Golf Club Maker
Thomas Carruthers 1840 - 1924 by T. Carruthers
2000 Cualann Press ISBN 0 9544416 4 8
The life of Thomas Carruthers spanned a tumultuous time in British history, and in the History of Golf. When he was born Britain was just entering the industrial revolution, and the mass migration of people from the country to the town was just beginning; Britain was undoubtedly the most powerful country in the world; she was about to consolidate her empire; and she was also the power-house of innovation and invention. When he died Britain had just been wracked by the disastrous conflict of the First World War; she was broke; her empire was in tatters (although it would take a second war to bring the reality of this home to her) and United States of America was the up and coming country, although again it would take the second war to bring this reality home to the world.
When he was born golf was little known outside Scotland, and because of the enormous cost of the 'featherie' it was the pursuit of the privileged and wealthy, and their servants. The introduction of the guttie was to change all this. Golf almost immediately became both affordable and available to the average man, and the increase in players rapidly led to further consequences. Topping a featherie with an iron club had disastrous consequences, but not so the guttie, so the use of iron clubs became more commonplace. The increased abuse that courses took - from increased usage as well as increased use of divot taking iron clubs - as well as the spread of courses from Links land to inland venues led to innovation, nay it led to the introduction, of scientific green keeping. The alteration of courses and the guttie itself also led to changes in club design, and the vast new army of players led to changes in how golf equipment was manufactured and marketed. Golf also rapidly spread to England and Ireland, and from here to North America so that by the time Thomas died it had become obvious to all but the willfully blind that not only had world dominance passed to the Americas but so also had leadership in golf.
This biography by the great grandson of the title figure does a wonderful job of chronicling these turbulent years, and one man's place in it and also the significant contributions he made to golf.
Thomas Carruthers was born at Caverton Mill in the Scottish Borders in 1840. He was the third child and first son of Peter Carruthers, an agricultural labourer, and Euphemia Burns. Doubtless his early years were taken up with the usual pursuits of rural childhood, but all this changed when his father died suddenly when Tom was thirteen years old. He was now the sole breadwinner of the family, and young Tom left school to become apprenticed as a journeyman tailor. In those days rural tailors traveled to their customers, and during his travels Tom took part in the sporting events of many local fairs. It soon became apparent that he had a flair for running and a rare turn of speed. In those days professional running vied with horse racing in popularity among the betting fraternity, and Tom soon started to make a name for himself. His income from tailoring became supplemented by his winnings from running and it was not long before he became famous, and the Champion Sprinter of All Scotland!
This athletic career ended at its height - as do so many - with a devastating injury. He broke his leg, probably his ankle in 1872. However unlike many athletes he appears - in true Scot's style - to have been careful with his winnings and thus, together with his tailoring trade was in a good position to take care of his family. He had moved to Edinburgh ten years previously and following his injury he continued his connection with running as a promotor of events. He also started a dairy business next door to the Bruntsfield Links.
As an athlete and a Scotsman living next door to a golf links it was natural, even inevitable, that Tom should get involved in the game, and he became a good enough golfer to win the Silver Medal of the Bruntsfield Allied Golf Club in 1884. As a business man it was also almost inevitable that he should see the opportunities in the burgeoning golf business and he soon started selling golf clubs and balls from his dairy business. Such was the rise of golf that the golf side of the business soon outranked the dairy side. Carruthers was obviously a man of ambition, and like most ambitious men he determined to master his new trade. To this end he learnt the trade and craft of clubmaking from friend and close neighbour Frank Dolman.
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Carruthers with Frank Doleman from
whom he learnt the art of club making |
Over the next few years Tom's club-making business thrived, but we must leave the book to tell you the details of his success, his relationship with Anderson of Anstruthers who made his Iron clubs, and the marketing of his famous 'short socket' patent. Surfice it to say that his patent for the short socket club was not only one of the first golf patents, but also revolutionised the way Irons were made, and the changes that Caruthers introduced in 1890 remain incorporated in modern club design.
Thus briefly is told the life story of Thomas Carruthers. His great-grandson has done a magnificent job of reserch into not only his life story, but also into the changing times of the period, the accomanying sociological changes, as well as providing a wellspring of anecdotes and golf lore. One of my favourites is the story of the public executioner in the reign of Charles II. Apparently this office was held by a former gentleman of reduced circumstances, but on occasions he would forget his reduced circumstances, would don the clothes of gentleman, and would mingle with his former peers. On one occasion he mingled with the gentleman golfers on Brunsfield links. However his identity was discovered and he was hounded from the ground with much excreation and abuse. This was too much for him, and later that day he was found dead at the bottom of a cliff, presumably having jumped to his death. To this day the cliff is still known as 'Hangmans Craig'
This book also does a great job of covering the History of Bruntsfield links and Braid Hills Golf course which opened in 1889; it covers the changing design of golf clubs and the reasons for them; gives detailed coverage of the new club designs; gives a good account of early patents; shows how marketing and advertising transformed the world of golf manufacturing from a cottage industry to the multi-million concern it became; and also details the early relationship of golf trading between the United States and Scotland. It also of course covers in detail the famous Carruthers 'Short Socket' patent. Any of these sections should be reason enough to read this book. The meticulous detail and historical accuracy with which the author lays out the various stories is reason enough to purchase the book to keep on ones shelf as a ready reference. Such is the wealth of detail that the author makes available that sometimes the flow of the story becomes a little obscured, but this is not a criticism of the book, but rather an admonition to the reader to plough through the detail to get the full story.
The only real critisism of the book is an unfamiliar one in a book written by a family member. Usually the fault of such books is that it is choc-a-bloc full of family trivia and anecdotes. This book has hardly any of this. Thomas was obviously an extrodinary man and had a large family, but in this book we really hear nothing about the man, his likes and dislikes, his prejudices or his family relations. One is left to infer his character from his achievements. He was obviously an astute businessman, he cared for his family, and and had warm and enduring friendships, yet we really hear nothing about these and this reader for one was left with a yearning desire to find out more about the man as opposed to the man's achievements. The author tells us that his father told him stories about the great man, and confesses that like a typical youngster he paid little attention to them. Perhaps, unfortunately, the writer has forgotten them, or in the interests historical accuracy has chosen not to share them as he could not be sure of their veracity. Also there is no mention of personal correspondence. Perhaps none existed, or perhaps, as in so many cases they were 'spring cleaned' away by an over zealous descendant.
In any case - like most reviewers - I am complaining about a trivial point and about a point that may have been incapable of being rectified. Overall this is a magnificent book full of historical detail, much of which is not easily available else where. It belongs on the book shelf of every golfer and collector who cares about the history and traditions of the game. It will be with great reluctance that I donate this review copy to the Kent State University Library!
Tom Carruthers is the great grandson of Thomas Carruthers. He became interested in the life story of his ancestor when he took a collection of golf memoribilia to Southerbys for valuation, and found out how famous that ancestor was! . He was born in Ediburgh, but moved to England in his early twenties to work in the Steel Industry. He is currently retired and plays golf with his wife and son as a member of the Chevin GC just North of Derby. He is working on a second book about Tom Carruthers which will highlight his running career. He can be contacted at mail@tcarruthers.freeserve.co.uk
The book is available from Amazon.com "Usually ships in 4 to 6 weeks" or may be obtained directly from the publisher web www.cualann.com or email info@cualann.com.
A quote from Harry Vardon in the Progressive Golf, 1928:
"Very much do I miss my old cleek, with its stumpy, thick-set head. It was a Carruthers club, and a thing of joy to me. I used it for years; somehow the weight seemed to be ideally distributed - and concentrated - in that stumpy head. I could 'push' the ball very far and very low with it, and know from the moment I hit the ball exactly where it was going to pitch. You never have quite that pleasure with a lofting shot. You may play it well, but it lacks the exhilaration of the low-flying stroke with the cleek, in which you strike the ball boldly and strongly, and seem somehow to have it on a bit of string all the while, so that, as it nears its objective, the velocity fades away and it drops lifeless beside the hole."