Vardon began playing golf desultorily while working as a manservant for an affluent amateur golfer on the island of Jersey in the English Channel. Realizing both his own talent and the money that could be made in the game, he turned professional at age 20. He subsequently achieved dominance in the sport, winning the British Open in 1896, 1898, 1899, 1903, 1911, and 1914 and the U.S. Open in 1900. The Vardon Trophy, named for him, is awarded annually by the Professional Golfers' Association of America to the professional with the best scoring average.

Vardon owed his success largely to new methods that revolutionized golf's (golf) medium- and long-distance hitting techniques. The traditional style was to drive the ball at great speed and at a low angle, or trajectory, thereby achieving great distances but sacrificing any real ability to aim and control where the ball would come to a stop. Vardon, by contrast, hit the ball high in the air so that it would land at a steep angle and come to a stop quickly, without excessive bouncing and rolling. This method, along with adjustments in his stance and swing, enabled him to land the ball within quite short distances of the flagstick. Vardon became such a trendsetter that his name was adopted for the Vardon, or overlapping, grip, which he helped popularize but did not actually invent.