Saunton Historic Report 2017-07

William Herbert Fowler
Born Edmonton, England, 28th May 1856. Died London 13th April
1941, aged 85
Arthur Croome, one of Fowler’s design partners once write that:
“Mr W. Herbert Fowler is a true aristocrat if ever there was one...Had
he lived in Paris at the time of the revolution the mob would certainly
have searched the city for a lantern high and strong enough to finish him
off. The marks of your true aristocrat are a firm belief that the best dog
must come out on top eventually, an instinct for discovering the best of
everything and an unshakeable conviction that what he selects as the best
is the best... You will very soon find that his real contempt is reserved for
what is second-rate, ignorant or ignoble. That is why he has so seldom
been proved wrong about golf, though he has given utterance in the most
unequivocal terms to more categorical statements than most people.’
This short quotation says a great deal about the man. He was born into a
wealthy family and matured into a fine sportsman. He concentrated on
cricket and played county cricket and for the MCC before discovering
golf at the relatively old age of 23. Within a decade, he had achieved a
handicap of scratch and was competing in The Amateur where he made
the quarter finals before being soundly thrashed by Harold Hilton and
in The Open where he tied for 26th in 1900. This rapid rise demonstrates
just what an able sportsman he was. He was a large man, measuring a
strong 6’3”.
Around the turn of the century, his brother-in-law, Sir Cosmo Bonsor,
approached him about a possible project south of London which was
later to become Walton Heath, the course that launched his career
as a golf course architect in 1907. By 1913, he had teamed up with
Tom Simpson forming one of the great partnerships in golf course
architecture that lasted until the late 1920s when Fowler was in his 70s.
They worked across Europe and Fowler made several trips to the USA,
designing Eastward Ho! (named after his beloved Westward Ho!) and
Los Angeles Country Club as well as re-designing courses including
creating the 18th hole at Pebble Beach.
Both he and Simpson (pictured in the cartoon to the left) were highly
intelligent and controversial figures. Fowler did not write all that much
about architecture but Simpson certainly did, contributing regularly
to Country Life, Golf Monthly and being featured in numerous other
periodicals. He also co-authored with Joyce and Roger Wethered’s
father one of the great books on golf course architecture called
“The Architectural Side of Golf ”. His clear views were most probably
formulated in discussions with Fowler.
Despite Fowler’s background, his life was dogged by financial difficulties
and it would appear that he was not great at managing money. In 1902,
he was on the brink of bankruptcy when he was forced to sell his estate
in Devon, moving close to London to find gainful employment in the
form of designing Walton Heath. By 1912, things had turned for the
good and he moved into a purpose built house near Walton Heath
designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens. But late in his life, however, his troubles
returned and in 1928 he was declared bankrupt, living out the rest of
his life in accommodation and full board provided by Walton Heath
Golf Club.
“He will plant a difficulty just the least bit nearer
to the hole than any other architect, for the shot is
nearly good, he has little mercy.”
Horace Hutchison
The magnificent 1935 portrait of Fowler by Sir James Gunn RA