On the 22 August 1871, the Scottish-American professional golfer James Foulis was born at the ‘Home of Golf’, St Andrews, in Scotland.

His father was the foreman at Old Tom Morris’ golf shop and club making business, and Foulis spent some time working at the shop.

In 1895 he took up a job as a golf professional at Chicago Golf Club, the first club in the US to have an 18-hole course.

Foulis was one of the 11 players who took part in the first U.S. Open in 1895, held at Newport Golf Club in Newport, Rhode Island, and came third.

The following year he won the tournament by three strokes from Englishman Horace Rawlins [1874-1935], who won the first U.S. Open Championship in 1895. Representing the Chicago Golf Club at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, Long Island, Foulis scored 78-74-152,and won $200. Twice British Open champion Willie Park, Jr. failed to reach the United States in time to compete for the Championship, arriving the day after the tournament.

The following year the Open was played at Foulis’s home club, and he finished tied for third with Willie Dunn, Jr. The most notable aspect of his game was his driving; it is said that he often drove over three hundred yards using the relatively primitive clubs of his day.

Foulis only ever competed in the US Open, 13 times from 1895-1911, but did not win again.

Jim Foulis and his brother David ran a golf shop at the Chicago Golf Club, and played a significant part in the evolution of golf equipment. They invented the bramble patterning for Coburn Haskell’s new rubber-cored ball. In response to the demands of the new ball they developed the ‘mashie-niblick’, the modern 7-iron, which fell between the traditional mashie (5-iron) and niblick (9-iron), and patented the design.

Foulis had four brothers, all of whom also moved to the United States. Robert and David were also golf professionals, Simpson was a fine amateur golfer, and John was an expert ball maker who also worked as a bookkeeper at Chicago Golf Club.

Jim Foulis also worked as a golf course designer from 1896 until his death in Chicago, Illinois in 1928 aged 56. All five brothers are buried in Wheaton Cemetery, adjacent to Chicago Golf Club.

22 August, 2019