Evening star., 1895-08-12
THE SPELL OF GOLF
A Game Which Makes You m En-.
thusiast
RevOlutionixing the Habits Of Inert
Society Other
Benefits.
Mary Abbot In Chicago Times Herald


That the game of golf has driven" and
"lofted" and 'putted" its winding way in
to the inmost hearts of it's votaries 1t 10
absurd to deny. Wherever golf is played
nothing else is thought of, talked about or
allowed to interfere with the fervid follow
Ing OF that sport. Tennis at its hottest
height. base ball when 1t was strictly
fashionable. We're tame and ufeless in in
terest If more demonstrative in action,
than the craze for golf. And even the ar
dent bicycler has lucid moments when It
is possible to devote few stray energies to
something besides the eternal wheel. But
golf, when it gets you, grips hard and will
not let go. .''
To begin with. 1t is one of those things
which do not commit you to anything
definitely damaging, at the start. That is
now you get led into 1t. You can get your
eye put out at golf, IL you stand too near
the player. to be sure; but SO you can be
run over at a street corner, through care
lessness. 49,.
Learning the Game.
You can. with common clothes on Ind q
borrowed club or two. try your hand at a
drive; and as golf is noted for the luck
with which 1t satanically crowns its be-
ginners. as a lure, 1t is safe to wager that
you make up your mind, after one round.
to learn the game. Then, after you have
had your boot-soles stuffed with hobnails
and taken lesson, you are ashamed to
go back; you pass through season of
dire discouragement times when you are
disposed to revile the foolish SPORT" then
new impetus is born, fresh encourage
ment comes. and behold you are the proud
possessor of a ''score," with which you do
and such of your friends as are not regal
Ing you with theirs at the same time; and
you are full-fiedged, absorbed, eager and
Ito non-players-tedious golfer.
The etiquette of the game is rather sti-
fling. especially at a match. Spectators are
allowed, as a concession, to follow the
players; but they are not supposed TO
speak word for fear Of disconcerting
them To see a stalwart nan in deep
thought, with a ball about as big as
china alley perched on an ant-hill before
him, while breathless crowd stands, rlute
as mourners. at a respectful distance, is,
If you have not a proper reverence for the
game, slightly amusing.
Described to Death.
Gylt mas been described TO Death: the
history of the game has beer written and
rewritten; books have been issued, articles
published, the jokes about it have been
passed along; at one stage or another you
hear that some Englishman described golf
as a game in which little balls were sent
into little holes with implements as ILL
suited as possible to the purpose" and
that a cockney, in describing it, said: you
sets little ball on a little ill; you its it
to ELL and then you goes after it, you
hear learned discussions on the relative
merits of "brassies" ard "cleeks' for GER
tain subtleties of situation, but nobody who
has not been over the, course with the
players or played himself and caught she
spirit of the game-seen for himself that
cool judgment, steady nerve and keen eye
are required.in addition to knack andforce-
knows the first thing about it, As culti-
yator of patience, kindness cat least out
ward show of these virtues, in face of
irritating circums stances unforeseen, it has
10 equal; it is healthful. inspiring and as
far from tame as any game can be, ell
though DIS the interest is not concentrated
and does not come with rush. it is some-
times thought to be too long drawn out.
Skill Tells.
Now, although accident, incident ner-
vousness or fiuke may upset the finest call
culations or 'iafaat the dearest hopes CEN
tered in a champion. it is astonishing how,
in a game of such apparently diffused ener-
gies, skill tells in the long run, and the
good players are absolutely weeded out
from the bad. With the varieties of hum
meclls holes, fences, ponds, trees, uphill.
downlill and ali other 1Seographtcaf dis
the mselveS almost without deviation. Luck
enters in, consi iering the possibilities, less
than one might suppose, and two men ac-
custor.ed to playing on the same ground
together, starting equal, will tie each other
nearly every time.
Golf is game that will never become
popular, in the big sense, on account of the
space required, the pa, Grhernalia and the
time. 1t will never be vulgarized on ac-
count of the impossibility of enlisting the
sympathies of crowd. But it is revolu-
tionizing the habits of inert society and
making cut-of-door exercise. and lots OF it,
a necessity for many who have hardly
known what it was to walk five miles or
spend three hours in the sun.