The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-11-07
IN THE LAND OF .PUT AND TEE" "
1t is Rough Country With Hills and bitches but Pleasant
This Time of Year

you say put" just ordinary put, as
though it were rhymed with foot, you
could never, never be forgiven. An
easy stroke sends you on to the green.
Oh Joy, oh, rapturei You are about to
make your first hoIe-but are you?
The putter is handed to you. The
iron on the putter is fiat, and at right
angles to the stick. The ball lies a
mere yard from the hole. You cannot
miss it You grasp the stick and hit the
sphere, oh, so gently! The ball has
wings 1t flies to the hole, circles
about it. toying with your disposition,
then rolls away six feet the other side
Your partner, from distance of i've
or six yards, has put his ball into the
hole without murmur, and you are be-
ginning to appreciate the deXterity and
hneSSe of the putter.
The next teeing ground is a few yards
away The tiny mound is made again
by the caddie, the ball is placed for the
drive, and you are ready for the mo-
mentous trip to the next hole. 1t is 154
yards away. 1t is terror to the nov
ice; a valley of desOlation to the old
golfer. 1t is full of hazards, and nat
ural ones. Before you the ground drops
like the crater of a volcano In the
crater are clumps of bushes, sand.
streams. Beyond the crater a stone
wall and annoying bushes and trees
are in wait to throw your hopes to the
winds, and force you to coin new words
to express wrath and Indignation.
The third hole. called the far" with
the hills in the distance. is hard to
reach. It is farthest away from the
these two holes is over field. But,
again, there is q stream less than mid
way. The ball is too apt to drop there,
and the caddy must needs 90 down on
hands and knees and fish about for the
| spherOid. A triangular shape hazard
in the shape of an artificial sand
bunker is in the way, too. The green
! should be reached in three strokes, and
| the hole has been done in four. The
/ novice did it in eleven, and he thought
he was lucky.
The fourth 1eA words F,roo7- t,or.
/ down hill all on the field. If the ball
does not go into the brook, the hole
may be done in four
The fifth, road hole short and per
| haps the easiest of the links, 1877 yards.
/ Seven is not bad score for a novice.
The long hole comes next. Three
4 hundred and seventeen yards over
/ stream, sand, bunker and field. The
I brook, being distant 165 yards is Just
I right to catch the drive. If the brook
4 is successfully Carried the only diff
Guilty is the sand bunker, which may
be played over or the ball may be
played to the right to avoid it alto
/ gether
The course is doubling now. You are
| returning toward the clubhouse. BY
the time you are ready for your drive
to the "hilI' hole, 275 yards your en-
thusiasm for golf is unlimited and last
/ ing.
You find it much harder sending the
| ball up the hill than running a mile or
playing a set at tennis. 1t positively
! Will not go. 1t bounds back. It hits
trees. It falls behind clumps of grass.
or, perhaps it will lose itself forever in
| the bushes.
The course is nearly one and one half
miles long. now, add to that the de-
viations from the course and reckon the
distance you walked to suit "ad lib. -
according to suns rays and wear and
tear on disposition. It was five miles
for the novice if it was an inch, in %
strokes and that wasn't half bad for a
beginner
The patient reader may be able now
to appreciate some of the records.