the building of Sunningdale’s New course… In 1928 Morrison was made an official partner and the new company of Colt, Alison & Morrison was formed.”

“Colt had really stopped designing courses in 1939, happy to let his two partners stand out on their own while he remained in the peaceful seclusion of East Hendred with his wife, Laura, until she passed away in 1948.” Henry Shapland "Harry" Colt died three years later in 1951.

 by Donald Steel: “He was the first captain of Rye in 1894, a mere five years after holding office as captain of Cambridge University. His is the first name to be shown on the Honours Board in the dining room at Worlington, although Colt’s Cambridge days preceded the club’s foundation in 1893.

Colt courses are always eminently playable, not heavily-bunkered and with no long carries. Denham is a good example of his handiwork; a stiff enough test to make good players think without posing too much of a handful for the rank and file.

Donald Ross may have had Colt in mind in his general reference to ‘golf as it was meant to be played’. Both were pioneers of a new art whereby great thoughts went into the process of providing a coherent sequence to the layout with interesting green design as a separate study.”

 by Cornish & Whitten: “Several firsts in golf course design are generally attributed to H.S. Colt. He was the first to consistently use a drawing board in preparing his course designs. He was the first to prepare tree-planting plans for his layouts.”

: “In Britain, Harry Colt was the first amateur golfer – rather than professional – to earn a reputation as an architect. Some say he is still the greatest of them all.”

“Colt had a few simple dictums. The early holes should ease you into the round; nothing too demanding at the start. Ideally, every club in the bag should be used, regardless of skill. The routing of the course would be determined by the land, and there would be no hard and fast rule about the numbers of par threes or fives on any given nine… Colt had no peer as a designer of short holes.”

 – such is the capricious nature of ceremonial awards Harry Colt is shamefully absent from the Hall of Fame despite the inclusion of a number of Colt’s contemporaries.


Creating Classics: The golf courses of Harry Colt 

Such is the capricious nature of ceremonial awards, Harry Colt is shamefully absent from the World Golf Hall of Fame despite the inclusion of a number of his contemporaries.

Harry Colt

Harry Colt studied law at Clare College, Cambridge. Twelve months after his 1887 enrolment, he joined the committee of the Cambridge University Golf Club and in 1889 became the club's first captain.

Tom was born into a well-respected East Lothian golfing family. His father and uncle Jamie – Willie Dunn Sr.’s twin brother – were fine golfers and famous for indulging in big money matches against the likes of 

Dunn spent his early years at Blackheath in London, where his father was the professional, before the family moved back to Scotland in 1864, with Willie Dunn Sr. taking up an appointment at the Thistle Golf Club which played out of Leith Links [NLE].

Tom started his professional career as a club maker at North Berwick in 1869 but moved the following year to the London Scottish Golf Club in Wimbledon. He remained as the club’s professional for twelve years, employing two men as club makers and his younger brother Willie Dunn as an apprentice during that time.

Tom married Isabella May Gourlay who, according to the book 

 by Geoff Cornish and Ron Whitten, was a “descendant of the Gourlays of Musselburgh (renowned golf instructors to the Kings of Scotland and ball makers to the Royal Family of Great Britain).”

While Tom and his wife were in England, John Duncan Dunn, William Gourlay Dunn and Isabella May Gourlay Dunn were all born there. The family returned to North Berwick in 1881, with Norah Eleanor Dunn and Seymour Dunn arriving a few years later.

 (published in 1896), the author Rev. John Kerr wrote: “When Thomas Dunn entered on his duties in November 1881, he found the green very much cut up with iron marks and holes all over the place, and the putting-greens and teeing grounds in very bad order.

Having got a sum of between two and three hundred pounds raised by subscription, he set to work with a gang of men to get things put right, and by next season the condition of the course was the admiration of all who played over it.”

Tom played in eight editions of the Open Championship between 1868 and 1886 but he never finished better than 6th place, the position he achieved after his first attempt to win the event.

Dunn returned to London in 1889, to the Tooting Bec Golf Club [NLE], at a time when golf’s popularity was at a high around the capital, and he was in just the right place at the right time to help satisfy the demand for new golf courses.

Prime Minister Arthur Balfour had been given lessons by Tom when he was at North Berwick and when Parliament was sitting Balfour played at Tooting Bec.

He was asked to evaluate three potential sites for a new course near Bournemouth in 1895 and selected the one at Meyrick Park. Within three months, a team of a hundred men and twenty horses had laid out the course at a cost of £2,500. Dunn took over as the club professional and remained in post for five years.

His son John assisted him at Meyrick Park when Tom was out and about designing courses, but John then left for a job in Florida. Tom joined him for a short spell in 1899 though he stayed less than year before returning to England to design the course at Hanger Hill [NLE], where he became the club professional.

In 1902, Tom reckoned he had laid out or reconstructed as many as 137 golf links, mainly in the south of England, though he also claimed to have had a hand in designs as far afield as Cork in Ireland, Dinard in France, and Oratava in Tenerife.

Dunn died of tuberculosis at the Nordrach Clinic in Blagdon, Somerset, in May of 1902 at the age of 52.

He wasn’t the only family member to make their mark in golf. His brother Willie Dunn Jr. worked with Tom and, before moving to America, served as the professional at Westward Ho! and Biarritz Le Phare in France.

Tom’s three sons – John Duncan Dunn, Seymour Dunn and William Gourlay Dunn – were all professionals and clubmakers. Both Seymour and John Duncan followed their uncle Willie to the United States to earn a living in golf.

 to set out the course at Ekwanok Country Club in Vermont in 1899 and he was later employed by the Florida East Coast Railway Company, developing hotel-associated courses.

Seymour, left his post as professional at Royal County Down to take up a similar position with Wykagyl Golf Club in New York. He designed Royal Ostend before leaving for the US, where he also laid out a number of courses and formed a mail order business to distribute golf equipment throughout the country.

William Gourlay remained in the UK, marrying a woman named Nina Grace Chambers. Unconventionally, he adopted her surname and, after emigrating to Canada in 1911, he worked with 

 on the design of the Royal Colwood course in Vancouver.

Tom’s daughter Isabella May Gourlay Dunn – known as “Queenie” – also emigrated to the other side of the Atlantic in 1915 and was said to have worked on the design of a couple of courses in Nevada.

Tom MacWood at golfclubatlas.com:“Tom Dunn was the target of criticism after his death (the critics were mostly silent while he walked amongst them). After reading these later accounts one could easily conclude ‘Poor Tom Dunn’ was his given name.

 when analysing the 1890s singled him out as the symbol for Victorian golf architecture and all the evils it represented. And without question he was guilty of the formulaic use of cross-hazards and the hit-and-run method of staking out a course.

Make no mistake. That was his modus operandi. On the other hand, he was providing an important service at a time when no one really knew what they were doing. As Horace Hutchinson wrote: ‘It was a simple plan, nor is Tom Dunn to be censured because he could not evolve something more like a colourable imitation of the natural hazard. A man is not to be criticized because he is not in advance of his time.’

One wonders if his formative years spent at Blackheath and not at Musselburgh had a detrimental effect. Whatever the case, he should at least be given partial credit for those courses that turned out well, like Woking. Certainly others were involved in polishing those courses but he did conceive their structure and should be credited at the very least for their initial routing, the foundation of all good architecture.”

Tom Dunn was the most prolific course designer of his day. He produced layouts that were inexpensive and serviceable, making it possible for increasing numbers of golfers from all social classes to take up the game. A great salesman, he was quoted as telling each of his clients: “God meant this site to be a golf course” – from The Golf Course by Geoff Cornish and Ron Whitten.

Tom Dunn

Tom Dunn started his golf career as a club maker at North Berwick in 1869 and remained as the club’s professional for twelve years, employing two men and his younger brother Willie as an apprentice.

John Henry Taylor is rightly regarded as a golfing pioneer. He was one of the best golfers of his era then played a significant role in shaping the way that the game is now played. Born into an ordinary, working class family in Devon, his father passed away when he was only eleven years of age, forcing him to leave school in favour of paid employment.

He worked as a mason’s labourer and as a gardening assistant to Horace Hutchinson, who won a couple of Amateur Championships and was one of the earliest writers on golf architecture and golf instruction. He also caddied at nearby Westward Ho! which was where he learned to play the game.

Taylor turned professional in 1890 and served a number of clubs – Burnham & Berrow, Royal Winchester and Royal Wimbledon – over the following decade before moving to Royal Mid-Surrey in Richmond, where he served the club for almost half a century, from 1899 until he retired in 1946.

It was while he was at Royal Mid-Surrey that he experimented (along with greenkeeper Peter Lees who had worked at Royal Burgess) in ‘alpinization’ of the property, using horses and hundreds of men to dig out mountains of earth in order to fashion some creative contouring on a landscape that was pancake-flat.


He became the first Englishman to win the Open at Royal St George’s in 1894 and he would go on to become the Champion Golfer at this event another four times. He also triumphed in the French Open a couple of times (1908 and 1909) and the German Open in 1912.

Taylor travelled to the United States with 

 in 1900 to compete in the US Open at Chicago Golf Club, playing a series of exhibition matches around the country before the competition got under way. Vardon then sailed back to Britain with the winner’s cheque in his pocket after winning the event by two strokes from Taylor.

The following year, he co-founded the British Professional Golfers’ Association, becoming its first chairman. He was also instrumental in the formation of the Artisan Golfers’ Association through his membership of Northam, which is still one of more than sixty clubs affiliated to that national organization.

Taylor was still competing at the top level up until the start of the Great War – his last Open Championship win came in 1913 – so his early design work wasn’t exactly prolific. He did make regular trips to Dornoch and it’s said he consulted there free of charge on the course alterations made by the club secretary John Sutherland.

Taylor visited another Scottish course in 1914, making another long journey down the Kintyre peninsula to Machrihanish to make modifications to the Championship course. He also designed several courses in England before the onset of World War I and one of these layouts, the Upper course at Hainault Golf Club in Essex, is regarded as the first municipal course in England.

 teamed up formally with J.H. Taylor in 1922 – though they had worked on several projects before the war – and they were soon busy all over the British Isles. They remodelled Royal Porthcawl in Wales (adding four new holes in 1925), built new courses at Arklow and Rosslare in Ireland (in 1927 and 1928), and redesigned the layout at Royal Birkdale in 1932.

Both Taylor and Hawtree were strong proponents of public golf – jointly founding the National Association of Public Courses in 1927 – and they put their philosophy of “golf for all” into practice by constructing well-regarded public layouts such as Norwich Municipal, Marston Green Municipal and White Webbs Municipal.

“Spanning in excess of thirty-five years, Taylor’s design career was extensive,” writes Keith Cutten in his book 

. The author continues: “Over this period, his views on design changed, including an evolving philosophy on bunkers and hazard features. It led to the eventual introduction of the feature now commonly referred to as ‘Mid-Surrey mounding’.

Taylor lamented the loss of the cross-bunker. His argument, which was endorsed by his long-time friend Horace Hutchison, was that no feature is entirely good or bad; but that it can be simply overused. Eliminating a feature entirely from one’s ‘toolbox’ limits the variety available in the final design.”

 by Geoff Cornish and Ron Whitten: “J. H. Taylor, one of British golf’s ‘Great Trimuvirate,’ originally trained as a gardener at the boyhood home of Horace Hutchinson.

Taylor had little formal education, having left school by age eleven, but he was an avid reader and insisted on writing his memoirs 

, without the assistance of a ghost writer.”


From the World Golf Hall of Fame: “It was the legendary Scotsman, Andrew Kirkcaldy, who first saw the greatness in John Henry Taylor. After losing a challenge match to Taylor in 1891, Kirkcaldy went back to St. Andrews and predicted that the young Englishman who just defeated him would win many Open Championships. ‘You’ll see more of Taylor,” he said. “And then you’ll know why he beat me, and why he will beat all the best of the day.’

Kirkcaldy proved to be right, of course. Three years after defeating Kirkcaldy, he became the first Englishman to win the Open. Taylor captured five British Opens, joining Harry Vardon and 

 to form the Great Triumvirate. ‘The mon’s a machine,’ Kirkcaldy said. ‘He can dae naething wrang.’

Taylor took the game seriously, and once wrote: ‘To try to play golf really well is far from being a joke, and lightheartedness of endeavor is a sure sign of eventual failure.’ Bernard Darwin, who was a close friend, recalled that nobody, not even Bobby Jones, suffered more over championships than Taylor did. ‘Like Bobby,’ said Darwin, ‘(Taylor) had great control and might appear outwardly cool, but the flames leaped up from within.’

Taylor’s final years were spent in his native village of Northam overlooking Westward Ho! enjoying the view he called “the finest in Christendom.” His death in 1963 just short of his 92nd birthday marked the passing of the last of the great golfers from the 19th century.”

 by Forrest Richardson and Mark Fine: “In the span of just a few years, the concept of alpinization went from being admired to being shunned. Taylor’s abrupt mounds and their artificial look were thought of as hideous and revolting. Taylor, who had been quoted during his Mid-Surrey effort as saying ‘it should be made to look as close to nature as the hand of man admits,’ is still shunned today.

Many critics continue to describe his work as a failure – unnatural and unnecessary. But Taylor’s laboratory at Mid-Surrey forever gave golf a major breakthrough. The notion that Taylor failed is without merit. Although the result of alpinization at first was too abrupt and overdone, it opened the door to thinking beyond the use of bunkers as hazards. Taylor taught us to think outside the box when it comes to mixing golf with inland sites.”

Divine Fury of James Braid: Professional Golf Standard Bearer

 by George E. Payne: “Taylor was instrumental in the creation of the PGA. Being outspoken and a competent public speaker, many believed he would have made an excellent politician. Braid, never at ease when it came to public speaking, played a major role behind the scenes and when the organisation was formed in 1901 Taylor became Chairman and Braid the first Captain. Both men served the organisation for the rest of their lives.

Similarities between the two continued: five (Open) Championships each, neither owned nor drove a car, neither was a heavy drinker and eventually neither smoked although they both liked a pinch of snuff. Both of them served their final club as professional for 47 years. Both of them, at different times, had a relationship with Hawtree as the constructor of the courses which they had designed. The R&A bestowed Honorary memberships on both at the same time.”

It was through his inter-war partnership with Fred G. Hawtree that Taylor involved himself in a greater number of design commissions. Although Hawtree did the bulk of the design work, they both were involved in the layout and detailed design work. At Hartsborne Golf Club, for instance, they shared the detailed design responsibilities by taking nine holes each. EIGCA.

J. H. Taylor

J. H. Taylor is rightly regarded as a golfing pioneer. The five-time Open champion was one of the best golfers of his era, he then played a significant role in shaping the way that the game is now conducted.

Dorset

England

Known as Came Down Golf Club since 1924, the club started out with a Tom Dunn-designed 9-hole golf course in 1896 as Dorchester Golf Club. Ten years after its formation, the club enlisted J.H. Taylor to extend the course to a full 18-hole layout, and with this expansion came another change of name, to Weymouth, Dorchester and County Golf Club. When the third and final name change took place almost twenty years later, it was decided to upgrade the course at the same time and so Harry Colt was asked to redesign Came Down, with reconstruction work delayed a couple of years until 1927.

Located on chalk downland between Dorchester and Weymouth, Came Down enjoys wonderful scenic views of the surrounding Dorset countryside. Samuel Ryder used to holiday in this area during the summer and he eventually became a member of the club. It’s said that his vision for the Ryder Cup, to be played between teams of British and American golf professionals, took shape after listening to local pros talk about the expense involved in leaving club jobs temporarily to participate in competitions.

Today’s course features a number of intriguing holes, amongst them a pair of short par fours at the 3rd (“Spinney”) and 17th (Polly’s Pit”). The 407-yard 7th (“Maiden Castle”) is a tough hole – named after the nearby site of what’s believed to be the largest Iron Age hill fort in Europe – where, after a blind tee shot, an approach shot is played to a well-bunkered green that’s benched into the hillside. On the back nine, the 404-yard 16th (“Slingers”) is another difficult hole, with out of bounds to the right of the fairway helping to concentrate the thoughts of many between the teebox and green.

Came Down

Sherborne

Britain & Ireland

With stunning panoramic views, a tough but fair course and a great deal of history, the J.H. Taylor and Harry Colt-designed Came Down Golf Club is a quintessential gem.