The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-08-21

all other pastimes with the average
 public and its growth in the five years
 it has been played has been wonderful At present there are three golfihg or- ganizations in New Haven and they
 are making important arrangements for
 the furthering of interest in the game. The clubs, are the New Haven golf, the
 New Haven country and the Yale golf.
 The pioneer in the field of golf was
 the New Haven Golf club which was
 organized in 1895. It was incorporated
 at Hartford year ago.
 The start of this organization was
 the outcome of peculiar circumstances.
 In the fall of 1894 when the century -od pastimc of the Scotch was becoming a fad in this country the game was the | chief topic of conversation among the members of the New Haven Lawn club, l then the leading pleasure social organ-
 ization of the city. Agitation for a | links resulted in q committee having l for it's members J. s. Hotchkiss, Joseph T. Whittlesey, William Beebe, John W. Bristol and Professor T. s. Woolsey,
 being elected to lcok into the project of introducing golf as one of the amuse-
 ments of the lawn club. These gentle men immediately set about finding a suitable site for course and while thus engaged deemed 1t best to keep the golf organization separate from the
 Lawn club Accordingly the New Ha- ven Golf club was organized in 1895
 with the above named committee act ing as executive committee. MT. Whit
 tlasey was elected president and MT. I ,.i -+og T ;.,Jr
 laid out on large stretch of land on
 the beautiful Prospect street hilly emi- nenc6s amid the most healthful sur roundings The club started with a
 membership of 150 which has since in- creased to double that number which is the membership limit. The size of the present waiting list indicates that a large number ofssnew members will be added shortly. Yale students at pres ent make up the majority of the mem- bers but among business men and their families new recruits are being daily added. That the golf craze is at it's height and even increasing cannot be doubted from the interest being shown in the pasime in New Haven just at present and especially in the old club.
 The course of the New Haven club is about two miles distant from the rail- way station, trolley cars shortening the distance to 25 minute ride. The first nine holes were laid out in 1895 by Rob- ert D. Pryde, a son of Scotland. who has since been the greenkeeper. Last fall an additional sixty acres was pur- chased and the course is now being made to consist of IS holes. This move will be a great improvement as the dis tance between several of the holes will shortly permit of drives of 800 yards This will make distance another strong point Of the course.
 The original course has maintained reputation far and wide for its peculiar excellence In speaking of the greens while here on a visit in April Harry Vardon. the English open champion, said Thus far they are the best I have seen in America and those over which I played in Florida do not at all equal them" Since it's course was con- pleted the New Haven Golf club grounds have been the haunt of all | Yale undergraduates who are inclined | toward golf and here have been de- VelOped some or the IneSt amateur | players in the country. No other club | can approach the record of the pioneer Elm City organization in rounding out star performers. Since the formation of | the intercollegiate league, Yale has had { her team on the Prospect Hill course 1 for practice and thus Gar they are the | leaders of college golfers, Recently Yale's representative won from Prince , ton and Columbia's men at Lawrence Harbor, New Jersey.
 W, Rossi:er Betts, Yale '99j who was rurnsr-up at the national amateur in Chicago in '96 acquitted | his earliest knowledge Of golf at the New Haven grounds. Last year Walter B. Smith, another Yalesian, after three years practice over the links was run ner-up against Findlay $. Douglas at the Morristown N. J.. tournament, Harry Vardon is of the opinion that it would be hard to find a course which offers more possibilities for the develop ment of golf and it is true that indica- tons point to a future for the organiza-