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Clubmakers
Robert Kirk and Son
St Andrews
Robert Kirk jnr, or “Young Bob”, was born in St Andrews on 9 March 1845, a son of Robert Richard Kirk and his wife Jane Houston.He learned his trade in St Andrews from his father before becoming professional and clubmaker at Blackheath in 1864. He returned home in 1866, making clubs and balls in the town until his death on 1 December 1886. He was also a fine player being Open runner-up three times. He also played in the famous competition in 1866 over the 25 hole course at Montrose, finishing third.
Horace Hutchinson, in Fifty Years of Golf, describes him coming to Westward Ho! with Young Tom Morris to play the ‘local’ man (he was from Prestwick!) John Allan in a triangular competition. Allan defeated Young Tommy who, in turn, had beaten Kirk. Allan then needed to beat Kirk in the final match to win the competition. One up at the last, Kirk’s ball was on the left verge of a bunker with apparently the only place to stand to play the shot eight feet below. A right-handed player, Kirk pulled a left-handed spoon from his bag and addressed the ball ‘left-handedly’, driving it far enough to make sure of his half. Hutchinson remarked, ‘It was a great tour de force. It exacted our grudging applause. We admired, but at the same time we admired with suspicion. It was scarcely, as we thought in the circumstances, a fair golf stroke. It savoured of the conjuring trick if not of sheer black magic’.
John’s brother Jamie had revenge defeating Kirk, who had been nominated as Scottish champion, in a series of matches in 1875 over Westward Ho!, Hoylake, Prestwick and St Andrews.
His finishes in the Open are undoubtedly praiseworthy but did not put food on the table. I cannot overstress this as a contrast to the reverence with which the early Opens are viewed particularly by American historians. Players often did not compete when it was not held at their home course because the costs could not be compensated by the prize money. Bob came fourth in 1865 and pocketed £2 for his efforts; in 1870, winning the playoff for second netted him £4 and, in his final Open in 1878, another second place brought him £5. On the other hand, he and Old Tom Morris defeated the Andersons in a two-day match at St Andrews in 1879 and shared £40 for the win. Matches with purses and side bets were what drove professional golf in those early days.
His son, Robert Walter Kirk, the third generation of clubmaker, developed his career largely in Wallasey.
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