Jack White in 1913 © Digitalsport UK

At the age of sixteen, White finished third in a local pro tournament, and was appointed professional for a year at York Golf Club, a winter post he combined with being professional at North Berwick. It was from his home town that he entered his first championship at Muirfield in 1892, when he finished eleventh on 319. This was the first championship to be played over 72 holes.

White was also a stuffy matchplayer and as a youngster would not think twice about challenging the best players of the day. Although he did not win as much money as others, the brag matches made him into a tough aggressive competitor.

Jack White was the closest the Honourable Company ever came to appointing a professional at Muirfield.

In 1893 at Prestwick he again occupied eleventh place on 335. He was professional for two years at Newmarket on the Worlington course, then Mitcham for two years. In 1898 when he was thirteenth in the championship at Prestwick, White was professional at Seaforth in East Sussex, and when he stood second to Harry Vardon at Sandwich in 1899, winning £20, he again entered from Seaforth.

Jack White continued the tradition of the Challenge Matches after Kirkaldy, Sayers and Park had passed their peak in 1899. When the new breed of professional like Vardon, Braid and Taylor arrived the exhibition matches became more popular, and by 1905 the team matches between Scotland and England attracted the backers.

On that occasion White created a record for the course (75), which stood for many years. He was fourth at St. Andrews in 1900, sixth at Muirfield in 1901, twelfth at Hoylake in 1902, and third the following year at Prestwick with 308. The weakest part of White's game was his wooden club play which was less reliable and not as long as his contemporaries.
White was a sound iron player, but it was his outstanding quality as a putter which stood him apart. He used a blade putter, and when faced with a short left to right, or right to left breaking putt, he would hook the ball off the toe of the putter, hitting it straight. A technic first used by Willie Dunn Sen.

In 1902, Jack White was appointed professional at the new Sunningdale course, where he remained for over 25 years. It was from there he entered the 1904 Open at Royal St. George's, which that year attracted 144 competitors, and an extra day was required. The Open started on Wednesday and it took until 7 o'clock in the evening before the first round was completed. The second round was played on Thursday, with the final two rounds on Friday. At that championship, White scored progressively lower rounds-80, 75, 72 and 69-and his aggregate of 296, was the first time the 300 barrier was broken in the event.

During that Open, James Braid was the first player to break 70 when he scored 69 in the third round. However Jack White matched that in the final round to win by one stroke. Braid had to settle for a share of second place with J.H. Taylor, who in the fourth round established a new championship record 68. White received the gold medal and 50 pounds in prize money.

Pefferside Cottage where Jack White was born in 1873   © Digitalsport UK

Following his victory, White received over 300 letters and telegrams, including one from his former Parish Church Sunday School teacher, the Rev. John Kerr at Dirleton. When White finished second to Vardon at Sandwich in 1899, he presented Kerr with the driver he had used, and again after his Open triumph, he presented Kerr with the driver. Incidentally Jack White's wife was a member of the Dirleton Parish Church Choir when they married. Sunningdale marked his Open victory by giving him a pay raise, a rent-free cottage and 75 pounds.

During Jack White's time, Sunningdale was the venue for the News of the World Match Play tournament from 1903 and the blue ribbon amateur event - the Golf Illustrated Gold Vase from 1910. White employed six club makers and one of his apprentices Maurice Bowyer later established his own business, Castle Golf Equipment Co. in south-east London. Bowyer is recognised as perhaps the last of the genuine golf club innovators. Even in his retirement he continued working with Sir Henry Cotton on new designs.

Jack White was the nephew of Ben Sayers and Davie Grant, and his brother-in-law, Wilfred Thomson was professional at the Hermitage County Club in Virginia. Walter Travis, the first overseas golfer to win the British Amateur Championship in 1904, co-authored a book with Jack on ' the game within a game' called The Art of Putting. Australian born Walter Travis won the British title using a centre-shafted putter, which was subsequently banned for many years. He also won the U.S. Amateur Championship three times, and was a contemporary of Dorothy Campbell from North Berwick.

White was unable to capitalise on his Open triumph due to ill-health, missing out on many invitations to play in sponsored money matches. He represented Scotland against England from 1903 until 1913. In 1905, Jack White was amongst a group of professionals including Sandy Herd, Andrew Kirkaldy, Rowland Jones and Tom Vardon who were invited to San Pedro de Los Pinos in Mexico to play a series of exhibition matches. The President of the Mexican Country Club wanted to promote winter golf in the region, and attract the American's over the border.

In January 1906 the group sailed the Atlantic and took a special train journey to Mexico. The event was won by Willie Smith with Willie Anderson second and Sandy Herd third. At that time, Willie Smith from Carnoustie, a former US Open Champion, was the professional at the Mexican Country Club, where in 1915 he was killed, when the clubhouse was blown up during the Mexican Revolution.

In 1914, Jack White took part in a week long indoor exhibition at Harrod's in London with Ted Ray, George Duncan and Harry Vardon. This was the first of numerous department stores using demonstrations and free lessons to sell their sports merchandise. Eventually Jack White returned to Gullane where he started a club making business in a two storey building (now demolished) in Goose Green Mews. One of his apprentices, Hugh Watt became professional at Barnton, before being appointed to Gullane Golf Club. White opened a successful golf equipment shop at 2 Rosebery Place and for many years gave evening class lessons on the art of club making which were very popular.

In 1928, Jack White asked the Honourable Company for permission to open a professional shop at Muirfield. This was granted, but to avoid conflict with the clubmaster who had previously sold golf balls to the members, White did not pursue the matter. In 1938, he was appointed professional and starter to the newly opened course at Monktonhall (Musselburgh Golf Club). Jack White died in 1949, and remains the only East Lothian golfer to have won the Open Championship. There are three fine examples of his clubmaking skills in the British Museum of Golf,including a mashie-niblick c 1904; a jigger c 1915 ; and a mid-iron c 1935.