Thomas Hodge

Hodge the sportsman Hodge was an avid sportsman who excelled at cricket, boxing, running, and racquet sports. He was a fine rifle marksman, one of the best in Britain, and his skills on a billiards table were exceptional.

In 1862 he came second and won the silver Bombay Medal with 97. Eleven years later, in 1873, he once again placed second with a score of 99 and was awarded the Bombay Medal.

Later life

In the early 1890s illustrated books had become commonplace. Hodge knew dozens of golfers and took the time to paint pictures of them, including work done for golf volumes published by the Badminton Library. (1890), as well as Hutchinson's The Book of Golf and Golfers (1900) with numerous plates and illustrations. Many of his paintings were miniatures that he would, upon completion, gift to the golfer who was the subject of the work.

Some of Hodge's paintings have brought good sums at auction. In the case of a pen and monochrome watercolor depicting J. O. Fairlie (a mentor to Old Tom Morris), the hammer price at an 8 July 1999 Christie's auction in London, South Kensington, was $13,386 (£8,050).

Hodge's painting was not limited to just golf subjects. When he went on vacations abroad he always brought along his paints and canvases and produced a number of scenic plein air landscape and seascape paintings. After a prolific career as a painter of golf genre subjects in and around the St Andrews area, he became known as "the golf artist of St Andrews".

Gallery of Hodge works (selective)