Wilfrid Ewart "Wilfie" Reid (3 November 1884 – 24 November 1973) was an English

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 ...

and golf course designer. Reid was born in Bulwell, Nottingham, England, and died in West Palm Beach, Florida, United States. He posted three top-10 finishes in major championship tournaments.

Early life

Reid, the son of Arthur Reid and his wife Elizabeth Reid née Potter, studied club and ball making under Tommy Armour's father, Willie, in Edinburgh, Scotland. A scratch golfer at 15, Reid turned professional at 17 and became head professional at Seacroft Golf Club in Skegness, England and was a protégé of Harry Vardon who helped him get a club professional job at La Boulie Golf Club, Versailles, France, in 1903. In 1905 he became the professional at Banstead Downs Golf Club in Sutton, London, England, for roughly nine years and was a successful tournament player. Reid – who was never short on confidence – was a fine competitive golfer despite being small of stature, and he beat his mentor, Vardon, on several occasions. In March 1906, Reid married Stella Toft at Nottinghamshire, England. The couple had three daughters.

1913 U.S. Open

On 7 August 1913 Reid set sail from Liverpool aboard the RMS ''Celtic'' :File:Alien Passenger Manifest dated August 7, 1913 - SS Celtic.jpg#Summary and visited America with Vardon and Ted Ray where they played in a number of tournaments including the famous

1913 U.S. Open The 1913 U.S. Open was the 19th U.S. Open, held September 18–20 at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, a suburb southwest of Boston. Amateur Francis Ouimet, age 20, won his only U.S. Open title in an 18-hole playoff, five stroke ...

in which he tied for 16th. Reid tied Vardon for the 2nd round lead and played with Francis Ouimet in the 3rd round. In

1915 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction". *January 1 ...

he tied 10th. His best finish, a tie for fourth, came in the 1916 U.S. Open held at the

Minikahda Club The Minikahda Club is a private country club in southwest Minneapolis, Minnesota. The club is located just west of Bde Maka Ska and is the oldest country club west of the Mississippi River. The clubhouse, which is situated on a high hill, ov ...

in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Emigration to America

In February 1915 Reid emigrated to America at the invitation of Clarence H. Geist to be the golf professional at

Seaview Golf Club The Seaview Golf Club is the owner of Liberia's only 18-hole golf course, located opposite the Unity Conference Center and situated on one hundred acres of landscape where the St. Paul River empties into the Atlantic Ocean in Virginia, Montserrad ...

Galloway, New Jersey Galloway Township is a township in Atlantic County,in the U.S. state of New Jersey. At of total area of land and water, Galloway Township is the largest municipality in the state.World War I. He later, at the suggestion of the DuPont family, became the golf professional at the Wilmington Country Club, Wilmington, Delaware. He became a member of the PGA of America in 1917 and was appointed to the national PGA Executive Committee as a vice-president at large, a position he held for two years. In August 1920 he was elected vice-president of the PGA of America and he was re-elected in 1921. In 1920 and 1921 he also held the office of secretary of the Southeastern Section PGA. In 1921 Reid obtained U.S. citizenship and in December of that year attended the founding meeting of the Philadelphia Section PGA and was a member of the organising committee. Later in 1929 he was the president of the Michigan Section PGA for three years.

Golf career

Reid served as a professional at several of America's top clubs, including Country Club of Detroit, Grosse Pointe Farms, Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan, Beverly Country Club, Chicago, Illinois, Broadmoor Golf Club, Colorado Springs, Colorado,

Seminole Golf Club Seminole Golf Club is a private golf club in the southeastern United States, located in North Palm Beach, Florida. Designed by Donald Ross in 1929, it is consistently ranked as one of the top 100 courses in the nation. History Investment banker ...

, North Palm Beach, Florida, and

Atlantic City Country Club The Atlantic City Country Club is a golf club located in Northfield, New Jersey, west of Atlantic City. In addition to a golf course, the club offers banquet and dining facilities. The course resides on in a coastal setting with skyline views of ...

, Northfield, New Jersey. He won the 1926

Michigan PGA Championship The Michigan PGA Championship is a golf tournament that is the section championship of the Michigan section of the PGA of America. It has been played annually since 1922 at a variety of courses around the state. The 2018 event was noticeable for a ...

and had 26

holes-in-one In golf, a hole in one or hole-in-one (also known as an ace, mostly in American English) occurs when a ball hit from a tee to start a hole finishes in the cup. A ball hit from a tee following a lost ball, out-of-bounds, or water hazard is not a ho ...

in his long playing career. The border of his stationery – that he used to send customers' golf club orders to club-makers such as George Izett of Bailey & Izett Inc. – listed so many of his accomplishments as a golfer and course designer that there was very little room left for him to write his message.

Golf course designer

Reid was also a golf course designer. Reid began designing golf courses at an early age and laid out courses in Europe and Britain before settling in the United States. He once estimated that he had designed 58 courses and remodeled some 43 others during his design career. While based in Michigan during the 1920s, he partnered with another club professional, William Connellan. The firm of Reid and Connellan designed some 20 courses in Michigan alone. Reid retired to Florida in the early 1950s and consistently improved his game in both social and competitive rounds. Even into old age he continued to "beat his age" in score on his birthday.

Death and legacy

Reid died on 24 November 1973 at West Palm Beach, Florida. He was posthumously inducted into the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame in 1985, and the Michigan Section PGA of America Golf Hall of Fame in 2015.

Tournament wins

*1926

Results in major championships

''Note: Reid never played in the

Masters Tournament The Masters Tournament (usually referred to as simply The Masters, or the U.S. Masters outside North America) is one of the four major championships in professional golf. Scheduled for the first full week of April, the Masters is the first maj ...

, founded in 1934.''
NYF = Tournament not yet founded
NT = No tournament
DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
R64, R32, R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in PGA Championship match play
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Yellow background for top-10

Team appearances

* England–Scotland Professional Match (representing England): 1906 (winners) 1907 (winners), 1909 (winners), 1910 (winners), 1912 (tie), 1913 (winners) *Coronation Match (representing the Professionals):

1911 A notable ongoing event was the Comparison of the Amundsen and Scott Expeditions, race for the South Pole. Events January * January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory ...

(winners) * Great Britain vs USA (representing America): 1921

Delaware designs

DuPont Country Club Along Delaware Route 141 there are a number of historic sites that trace the history of both the Du Pont family and the DuPont company. At the southwest end is DuPont’s Chestnut Run Plaza and at the northeastern end is the Alfred I. duPont Ho ...

– the original DuPont Course, Wilmington, Delaware, 1921 *Wilmington Country Club – original course, now Ed Oliver Golf Club, Wilmington, Delaware
Newark Country Club
Newark, Delaware, 1921

Michigan designs

Black River Country Club
(Reid, Connellan),

Port Huron, Michigan Port Huron is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of St. Clair County. The population was 30,184 at the 2010 census. The city is adjacent to Port Huron Township but is administered separately. Located along the St. Clair ...

, 1927
Indian River Golf Club
(original 9 hole), (Reid), Indian River, Michigan * Birmingham Country Club, (Reid), Birmingham, Michigan, 1916
Water’s Edge Golf Course
(Reid), Grosse Ile, Michigan (9-hole course commissioned by Bunkie Knudsen)
Brae Burn Golf Club
(original 9 hole - now the back 9 holes), (Reid, Connellan), Plymouth, Michigan, 1923
Gaylord Country Club
(Reid), Gaylord, Michigan, 1924 *

Indianwood Golf and Country Club Indianwood Golf and Country Club or simply "Indianwood" is a private member-only country club located in Orion Township, Oakland County, near Lake Orion, Michigan. The club is approximately north of Detroit. History The "Old Course" was ...

– Old Course, (Reid, Conellan), Lake Orion, Michigan, 1925
Tam-O'Shanter Country Club
(Reid, Connellan), West Bloomfield, Michigan, 1926 (redesigned)
Bald Mountain Golf Course
(regulation course), (Reid, Connellan), Lake Orion, Michigan, 1929
Flushing Valley Country Club
(original 9 hole), (Reid, Connellan), Flushing, Michigan, 1930

Other designs

Olympic Club The Olympic Club is an sports club, athletic club and private social club in San Francisco, San Francisco, California. First named the "San Francisco Olympic Club", it is the oldest sports club, athletic club in the United States. Established o ...

– original Lakeside Golf Club course, San Francisco, 1917 *La Boulie Golf Club – France *La Vallee course – Belgium

Photo gallery

File:WReid.jpg, Copy of Wilfrid Reid's stationery File:Reid Devany.jpg, Golf professionals Wilfrid Reid (left) and Joe Devany circa 1925 File:RiedPGA.jpg, Michigan Section PGA President 1928-29-30 File:WilfridReid.png, Wilfrid Reid File:Wilfrid.png, A young Wilfrid Reid File:Wilfrid Reid.jpg, Reid seated near his golf clubs, c. 1926 File:England Team v's Scotland 1913.jpg, England Team 1913 File:WER-1902-2.jpg, Professional Tournament, Kings Norton, October 1902. Head pro at Seacroft GC in Skegness

Notes

His first name is often misspelled as "Wilfred", such as in the movie and book

. Occasionally, his middle initial is incorrectly documented "A." as well.

References

External links

Wilfred Reid Taking a SwingAndrew Carnegie II, Wilfred Reid and George Crocker GolfingAndrew Carnegie II Learning to Play Golf
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reid, Wilfrid English male golfers American male golfers Golf course architects People from Bulwell English emigrants to the United States 1884 births 1973 deaths