The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-12-29
A NEW YEAR
GAME OF GOLF.
A "GOlf Syndicate" Has Been Es-
tablished for a Series Of
Mid-Winter Games.
NEW THING FOR sPORTSMEN.

compelled to put aside the various &C
cessories of their favorite outdoor
amusemenIs as most Americans are
in the habit of doing in the months
that elapse from November to April.
On the contrary, our British cousins
put their shot guns or tennis rackets
or caddie bags, along with themselves,
into train for some channel port
and HE them across that strip OF
tumbling water to the Continent where
they may pursue their hobby outdoors
in myriad of continental winter re-
sorts and even as far south as Tan
giers or Cairo.
The sun never sets, it is England's
proudest boast, on British soil; and it
may be as truly said that the same
Iurn1nEry never warns a corner or
the earth where some dozen or more
of her adventurous sons are not indus
triously playing golf or tending wickets,
much as if they were home on the
green turf of their native shires.
In America, however, until recent
years, we have not had leisure for out
door sports before Decoration Day or
after Labor Day. But this state OF al
fairs has changed considerably of late
and we are getting to be almost as con-
slant in our devotion to outdoor games
as any Englishman that ever boWled
out an adversary under the protection
of the cross of St. George.
OWE ALL TO GOLF.
To no single sport can this change
be so justly attributed as to the an
Gent game of golf which has fallen
upon the old and the young alike and
seems to bless all alike by its health
giving qualities. But golf is the most
outdoor of all outdoor games, and the
severe billiards. that have swept over
the Northern States within the last
few weeks have compelled the resident
golfers to either hang up their caddie
bags and their clubs for the winter,
or else to look about them for fresh
handicaps and tournaments new under
warmer skies. To the vigorous wealth
er, perhaps, we doubtless owe the great
idea of a ''golfng syndicate"
The phrase golf syndicate" falls
rather harshly on the ear; but, like
Wagnerian music, it is not as bad as
1t sounds. A golf indicate" promises
to be about the same thing as the
National circuit in baseball. And it
really has some excellent features and
promises to be an innovation in winter
golf playing as any one who has ever
driven a new ball into a snow bunker
will be forced to admit.
Golfers are already making plans
for winter trips away from home, and
one of the CHEZ requisites of a good
time is golf on good links and plenty
of it. This is where the syndicate plan
comes in. Several are already in the
air, and one or two have materialized
sufficiently to make their ultimate sue
cess certain. Out in southern Califor-
r
known golf clubs have organized
leagues with the hope of proving more
attractive to visiting players, and
though both are in the incipient stage
it seems more than likely that they
will be drawing card to Northern
golfers.
CALIFORNIA GOLF.
California is always a popular re-
sort with players during the cold
and there are scores of we'll
organized golf clubs there to which
visit may be made. But the chief
difficulty lies in the expense of such a
tour, for few men care to join a club
merely for the sake of playing over
its course a few days, and it is to OBJ
viate this difficulty that the syndicate
is formed.
The clubs which join the syndicate
maintain their separate organization,
while at the same time issuing a mem
ber's ticket for the season, which al
lows the subscriber to play on any one
of the allied links without an addi-
tional fee. This is a tremendous ad-
vantage to the transient visitor, and
at the same time benefits the various
clubs in the league
The Southern syndicate is COMPOSED
of several prominent clubs in Florida
together with the Nassau links in the
Bahamas.
The syndicate comprises the st. Au-
gustine, Ormond, Palm Beach, Miami
e-presidents at each place and gen
eraI officers presiding over all.
The programme of prizes for the
winter has just been arranged and is
most attractive. There is to be a sea
sons championship at each course
with silver trophy cups for the win
ners. The contests VIII be open to men
and women and will, of course, be
limited strictly to amateurs. There
will also be a monthly trophy at each
links for men and women, a weekly
trophy for men and women. at least
one special handicap trophy, for which
the conditions will be announced later
and a winter championship cup for
Pacific coast syndicate will present
equally attractive features.
Meanwhile, the Northern golfers
who are compelled to stay at home,
are either playing over what are known
as the winter courses" which are con-
shorter than the regular
courses, or planning improvements in
their links already established
There is scarcely a golf club in the
Northern States which is not plan
ming some Improvement, and many of
them are making great additions or al
terations. The most important of these
in the East are at the st. Andrews's
links, near New York, where it is ex-
pected the amateur championship will
be held next year. The Shinnecock
Hills Golf Club-the home club of Miss
Beatrix HOyt, the champion-is also
making a large addition to it's links in
the hope of having the next women's
tournament held there.
Those sporting pessimists who pre-
dfcted the downfall of golf at the end
of the past season, and the beginning
of a revival of crOquet playing, do not
seem to have been very happy in their
predictions. Indoor instruction in golf
playing is hourishing in most of the
big cities and elaborate devices are
a game as an indoor substitute when
the links are covered with snow. This
indoor game is known as short golf
and is reported to have become popu-
lar in England and Scotland, though
how it will succeed here it remains
this sea son fO tell