Frederick Guthrie Tait Explained

Frederick Guthrie Tait
Fullname:Frederick Guthrie Tait
Birth Date:11 January 1870
Birth Place:Edinburgh, Scotland
Weight:174lb
Status:Amateur
Majorwins:2
Usopen:DNP
Open:T3: 1896, 1897
Usamateur:DNP
Britamateur:Won: 1896, 1898

Frederick Guthrie Tait (11 January 1870 – 7 February 1900) was an amateur golfer and Scottish soldier. He won the Amateur Championship twice, in 1896 and again in 1898, by convincing margins. Over his short golf career, Tait recorded at least 28 tournament victories. He tied for third place in the Open Championship in both 1896 and 1897.

Early life

Born at 17 Drummond Place[1] in the Second New Town in Edinburgh, Tait was the third son of eminent physicist and fanatical amateur golfer Peter Guthrie Tait.

The young Tait was educated at the Edinburgh Academy and Sedbergh School. He was admitted to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, at his second attempt, and is credited with introducing golf there. Tait was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 2nd battalion the Leinster Regiment in 1890, and then transferred as a lieutenant to the 2nd battalion, the Black Watch, in 1894.

He learned golf at an early age and was already swinging golf clubs as a 5-year-old child. As an adult, Tait was an extremely powerful and long hitter of the ball. At The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews on 11 January 1893, he hit the ball 250 yards, the ball then rolling on frozen ground and coming to rest 341 yards from the tee.

250 yards was the exact driving distance predicted possible through a careful application of backspin by Tait's father in a paper of 1891, significantly further than the 180 yards achieved at that time.[2] Tait won The Amateur Championship twice (1896 and 1898), finished third in The Open Championship twice (1896 and 1897) and was leading amateur in the same competition on three occasions.

Death and legacy

Having already been wounded at Magersfontein, Tait was killed having only just rejoined the Black Watch when General MacDonald led the decimated Highland Brigade once more into action at Koodoosberg,[3] South Africa, during the Second Boer War on 7 February 1900 and is buried there.

A memorial plaque to his (and his father's) memory stands on the inner north wall of St Johns Episcopal Church on Princes Street in Edinburgh.

He is also remembered in the adjacent churchyard by a granite Celtic cross on the Tait family plot on the second burial terrace down from Princes Street.

A memorial plaque from Dunalister Veterans Home is now rehoused in the Black Watch Museum in Perth.

Honours

The Freddie Tait Cup is awarded annually to the leading amateur in the South African Open.

Tournament wins (24)

Note: This list may be incomplete.

Major championships

Amateur wins (2)

YearChampionshipWinning ScoreRunner-up
1896 8 & 7 Harold Hilton
1898 7 & 5 Samuel Mure Fergusson

Results timeline

Tournament189118921893189418951896189718981899
The Open ChampionshipT30T219 LAT15T3 LAT35T7 LA
The Amateur ChampionshipR32SFSFSF1R3212
Note: Tait played in only The Open Championship and The Amateur Championship.LA = Low amateur
"T" indicates a tie for a place
R32, R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in match play

Sources: Open Championship,[7] Amateur Championship: 1892,[8] 1893,[9] 1894,[10] 1895,[11] 1897[12]

Bibliography

External links

Notes and References

  1. Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1870-71
  2. On the path of a rotating spherical projectile, Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin. 37, 427-440; Scientific Papers II, 356-370
  3. News: 13 February 1900 . Golf . The Manchester Guardian . 13.
  4. Web site: County Champions . Hampshire Golf . 4 November 2015.
  5. Duncan, David Scott, ed. (1900). The Golfing Annual, 1899–1900. London: Horace Cox. p. 3.
  6. Book: The World Almanac & Book of Facts. 1907. Newspaper Enterprise Association. 465.
  7. Web site: 31st Open - St Andrews 1891 . The Open . 4 November 2015. (and succeeding years)
  8. News: The Amateur Golf Championship . The Glasgow Herald . 12 May 1892 . 11.
  9. News: The Amateur Golf Championship . The Glasgow Herald . 12 May 1893 . 11.
  10. News: Golf: The Amateur Championship – Victory of Mr John Ball, Jun . The Glasgow Herald . 28 April 1894 . 11.
  11. News: Golf: The Amateur Championship – Fifth and Semi-Final Rounds . The Glasgow Herald . 10 May 1895 . 11.
  12. News: The Amateur Championship . The Scotsman . 29 April 1897 . 4 . subscription .