The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1901-12-16
The Official Organ of the DeVoteeS
of the Game Reviews the Play
of the Year and Summarizes
the important Events
NOT DISTINCTlvELY A
TRAVIS YEAR AS WAS 1900
A Western or Central Massa-
Chusetts League Wanted by
Players in the City-Such An
Organization Would Establish
the Game on a Sounder Basis

the Game on a SOunder Basis
Golf" for December, has an inter
esting review Of the year, and sum-
mary of the important golfing events.
Part of it follows
1.-THE year 1901 will always be re-
membered in golfng annals, as the year
of the rubber ball Its Introduction
into the game dates, of course, from an
earlier period, but it had been tried
found wanting, and discarded. the
faults. however were not of principe,
but OF detail, and certain alterations
having been made, the ball was again
given a trial, with such satisfactory
results that Walter j. Travis used 1t to
win his second championship. 1t is 100
early to say whether it will obtain ex-
elusive control of the field, as the gutta
has DONE but there is no question that
1t has become permanently part Oh the
game. :.
$50 far as the play of the year is
concerned, the general average has I'M
doubtedly improved, both among men
and women. 1t is not, however, so dis
tinctively a Travis year as 1900 was.
The Garden City player was then prac-
ticallv invincible, but during the past
70 months he has been beaten, not only
bv his great rival, Findlay S. Douglas,
but by c. H. Seeley, the Connecticut
State League champion. Since Travis
return from his European golhng tnp
he has played as he never played De
fore his work in the championship as
well as at Westbrook and Garden City
constituting the finest display of anna
teur golf ever seen in this country.
douglas, too, has shown a better
game than ever, and there are young
players from different sections of the
country, but notably from the west,
who give promise of developing into
championship class.
I'm the womens world the cham
pionship has changed hands, passing
from Miss Frances Griscom to Miss
Genevieve Hecker, the latter OF whom,
has. during the three years she has
played the game, been steadily ad-
yancing toward the position she has
now assumed
There are so many professionals
whose play is about on an equality,
and whose golf is life long, that no
surprising developments are to be ex-
pected within the professional ranks.
But both at the open championship
where one Of the best amateurs in the
country was able to get no nearer
imam seventeenth anu o. AAV''' " -f
professional supremacy was plainly
shown.
"There appears to be no plan upon
which satisfactory ranking of prom
inent players can be made. What Is
done in tennis is not analogous, because
there the same men go round in a cir
cult, meeting each other from time TO
time under practically similar condl-
tons Golf is played North, South,
L ,e ha NAV
.ers in the country never meeting, ana
others at one tournament only-the
amateur championship. To win at one
place may very easily mean inferior
golf to being runner up at another.
With varying courses and fields OF DIFF
ferent calibre, it is better to leave the
question of actual ranking In abey-
ance."
The summary of the years important
events is of interest to one who is in
terested in the game beyond the per-
sonal enjoyment derived from it. The
table which seems TO be very accurate
and impartial in its distinctions chron-
icles II important events" beginning
with the open tournament of the Golf
Club Of Lakewood, Dec. 81, 1900, and
Jan. 1, 1901 and ending with the Glass
A team championship, of the Women S
Metropolitan Golf Association, at the
Morris County Golf Club, Nov. 1. The
first 20 or more tournaments were
played in the southern climes OF Cali
fornia and Florida.
Then the game moved up to Georgia
and North Carolina. The Country Club
of Lakewood N. j., held a tournament
Feb 21-23, but the next important event
in the North was the interscholastic
championship which was played at the
Oakland Golf Club, Long Island, April
1912.
There were more golf leagues, par
ticularly state leagues, this year than
ever before. State championship
tournaments were held in these states:
New Jersey, Connecticut, Wisconsin,
Colorado, Maine Massachusetts, and
Iowa. In addition to the state leagues
there were very many Of smaller and
larger combinations including groups
Of clubs and whole sections of terri
tory
In connection with the game in Wor-
cester many Of the leading players
would like to see a Western or Central
Massachusetts League, or a Worcester
County League Worcester golfers are
not yet ready to compete on equal
terms with the cracks of the Oakley
the Commonwealth. the Brokline. Coun-
try Clubs or the golf clubs Of the New
tons, Cambridge, and the other suburbs
of Boston But there are within 30 miles
of Worcester a dozen or more clubs all
practically in the same class, which
would make a first class league. If such
could be formed and could carry out
a successful series of inter-club tourna-
ments and special contests it would do
much toward the establishment Of the
game on a sounder footing At present
the greatest trouble with the Worces-
ter golf clubs is that too few mem
bers take any interest in the manage
ment of the club. They leave the ar
rangement Of tournaments, the charge
Of the grounds. in fact the very play
ing Of the tournaments to a devoted
half dozen. This is particularly true
of the Worcester Golf Club.
With membership Of nearly 200 and,
by far, the best course in the city, this
club was unable last season to secure
as many tournament entries as the
Algonquin Club whose membersh'~ is
limited to 40 and which is handicapped
by an embarrassing course.
The Algonquin Club got out its
schedule early in the spring and car
ried it out successfully with slight
changes. A keen spirit Of competition
arose which helped on the game ma
terially At the Worcester Golf Club
on the other hand the tournaments
were dull and spiritless and some were
almost farcical.
Some Of the members Of the latter
club argue that if they went out tc
the links occasionally and had a good
! time knocking round that was enough
| That course Of reasoning may be cor
rect in regard to individuals but tht
/ Worcester Golf Club is not rich enough
yet 20 afford to get along without q
reputation When it has made a record
as the pre-eminent golf club of Cen
| trail Massachusetts and has received
an endowment Of some thousands Oi