New-York tribune., 1901-11-24

ere ciub to close. Fox Hills too good e course
70 be abandoned long. however, and no sooner
was tbs cricket club out than the Crescent A'n-
iettc Club OF Brooklyn. opened negotist tons Tor a
lease James Latgn. the Crescent professional
went over TO Investigate. but when the governors
began to count the cost the project was oropPeo.
Then the New-York Athletic Club took 1t up. ana
"a, expert Landscape gardener was directed TO re-
mort On the cost OF putting the grounds IN shaps
for rolf After careful survey this expert teIo
the hoard OF governors that IL would take not less
than siooo5e make the necessary improvements
ard again tie grounds went begging
hut Il was not for long. Several well known
Staten Island golfers had been quietly at work on
their own account An Investigation convinced
them that the estimate Of 100000 was too high
and that much less money would suftce for the
work They backed their opinion with q PROPOSE
ton that MI Vanderbilt ives glad to accept and
in a few days the club had been Incorporated
az Albany. with authorized captal STOCK OF
$1,000 The corporators were Joseph J. y pohohoe'
Thomas ! O'Douohue, Percy r King, Colonel h
s,Donorr,e Mortimer NJ. Singer, Alexander Hol-
land. W ". Lowrey. "A J. Morgan, E. C. Talcou
and Joseph f Ster-
These men, whose early faith has been so abun-
dainty justified, stin II control Of the club 1t
holcs no annual meetings. as the government rests
snlelv with the ten corporators, whose decision
on all matters Is final To Mr. King Is due much
OF the SUCCESS which the course enjoEs- He has
.naae his home in the clubhouse and deyotes most
his 10 ITS WelISlS Si4cl.e--H-1 oA ZIG
xreens committee the brunt OF the work has fallen
apoz, his shoulders though both the other mem
hers. ". ". Low1ey and Thomas j. o Do-ohue'
have rendered efficient aid
To illustrate the kind Of work which confronted
Them it nay be said that the present home green.
now an acre and a half Of royal turf. was origi-
,,aI.y covered with fourteen feet OF mud and water
To cratn this required trench go fest long afa "a
feet deer. Nor was this all Nine stagnant ponce.
varying IN depth frcm four to eigf: feet. were
ci-r "a ~
rourse, until in all tweuty-seven THOUSAND feet Of
drainage pipes had beca isid. 1hs main outiee OF
the system is far from the seventh hoe where
eight hundred feet OF ten inch pipe performs the
eerytce for the entire links. Or the feclsirling OF
The grounds 5000 has been spent far. There is
more work be done. but, SO far as the needs Of
xoH are concerned. the course is all that could be
desired.
Draining not the only problem, moreover, for
1he grounds had to be cleared Of stones and out
cropping rocks. When this finished two
story house 10 by 60 feet, had been erected from
the material taken from the links But the great
est feat Of all was the reclaimins Of Heus kitch-
en-" the huge chdsm which forms the principal
hazard at the twelfth, thirteenth. fourteenth and
fifteenth holes Mr.. King graphically and anus
sngly tells of his Grst experience with this great pit
1T looked innocent enough when We started to
clean IL up. he said the other day.. but before
knew il the team Of horses We drove in were up to
their necks IN black oozing mud We had TO get
long ropes under them before they could be pulled
out got friend Of mine. professor OF geology
at Columbia, to down and look at the place,
and he seemed TO think the mud was sort of peat
like that the Irish peasants for fuel. At any
rate decided 10 follow the suggestion up and
covered the surface with crude petroleum and set
fire TO # Well. sir, the place burned for months
until 81 had eaten four feet OF the surface, and
now the ground is as hard billiard table
This was the kind of work that Rad been going
on for almost a year when, on Memorial Day of
this year. the links was formally opened for play
Forbes j. Hennexsy. ex-Assistsnt District Attorney
cneIed the prize, which by Pierre A
Prcai the in,erscholastic champion, with gross
OF lso, the play being thirty-six holes The
season had been backward. and only the f-st nine
holes in condition for use, but enough had
been shown 10 win immediate popularity, and since
that date the has been visited by an in
creasing number OF metropolitan golfers. including
Travis himself. who has pronounced it one OF the
best In the country.
The merit of Fox Hills lies in its absolute con-
fornity 10 nature. In this it deserves to be COM
pared with the famous Scottish links for no arr-
Gcial hazards have been allowed TO its surface
aad nothing but orthodox golf can be played on its
turf The ground Is unusually spr!ngy far more
tAan the majority Of metropolitan courses and
= man can play with less fatigue than az most
other links Il consists of rich loan. covering an
underoed OF eia2. while the grass is known as the
''dwarf red top" which seems TO be INDIGENOUS 10
that part OF Staten Island.
There are l3o acres in The property, thus per-
naitting q standard circuit OF eighteen holes In
length the course measures e.G5s yards for which
the bosie is figured al g. The greens are all large
most OF them being more than LIS feet square
The club Is already out for the metropolitan cham
pi?nshtp Of season, and IL successful ia its
efforts VIII be certain 10 cfer essential y cham