The sun., 1908-12-27
.OUR EARLIRSY GOLF CLUB
DID PRESIDENT TAFT ERR IN
so CALLING ST. ANDREWS ?

OU VhAfAfANU CA
There was Prier Club. II 10 Said, in west
l.rt virginia -ehlnneeoek Hills the First
Incorporated I'm This state -Pienics
= On unks when Game yyas Young.
President-elect Taft In the hearty letter
road at the recent dinner in this oity Of
the SC. Andrews Golf Club referred to the
club as the oldest in this country. This
10 now true, for since the Organization on
November 1s. 1888, there has been no
lapse in Its activities; but II was not the
6rst club Recent Investigation has dis
closed that there was a golf club started
In West Virginia In 1885 or 1877 which
fiourished until about 1900, and possibly
there were other local clubs Of the same
era, but not single member Of this pio-
neer band has survived. ~
I. The location of the West Virginia club
4 was about four miles from White Sulphur
Springs In Greenbrier county. on the
slopes Of the Allegheny Mountains.
Frank o. Reinhart. who when ut Prince
ton won the, intercollegiate Golf Asso-
citation championship. has been visiting
there for eighteen or twenty summers and
has played over that primal course :
b Two Of the FIVE founders OF st Andrews
were native Scots. the late Robert Lock-
hart. who on one OF his business trips
brought from that country the first clubs
! and balls ever seen in Yonkers, and John
Reid. The others were their neighbors,
the late Harry Holbrook. II. o. Tallmadge
and John B. Upham. The West Virginia
course had It's inspiration also in Scotch
men who obtained their playing equip
ment from their native land.
| r. Cary Montague in a letter from Oak
hurst, White Sulphur Springs. states that
the first golf course consisted OF three
practice holes laid out at Grey Cliff, the
estate OF George Grant. to whom the
charms OF the game had been introduced
by his cousin. Lionel Tarrin, who had
played in Ceylon This was in 1885 or
1887. About the same year seven hole
links was laid out at 0akhurst, the country
place Of Montague's father. and a little
club formed. The earliest members were
Messrs. Grant. Tarrin, Montague and A.
z. and r. Macleod who purchased a
challenge medal which was played for at
regular intervals. For long time all the
clubs and balls were brought over from
Scotland by friends Of the MacLeods or
by them as they went back and forth
about every two years. 1t was at that
time quite impossible to get clubs or balls
at any OF the sporting goods houses in
this country. The seven hole course was
somewhat over a mile for the round. and
three rounds was the medal contest
1t had some very sporty hazards.
znn f.. bar In nt
St. Andrews dinner said II was to oele-
brate the twentieth anniversary OF the
Organization and incorporation" Ac-
cordihg to the recollections Of old time
Manhattan golfers the club was not in
corporated until the winter OF 1929.
when it had been decided to lease or buy
land for better course. 1t is on record,
however, that the Shnnecoox Hills Golf
Club was Incorporated at Albany in 1891.
and for two years before that time prepa-
rations had been under way for golf at
Southampton.
There is one great honor that is due to
the Shinnecock Els Golf Club. 1t has
not skipped an open or invitation tourna-
ment any season since the inaugural
year Of 1894. In addition the national
championships Of 1898 were held over the
sand dunes, and. besides special competi-
tons arranged TO give matches to the
visitors, Willie Park. Jr., and larry Var
don, the Shinnecook Kills folk gave a
special tournament 10 entertain the Ok
ford and Cambridge team in 1908. Also
the club had the women's national in 1900.
the best and most generously conducted
tournament ever held for the feminine
golfers. The Garden City Golf Club held
it's usual invitation last spring and the
amateur championship last fall, but it is
exceptional that a Metropolitan Golf
Association club does not drop it's tourna-
mant the season il gains a national cham
pionship.
Golf was family picnic at st. Andrews
in 1888 1t was played over few holes
on the fields opposite the Holbrook home.
Gardeners were engaged to keep the grass
short ON the putting green's and to NOW
the fairway every week. Clubs and balls
bore Scottish Trademarks, and 90 that the
members might recognize their own bands
OF colored paints were on the club shafts
in croquet mallet style. When Harry
Holbrook. Jr.. lost the head of favorite
mashie he had TO send the club by Lock-
mart 70 nave a new neaQ put on. ballB were
scarce and the members did not think the
hours wasted that they spent in the long
grass searching for them. The holes were
dug out by hand and were very shallow.
j After holing out the players would take
la pinch of earth from the edge Of the hole
to make tee with. so that at the close Of
the play the hole would be the size of a
soup plate. Sand boxes, tin cups, disks
and caddie bags were all unknown. So
| were caddie boys, and those to volunteer
were often Fred Holbrook and the Reid
boys, John, Jr., and Archie. 1
aAs the twig inclines the tree viii grow
and not long after young Holbrook and
John Reid, Jr., started scholastio golf by
laying out the first course at lawrence
vile. When Reid went to Yale he helped
to begin golfng there. while Lawrence
vile boys inaugurated the game at Prince
ton. Golf at Harvard was due mainly
to boys from st. Paul's and st. Marks
| schools. Many persons hsd been hit with
flying golf balls or club heads before
Simeon Ford. as he told the st. Andrews
diners. once soaked John d. Rockefeller
at Lakewood on the of hind leg. In the
golden calf. from his tee shet-"the only
man probably to ever touch John d. and
get away with itr-but the very first
accident in American golf happened on
Fred Holbrook were In match when the
bead Of the formers cleek few OF. II hit
young Bogert. who was serving as caddie,
but did not seriously hurt him.
A tent served as clubhouse for the st.