St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1898-05-18
A GOLF COURSE.
The Ground Required and How the Links
Should BE Arranged.

Should BE Arranged.
From so to 80 acres are required for
a full IS hole course, entailing large
initial expense in construction and
heavy permanent charges for up keep,
to say nothing Of the item of rent. But
golf does not absolutely depend upon
how many holes you have. Their play
ing quality is much more important.
Nine or even six good holes will give
better golf than 1S short or Indifferent
ones, and it is never good policy to over
crowd the playing area. Since and 6
are both multiples Of IS, two or three
rounds Of snort course will make up
the perfect number Of IS holes, and it
is for this reason that 7, 10 and -
hole courses are seldom seen. For club
of, say, 30 to 30 members 6 hole course
should be large enough to accommodate
all who may be likely to play at any
one time, but with a longer list of play
ing members it is apt to get blocked. A
hole course will give 100 per cent
more playing, room than one of 6 holes.
1t is not always possible to obtain ex-
elusive control of even the 20 or 40
acres that we will need for our moder-
ate sized course. Ground under cultiva-
ton or in hay is impossible and the
same is true of woodland and hopelessly
rocky fields. There are obvious objec-
tions to the use of land upon which cat
tie are grazed, and the hoof marks are
particularly destructive to the putting
green's On the other hand, sheep pas
ture may be used to excellent advantage,
and indeed sheep are purposely grazed
on many of the big golf courses for their
good offices in keeping the grass short.
Almost any farmer should be willing to
give club the privilege of playing over
his sheep land at very moderate rent
al, and the arrangement generally works
we'll for both parties
Of hazards on the course there are the
natural and the artificial. No hazard
should cost the player more than one
legitimate stroke to extricate his ball
(although he may very possibly take a
large number), and the difficulty should
always be visible one. Blind pits and
the like are unfair traps and should at
least have their position marked by spe.
cial flags. At the seashore the sand
bunker is the natural and traditional
hazard, and its ordinary substitute on
an inland course is the cop bunker, or
simple ditch partially filled with sand.
In making cop bunker the turf should
first be removed from strip of ground
IA to 16 feet wide, the length of the
strip depending upon the distance of the
hazard from tee or putting green. The
farther away from either tee or green
the longer must be the bunker SO that
wildly driven balls may not escape its
clutches The excavation should be from
Is inches to two feet in depth, and the
earth removed should be heaped up in a
mound three to five feet in height, with
the open trench on the near side, and
then banked with the turf to insure its
preservation. The sides should have a
tolerably steep slope to keep the balls
from running over, but they should not
be SO perpendicular as to be unplayable
The trench should now be filed with
fine white sand to within few inches
of the playing level Of the field; other
wise the ditch will either be muddy or
sun baked, and neither condition is IA
vorable to good golf.
In the up keep Of the average inland
course the chief difficulty is to keep the
grass short upon the fair green or course
between the holes. 1t must be short,
or the player will never get decent
brassie lie, and the balls will be lost
with vexatious frequency. If the graz
ing of sheep will not keep the grass
down, it must then be regularly cut, and
preferably by horse lawn mower. The
ordinary hay machine cannot be set to
cut close enough to the ground. -Har-
per's Round Table.