Omaha daily bee., 1909-12-19
IN CURIOUS ASPECTS
Variations from Straight Match or
Medal Play is often Seen.
NEBRASKA swATFEsr A HIT
Combinations to Enliven weekend
and TOurnament Games-swRt-
Tests, Long Driving Handi-
cap obstacle Putting.

MeMNa1 Long DNNNAMk MAhAA~
caps, obstacle Putting,
Conditions determine what is curious in
golf, just as one mans meat Is another
mans poison. What would be deemed
freakish in one set OF circumstances may
be emlnently proper under another, as a
New York golfer learned in a match with
a s~elf-taught player on a small course In
the west. The opponent lost a ball and
said: Come back to the tee and start
again"
"why?" asked the New Yorker. "a lost
ball Is a lost hole"
mot as we play tho game was the re-
joinder. I'VE go back and drive off once
more; 1t helps to eliminate luck in the
winning or losing of a hole"
And takes a penalty off bad play" the
New Yorker might have said, but did not,
as he was too amazed to speak. An in
stance Of the curious is that recently a
golfer Of 80 years at Mid-surrey made a
hole in one stroke. Really shouldn't IN
octogenarian be content to enjoy his round
without INDUCING in such golflng pyro-
technicsi
Curious. too, was the business amumen
revealed last month by a pickaninny cad
die at Pinehurst. A %sojourner for a week
OF incessant golf took on the oaddie at IS
a day, provided he was v~igilant and did
not lose any balls. For every ball lost
there would be a deduction from the pay.
It the end the caddie received SIS. 1t came
out later that when the player lost a ball
he never knew it, for the caddie would
49, N-N So - - -f-Aa
stock. At match play this would have
been a rough deal to the golfers opponent,
although only the caddie could be blamed.
The 'swatfests'' of the Nebraska clubs
are out of the ordinary rut. They are
sweepstakes, and the entries. no matter
how many. all play together. on the first
green, for instance, all who do not hole in
4 drop out Of the contest. which by this
process Of elimination becomes a match
between two; and they may play 1t out or
divide the pool as they wish. Should a
player get a lucky 8 at the start he would
scoop the pot and forthwith end the swat
fest" but this does not often happen.
To an American 1t is always curious,
awe~-insplring is perhaps better, to play
over the grand and wild Seaside courses
in Scotland, say at Macribanish, and a
gentle wonder fills the British visitor who
plays on some of our park-line courses,
where a slice or pull may send the ball
into a parterre Of flowers. Yet these va
ried conditions nave each a fascination
and are to be expected in a game played
at Palm Beach, San Diego, the Straits Set
Elements, where monkeys chatter as the
ball hits a tree; In China, with coolies
for caddies; India, Australia, South Amer
lea and the Riviera. What should be more
| curious would be to find a county where
) the game is played that q clever Scot does
r not hold the best professional job.
= A handicaap long driving competition
5 was a novelty Of the last season near New
t York, the odds being given in yards and
t deducted from the aggregate of each
players three drives. 1t is said to have
furnished an amusing entertainment, and
: on this account alone may be suggested
. to the club committees that seek variety
: in the schedules. Handicap approaching
7 and putting competitions are frequent and
2 serve the same end. Once each season. too
: many clubs hold an obstacle putting com.
petition In which many puzzling but no
impossible puts have to be made to pas
the odd hazards that guard each hole
Once a year, too. many clubs arrange
cross-oountry competition by mixing up tn,
I order of holes for the a The play will
require a journey from the first tee to tn
sixth green, the sixth tee to the nintl
green; from the ninth tee back to the frs
green, and 80 on.
Must Name Club.
a The Optional club" contest had It's brit
y last season at the Dunwoodie Countr,
club, Before the tee shot the player mus
name the club he will use for his secon,
shot, and before each succeeding shot tn
: club with which the next is to be made
. The best laid plans in golf aft gan
a-gley" and the fun lies in the frequen
blunders between a players intentions m
2 his performances. To play without know
" ing what ones handicap is, termed a bin
" handicap, is q common and none the les
curious form of the game and was frs
Instituted, II is said, at a club where a Gel
~ tain player who always set out late an
knew what he had to beat hardly eve
~ failed to win. A variation is the kicker
-, handicap. In this the committee select
~ a certain net score and seals 1t UP. Fac
W player handicaps himself, and the net SCOT
-. nearest. to that in the envelope win
III Equally entertaining from its uncertainti5
. is the select competition handicap, III
'h conditions are that only the scores on sa
OF twelve of the eighteen holes will count Il
the prize, and only the committee know
On the reserved holes. 1t is stroke play natl
en- rally, and the contestants are as much
ne sea as though blindfolded. each hoping th'
" the good holes he makes are to count ar
ny the poor ones are among those cancelle
A variant tried for the Mamlok prize
ms the Fox Hills Golf club last month W.
lc- at match play against DOGGY, with Il
Is.
at