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Precociously talented, turning professional at the age of 16 and with an
obsessive drive for perfection that pushed him on to practice for long, aching hours.
Henry Cotton began his golfing interest whilst still a pupil at Alley's Public School.
More privileged than many of the era's golfers but no less deserving of his final recognition amongst the golfing greats.

Although interrupted by the war years his golfing achievements are many.
It does not stop there, however, for Henry Cotton became a household name,
spending thirty years as a weekly newspaper columnist and subsequently becoming the author of many books,
doing his bit on spreading the popularity of the ancient game of golf.
Such was his popularity that he was allowed to top the bill in a variety show with his golf act.

Undoubtedly he would have demonstrated his emphasis of strong hands that
would ' whip' the clubhead square through the ball on impact
whilst standing with a braced left leg and ending with a high finish to his swing.

An outstanding player, supreme showman and popular sportsman he undoubtedly was
but one of his most important contributions to the game he loved was to the golfing professionals for,
by giving to others his own vision of golf as a noble occupation,
he managed to take the professional golfer out of the caddie shed and made them respectable.
Sir Henry Cotton died in 1987 and was belatedly knighted in the same year.