He possessed a knack for lofting his golf ball, a skill that he demonstrated on occasion to the Royal North Devon members.

It is surmised that he was able to hit a shot much higher than was thought possible with the pitching clubs in use at the time.

By the time Allan played in his first Open Championship at Prestwick in 1878, he had already joined his brother John in Devon.

[2] In August 1879, Allan played a series of four matches against Bob Kirk for stakes totalling £200.

In the afternoon, Allan played a match against James Morris, winning 6 & 5.

Jamie Anderson won the Championship for the third successive time, by three strokes from Allan and Andrew Kirkaldy.

[2][5] Allan and Kirkaldy had an 18-hole play-off two days later to decide who took the second and third place prize money.

[7] The first match was played on 30 September at St Andrews the day after the championship playoff.

Allan died on 8 August 1900 in Wimbledon, Surrey after a long illness.