James Alexander Barclay (October 29, 1923 – December 3, 2011) was a Scottish Canadian oil industry engineer (Applied Chemistry) and executive, golfer, and golf historian.
He graduated from Glasgow University in Applied Chemistry, and spent his career working in the oil industry, eventually reaching the vice-president level.
He became interested in Canadian golf history, and wrote several magazine articles on that subject.
In 1992, Barclay wrote Golf in Canada: A History, a 626-page volume which is the most comprehensive work on the subject published to date.
In 2010 he received the Dick Grimm Award from the Golf Journalists Association of Canada.