Antique Golf Clubs from Scotland: Clubmakers

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Clubmakers

Gordon Wright
Aberdeen/Chicago

Gordon Shirreffs Wright was born in Aberdeen on 15 July 1893, a son of Andrew Wright, a labourer in the gas works, and his wife Jessie Ann Wright née Shireffs. The family lived at 2 Farmers Hall, in Rosemount, and, on the 1901 census, Gordon is living there with his parents, older brother, Andrew, and two younger sisters.

It was a golfing family. He was, with his father Andrew, who was runner up in the Aberdeen Links Championship in 1919, and brothers Andrew and John, a member of the Northern Club in Aberdeen. However, it was after he was invalided out of the army with wounds during the First World War that he learned clubmaking.

He spent some time as professional and coach at the Fraserburgh club before becoming an assistant to Alex Marling at Balgownie. There is a record of him playing an exhibition foursomes match in 1920 with another Balgownie assistant, Robbie Mearns jnr, against Tom Jamieson, the Aberdeen Links professional, and a good amateur from the Northern Club of which they were all members. The purpose seems to have been to collect a purse for Jamieson in recognition by the club of his good play that season.

The following February it was announced he had been appointed assistant at the Glenview Country Club in Illinois. He sailed on the Celtic from Liverpool arriving in New York on 25 March 1921. His stated destination was a friend, Joseph Roseman, at the Westmoreland Country Club.

The next year he was at Evanston and playing in US Open qualifying at the Glencoe CC in Skokie, IL. He may have subsequently spent some time without a club, newspaper reports tagging his affiliation as Chicago, or it may have been lazy journalism, but at some point in 1924 he was assistant professional to Roseman at the Westmoreland Country Club and came second in the competition for assistants at the Illinois Open at Glen Flora, Waukegan.

In 1925 he became full professional at the Bunker Hill country club in Niles, IL, and the club was trying to organise a foursome exhibition match with Walter Hagen, Jock Hutchison and Laurie Ayton. This happened, without Hagen, Bill Mehlhorn playing with Wright against the other two in July of that year. Two years later, in August 1927, there was another foursome match played, with Hutchison and Eddie Loos playing against Chick Evans and Al Espinosa. Sadly, the reason this time was as a benefit with the proceeds going to Gordon Wright who ‘is making a gallant fight for his health in Albuquerque, NM’.

It appears he made some sort of recovery as he played in the qualifying rounds of the $10,000 Los Angeles Open in January 1928. Still with the generic affiliation of “Chicago” he played in the 1929 Chicago district qualifier for the US Open but did not get through.

This is the last record I have found of him in tournament golf. The Los Angeles Times reported in October 1931 that, after coming to the state for several winters, Wright had decided to settle permanently in Southern California. It noted he was associated with Dyas sports shop (which became a department store) and, indeed, in early 1932 there were advertisements for golf lessons from him at the 7th and Olive store. Sadly, that same year the store went into receivership and bankruptcy the following year. On 30 October of that year, Wright was admitted to the Soldiers’ Home in Sawtelle and died there exactly one year later ‘as the result of wounds suffered in the world war’. The USPGA held special services for him and, although his wishes were that his remains be returned to Aberdeen, it seems he was buried in Los Angeles National Cemetery.

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