Harry Vardon (1870-1937) was one of the greatest players of all time, and a natural talent. He popularized the way most people hold the club today - the "Vardon" grip, and won the British Open six times and the U.S. Open once. All this while playing in a jacket, which was the common practice then!
He began his career with very little golf experience, having worked as a gardener. "Up until I was twenty years of age, I played so little golf that even now I can remember every round as a red-letter event of my youth." Vardon played no more than 20 rounds of golf up to that time, but entered a tournament and won it with ease. His brother Tom had finished second in a tournament in Scotland and the prize was £20. "This seemed an enormous sum to me and I pondered long and intently over it. I knew that, as little as I had played, I was as good as Tom. If he could win that vast fortune, why shouldn’t I?"
Vardon had a swing that repeated monotonously. It was more upright and his ball flight higher than his contemporaries, giving his approach shots the advantage of greater carry and softer landing. He took only the thinnest of divots. Vardon allowed his left arm to bend as he reached the top of the backswing, and there was a lack of muscular stress or tension at any part of the swing. "Relaxation," he said, "added to a few necessary fundamental principles, is the basis of this great game." A fierce competitor, Andrew Kirkaldy said his play "was enough to break the heart of an iron horse."
Vardon was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974.