John Ball

John Ball Jr. (24 December 1861 – 2 December 1940) was an English amateur golfer of the late 19th and early 20th century.

Early life

Ball was born in Hoylake, Cheshire (now Merseyside). His father was the prosperous owner of the Royal Hotel, located near the Royal Liverpool Golf Club, in Hoylake. Ball grew up playing golf as a youth on the Royal Liverpool course, which was established in his early boyhood.

In 1878, at the age of 16, Ball finished fifth in The Open at Prestwick. His run of Amateur titles began in 1888 and stretched until 1912, when he was 51 years old. His best year was 1890, when he won both the Amateur and Open Championships. Bobby Jones, who won the Grand Slam in 1930, is the only other golfer in history to win those two tournaments in the same year.

Golf career

After winning The Amateur Championship in 1888, Ball became the first English-born player to win The Open Championship in 1890, and in the same year won his second Amateur, the first to win both titles in the same year. Ball subsequently won the 1892, 1894, 1899, 1907, 1910, and 1912 Amateurs, a record eight titles in all, in addition to two runner-up finishes. Ball also won four Irish Amateur titles. He retired with a 99–22 record (81.8%) at The Amateur Championship. Ball was also runner-up in the 1892 Open Championship, finishing three strokes behind Harold Hilton.

Ball dominated amateur golf in Great Britain. He won all the important golf championships as well as the hearts and respect of his country. In the words of British golf historian Donald Steele, "No golfer ever came to be more of a legend in his own lifetime."

Although he gripped the club tightly in the palms of both hands, Ball’s swing was the most graceful and stylish of his era. Bernard Darwin wrote, "I have derived greater aesthetic and emotional pleasure from watching John Ball than from any other spectacle in the game." Ball learned the game competing against Harold Hilton on the links at Hoylake. In 1878, at the age of 16, he competed in his first Open Championship and finished fourth at Prestwick. Ball was famous for refusing to carry a niblick, which had the loft of a modern-day 8- or 9-iron. He scorned the use of that club, describing it as "another bloody spade," and admonished the Rules of Golf Committee of the Royal and Ancient for permitting such horrid-looking contraptions to be allowed in competition. In a bunker, Ball would simply lay open the blade of a mid-iron and float the ball toward the hole with a smooth swing. He disliked the introduction of the increasing number of shallow cross bunkers to many courses, often parkland courses, calling them in derisory terms, ' geranium beds'.

It was this stubbornness and dogged determination that made Ball such a lion in match play. Darwin once noted that Ball had "a strong vein of hostility and if he wanted a particular player's blood, he would fight his way through a tournament with the sole object of getting at him." Darwin added, "That was not a personal hostility, but rather a desire to measure himself against a foe really worthy of him."

Words from Ball are hard to find. He was a shy, modest man who went about his business promptly without wasted motion. In his book, Sixty Years of Golf, Robert Harris wrote that "John's soft, whispering voice, his stoicism, his pawky jibs at easy rules and innovations, his relentless criticism of moderns with their fuss, and his total outlook on the game, were the very essence of golf."

Death and legacy

Ball died in Holywell, Wales, on 2 December 1940. Ball served his country during the Second Boer War. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1977.

Tournament wins (59)

Note: This list may be incomplete.

• 1881 Royal Liverpool Autumn Dowie Silver Cup Medal, Royal Liverpool Autumn Kennard Gold Medal, Royal Liverpool St. Andrews Day Gold Cross
• 1882 Royal Liverpool Club Spring Gold Medal, Royal Liverpool Spring Connaught Challenge Star Medal, Royal Liverpool Autumn Dowie Silver Cup Medal, Royal Liverpool Autumn Kennard Gold Medal
• 1883 Royal Liverpool Club Spring Gold Medal, Royal Liverpool Summer Lubbock Gold Medal, Royal Liverpool Autumn Kennard Gold Medal, Royal Liverpool St. Andrews Day Gold Cross
• 1884 Royal Liverpool Spring Connaught Challenge Star Medal, Royal Liverpool Summer Lubbock Gold Medal, Royal Liverpool Autumn Dowie Silver Cup Medal
• 1885 Royal Liverpool Club Spring Gold Medal, Royal Liverpool Summer Lubbock Gold Medal, Royal Liverpool Autumn Dowie Silver Cup Medal, Royal Liverpool Autumn Kennard Gold Medal
• 1886 Royal Liverpool Summer Lubbock Gold Medal, Royal Liverpool Autumn Dowie Silver Cup Medal, Royal Liverpool Autumn Kennard Gold Medal, Royal Liverpool St. Andrews Day Gold Cross
• 1887 Royal Liverpool Club Spring Gold Medal, Royal Liverpool Spring Connaught Challenge Star Medal, Royal Liverpool Summer Lubbock Gold Medal, Royal Liverpool Autumn Dowie Silver Cup Medal, Royal Liverpool Autumn Kennard Gold Medal, Royal Liverpool St. Andrews Day Gold Cross, Royal Liverpool Spring Challenge Vase, Royal Liverpool Spring Muir Jug
• 1888 The Amateur Championship, St. George's Challenge Cup
• 1889 St. George's Challenge Cup, Royal Liverpool Club Spring Gold Medal, Royal Liverpool Spring Connaught Challenge Star Medal, Royal Liverpool Autumn Dowie Silver Cup Medal
• 1890 The Amateur Championship, St. George's Challenge Cup, The Open Championship
• 1891 St. George's Challenge Cup
• 1892 The Amateur Championship, Royal Liverpool Club Spring Gold Medal, Royal Liverpool Spring Connaught Challenge Star Medal, Royal Liverpool Autumn Dowie Silver Cup Medal, Royal Liverpool Autumn Kennard Gold Medal, Royal Liverpool St. Andrews Day Gold Cross
• 1893 Irish Amateur Open Championship, Royal Liverpool Summer Lubbock Gold Medal, Royal Liverpool St. Andrews Day Gold Cross, Royal Liverpool Silver Bowl
• 1894 The Amateur Championship, Irish Amateur Open Championship
• 1899 The Amateur Championship, Irish Amateur Open Championship, Leasowe Golf Club Harvie Prize, Leasowe Golf Club Captain's Prize
• 1907 The Amateur Championship
• 1910 The Amateur Championship
• 1912 The Amateur Championship

Major championships

Professional wins (1)

Amateur wins (8)

Results timeline

Note: Ball only played in The Open Championship and The Amateur Championship.

LA = Low amateur
NYF = Tournament not yet founded
NT = No tournament
CUT = missed the half-way cut
WD = withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place
R256, R128, R64, R32, R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in match play

Team appearances

• England–Scotland Amateur Match (representing England): 1902, 1903 (winners), 1904, 1905, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1910 (winners), 1911, 1912
• Coronation Match (representing the Amateurs): 1911

Sources