Erik Visits an American Grave, Part 1,749
By This is the grave of James Foulis.
Born in 1871 in St. Andrews, Scotland, Foulis grew up around golf. Not only is that because of where he was born, but in fact his father was the foreman at Old Tom Morris’ clubmaking business. Morris was one of the grandfathers of the sport. Young Foulis got a job in Morris’ shop as well, grew to become pretty good at both playing golf and designing golf clubs.
In 1895, golf had started to spread to the United States. Some people in Chicago decided to open an 18-hole course. This became the Chicago Golf Club. They brought Foulis over to be their golf pro. The first U.S. Open took place that year, with 11 players competing. Foulis came in third. The idea of golf clubs grew quickly and Foulis then won the 1896 U.S. Open, played at the new course at Shinnecock Golf Club on Long Island. The next year, it was back in Chicago and Foulis finished third. He in fact would compete in every U.S. Open through 1911, but he never won again.
Foulis’ real contribution to the game came through designing clubs. He recruited his brother David to come to Chicago and then ran the shop at the Chicago Golf Club. In fact, all four of his brothers would come to Chicago eventually and work in the reunited family business. Jim and David did a lot of work in innovating golf equipment. First, they worked on golf balls. A guy named Coburn Haskell had created a new ball with a rubber core. The Foulis’s then created the bramble patterning for it. With this new ball, there was also a need for a new type of club and that became the 7-Iron, which Foulis invented.
Foulis also started his own golf course design business. The craze for golf among the American middle class spread quickly and every town wanted their own course and then more than one. Foulis helped fulfill those desires. He designed several courses in the Midwest and as far as Denver, often the first courses in those cities. Eventually, he moved to St. Louis and ran the St. Louis Country Club from 1912-15. He designed or co-designed 25 courses over his life. He and his brother also designed the modern cup liner and flag that goes into the cup.
Foulis died in 1928, at the age of 56.
I really know next to nothing about golf, a sport I have always found extremely boring. So I will leave it to others to go from here. On rare occasions, we do get to golf in this series and this is one of those days.
James Foulis is buried in Wheaton Cemetery, Wheaton, Illinois.
Somewhat surprisingly, none of the Foulis brothers are in the PGA of America Hall of Fame, but if you want to visit some who are, you can donate to cover the required expenses here. Ben Hogan is in Fort Worth, Texas and Sam Snead is in Hot Springs, Virginia. Previous posts in this series are archived here and here.