In preparation for the next weekend’s U.S. Open at venerable Winged Foot Golf Club in New York, Golf Digest’s Bill Fields weighs in with this entertaining article on former Winged Foot head pro and former Houstonian, the late Claude Harmon (pictured on the left with his old friend, Ben Hogan). Claude — who was a formidable PGA Tour player and teaching professional during his life — was the father of the famous quartet of Harmon brother teaching professionals, Butch, Craig, Dick (see here also) and Billy. In addition to Claude, both Butch and the late Dick Harmon lived in Houston for a substantial part of their lives, and each of the Harmon brothers has been regularly rated among the best golf instructors in the U.S.
For the final decade of his life, Claude was the pro emeritus at Houston’s Lochinvar Golf Club, where Claude’s green jacket from winning the 1948 Master’s Golf Tournament is still displayed prominently in the clubhouse’s trophy case. As noted in Fields’ article, Claude was an extraordinary golf talent who regularly beat Hogan in their daily games during the winter months in Florida and who tied for 3rd in the 1959 U.S. Open at Winged Foot, the best finish by a club pro in the U.S. Open other than Horace Rawlins’ victory in the first U.S. Open in 1895.