William Gilbert van Tassel Sutphen (1861–1945) was an American playwright, librettist, novelist, and editor, an authority and author of publications on golf, and, eventually, an Episcopalian minister. Sutphen was born in Philadelphia on 11 May 1861. His parents were the Rev. Morris Crater Sutphen and Eleanor (Brush) Sutphen. He went to Princeton University and graduated in 1882. Sutphen was the first editor of Golf magazine, published by Harper Brothers. He also coined the term "the 19th hole". He gave the library at Princeton a collection of 75 books about golf.