Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1899-01-05
A new YEAR
GAME OF GOLF.
A Golf Syndicate Has Been Es-
tablished for a Series of
Winter Games.
FOLLOWING THE ENGLISH.
Ice and Snow Will Not Keep Them
from the Links.
NEW THING FOR SPORTSMEN.

When the cold rams anu lASdfS
fogs throw a damp pail over the Brit
ish Isles at the end of autumn our
sport-looking British cousins are not
compelled TO put aside the various ac-
cessories of their favorite outdoor
amusemenrs 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 a train for some channel port
and HE them across that strip or
tumbling water to the Continent where
they may pursue their hobby outdoors
in a 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
lumlnGry never warns a corner OF
the earth where some dozen or more
of her adventurous sons are not indus
triously playing golf or tending Wickets,
much as if they We're 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 af-
fairs has changed considerably of late
and we are getting to be almost as con-
slant in our devotion to outdoor games
as any Engiishman 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
L, 1RoII oil; 10 nd
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
it sounds. golf syn 1icate' 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
sufflcIently TO make their ultimate sue
cess certain. Out in southern Califor-
MIA and down in Florida the better
known golf clubs have organized
leagues with the hope of proving more
attractive to visiting players, and
though both are in the incipient stage
will be drawing card to Northern
golfers.
CALIFORNIA GOLF.
California is always a popular re-
sort with players during the cold
weather, and there are scores of we'll
organized golf clubs there to which a
visit may be made. But the chief
difficulty lies in the expense of such
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 tremendous adj
vantage to the transient visitor, and
at the same time benefits the various
clubs in the league
The Southern,
of several prominent clubs in Florida.
together with the Nassau links in the
Bahamas.
The syndicate comprises the ST. An
gustine, Ormond, Palm Beach, Miami
and Nassau Golf Clubs, with local
vice-presidents at each place and gen
eral officers presiding over ALL
Inc 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 Will be open to men
and women and will. of course. be
limited strictly to amateurs There
Will also be 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 winter championship cup for
ooth sexes. The programme of the
Paclhc coast syndicate will present
equally attractive features.
WINTER COURSES"
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-
siderably shorter than the regular
courses, or planning improvements in
their links already established.
There is scarcely 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 C1ub-the home club of Miss
Beatrix Hoyt, the champion-is also
making large addition to it's links in
the hope of having the next women's
championship tournament held there.
Those sporting pessimists who pre-
dicted the downfall of golf at the end
of the past season, and the beginning
of revival of croquet playing, do not
seem to have been very happy in their
predictions. Indoor instruction in golf
playing is f1ourishing in most of the
big cities and elaborate devices are
beginning to be employed to furnish
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 viii succeed here it remains
for this season to tell.
The apparatus can be set up either
in a large hall or upon a fair-sized
lawn or court. 1t is possible to make
tie course as long or as short as is