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Antique Golf Clubs from Scotland
Clubmakers
Stanley Trapp
Wakefield/London/Devon
Stanley John William Trapp was the youngest of three golfing brothers, born near Watford in 1892, he seemed to have had the benefit of learning from both his older brothers. He was already described as a clubmaker when staying with Tom in Colchester and by 1912 he was assistant at Shooter’s Hill where Charlie was professional. He entered the Southern qualifier for the Perrier Water assistants’ tournament from here in that year.

By 1914 he was assistant to Harry Vardon at the South Herts club and in November of that year took part in a charity match for the War Supply Clearing House at Shirley Park where Tom was professional. The three brothers Trapp played the three brothers Gray (Claude, Reginald and Everard), resulting in a clean sweep for the Grays.

On the outbreak of war he enlisted with the Niblick Brigade serving in France from where he was invalided home and later transferred to the Royal Engineers as a sapper.

After the war he was appointed professional to the Wakefield GC in Yorkshire in April 1919. The Yorkshire Union of Professional Golfers instituted a medal foursomes competition at their AGM in Leeds in 1921 and Trapp and his partner, J C Johnston of Halifax, were the first winners though the account of the event describes a farce in the mud with accomplished professionals five putting on some greens. He played against stiff competition in a 36 hole tournament here against J H Taylor, Sandy Herd and J W Gaudin in June 1922. He finished last but without disgracing himself in distinguished company. In 1923 he moved across the county to become professional at Moor Allerton.

He left Yorkshire at the end of the 1925 season and began 1926 at Oxley Park in Wolverhampton qualifying for the £1200 Daily Mail tournament in April of that year.

In December 1928 he took over as professional at Romford following the death of James Paxton and remained here until the end of 1934 when he became professional at Upminster. He seems to have remained relatively competitive in the qualifying tournaments for big events throughout the 1930s and at some point was Essex professional champion. He was still professional at Upminster in June 1940 playing in a charity tournament to raise funds for the Red Cross and the 1939 register shows son Paul, living with his parents at home in Upminster and engaged in aircraft assembly.

I have rather lost track of him after the Second World War but he was professional at Churston in Devon sometime in the 1950s, with his grandson, Paul’s son, Vaughan Trapp, as his assistant, and came top of the 65-69 age group in the Teacher Seniors competition at Royal Mid-Surrey in 1959 and competed in the fourball contest at the Devon Professional Golfers’ Alliance the previous year. Paul was also a professional golfer after the war at Trentham Park and won the North Staffordshire Professional championship in 1949 and seems to have taken over from his father at Churston around 1960.

Stanley died in Devon on 28 February 1962.

After Stanley's death, Paul and family emigrated to Canada, with Paul becoming professional at the Victoria GC in British Columbia and Vaughan his assistant. Vaughan went on to have a successful career playing on the Canadian tour until 1970 then went across the border to be professional at the Peninsula Golf and Country Club in Washington state and from there to the Dungeness G&CC in 1976. Though no longer being a tour player he was state professional champion that season. Sadly despite a Coast Guard helicopter flying him to hospital in Seattle he died from renal failure in November of that year, aged only 32.

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