Gilbert Nicholls: English Pro Influenced Early U.S. Golf
Full name: Gilbert Ernest Nicholls
Date of birth: July 23, 1878
Place of birth: Dover, Kent, England
Date and place of death: January 17, 1950, in Great Neck, Long Island, New York
Also known as: He is often called "Gil Nicholls" in golf books both old and recent, as well as sometimes in golf news coverage from his area. And it is not uncommon to find his last name misspelled with just one "L" ("Nichols").
His Biggest Wins
Nicholls was winning tournaments well before the PGA Tour existed (its origins date to 1916). But today's tour counts these five wins by Nicholls as official PGA Tour wins:- 1917 International Four-Ball
- 1921 New England Open
- 1922 New England Pro Golfers Open
- 1924 Maine Open
- 1927 Florida West Coast Open
- 1904 Palm Beach Open
- 1907 New York Golf Club Tournament
- 1909 Philadelphia Open
- 1911 Metropolitan Open
- 1911 Florida Open
- 1911 North and South Open
- 1912 Philadelphia Open
- 1914 North and South Open
- 1915 Metropolitan Open
- 1915 Shawnee Open
In the Majors
Nicholls played in the British Open just once (t13 in 1924) and the PGA Championship just once (round of 64, 1922). But he had an extensive record in the U.S. Open, including two second-place finishes.Nicholls first played in the U.S. Open in 1898, and last in 1929. In-between, his finishes included eight Top 10s, five of them in the Top 5.
He finished runner-up in the 1904 U.S. Open. Nicholls began the final round six shots off the lead, scored 73 (one of the best scores of the final round), and finished five behind winner Willie Anderson in solo second.
In the 1907 U.S. Open, Nicholls was one off the lead after the third round. In the final round he scored 79, and Alex Ross, with a 76, passed him by to win. Nicholls again finished solo second, this time two strokes behind.
Nicholls finished eighth or better in the U.S. Open each year from 1904 to 1907, tied for fifth in both 1910 and 1911, tied 10th in 1915, and, in his last Top 10 finish, shared fourth in the 1916 U.S. Open.
Nicholls also once held the U.S. Open 18-hole scoring record. In the third round of the 1902 U.S. Open, in which he finished tied 18th, Nicholls scored 73. That was the best-ever score in a U.S. Open to that point, and until Willie Anderson and Alex Campbell recorded the first 72s in 1904.
More About Gilbert Nicholls
Gil Nicholls was born in England, but arrived in the United States in 1897, a couple years after his brother Bernard (Ben) Nicholls had immigrated. Gilbert was 18 years old and he spent the rest of his life in America.The Nicholls brothers were both prominent pros in the early American golf scene, and Bernard himself recorded five Top 10 finishes in the U.S. Open.
In 1898, in Boston, the Nicholls brothers established what, the New York Times wrote in its 1950 obituary for Gilbert, "is believed to have been the first golf school in the United States." Most golf historians today qualify that, however, by calling it "one of the earliest if not first" golf schools in America.
Gilbert made his U.S. Open debut that year (1898), and four years later he broke the U.S. Open's 18-hole scoring record with the tournament's first round of 73. His first tournament win of note was in the 1904 Palm Beach Open.
Gil Nicholls established another scoring first in a 72-hole tournament played at New York's Van Cortlandt Park golf course in 1907. In the third round, Nicholls scored 69 — the first sub-70 score ever on that golf course. He then matched the record in the final round to win the tournament.
Nicholls won the first of his two Philadelphia Open titles in 1909.
On October 23, 1910, Nicholls partnered Willie Anderson (the golfer who beat him in the 1904 U.S. Open) against two accomplished amateurs, William C. Fownes and Eban Byers. The 36-hole exhibition match was at Allegheny Country Club in Sewickley, Pennsylvania. The amateurs were 2-up at lunch but Nicholls/Anderson tied it by the 35th hole. On the last hole, though, Byers chipped in from just off the green to win the match for the amateurs. Anderson, the first 4-time winner of the U.S. Open, had noticeably tired over the final few holes and after the match was completely spent. He died just two days later of causes that are still uncertain today.
Exhibition matches were a common way to make extra money in those days. The Nicholls brothers frequently partnered for such matches. One example was a 1913 match at Whitemarsh Country Club in Philadelphia. It was the very first match played by English stars Harry Vardon and Ted Ray, one day after they arrived in New York to begin an American tour. Vardon/Ray defeated the Nicholls brothers by a 5-and-4 score that day.
Nicholls put on another display of (for the times) very low scoring in the 1911 Metropolitan Open. After the first two rounds, Nicholls and Johnny McDermott were tied at 144. Then Nicholls scored 71-66 over the final rounds to win on 281. The New York Times reported that Nicholls had broken "all records with the hitherto unheard-of score of 281 for seventy-two holes." His victory, the first of two for him in The Met, was by eight over runner-up Jack Hobens.
Nicholls also had the first of his two victories in the North & South Open in 1911, after having finished runner-up in 1909 and 1910. And in 1912 he beat McDermott in a playoff for his second Philadelphia Open crown.
The PGA of America was created in 1916, leading that year to a more unified circuit of pro golf tournaments that eventually became known as the PGA Tour. And Nicholls was part of a 7-man group that drafted the PGA of America constitution, helping establish polices, procedures and programs for club professionals in the U.S.
The following year Nicholls won the 1917 International Four-Ball, the first of five victories that are classed today as official PGA Tour wins. Those also included two New England Pro Championships (1921 and 1922), and his last significant pro victory at the 1927 Florida West Coast Open.
The PGA Tour's stats show Nicholls with 26 starts in tournaments recognized today as official tour events (he played many, many more that were not then or now considered part of the tour). In those 26 starts, Nicholls had five wins, one third-place finish and 10 total Top 10 finishes.
Among his runner-up finishes not already mentioned were these: in the 1907 Massachusetts Open (lost playoff to Alex Ross), second to Alex Smith in the 1909 Metropolitan Open, and second to Tom McNamara in the 1912 Met Open.
Nicholls served as professional at many clubs over the years, including at Woodland Golf Club in Boston, at Wilmington (Del.) Country Club, St. Louis (Mo). Country Club, Denver (Colo.) Country Club and Great Neck Golf Club on Long Island in New York.
He was 71 years old at the time of his death in 1950. Nicholls died at his home on Deepdale Golf Club in Great Neck, where he had been pro since 1923. The New York Times' obituary noted that Nicholls "had been teaching the game to Americans for more than fifty years."
Gilbert and his brother Bernard ran the Nicholls Brothers equipment company for many years, making clubs and also an early golf training aid called the Nichols Bros. Golf Exerciser ("just a few minutes every morning and night" to build strength and add yards). Later, Gilbert teamed with another pro to create a new wooden shaft made, according to PGA historian Pete Trenham, "of laminated strips of bamboo."
"The bamboo laminated shafts were an improvement over hickory," Trenham wrote. "The shafts could be manufactured with a more consistent flex and weight."
In 1924, Joe Kirkwood won three consecutive PGA Tour events playing with Nicholls' bamboo shafts, including the Corpus Christi Open by 16 shots — then and now the PGA Tour record for largest margin of victory.
Unfortunately for Nicholls and his partner, steel shafts were in the very early stages of development and soon rendered any innovations in wood shafts moot.
Sources:
(Book titles are affiliate links; commissions earned)
Brenner, Morgan. The Majors of Golf, Volume 2, 2009, McFarland and Company.
Burgess, Charles D. Golf Links: Chay Burgess, Francis Ouimet and the Bringing of Golf to America, 2017, McFarland & Co.
Gelbert, Doug. The Great Delaware Sports Book, 1995, Cruden Bay Books.
Gibson, Nevin H. The Encyclopedia of Golf, 1964, A.S. Barnes and Company.
Metropolitan Golf Association. Hall of Champions, Gil Nicholls - 1911 Englewood, https://mgahonors.org/honorees/gil-nichols-1911-englewood/.
The New York Times. "Defeat for Travis," February 24, 1904.
The New York Times. "New Golf Record on Local Links," August 2, 1907, https://www.nytimes.com/1907/08/02/archives/new-golf-record-on-local-links-gilbert-nicholls-plays-a-round-in-69.html.
The New York Times. "Gil Nicholls," January 18, 1950, https://www.nytimes.com/1950/01/18/archives/gil-nicholls.html.
PGATour.com. Players, Gil Nicholas, Career Stats, https://www.pgatour.com/player/17419/gil-nichols.
Sommers, Robert T. Golf Anecdotes, 1995, Oxford University Press.
Trenham, Pete. "The best golf shaft of the mid 1920s failed," December 8, 2023, https://trenhamgolfhistory.org/2023/12/08/the-best-golf-shaft-of-the-mid-1920s-failed/.
Vardon, Harry. The Complete Golfer, 1914, Doubleday, Page & Co.
The Wilmington (Del.) News Journal. "Gil Nicholls Dies; Former WCC Pro," January 20, 1950.
