The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-01-11

obliged to apply for positions. least OF all.
athletes OF reputation.
Though hardly in existence. the Glen
Echo Club has a worldwide reputation
which II must sustain as best il can. As
an applicant for the first worlds gUir
championship IL cannot sustain II in any
way 50 wei as by sending hrst-ciass play
crS to both the amateur and open cnam-
plonships and. II possible, 10 the wOman'S
championship. The club has gone in heaV-
iy ON the championship IJra, and mas got
TO make good. Hence II must enceavOr TO
secure nrst-ciass representation in the
championships Inc spectacle OF the pro-
itssionals OF the Words Fair Golf CLUB
mahIng a dUb showing IA Il championship
must not be even thought Of. nor must an
unworthy amateur be sent 10 represent IL.
Yet. il must be represented and repre-
scented properly Hence President McGrew
ana nLs associates W-I Be careful IN their
selection OF d professional, for they must
have 4 man Capable OF WUrthlly REPRESENT
ing their club In 4 playing and personal
seEse.
In other words. they must have a SWELL
professional and one or more swell ANA
tours TO carry their banner for the next
three years. The professional can be
found. but the production vi the crack anna
teur for next season IS not 50 easy, as
time Is short ana amateurs not any too
plenty. OF course, If there is not good
professional players. there viii not be good
amateur players. II must be admitted that
so far 81. Louis professionals have not
been very well Furnished with the material
OF which d good amateur can be built.
Good amateurs must begin young. and the
younger set about st. Louis does not take
much interest in golf. Indeed. there Is
hardly a single player In St Louis who can
say that he has been really a pupil OF any
professional in the full sense of the word
Taking a few desultOry lessons in club
swlpglng and a hurry-up touch on APP
preaching, does not give a man = right to
call himself d graduate Of any profess
siCnaIs school. Paying a dollar to a pro-
fessional for an hours work OFF tee or fair
green does not give any man a right 10
say he has taken complete lessons In golf.
When a player takes a full course of les
sons and. for two years. plays pretty reg
ularly with the club professional for 81 a
hole in a close handicap, when he knows
all the different shots and plays them and
when a first-cldss prOff ssiOnal cannot give
him a third, he may begin to talk about
learning his game from some professional.
and not until then. But many players run
into a professionals shop. take him from
his bench. ask him to show them a mashie
shot and after he makes a swing or two
they go away with the idea In their head
that they have had a lesson. although the
professional is without his dollar.
Apropos OF teaching It IL funny how
every third-rate professional who cannot
play the game. make clubs or keep greene
IL generally regarded as a iirst-class teacher.
1t seems that being third class everything
else. he must be "A first-class teacher. said
a local player yesterday. Third-class play
ers cannot hide their playing deficiencies
under the charitable mantle of bluff. Yet
blun and what slangy people
con-" seems to make any man with a
Scotch accent a first-class teacher. Just
how "A man who cannot play the game him
self can teach others is not plain. How a
professional can teach a pupil to make shots
he cannot make himself Is not plain, either.
Personally, 1 have seen n great deal Of
teaching done by professionals OF one sort
or other. but mostly Of the amateur. who
has Just discovered something new which he
Will afterwards find out Is old as the hills.
But i must admit that he never saw the
game OF golf taught until he saw it done by
a man who was n first-class professional
player. who could make the shots he wanted
his pupils to make. Because a man who
cannot play the game looks wise and talks
"a lot Is accepted as reason that he is a great
teacher. But how are great players made?
BY continuously playing matches with great
professionals. not by taking lessons of the
first tee from theorists and preachers. No
amateur is worthy Of the name who cannot
go out take a half" from a topnotch pro-
fessionai and chance a $40 on the result Of
In this regard W. T.. De Moss. a young st.
who has been playing a great deal
Of good golf about Chicago for the last two
says:
Il read in The Republic that St. Louis
felt that they would have a chance
TO win from an all-Chicaeo team. ] am
a st. Louisan, and not inclined TO go back
on my city. Truth cOmpels me TO advise
my townsfolk not TO bet anything on their
representatives in such a match. As a ST.
] must ADMIT that there are In Chi
cage twenty-five amateurs. who must be
rated better than st. Louis's best, bar, per-
haps. Mr.. Scudder. I attribute the great su-
OF Chicago amateurs to those of
Louis TO the fact that the players from
the former city compete so much with crack
professionals. Dave Bell. Willie Smith. Fred
Herd, Jim Herd. Willie Marshall. Henry
Turpie. Larry Aucherlonie and all the other
crack Chicago professionals always have
their hands full playing amateurs for
20 make It Interesting. A good
match is made. and. though the amateurs
seldom win. they make the conditions Of the
match such that the professionals will have
TO work to win Thus they have the beue-
fit Of seeing him doing his hest. They watch
his lies and his way Of playing them. his
puts. tee shots and bunker play-Watch his
game closely. and thus learn far more I'm
an hour than they would II they had paid
him 10 teach them for that space Of time.
Then. when they find themselves deficient
In any point they get the use of the prOfes-
siOnal for fifteen minute or so until they
shown where they are making a mis-
take Similar conditions prevail I'm the East.
st. Louis amateurs rarely even take a les
son. not to speak Of playing. with a profes-
sional, for enough TO make II worth HIS
while. Until st. Louis golfers get to play
ing the professional they Will never amount
TO anything but third-rate players. Begin-
ners can never learn from one another"
Ell Liilys 3. MOhItt Vests 2.
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