The Old Man
The Biography of Walter J. Travis by Bob Labbance
2000 Sleeping Bear Press ISBN 1-886947-91-0
If any one deserves the title of 'Grand Old Man' of American Golf it is Walter J. Travis. And this comprehensive and detailed biography tells his story. His life story is briefly told.
Walter John (Jack) Travis was born in Australia in 1862; his father was killed in a mine accident and when his older brother also died he moved from the small outback mining community to a better paid job in Melbourne with a hardware wholesaler, McLean Brothers and Riggs. He did well and in 1885 when the company chose to open an office in New York, their choice of manager was the 23 old Travis. Thus the colonial boy came to America. Travis followed the pursuits of the normal American male, smoking, drinking and playing poker, and being an active member of the Niantic Social club in Flushing, Long Island. He also became a very good cyclist during this period, but golf was not one of his activities. Travis was sent to London by his company in 1985 and there he saw golf being played, but it really held no appeal for him; he even viewed the game with mild contempt. However while over in England he learnt that his 'buddies' at the Niantic club were going to take up the game, so rather reluctantly he equipped himself with a set of clubs and some balls before returning home. He joined the Oakland Golf Club and played his first round of golf.
Walter was now 35 and was immediately bitten by the bug. He devoted all his monomaniacal energy to learning the game, and the book brings out wonderfully how he did this. He was entirely self taught from books, absorbing into his game what worked for him and discarding the rest. Within two years of taking up the game he started entering - and winning - tournaments, and within three years in 1988 he was a finalist in the US Amateur, losing to Findlay Douglas. He lost to the same player the following year in 1899, but the next year defeated him, one up, in a violent thunder storm at his home course Garden City.
Travis went on to win two more amateur championships and in 1904 he stunned the British by winning the British Amateur.
Travis never won a 'major' again, but he remained competitive, and became 'the' great man of American golf. He founded the American Golfer magazine, was instrumental in starting research into greens and greenkeeping and became a top course designer, as well as becoming an authority on the rules. He played with presidents and was indeed the defining man of American golf. Not bad for an Aussie boy from 'the Outback'!
Bob Labbance does a magnificent job of telling his story, and the first part of the book reads like the cracking story that it is. In particular his account of the 1904 British Amateur and of the Schenectady putter controversy are masterful. Overall Bob is to be congratulated for the magnificent job of research that he has done; he has left no stone unturned in his effort to present the facts.
It is only too easy to criticize a book - those that can do, those that can't criticize - and the book's strong points must be emphasized - but what could have been a definitive biography somehow falls short. This is a magnificent compendium of Walter's achievements, but as the book progresses into the second part all too often one is left with a confused recitation of dates, quotations and achievements without enough emphasis on their context or import. It is almost as if the writer had become distracted. Furthermore a good biography is more than a simple compendium of achievements and events; it should bring the character of the subject to life, and this the book really fails to do this. Certainly we gain an insight into the monomaniacal energy, and fierce competitiveness of Travis, just by following his story. But what of the rest of him? We have hints that he had difficulty maintaining close relationships, but why?
Travis was obviously a complicated man, but the author does not really paint a picture of his character. It is always difficult to ascertain a character over the space of 100 years, but the man's actions, letters, quarrels and arguments are documented, and obviously the author has done a tremendous amount of research. No-one is in a better position than the author to assess his subject's personality. I feel it unfortunate that he did not take the next step and bring Walter to life as a person. All the snippets of information are there. He was the recipient of the dreaded 'studied rudeness' treatment that the English were (are?) the masters of, but why? (there's usually a reason); some of his quarrels are documented; he appears to have treated his children somewhat coldly; firm friendships died; he took strong offense when a former associate went into business for himself; he appears to have been vastly difficult to work with; he attempted to claim credit for Pinehurst #2 (and Ross was much too much of a gentleman to argue publicly). All in all he must have been a rather prickly personality and one who one crossed at one's own peril. On the plus side he was immensely hard working, a magnificent golfer, a stern fighter, obviously of high intelligence and highly regarded by many acquaintances and friends. But did he ever have lasting friendships? The book records, if only peripherally, quarrels and petulances whenever a friend appears to have become too close. It is almost certain that Walter had trouble with intimacy. On the plus side of his personality, he founded a highly successful magazine, he brought modern golf instruction to America, and did as much as anyone to found the science, as opposed to the art, of greenkeeping.
Another nitt is the relative lack of emphasis on course design. Travis was also one of the pioneers of Golf Architecture in the US, and was one of the three or four individuals who brought the principles of sound course design to this country. Although Labbance includes a chapter on his design principles, the chapter is only four pages long, and is tacked on to the end of the book. I would have liked to have seen this expanded and made a more central theme of the book.
I also feel that his treatment of Travis as the editor of American Golfer is weak. Although Labbance documents the story I feel he fails to bring out the tremendous influence Travis had on American golf from his 'Bully Pulpit'. One has only to read the editorials during Travis' tenure to realize his profound influence on the game, and this is barely touched on in the book.
However in spite of these shortcomings - and perhaps I am being too much of a stickler (perhaps I am being too much like Travis himself!) - I would thoroughly recommend this book. It is a wonderful read and should be on the book shelf of every golf historian, and of everyone who just appreciates the traditions of the game. But having said this, I would love to see Bob rewrite this book and make it the definitive biography of 'The Old Man'. I know he is capable of this.
Bob Labbance serves as editor-in-chief and staff photographer for several Vermont magazines. He is also editor of 'The Bulletin' of the Golf collectors society. 'The Old Man' is his first golfing biography.
F.B. November 2006