Harry Vardon, winner of 7 major titles, including six Open Championships, remains one of golf’s luminaries, in no small part due to the success of Mark Frost’s book (and subsequent movie from Disney) “The Greatest Game Ever Played.” The book tells the powerful story of underdog Francis Ouimet’s unlikely win over Vardon in the 1913 U.S. Open. The book, winner of the USGA’s and Sports Illustrated’s Best Book award and published by Hyperion Books, tells the sub-plot of the game’s evolution, with the 1913 U.S. Open being one of the seminal events in the early years of the game of golf as we know it today. No discussion of the evolution of the game is complete unless golf’s equipment is discussed. Here Frost talks about putting:
“Putting has always been golf’s most ephemeral component; players as supremely gifted as Ben Hogan felt it shouldn’t even be considered part of the same sport. As a result, putters tend to be the one club about which players turn irrational and superstitious. In Harry’s case, his well-publicized search for a club to help him overcome his terminal yips became a national preoccupation; cartoonists depicted Harry forging crude homemade putter over an open fire, or carrying twenty-five different models in his bag like arrows in a quiver. Sympathetic fans, eager club makers, and fellow professionals alike shipped him oddball variations from every corner of the globe. He tried ones carved from exotic woods and forged from every kind of metal, one with a foot-long blade, others with heads as square as a block of cheese. Nothing did the trick.” – p. 117, The Greatest Game Ever Played, by Mark Frost, Hyperion Books.
Vardon’s search for his ultimate weapon on the greens led him to Arthur Brown; Frost describes the meeting which eventually leads to Vardon’s use of the Brown Vardon (BV) putter:
“A high roller friend of Harry’s named Arthur Brown, a successful timber baron, designed a customized experimental putter for Harry and presented him with it in early 1911. This new, heavier iron club altered Harry’s stance; more upright now, both head and body still. Instead of popping the ball with a wristy slap controlled by his unreliable fingers, the palm of his right hand held the shaft for a more even, pendulum swing that involved gently rocking the shoulders; a modern putting stance to go with his modern swing. To Harry’s enormous surprise, Arthur Brown’s p[utter appeared to solve his problem, but he refused to say he’d put it behind him until testing the club in competition.” – p. 119, The Greatest Game Ever Played, by Mark Frost, Hyperion Books
Vardon used the putter made for him by Brown (thus called the Brown Vardon) to win two of his six Open Championships. Our Brown Vardon (BV) putter replicates the original. The head is made of carbon steel. It is shafted with an authentic Hickory shaft (available in 34 or 35 inches) and is gripped with an authentic leather grip hand wrapped using pitched linen whipping thread. This putter is handmade from start to finish and completely playable with the modern golf ball. This putter has been approved for play in hickory events by the Society of Hickory Golfers.
Click Here to visit the Brown Vardon page on the Louisville Golf website.
