Percy Hugh Boomer (1885 – 29 April 1949) was a

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

from the

Isle of Jersey An isle is an island, land surrounded by water. The term is very common in British English. However, there is no clear agreement on what makes an island an isle or its difference, so they are considered synonyms. Isle may refer to: Geography * Is ...

who played in the early 20th century. Boomer won three tournaments—the 1923 Belgian Open, the 1924

Swiss Open The Omega European Masters is the Swiss stop on professional men's golf's European Tour, and in 2009 it became the first event in Europe to be co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour. Founded as the Swiss Open in 1923, the tournament was prefixed with Eu ...

, and the 1927

Dutch Open Dutch Open may refer to: *Dutch Open (tennis), an ATP tennis tournament from 1957 to 2008 *Dutch Open (golf), an annual golf tournament on the European Tour *Dutch Open (badminton) *Dutch Open (darts) The Dutch Open is amongst the longest running ...

. His brother,

Aubrey Boomer Aubrey Basil Boomer (1 November 1897 – 2 October 1989) was a professional golfer who played in the early 20th century. Boomer had three top-10 finishes in the Open Championship. He was a frequent competitor in the French Open and won the event ...

, was also a professional golfer, as was his son Percy George (known as George). George qualified for the

1950 Open Championship The 1950 Open Championship was the 79th Open Championship, held 5–7 July at Troon Golf Club in Troon, South Ayrshire, Scotland. Defending champion Bobby Locke of South Africa won the second of his four Open titles, two strokes ahead of runner ...

but missed the cut by a single stroke.

Early life

Boomer was born circa 1885 in

Islington, London Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ar ...

, England. He grew up on the Isle of Jersey where his father was a school teacher in

Grouville Grouville is one of the twelve parishes of Jersey in the Channel Islands. The parish is around east of St Helier. The parish covers a surface area of 4,354 vergées (7.8 km²). The parish includes the south-east portion of the main island o ...

Teacher of golf

He was a well known golf teacher of the early 20th century and wrote one of the most popular instructional books on golf of the era, ''On Learning Golf'', published in 1942. He learned to play golf through the writing of

Harry Vardon Henry William Vardon (9 May 1870 – 20 March 1937) was a professional golfer from Jersey. He was a member of the Great Triumvirate with John Henry Taylor and James Braid. Vardon won The Open Championship a record six times, and also won the ...

and Ted Ray. Boomer was one of the top teachers of golf in Europe and spent the majority of his professional career at St. Cloud Country Club in the

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

suburbs. He was a proponent of

muscle memory Muscle memory is a form of procedural memory that involves consolidating a specific motor task into memory through repetition, which has been used synonymously with motor learning. When a movement is repeated over time, the brain creates a long-te ...

in the golf swing and reminded his students to block out negative thoughts in favor of more positive ones in order to play better golf. He was one of the first golf teachers to use stop-action photography. Boomer endeared himself to his followers when he wrote, "Everything I have ever done in golf, I have had to learn to do yself"

Death and legacy

He died on 29 April 1949 in

Sunningdale Sunningdale is a large village with a retail area and a civil parish in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. It takes up the extreme south-east corner of Berkshire, England. It has a railway station on the (London) Waterloo to Reading ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

, England. He had been the professional at

Sunningdale Golf Club Sunningdale Golf Club is a golf club in Sunningdale, Berkshire, England, located approximately west-southwest of London. Sunningdale Golf Club was founded in 1900 and has two eighteen hole golf courses: the Old Course, designed by Willie Park ...

since 1941. Boomer was inducted into the World Golf Teachers Hall of Fame in 1998.

Tournament wins (3)

:''Note: This list may be incomplete'' *1923 Belgian Open *1924

*1927

Results in major championships

''Note: Boomer only played in The Open Championship.''
NT = no tournament
CUT = missed the half-way cut
WD = withdrew

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boomer, Percy English male golfers Sportspeople from Islington 1885 births 1949 deaths