The author’s objective is to provide to the reader, as near as possible, a definitive record of the playing career of one of the best golfers who has ever lived. In addition, as happens with many researchers, it is inevitable that such a project will stray into other related areas; for example, other people or linked events. To illustrate, JFK assassination conspiracy theorists would no doubt have studied events surrounding Bobby Kennedy or Martin Luther King or indeed the Mafia, who some say were linked to that fateful event in November 1963. Similarly with my writings about Harry Vardon, I feel it important to illustrate to the reader how the life of a professional golfer differs in Vardon’s era to that of a present day PGA Tour player. How golf evolved will also provide the reader with a basis for making comparisons between players of yesteryear with those of today, and how difficult such comparatives might be. What was the norm in the late nineteenth century is quite different from today, and I believe the reader should be aware of that before making a judgment about someone like Harry Vardon. This book, therefore, is not only a diary of Harry Vardon’s playing career, but also a history of golf, which I sincerely hope the reader will find fascinating, of interest, and enjoyable. Any deviations from the subject matter, therefore, are intended to provide a backdrop and, hopefully, a better understanding of what golf was like in Vardon’s era.
