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The Walter Hagen Story
Walter Hagen (1892-1969), often referred to by golf fans as “Sir Walter” or “The Haig,” was the first superstar of American golf. Hagen earned his fame by winning tournaments with spectacular recovery shots and unmatched putting ability, skills that made up for his unpredictable tee shots. He is remembered as a master gamesman with an uncanny ability to remain relaxed and make the game of golf fun.
Hagen was born in Rochester, New York, on December 21, 1892, into a middle-class family of Dutch descent. His parents were William, a blacksmith for auto shops, and Louise Balko Hagen. As a child Hagen excelled at both golf and baseball. He became the leading baseball pitcher in the district, honing his fastball in his backyard after teaching his sister to catch for him. He was also exposed to golf at an early age, shagging balls at the Country Club of Rochester by the age of seven. During his teenage years Hagen wavered between pursuing a career in baseball or golf. Finally, speculating that baseball required the skills of eight teammates, Hagen decided to choose the sport over which he alone controlled his destiny.
Became a Golf Professional When the National Open came to Buffalo, New York, in 1912, 20-yearold Hagen, having been promoted to working in the pro shop, asked his boss, club pro Andy Christie, for time off to play the tournament. Christie, afraid Hagen would be easily out-played by the professionals, refused to allow him to enter, but afforded him time off to watch the tournament. When Hagen returned from watching Johnny McDermott win the Open, he was wholly unimpressed with the play of the field. The following year Hagen was determined to enter the ranks of the golf greats. In his first outing at the 1913 Shawnee Open he played respectably but failed to finish in the money. Hagen’s brash personality first came to the attention of the pros in Priority One Marketing Group, LLC
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the same year when he entered the National Open in Brookline, Massachusetts. The odds makers were favoring Harry Vardon or Ted Ray to win the tournament. Hagen made a legendary entrance into the locker room prior to the start of play and introduced himself to McDermott amidst a group of onlookers, explaining that he had come down from Rochester to help him stop Vardon and Ray. The golfers chuckled, but Hagen won new respect by finishing in a tie with McDermott for fourth place, with Francis Ouimet taking the victory away from Vardon and Ray. In 1914 Hagen won his first tournament, the U.S. Open at Midlothian in Chicago. Hagen led from first round, shooting a new course record of 68. Going into the final day of play, Hagen held a four-stroke lead over crowd favorite Chick Evans, an advantage that Evans reduced to one by the time Hagen reached the final hole. According to Herbert Warren Wind in The Story of American Golf, “All Chicago, it seemed, was following Evans. Playing about three holes ahead of Chick, with no gallery to speak of, Hagen heard one mighty roar after another come from Evans’ mob. All the way in Hagen heard the bursts of applause from Evans’ gallery telling him that Chick was still coming.” Hagen showed the first signs of his uncanny ability to focus and stay calm despite unnerving pressure, sinking an 8-foot putt on the final hole to win by one stroke.
Wins and Losses Many were skeptical that the new champion could maintain his place among the leading golfers. His swing on his tee shots was unorthodox at best, and whether his drive would land in the fairway or in the rough to the left or to the right, no one, not even Hagen, was ever sure. But his putting skills, deft short iron play, and ability to get himself out of the trouble caused by his regular miscues gave him the ability to win tournaments. Grantland Rice, a sportswriter who followed Hagen throughout his career, wrote in The Tumult and the Shouting: My Life in Sport, “Walter Hagen, a dazzling ornament to the history of sport, had the soundest golf philosophy I’ve ever known. More importantly, he applied it. ‘Grant,’ he said, ‘I expect to make at least seven mistakes each round. Therefore, when I make a bad shot I don’t worry about it. It’s just one of the seven.”’ According to Rice, “A mistake meant nothing to him. Neither did defeat. He scorned second place. ‘The crowd remembers only the winner. I’d as soon finish tenth as second,’he said.” Hagen’s distracters were not entirely wrong. Hagen’s career performance was, in fact, a series of peaks and valleys. He always went for the win when other golfers opted for safer play to place in the money. He won in spectacular fashion, and sometimes he lost in similar style. In 1915 Hagen failed to defend his U.S. Open crown, and the following year was not even in contention. He took an even bigger blow in 1920 during his first attempt to play in the British Open, characterized by barren, bunker-filled courses and strong winds. Because Hagen lofted his shots high in the air, some predicted that his basically unsound game would be completely dismantled by the winds and bunkers. Confident as always, Hagen teed up the first day of play but ended with an abysmal score of 83 and finished the second day in last place of the field of 53. However, nothing could shake the unshakable Hagen. The next year he finished in sixth place at St. Andrews. In 1922 he won at Sandwich, becoming the first American to win a British Open. He would return to win again in 1924, 1928, and 1929.
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By the end of the 1920s, Hagen had established himself as one of the greatest and most colorful golfers of his time. During his career he won the U.S. Open twice (1914 and 1919), the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) Championship five times (1921, 1924, 1925, 1926, and 1927), and the British Open four times (1922, 1924, 1928, and 1929). He also won the French Open (1920), the Belgian Open (1924), and the Canadian Open (1931). Preferring to have a major title to his name throughout the year, Hagen did not mind working his way around the U.S. circuit. He won opens in Massachusetts (1915), Michigan (1921 and 1931), New York (1922), and Texas (1923 and 1929); three Metropolitan Opens (1916, 1919, and 1920); two North and South Opens (1918 and 1923), five Western Opens (1916, 1921, 1926, 1927, and 1932); one Eastern Open (1926); and the Gasparilla Open (1935). He was also selected to play as a member of the American Ryder Cup team, which played golf against teams from other nations, in 1927, 1929, 1921, 1933, and 1935. He was the nonplaying captain of the Ryder Cup team in 1937.
(Above) Walter Hagen holds the Claret Jug, which he retained after winning the 1929 British Open at Muirfield
More than a Superstar
Hagen did more for golf than win tournaments. He was the sport’s first superstar, ambassador, and flamboyant personality. According to Stephen Goodwin in Golf Magazine, “Hagen could have been a poster boy for the 1920s. As a professional golfer, he became an international celebrity, known not only for his accomplishments on the golf course, but his extravagant lifestyle. His story wasn’t exactly a tale of rags-to-riches, but he made pots of money and spent it with legendary abandon. He liked to travel in chauffeur-driven limousines, and he once showed up on the first tee of an exhibition match in top hat and tails, and a wee bit tipsy.” Hagen enjoyed drinking and was known to occasionally arrive at a tournament or exhibition match slightly late and still wearing the clothes from the day before. His love of show did not bode well for his two marriages. He wed Margaret Johnson in 1917. They had one child and were divorced in 1921. He married Edna Strauss in 1924, and they divorced in 1934. Financially, Hagen was the first professional golfer to reach 1 million dollars in earnings and spent it all on extravagance as he went. He was also the first golfer to hire an agent to represent him. Hagen, like no other pro before him, knew the power of image and appearance. Priority One Marketing Group, LLC
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