Daniel Gordon (Dan) Soutar was born in Carmyllie, Scotland on December 3, 1882. In 1888, his family moved to the nearby seaside resort town of Carnoustie where – over the next 15 or so years – he received a thorough grounding in the game of golf. Starting out as a caddie at ninepence per round, he developed a sound swing and game to the point where he won a number of trophies as a member of the Carnoustie club.

He emigrated to Australia in 1903, and made an immediate mark by joining Bonnie Doon Golf Club (nee Marrickville Golf Club) and winning their Club Championships 1903 and ’04. He also won the 1903 Australian Amateur Championship at the old Glenelg course. In 1905, he turned professional and went into partnership with Carnegie Clark making clubs at Rose Bay in Sydney. That same year he won his only Australian Open Championship at Royal Melbourne, beating the defending champion, the Hon. Michael Scott, by ten strokes.

His victory was reported in the Sydney Morning Herald of Saturday, 28 October 1905 in the following fashion . . . .

AUSTRALIAN GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP.
SOUTAR OPEN CHAMPION, SCOTT AMATEUR CHAMPION.
MELBOURNE, Friday.

There was a large gathering of spectators on the Sandringham links to-day, to watch the final rounds for the open and the amateur championships of Australia. The weather was somewhat unfavourable, as a stiff breeze interfered considerably with correct play.

Although there were several men left with a winning chance after the first two rounds, few doubted that the finish would lie between Scott and Soutar, the latter having a lead of three points upon the completion of the second round. They were drawn together for both rounds to-day.

The third round was intensely interesting, for beginning well Scott had wiped off two of his deficiency when they reached the fourth hole. At the fifth hole Soutar drove into the rough and reedy grass, and Scott gained a stroke, and a failure to hole a short put on the seventh green – a sort of switchback bit of turf, and one of the trickiest greens on the links – just prevented him gaining another.

At the eighth he got into a pool of water on the green, but finished the first half with a lead of two strokes, going out in 39 as against Soutar’s 41. At this stage Soutar was a bit weak in his putting. As usual his approaches were almost perfect, and he showed the finest judgment in estimating the strength of these shots, but whether from bad luck or bad play, he lost ground on the putting greens. The fact that his ball was lying frequently just at the edge of the hole suggested that Soutar’s failures were due, however, as much to bad luck as bad play.

By the time they reached the fourteenth hole Scott was leading by two strokes, and he kept that advantage to the end. Everything promised well for a sensational gamebetween the pair. For the final round Carnegie Clark, the New South Wales professional, who was third at the end of the second round, still stuck to the leaders, J. D. Howden was fourth, six strokes further back. The best of the cards for the morning round were as follows:-

A glance at the detail will show that both Soutar and Scott had one bad hole each in the forenoon. Soutar drove into rough country at the seventh, while at the seventeenth Scott made one of the few mistakes in his round by getting into the most formidable bunker on the course, and it cost him two to get out of it. But for that mistake he had a fair chance of making the best round of the tournament, and being the first player to got under 80.

This fine round by Scott, which gave him a lead of two on the match, promised well for the final between him and Soutar in the afternoon, but expectations were not realised. Scott went right off his game. They began well with three each, and were both in bad positions at the second hole. Soutar picked up a stroke at the second and the fourth holes, which made them even again for whole game.

From the sixth hole Scott’s difficulties commenced, and he did not afterwards do himself justice. Soutar went out with the fine score of 37 to Scott’s 43, and from this on the result of the match was never in doubt. Soutar played well, with his eye ever on the side of safety, and at one stage Scott was playing so badly it seemed likely he would be beaten for amateur as well as for the open championship.

Scott’s worst hole was the seventeenth, where he was in every difficulty that the hole presented, and it took him nine strokes to the hole, which is a six for bogey. Soutarcame home with a good round of 82. The steadiness of his play is indicated by his four rounds of 85, 83, 87, and 82; his approaches were again the best feature of his golf,and his putting is perhaps the worst. On the aggregate he beat Scott by 10 strokes.

Though Scott was beaten for the open event, no one was able to catch him for the amateur championship, which he won by six strokes from J. D. Howden, who won it inSydney last year. Howden had not a good round in the afternoon. The crowd of sightseers following Scott and Soutar were always in his way.

In both events played to-day the leaders got so far away from the ruck that many of the competitors, finding they had no chance, tore up their cards. The following are the results:

                   1st & 2nd      3rd        4th
                     Round.      Round.     Round.       Total

D. G. Soutar ........ 168 .. .. .. 87 .. .. .. 82 .. .. .. 337 
M. Scott ............ 171 .. .. .. 82 .. .. .. 94 .. .. .. 347 
Carnegie Clark ...... 172 .. .. .. 85 .. .. .. 92 .. .. .. 349 
J. D. Howden ........ 175 .. .. .. 88 .. .. .. 90 .. .. .. 353 
V. East ............. 178 .. .. .. 94 .. .. .. 84 .. .. .. 356 
H. N. Giblin ........ 177 .. .. .. 88 .. .. .. 95 .. .. .. 360 
L. H. Harper ........ 180 .. .. .. 91 .. .. .. 90 .. .. .. 361   
A. McLaren .......... 183 .. .. .. 90 .. .. .. 91 .. .. .. 364 
O. H. O'Brien........ 190 .. .. .. 91 .. .. .. 85 .. .. .. 366 
W. McIntyre ......... 179 .. .. .. 88 .. .. ..101 .. .. .. 368 
F. W. Fairbairn ..... 187 .. .. .. 91 .. .. .. 96 .. .. .. 374 
F. Popplewell ....... 189 .. .. .. 87 .. .. .. 98 .. .. .. 374 
W. D. Clarke ........ 190 .. .. .. 92 .. .. .. 92 .. .. .. 374 
A. W. Mitchell ...... 188 .. .. .. 94 .. .. .. 94 .. .. .. 376 
W. Meader ........... 186 .. .. .. 98 .. .. .. 95 .. .. .. 379 
L. A. Whyte ......... 187 .. .. .. 94 .. .. .. 98 .. .. .. 379 
W. J. Gunson ........ 188 .. .. .. 91 .. .. ..101 .. .. .. 380 
W. M. Bell .......... 187 .. .. .. 97 .. .. ..100 .. .. .. 384 
F. R. Stuart ........ 195 .. .. .. 95 .. .. .. 98 .. .. .. 388 
M. G. B. Jefferson .. 195 .. .. ..101 .. .. .. 96 .. .. .. 392

a golfer who led an interesting and varied life

This is a summary of a research article by Steve Doorey and Michael Sheret in the September 2013 issue of Through the Green, magazine of the British Golf Collectors Society. The full article, which describes the research processes and references to the sources of evidence, may be obtained by contacting Michael or Steve via the website (see ‘Contacts’.).

Portrait of Fred Findlay in his later years, reproduced by kind permission of Farmington Country Club

Fred Findlay, like his father, was a professional soldier and served in the British army for 22 years. He was an accomplished musician, a skilled exponent of the cornet. He rose to the rank of Sergeant-Bandmaster.

He played his early golf at Montrose, a classic old links on the east coast of Scotland. He was good enough break the course record in 1898 with a score of 71 on a course measuring 5609 yards, long by the standards of the guttie era. Towards the end of his time in Scotland he spent 18 months as the professional at the Royal Albert Golf Club, now known as Royal Montrose. Near the end of 1909 he migrated to Australia mainly for the health of his son Freddie, who probably had tuberculosis, a disease rife in the cold, damp, industrial towns of Scotland.

In January 1910 he was appointed professional at the Metropolitan Golf Club in Melbourne. Like professionals of his day Fred was, apart from teaching duties and running a shop, also the starter, caddie-master, curator of the green and club maker. He made his mark in many ways. The History of Metropolitan praises him particularly in his starter role. With a firm hand and a courteous manner, Fred brought much needed discipline and order to the competition days. Playing opportunities for professionals were interrupted by World War I. Fred’s tournament record was unremarkable but his scorecard for his round in December 1918 is preserved in the Metropolitan archives: 68 strokes, 11 under bogey, on a course measuring 6079 yards.

Then in 1922 he resigned amicably from his position at Metropolitan and in the following year took himself off to America. There, at the age of 51, he quickly established himself as a successful golf architect working in the Virginia area. He is credited with being responsible for the design of 41 courses. His masterpiece is undoubtedly the north/south course at the Farmington Country Club. In his twilight years Fred lived in a cottage on the Farmington property. In his nineties Fred was still scoring below his age around Farmington, but he probably devoted more time to poetry and painting, two of his abiding passions.

Our research solved two mysteries about Fred’s career. Golf historians generally thought that Fred had no experience in golf architecture before going to America. This was not the case. In 1914 he designed a course at Ararat in Victoria. Very little is known about this course. It has not survived. In 1911/12 Fred laid out a 7-hole course in a public park in Healesville Victoria. This was abandoned in 1919. On a larger property and with better financial backing Fred built his second course at Healesville. Originally a 9-hole course, it has undergone many changes since Fred’s time. It is now owned by the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria and in 2012 was ranked a creditable 55th in Australia’s best courses.

The second mystery was what inspired Fred at 51 years of age to give up a secure position at Metropolitan and move to America. Prior to our research the conventional wisdom was that he was influenced by his older brother, Alex Findlay, well established in America as a top class golfer, golf architect and all-round golf entrepreneur. While Alex may have had some influence on Fred’s career in America we do not think he was the major influence. All the evidence points to his son-in-law, Raymond “Ben” Franklin Loving, as the main influence on Fred’s move and subsequent career in America. We don’t know what brought Ben to Australia originally, but he married Fred’s daughter Ruth in Australia in 1924 and took her to Virginia, where Fred, Ben and Ruth were very close. At the beginning of his golf architecture career in America Fred and Ben were partners in the business. Later Ben became the General Manager at Farmington and stayed in that position for 44 years.

Fred with his son Freddie at the Metropolitan Golf Club, reproduced by kind permission of Mrs Beverley Abeline, great great granddaughter of James Findlay, Fred’s brother. The family’s move to Australia was driven by Freddie’s poor health. Freddie, a promising young golfer, died in 1912 just 16 years old.

Acknowledgements
^{Beverley Aberline, great granddaughter of James Findlay, Fred’s brother, for sharing her family scrapbook with us.
Richard Tweddle, RACV Corporate Solicitor, for sharing his research notes on Healesville golf course with us.
Neil Crafter gave us extracts from The Architects of Golf by Cornish & Whitten (1993). This was important in sorting out courses designed by Fred alone, those in partnership with Ben Loving, those in partnership with his grandson Buddy Loving and those designed independently by Buddy.}