Jim Chapman
by Frank Boumphrey
This article first appeared in Nov 2006 issue of our newsletter as part of the 'Scottish Exiles' series.
Jim was born just before the Second World War in Kilbirnie, Ayrshire, a small village north of Troon and Prestwick. He was the only child of the local butcher. His father had been in the army but had left to become a butcher as had been his father, grandfather and his father before him, and Jim was expected to follow in their footsteps. Fate however was to decide otherwise.
Kilbirnie had a small nine hole course, nothing distinguished and certainly nothing to rival the great courses of Ayrshire further to the south. One day the seven year old Jim was playing at a friend’s house and obviously the pair of boys were irritating the friends father. To get them out from under his feet he gave them a couple of clubs and told them to go and play on the golf course. "I was immediately smitten" says Jim, "I remember those clubs well, they were a hickory shafted mid-iron and a Baffie". From then on when ever he had a spare moment he could be found on the golf course - "Round and Round I would play until darkness forced me home". Jim never had a lesson, but learnt from imitating the swings of the better players, and he learnt to 'work the ball' by experimentation. His playing balls he found, and kindly members supplied him with cast off clubs. This idyllic existence came to an abrupt end when he was 12 years old. Instead of golfing in his spare time, he was now expected to work in his father’s butcher shop both after school and all day Saturday. He was to learn his ancestors’ trade from the ground up.
"I hated it", Jim recalls, "the smell, the sawdust on the floor, scrubbing down the butchering boards, I was sure that this was not for me."
When he was fifteen he noticed an ad. in the local paper for a job as an apprentice golf professional at the West Kilbride Golf Club, 15 miles up the road from Kilbirnie. He though "I love golf, I hate butchering, why not give it a try". He applied, interviewed and was accepted. The next day he quit school.
"It was not an easy thing to do, but I knew that my education had gone as far as it could go. In those days only the wealthy and well-healed went to University."
His father though disappointed accepted gracefully, "You've got to make your own decisions and follow your own path" he told Jim as he gave him his blessing.
In those days an aspiring professional golfer entered the ranks via a five year apprenticeship. Jim's apprentice-master was James Watt, from the famous family of Watt brothers, of whom one brother Hugh was head professional at Gullane, and had once tied for the British Open. Life for Jim was not easy. Every morning he left home to catch the 7.40 bus to West Kilbride, and he usually caught the last bus arriving home at about 11.10. Under James Watt he learned the skills of club-making and every thing associated with the trade of golf professional. Many of the members still played with hickory clubs, and he spent long hours whipping clubs. "I don't know if you have ever tried to play a round of golf after whipping clubs for a couple of hours" Jim remembers, "but your hands get numb and your fingers loose their feel. You will hit the ball all over the place!" Part of his apprenticeship included a three month stint at the George Nicoll factory in Leven, Fife where he not only learnt the modern science of club making, but also was taught how to restore old clubs. After 3 years Jim's apprenticeship was interrupted when he was drafted into the Royal Air Force. He was stationed in Germany, and in those austere days there was no golf to be played there.
After completing his military service his former boss told him that he could teach him no more in his shop, and arranged for him to finish his apprentice-ship, and become an assistant professional at Glen Eagles - a huge step upwards in Jim's chosen profession.
Jim's duties at Glen Eagles consisted of teaching and playing with the guests. The head professional was Jack McLean who before turning professional had lost to Johnny Fisher in the final of the U.S. Amateur. Guests at Glen Eagles were famous and came from all over the world. Jim remembers:
"One of the guests was the Pineapple billionaire baron from Hawaii, Fr*** Brown. He would fly in and bring numerous guests. Not only his guests, but he would fly in all these American cars, Cadillac’s and Lincolns."
Other famous people that Jim gave lessons to included Bob Hope, and Rita Hayworth. Jim remembers Bob Hope as a good and keen golfer. Rita Hayworth, on her honeymoon for her last marriage to director James Hill, took lessons from Jim for a week. What kind of golfer was she? "I can't rightly remember, but I do remember she was gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous, much better close up than on the screen!" One day a guest wandered into the shop looking for a playing partner. Jim played a couple of rounds with him, and was after invited up to the hotel to have a drink and a chat. The guest was a golf professional, Leo Fraser, who owned a golf course in Atlantic City, New Jersey. A few months later he wrote to Jim. Let Jim take up the story.
"Leo was kind enough to say that he was of the opinion that I would do well in the United States, and offered to get me a job. Well I was young and un-attached so I thought I would give it a try, and I wrote back in that vein. Leo replied that the job he would get me would not be with him, but with Warren Orlick, then president of the PGA of America and Head Professional at the Tam o'Shanter golf club in Detroit. He warned me that he was a hard S.O.B, but that I would learn a lot from him."
And was he a tough S.O.B?
"Oh yes, he was that. I remember he had us (Jim and his other two assistants) running about from dawn till about 10 at night. We once approached him and asked that we be able to have some playing time. 'Why can't you play when you finish work?' he said. One of the assistants pointed out that it was dark by the time we finished work. 'Well he said, I did it.' 'How can we find our balls' persisted the assistant. 'Like I did', came the response, 'I would smell it!' Oh yes he was a tough SOB alright!"
Jim worked there for three years. In spite of the long hours Jim did find time to woo and win his wife of 44 years, Sharon! In 1964 he learnt from a friend, a Spalding rep, that a position was becoming available at one of the top Cleveland clubs. Jim sent in his résumé to the Chagrin Valley Country Club, and after two interviews was accepted. He has been there ever since, first as head professional and then as emeritus professional.
When Jim first arrived, the club was home of two great amateur golfers Ed Schneider and Ed Shultz, who although never winning the U.S. Amateur were several times winners of the local and regional championships. However their name hardly appears at all on the CVCC Champions Trophy. Why? Because the club also had another outstanding amateur, Jim Nordine. Jim was a busy lawyer working out of the Hannah building. Unlike his more famous contemporaries, he was quiet and unassuming and Jim can't remember him playing in any of the local championship events. Jim recalls though: "Without a doubt he was the finest amateur I ever saw play". Ed Schneider was heard to growl once: "The last 28 rounds - and I've counted - that I have played against him I have never once scored worse than 69 - and that SOB has beaten me every time!"
The 'Jim Chapman' Trophy
Jim's father only took up golf after his son had left home, but soon became an enthusiastic addict. He appointed himself green keeper of the local 9 holer where Jim had learnt to play, cutting the greens and keeping the course tidy. In his honor the local club donated a cup in his name. Jim played a key role in starting the local Chagrin Valley Hickory Golfers Society, supplying many of the early players with high quality clubs which he had been keeping in his basement, so the society was honored when Jim Chapman consented to have his name attached to their annual championship trophy. The ‘Jim Chapman Trophy’ will be competed for annually and will be awarded to the player with the lowest gross score.
Jim's story is a typical story of a 'Scottish Exile'. Hard work, personality and talent carve out a career and home in a new country. Jim in his modest way would tell you that it is luck, but the rest of us know that although luck may have played a small part, that is not the main reason. Rather to quote, or in this context to misquote Ben Hogan it's a case of: "The harder I practice, the luckier I get!".
Jim still keeps active, is seen at the club most days, and still gives lessons at the local golf dome. He shows absolutely no sign of slowing down. His drive may not have quite the zip it once did, but he is still hitting them down the center, and still finding fairways and greens!