FREDDIE TAIT, The Scottish Amateur Golf Star, The Scottish Soldier who died in battle far from the green hills of home

By COLIN FARQUHARSON

Colin@scottishgolfview.com

The leading amateur in this week's South African Open championship receives not a Silver Medal but a trophy named after a Scot, Freddie Tait, who was a lieutenant in the Black Watch when killed in early 1900 leading the Highland Brigade in a charge at Koodoosberg Drift  during the Boer War in South Africa.

Some of us in Scotland may have forgotten Freddie Tait's claim to fame but obviously his name lives on in South Africa's biggest golf tournament.

So who was Freddie Tait? Born in Dalkeith, educated at Edinburgh University he was a true-blue amateur golfer, one of the best in the 1890s. He was also a professional soldier who died in battle in the prime of his life - only 30 years of age. 

It's a wonder the Freddie Tait Life Story has never attracted the notice of Hollywood. 

Lest WE forget, here is the Freddie Tait Life Story, from the Shell International Encyclopedia of Golf (published in 1975) with a tailpiece from the Golf Illustrated of February 1900, soon after Tait was killed.

The picture of Tait is by courtesy of Gillian Kirkwood.    

  

Frederick Guthrie Tait

Born Dalkeith, Midlothian 1870. Died South Africa 1900

British amateur champion 1896 and 1898. Beaten finalist 1899

As an amateur finished 3^rd in Open championships of 1896 and 1897; several other top 10 finishes in Opens between 1891 and 1899.

Although only 30 when killed in the South African (Boer) War, Tait had already made his mark very strongly in golf at a time when the game abounded with distinguished amateurs.

He achieved this as much by his magnetic personality as in the excellence of his record.  The third son of a professor at Edinburgh University, Freddie spent many childhood holidays at St Andrews where he developed a love for the Old Course.

He was educated at Edinburgh Academy, Sedbergh School, Cumbria, Edinburgh University and Sandhurst from where he was commissioned into the Leinster Regiment. He was posted to the Black Watch, and was serving with them as Lt Tait  when he was shot in the chest and killed leading his Highland Brigade company into action against the Boers.

Tait was an all-rounder, an expert rifle shot, and a first-class rugby player and cricketer. 
He also took his duties as a soldier most seriously, and yet he still found time to build a high reputation in golf, while all the time seeking an opportunity for service abroad.

Tait’s career as an amateur golfer covers the last decade of the 19^th Century. He won the British Amateur championship in 1896 and again in 1898, both times on English courses, Sandwich and Hoylake.

Being stationed at Shorncliffe and Hythe in Kent enabled him to compete in the St George’s Challenge Cup at Sandwich, which he won in in 1896, 1898 and 1899.

He also reached the final of the British Amateur championship for a third time in 1899 at Prestwick where he was beaten at the 37^th by John Ball.

In the Open championship, he missed only one year between 1891 and 1899 and was seldom out of the top 10.. His best performances were in 1896, when he finished equal third behind Vardon and Taylor, and the following year when he was again equal third behind Vardon and Hilton.

Tait is looked upon as primarily a match-player, a form of the game he himself preferred to medal play. He loved the challenge of a match and although he was normally a very accurate driver, as well as an exceptionally long one, he was capable of staging recoveries from losing positions.

Yet Freddie achieved many notable scoring feats. His love of St Andrews brought him a rich harvest of  15 R and A competition medals, including the George Glennie Medal three times, awarded to the player with the lowest aggregate scores at the spring and autumn meetings. He also won the Calcutta Cup. In the course of one of these rounds, he lowered the existing record for the Old Course to 78.

He once went round the Old Course in 72 but this was not recognised as a record because the competition was played over the strictly medal course.

Tait also held the course record at Carnoustie with a 72 and at Luffness New, East Lothian, a course which he helped to form.

He had immensely strong arms and hands and was capable of prodigious length, although, as his game matured, he sacrificed distance for accuracy and seldom called upon the full shot.

One of Tait’s drives has gone down in golfing history, that made from the 13^th tee on the Old Course at St Andrews, which carried 250yd and, running over frozen ground, finished 340yd away.

Much of the glamour that surrounds his name is connected with his personality. He was high-spirited and firm in his views, but always courteous and kind and observed the best spirit of the game.

Large crowds followed him on the course in England as in his native Scotland and in the army he was adored by the men under his command.

The Golf Illustrated of February 1900, mourning the recent loss of Tait, praised him not only as a golfer but as a man of honour and also a player whose technique was perhaps ahead of his time.

One part of its obituary read:

Mr Tait was a singularly fascinating player to watch. Neither his grip nor his swing were of the orthodox St Andrews pattern but still his play was a wonderful and harmonious blending of grace and power.

His movements were deliberate without being slow and simple without being bald and uninteresting. He understood a nicety the art of timing his stroke, that is getting the greatest force in at the moment of striking the ball.

One of the prettiest things in Mr Tait’s play was his footwork. We cannot think of any player past or present who can compare with him in the way in which he used his feet to impart mobility and force to his swing.

He always gave the impression of playing within himself. He exhibited no signs of straining or striving. All was very methodical and logical.

But more pleasing still than graces of execution were his graces of personal bearing and chivalrous demeanour which Tait so pre-eminently displayed.

He never showed signs of elation or disappointment, no petulance, no playing to the gallery was ever observable in his game, Mr Tait was the most generous of opponents and whether victorious or vanquished, he showed the same manly and cheerful spirit.

FROM THE SOUTH AFRICAN OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP WEBSITE.

 Freddie Tait Cup

This trophy, first contested in 1929, goes to the leading amateur in the annual championship. It was purchased by the South African Golf Union with the surplus funds after the visit of the British amateur team in 1927-28. 
 On it are the badges of the Army Golfing Society, of which the late Lieutenant Freddie Tait was a member. He was also a member of the R and A. 
A brilliant match player, he won the British Amateur Championship in 1896 and 1898. He died fighting at Koodoosberg Drift in 1900.
* Information provided courtesy of the South African Golf Association

E-mail from Hamish Beattie
 
Hi Colin,
Just to let you know every year all the clubs in St. Andrews 
, The St. Andrews golf club, The New golf club , supported by The R and A play for the F G Tait Memorial Medal. 
The format is match-play (scratch knock out) with the winner being crowned  The Match-Play  Champion  of The Links.
The current  Chairman for  the F G Tait Memorial  Medal  is Mr Bob Thomson (The St Andrews GC) so Freddie Tait is very much remembered in St Andrews,
 
H Beattie

E-mail from Gordon Moir
 

Colin,

Hamish Beattie was too modest to tell you that his son Neil is the current holder of the Freddie Tait Memorial Medal.

 

Gordon Moir