Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-10-20
BY HORACE C.. HUTCHINSON
tAuthor of Hints on Golf" etc.l.
tAll Rights Reserved)
LONDON. October 10, 1907.

tAn Rights Reserved)
LONDON, October 10. 1907.
Il is interesting, II only because the diff
ference is 50 significant of the different
points of view of America and Great Brit
tain, respc Ctlvely, toward some of the
problems presented by the game of golf.
to compare the definition of an amateur
player in the one country and in the
other The British definition runs as fol-
lows: AN amateur golfer is a golfer who
has never made for sale Agolf clubs. balls
or any other article connected with the
game; who has never carried clubs for
hire after attaining the age of fifteen
years, ana who has not carried clubs for
| hire at any time within six years of The
date on which the competition begins:
who has never received any consideration
for playing in match, Or for giving les
sonS in the game. and Who for Il period of
five years prior to September l, 1886. has
never received money prize in any open
| competition"
The definition of the American amateur
runs thus: No person shall be consid-
cred an amateur golfer. or shall be eiigi-
| bic to compete in the amateur champion
ship of the association. who receives q
monetary consideration, either directly or
indirectly, by reason OF connection with,
or skill displayed in, playing the game of
golf or other branches of athletics" This
is a far more brief rule" but 1t is also far
more drastic. According to the American
definition a professional Cricketer would
be debarrcd from playing as an amateur
golfer. by the words of the British code
he does not seem to be disqualified. AC-
Cording to the American idea it is not
quite clear whether Il soldier who was ap-
pointed gymnastiC instructor, or inspec-
tor or whatever the post is called, and so
received an increase of pay in conse-
quenCe Of his skill IN a certain branch of
athletics, would not be debarred from
amateur competition in golf And what
would be the status. under the American
rule, OF the paid secretary of a golf club"
On the other hand. the American rule IS
written in the present tense throughout.
1t would seem from it that a man, hav-
ing been Il professional. can wash his
hands of that faint, and play as an ANA
teur forthwith, simply by renopncing the
payments which disquaify; but whether
this is the intention of the rule. and
whether it is in this sense that 1t should
be interpreted for practical application to
! a concrete case, is quite another ques-
ton.
Take the Game Serious.
On the whole, however, there is no
doubt that the American rule is the tight
er. 1t excludes all acceptance of Eek
| penses" such as are recognized in our
cricket world and do not disqualify the
recipient from playing as an amateur
| cricketer. The American, in fact, has
suffered more severely than the Brton
| from the invasion of his sports by the
professional element Though the Briton
| has suffered quite severely enough), and
| in consequence. in the one game which
| has hitherto been left pure, he is deter
| mined that no such faint shall occur.
| And yet Il comment that we often hear
| made by those who are familiar with the
! golf on both sides of the Atlantic is that
! the American (by which is meant the as
ISOLATION amateur) takes his golf very
much more seriously, in very much more
| of a busnesslke way, than our own play
| ers. We hear lurid stories of Mr.. Travis
| hitting off goodness only knows how
many balls, one after the other, from
! the clubhouse in some direction where
| he will interfere with nobody (America
| is country of vast areas), and then go
| ing off on a bicycle to pick them all up
practising, that is to say, the same stroke
| with the same club to extent which
| would break the very heart of a British
| amateur for WEAKNESS. We hear of him
| practising putting for four or five hours
a day.
1 do not believe all these stories, either
of Mr.. Travis or of any other American
amateur. That is to say, do not believe
in the details of them; but l do believe
| that they all give true indications of the
I
taking, and it is a tendency in very
| marked contrast with the tendency in
| Great Britain. Here the tendency is for
| our amateur players to treat the game
more lightly than they did, regarding 1t
rather as pastime for the leisure hours
| than as an affair at which 1t behooyeS
| them to work their very hardest and try
to arrive at their best possible perform
ance therein. We are not concerned for
the moment with the question as to which
of the two modes of regarding the game
is the right, or less wrong; the Briton
probably gets more pleasure from his
lightness of heart as he plays, but there
is hardly such a thing as a question as to
which of the two conduces to the better
playing of the game.
Amateurs and Professionals.
The American method is the better
ADAPTED to this, which is so distinctly the
American end; and as consequence it
is my own opinion, not made at first hand
so much as derived from those who, with
experience enough to make their first
hand opinion of value. have seen some
thing of the golf both on this side and on
that, that the American amateur is
a better player today than the British
amateur. If we were to pick half a doz-
en- of each, and make them go on play
ing each other long enough to provide
test, l believe that the Americans would
come out on top. This is not very
pleasant confession Of faith Tor rs