New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-02-18
4 NEW GOLF BALL.
FOREIGN Make Said to Increase
Length of Drire Forty Yards.

A. ,b,s tina when golfers are busy discussing
what should be the proper length OF an eighteeh-
boIa course. an upset 10 all theories would be
the introduction OF a ball which Harry Nardon
Is said 10 have used in practice with II inc
four times open champion of Great Britain IS
credited with an increase Of forty yards IN MS
drives. This is about as much moro as claimed
for the improved rubber cored ball over the old
solid guilty"
with a ball like this in use. courses which
have been rearranged and heightened to meet
the reouirenlents Of the rubber cOred ball would.
10 be consistent, have 10 be heightened again
TO cope successfully with the changed conditions
certain 20 follow the Introduction Of the latest
invention. Now the question arises VIII the
golfers stand for" this? once let II be proved
that the new creation viii do what IS claimed
and nine-tenths OF the leading players viii lose
no time In falling IN line.
Il is doubtful IL the golfer derives any more
pleasure out of the game to-day than he dld
ten wears ago: but that is not the question
The spirit Of competition-in other words the
craze for low scores-is so great that Few dew
otees OF the game are willing 10 allow them
selves to be outdriven forty yards when all
that is needed 10 place them on even terms is
10 secure the ball that Is causing the mischief.
Then there is another side. Conversations
with number Of local amateurs make 1t quite
evident that golfers generally would not care 20
plav over a course moro than $500 yards IN
length In fact. the hard ball adVOCates-and
they are not all in the graveyard-contend that
the r1Ibber core has introduced much walk
ing at the expense Of skill There are even
those who 60 far as TO claim that the game
has been spoiled because Of the general adop-
tion OF the lively ball II IS noticed, however
that they keep on playing Just the same.
In discussing tho question in The Boston
Globe" Ralph CraOkneil says, In part, as iol-
lows. Taking two essential characteristics OF
81 irst
quality of the turf much will be found In them
20 obviate the necessity Of course OF mulch
more than six thousand yards, Tor upon thehl
depend the of the bali.
IF a ball after its flight from the feeling
ground runs more than Atty yards. il can be
put down as due TO turf out OF condition on a
first class course. leaving out the element OF
following wind, which gives increased velocity
to the flight OF the ball. and therefore more run.
Phenomenal drives have been made frozen
ground and links baked 10 "a similar hard
condition. but the normal quality of the turf
has nothing 10 do with such widely circulated
record performances.
AT the Chicago Golf Club. at Wheaton. Ill.
during the amateur championship meeting or
1905 the drying wind and the fierce sun COM
petely upset tho calculations of the architects
of the course. and the long run To the bail made
the play 10 the various holes anything but what
intended by the layout No need 20 visit
the saffron deserts of Morocco the silver
sands of Mexico for n fryo.lt The links Of the
Wheaton prairie frizzled in the heat. and one
could hear the Indian corn in the adjoining fields
craCkle as the ears opened and revealed their
amazing interior.
II. Chandler Egan took cleek on the teeing
ground of one hole with bunker guarding the
green three hundred yards away. but his caution
was not rewarded. for the ball ran and ran until
II reached the hazard.
THAT is perhaps why Tom Bcndelow who has
laid out many courses in the Middle West put
$500 yards as the proper length for a champion
ship test. Also, in the Middle West the at
mosphere IS favorable to long driving With
summer weather at Cleveland during the anna
teur championship next July. the Nat links and
the atmosphere VIII make every hole under 400
yards drive and midiron."
BY championship links" as many are coming ~
view the matter. is not meant the courses which
golfers are willing to play over simply because
of successful wire pulling but rather tho ones
which approach I'm some degree the recognized
standards OF a championship links This viii he
the situation when the best players OF the con,
try have more voice in the matter