Jim Barnes (golfer)

Barnes was born on April 8, 1886, in Lelant, Cornwall. Barnes was like many golfers of his era, and worked as a caddie and a club-maker's apprentice while growing up.

As a young adult, Barnes moved to the United States. However, he never became an American citizen. In 1906, he turned professional. He arrived in San Francisco, and later worked in Vancouver, British Columbia; Spokane, Washington; and Tacoma, Washington, and then at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs.^[2] From 1914 to 1917 Jim was the head golf professional at Whitemarsh Valley Country Club, a classic George Thomas design just outside of Philadelphia. While there, Jim won the inaugural PGA Championship in 1916. In 1917 Jim won the Philadelphia Open Championship and the Western Open. In 1919 he won his second consecutive PGA Championship. The Championship was not contested in 1917 and 1918 because of the war.

From 1923 to 1926, he was resident professional at the Temple Terrace Golf and Country Club in Temple Terrace, Florida, which hosted the 1925 Florida Open (dubbed "The Greatest Field of Golfers Ever to Play in Florida"), as well as the 1926 Florida Open with over one hundred contestants and a $5,000 cash prize. In 1925–26 his good friend and fellow golfer Fred McLeod wintered with him, and they worked with James Kelly Thomson from North Berwick.^{[citation needed]}

He won nine majors, with four of them the modern professional majors. Many golfers and media covering the sport at the time, according to golf journalist Dan Jenkins, the Western Open and North and South Open titles he won at the time were declared majors.^[3]

• PGA Championship: 1916, 1919
• U.S. Open: 1921
• The Open Championship: 1925^[4]
• Western Open: 1914, 1917, 1919
• North and South Open: 1916, 1919

Barnes' two PGA titles were the first in the event; there was no tournament in 1917 or 1918 because of World War I. His winning margin in the 1921 U.S. Open was nine strokes, a record which was not broken until Tiger Woods won by 15 strokes in 2000.

Barnes was one of the most prolific tournament winners of the first few seasons of the PGA Tour, which was also founded in 1916. He won 22 times on the tour in total. He led the tournament winners list in four seasons: 1916 with three, 1917 with two (shared with Mike Brady), 1919 with five and 1921 with four. His win in the 1937 Long Island Open marked the first PGA Tour win by a player past his 50th birthday.

Barnes also authored several books on golf technique. Perhaps his most important and groundbreaking contribution was his 200 plus page book, Picture Analysis of Golf Strokes, published in 1919. The hundreds of photos demonstrating the proper techniques were all taken on the grounds of Whitemarsh Valley Country Club.

Barnes was also known as "Long Jim" for his height of 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m).

Late in life, Barnes moved west to the San Francisco Bay Area where he resided for many years. He died at his home in East Orange, New Jersey.^[5] He is buried in Orange's Rosedale Cemetery.^[6]

• In 1940, Barnes was honored as one of the 12 golfers to be inducted in the PGA's inaugural Hall of Fame.
• In 1989, he was posthumously inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.^[7]

• List of golfers with most PGA Tour wins
• List of men's major championships winning golfers