The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-07-29
THE PARACHUTE GOLF BALL.
And other devices of Convenience
for Golfers who Want to Practice

for Golfers who Want to Practice
From the New York Sun.
What every beginner of golf pines par
ticularly to do is to drive well. He wants
to swat that small white ball fair in the
center and watch it sail over the tops of
a couple of trees and land somewhere be-
tween $50 and 200 yards away. When he
swipes with all his strength there is in
him and directs an eager eye at the dim
distance whittier he thinks the ball ought
to be Winging its way he commonly falls
to see it there and retractS his gaze TO
find that he has either missed the globe
altogether or has hit it a nigging little
poke that sends it rolling five yards off to
one side After repeating this interesting
but unsatisfactory experiment at every
tee, he resolves that what he needs is
practice, and he deyotes his next spare
couple of hours to learning to hit the ball.
AS soon as he begins to hit it he finds that
many of the balls take untraceable
courses. which involves a considerable out
lay for new ones; also that the process Of
chasing the Grant spheres entails much
wearisome footwork. Then he looks about
for a ball to practice with that won't go
far when he hits it squarely.
A new golf invention has recently come
official name, but is generally called the
parachute ball, and is contrived with great
ingenuity. An ordinary golf ball is pierre
ed through the center. A piece of strong
cord is run through the hole and knotted
on the further side so that il cannot slip
out To the end of the cord which is
some eight feet long, is made fast small
parachute of cloth. the favorite style be
ing in some bright-colored silk. The para
chute is laid on the ground, the ball is
teed and the driver takes his position. He
hits the ball squarely; it starts out at the
usual rate of speed until it comes to the
end of the cord, when the parachute rises
from the ground and acts as a brake by
catching the air in its distended concaVity.
1t is a very powerful stroke indeed that
will carry a ball provided with one of these
contrivances more than very few yards
Instead of having TO chase all over the
countryside for the ball, the player re-
trieves in a few steps and does IL over
again. The parachute should be laid on
the ground well to the sideTof the tee. To
stretch it out directly 10 the rear is dan
gerous, as 1t is likely to remove the ear
of the operator in passing. The average
parachute is not more than six or seven
inches in diameter when distended, and
may be crumpled up and put In the pocket
The new invention has become quite pop
ular for backyard driving practice
Several other inventions designed for
the same purpose have preceded the para
chute bali, the best known OF which is a
ball fastened to a stake firmly set in the
ground. When the ball is struck it whirls
around the stake. Some of these stakes
are furnished with indicators supposed to
show how far the ball would have tray
eled had it been free. The main trouble
with this method is that II the stake lie
loose or the cord too long the spinning
ball produces distressing abrasions upon
the ehins of the players. An ingenious
mode of practice was devised by player
of some note two years ago. He lives
some distance south of here, in a city
where the links are not used In the mid
winter months, consequently he would
get badly out OF practice before the spring
play. His house stands on the bank Of
a large river. The player sent to toy
factory and bought 5000 clay marbles Of
the variety commonly known as mibs or
miggles. but Of a size considerably larger
than the common nib of the youthful
sporting circles. They cost him not more
than 50 or 81. Every day he would go
out in his back yard, tee up a nib, drive
Il out as far as he could into the river,
tee up another, and so on until he thought
that he had had enough practice for that
day. He found his driver didn't stand the
impact of the hard clay, so he had a steel
shoe put on II. In that winter he used up
nearly his entire outfit OF marbles, but
when spring play began he reaped a rich
reward from his investment. for he won
all the early tournaments and didn't fail
10 come first in any OF the long-driNing
contests of the year in that locality.