Peter Paxton (20 October 1857 – 3 July 1929) was a Scottish

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 ...

who played in the late 19th century. Paxton had three top-10 finishes in the Open Championship. He took second place in the 1880 Open Championship five shots behind winner Bob Ferguson. Paxton was an expert club and ball maker. His golf ball inventions included the ''Bramble'' and ''Sirdar'' models, the former being the ball of choice for Harry Vardon at one time. Paxton was also the designer of a number of golf courses, with Coventry Golf Club (Coventry, England) and East Berkshire Golf Club (East Berkshire, England) being among those designs.

Early life

Paxton was born in

Musselburgh Musselburgh (; sco, Musselburrae; gd, Baile nam Feusgan) is the largest settlement in East Lothian, Scotland, on the coast of the Firth of Forth, east of Edinburgh city centre. It has a population of . History The name Musselburgh is Ol ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, on 20 October 1857. Peter was born to James Paxton, a cab driver, and his wife Elizabeth Sharp. In September 1881 he married Sarah Hobley at Upton-upon-Severn, Worcestershire, England. They had two children, George and Elizabeth. His older brother

George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...

was also a professional golfer.

Golf career

1880 Open Championship

The 1880 Open Championship was held 9 April at

Musselburgh Links Musselburgh Links, The Old Golf Course in Musselburgh, East Lothian, Scotland, is generally accepted as being one of the oldest golf courses in the world. The course is not to be confused with The Royal Musselburgh Golf Club or the Levenhall Li ...

, Musselburgh, East Lothian, Scotland. Bob Ferguson won the Championship by five strokes from runner-up Paxton who carded rounds of 81-86=167.

1883 Open Championship

In the

1883 Open Championship The 1883 Open Championship was the 23rd Open Championship, held 16 November at the Musselburgh Links, Musselburgh, East Lothian, Scotland. Willie Fernie and Bob Ferguson were tied on 158 each. They had a 36-hole playoff on 17 November, Fernie ...

, again held at Musselburgh Links, he was tied for tenth place. Bob Ferguson dominated play from 1880-82 by winning three Open Championships in a row. Paxton shots rounds of 46-39-39-43=167.

1885 Open Championship

The

1885 Open Championship The 1885 Open Championship was the 25th Open Championship, held 3 October at the Old Course at St Andrews, Fife, Scotland. Bob Martin won the Championship for the second time, by a stroke from Archie Simpson. Simpson was one of the early star ...

was the 25th Open Championship, held 3 October at the Old Course at St Andrews,

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

. Bob Martin won the Championship for the second time, by one stroke from Archie Simpson. Paxton fired rounds of 85-91=176, finishing in eighth place, and won £1 in prize money.

Match vs. Albert Tingey, Sr.

Paxton met

Albert Tingey, Sr. Albert Tingey Sr. (1869 – February 1953) was an English professional golfer. Tingey finished tied for ninth in the 1899 Open Championship. He was a club maker, specializing in the production of putters. He served in World War I in a pals batta ...

in a memorable match on 27 October 1900 on a windy and wet day at Tooting Bec Golf Club in south London. Paxton, playing on his home links, was likely the betting favorite, although his results going in were not equal with Tingey who in October 1899 had halved against Harry Vardon at

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

and had been playing better golf in the short term. Heavy rain the day before had soaked the course making approach shots and putting difficult. Playing in stiff winds, the first 27 holes were stubbornly contested to a draw, but Tingey pulled away in the end winning 4 and 3.

Club maker

Paxton was an expert club and ball maker, his clubs being highly desirable in his day and beyond. Not unlike other golfers of his era, he began as a caddie at Musselburgh. He apprenticed as a club maker under David Park, the brother of

Willie Park, Sr. William Park Sr. (30 June 1833 – 25 July 1903) was a Scottish professional golfer. He was a 4-time winner of the Open Championship. Early life Park was born in Wallyford, East Lothian, Scotland. Like some of the other early professional gol ...

In addition to the tutelage he received under David Park, he also picked up a few useful skills when he later apprenticed under Tom Hood. He took a job as the professional from his brother John at

Malvern Malvern or Malverne may refer to: Places Australia * Malvern, South Australia, a suburb of Adelaide * Malvern, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne * City of Malvern, a former local government area near Melbourne * Electoral district of Malvern, an e ...

’s Worcestershire Club and was later posted at Royal Eastbourne. Paxton exhibited considerable inventiveness when in 1892 he created a machine that would produce several thousand

gutta-percha Gutta-percha is a tree of the genus ''Palaquium'' in the family Sapotaceae. The name also refers to the rigid, naturally biologically inert, resilient, electrically nonconductive, thermoplastic latex derived from the tree, particularly from ' ...

golf balls weekly. He received patents on a type of grip and also for square socketed clubs. Some of his clubs were made from an unusual type of hardwood that he called “sylviac”, but it could possibly have been itauba. He left Royal Eastbourne in 1893—with several skilled club makers joining him—and took up a new post at Tooting Bec. By this time, he had gained the royal patronage of the Duke and Duchess of York and therefore placed a crown mark on the clubs he made. Balls, clubs and other items made by Paxton were displayed on the golf stall at the Sports and Pastimes Exhibition at the Crystal Palace in 1893. .n.(August 1893). ''Baily's Magazine of Sports and Pastimes'', cited a
Peter Paxton 1890s SF Putter
Northwest Hickory Players. Accessed August 2015.

Later life and death

Paxton was professional at Old Colwyn Golf Club from 1910 before moving to Oakwood Park Hotel, Conway. Paxton died in

Romford Romford is a large town in east London and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Havering. It is located northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Historically, Romford ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, on 3 July 1929.https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:2:3Z2F-S5P

Results in The Open Championship

''Note: Paxton played only in The Open Championship.'' DNP = Did not play
WD = Withdrew
? = Finish unknown
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Yellow background for top-10

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paxton, Peter Scottish male golfers Golf course architects Golfers from Musselburgh 1857 births 1929 deaths