The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-07-12
Game Came Originally from the
 Dutch Countries
WAS IN AMERICA IN 1859
Revived By Chicago Man In 1875 and the Nations Golf Clubs Now Have More Than Two Hundred
 Thousand Members.
BY FREDERIC ]. HAsKIN.

A SOuI anu ulSEIuHlleQ httpGI Ol all eastern tennis court not long ago glow cred from his weed-guarded gate at q
 passerby Just to be soeable the pas
 ser-by said: Well, how is tennis going these days?" "Tinnisi Tennis, nothing! Look at me coort that hasn't had a game
 for mirny a day. This new cotch cro- quet has put me tinnis out ay business" " And he waved his hand toward the neigh boring golf links Golf hasn't quite put all tennis out of business, but it has established a rival kingdom of it's own that bids fair to be permanent. It was slow ir first deciding to establish itself, but having once begun it's conquest of the country it has progressed with a speed so wonderful that one can almost play from Maine to California, or from Washington to Florida on neghboring links.
 It is not new game in this coun- try, being as old as the nation itself, but the revival is comparatively recent. Being of Dutch origin golf came to America with the settlers of New Am sterdam and other Hudson river colo nes, and became so popular that as early as December 1859, a law was placed on the statute books of Fort Orange, now Albany, forbidding the playing of golf in the streets The Riverton Royal Ga- zette" a New Yo.'' publication conduct ed by Tories during the Revolution, has an advertisem, t in the number for April 12, 1779, wherein the virtues of a certain mans golf balls and sticks are set forth in dignifed manner.
 But other things soon emae in to dis tract the attention of early colonail set tiers. There were Indians to fight, great tracts of forest land to clear, homes and cities to build and the many adverse conditions of a new world to overcome. The nation had little time for play. So little time did the people eventually al- low themselves that success was sup posed to be built on much work and lit tie play, and the lives of great men written out for t4e next generation to read invariably noted the fact that htis or that man had devoted all his waking hours to toll and had avoided pleasure and rest as a plague Now sure of her self, independent in riches and all the material things that bring comfort, the nation has found time to play, and games oio and new, strenuous and otherwise, haze been levied upon for the purposes of amusement.
 In 1875 Charles B. Macdonald of Chi- Cago went abroad and from Scotland he brought back a set of knobby sticks new to most Americans. To the quiet of his neighbors and the in- tense joy of the hoodlums, he sometimes occujioG his time in knocking little balls around the field back of the University ot Chicago. This is the first recorded playing of golf since the old Dutch set tiers and English Tories got too busy to play in pre-Ro yolutionary days. In 1Sol Robert Lockhart and John Reid gathered a few friends around them at Yonkers, New York and played golf. In the following year the first golf club in the United States was organized at Yonlxers and was called "St. Andrews" Two years later another club grew up in the Shinnecock Hills of Southampton, Long Island, and now there are between 1900 and 2000 recorded links in the United States with a membership exceeding 200,- O00
 As a game, golf has a great many strong poitns, some of which are peculiar to 1t alone. It does not require an ex- penditure of so much nervous energy, or does 1t demand youth as it's first asset as most other games do, although the British have a theory that playing must be begun in childhood to be perfect. At any rate it can be played by both sexes at any age. It takes one out of doors, always where there Is good air and a fair prosepct. One can play alone, with one antagonist or with several. The game can be played in any kind of wealth CT. The amount of exercise taken by the player may be governed altogether by his needs and desires. and the rules of the play are such that there is little chance for disputes or differences of opinions such as constantly characterize baseball and tennis when the participants are in- clined to be contentious. There are no close decisions in golf. The ball either goes in the hole or it does not, and whGN the player misses, he cannot lay the bla<ne on an umpire or anyone but himself.
 In winter scarlet balls are used by the players who tramp over snowclad links. The first time women competed in public was on the Meadowbrook course in the fall of 1S95, about twelve dauntless souls trudgng through the rain to prove the apotheosis of this new game. At later tournaments women and even school girls have come over 1500 miles to compete. In 1894 the first handicap west of the Ale ghenies was won by Reginald De Koven.
 
 game, as he was left-handed and there were no left-handed clubs. This game was noted, also, for the brilliant effect made by Gen. Nelson A. Miles and his staff, who, in full uniform, followed the game on horseback over the entire course.
 Colleges early took to golf. Wellesley and Bryn Mawr girls played it first about 1893, and in 1895 Princeton introduced 1t among regular college sports. Public courses have been land out in several cities, notably in New York, Boston, Phil adelphia, Cincinnati and Providence. On December %, 1894, the United States Golf association was organized, and under it's auspices annual tournament have been held that have done much to encourage the growth of the sport. Last year the twelfth amateur championship under the association was held at Englewood N. J., with E. H. Byers of Alleghney the win ner The open championship was at the Onwantsia club, Lake Forest, H., with slxty-eight entries and siXty-six starters, Alex Smith of Nassau winning. The womens championship was held at the Bras-Burn Country club West Newton, Mass, with Miss s. H. Curtis the cham pion. The American championship for this year is being played at Cleveland, O., this week.
 The origin of golf lies so far back in the past that it is lost in haze of guess work. The German word I<lote. the Dutch Rolf the Gothic Kulban, the Greek Cholaphon and the French Chole have each been named as the sponsor for