Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-07-12
RATIONAL GOLF.
A Contest of Man Against Nature and
Recurring Great Skill.

- GOIN6St " an fNSd'tSt iNo1NiS 49,
Requiring Great Skill.
No holes on any course are so subjected
to criticism as those which can be reach
ed from the tee. With very few indeed
is he of the higher criticism pleased, yet
the failure to gain his approval by no
means speaks approval by the average
golfer, who is apt to regard with suspic-
ion every attempt to improve upon ma
ture.
Roughly speaking. one shot holes may
be divided into two classes, those which
nature has made and those in which man
has played the chief part The problems
presented by each class are different. At
the natural hole appalling disasters await
the bad shot. at the artificial hole mod
crate disaster lies in wait for the shot
which errs slightly; the very bad shot
being often more leniently treated, if 1t
be more Ienient treatment to be asked to
be pitched over an intervening hazard
than to play out of the same. AS a rule,
mans bunkers are but trifies compared
with the natural hazard Unless one lies
in deep footmark or other spot due to
noncompliance with the etiquette of solf
any one who has taken the trouble to
perfect himself in bunker shots should
never require more than one stroke OF
his niblick in an artificial hazard The
defenses of nature are, on the other hahd'
almost impregnable. strength and skill
availing little when the ball is buried in
soft sand at the foot of an Alp.
Yet the contrariness of man is such
that he is long suffering as regards the
natural hazard. but impatient towards
that devised by man. His attitude Is not
unreasonable Golf at the outset was a
contest of man against nature, and ma
lures knocks were endured nobly. when
man began to improve upon nature the
contest became more personal: one can
not assaiI nature. every bunker maker
is easily criticised. It is with the short
holes whose severity is due to artificial
hazards. that l am here concerned, for
few natural short holes are really Sc
we're, save to the indifferent player.
A one-shot hole. most admit. should
not be easy-granted this. The degree oil
difficulty is the next affair. To make it
at least as difficult as the most testing
approach shot on the course, played from
a perfectly placed drive, is absolutely
fair slightly greater degree of difficulty
may be granted, as We can tee the ball as
II pleases us. This admitted, we come to
the point at issue. Should the green of a
one-shot hole be accessible from the tee
to any save the very skilful. There are
some who hold that the green of one
shot hole should be exceedingly small.
calling for the utmost skill to lie there
on. and that every shot which fails to lie
thereon should be either bunKered or be in
such position that the next shot cannot
be laid dead.
Such a hole is ideal as regards cham
pionship play, but is poor fun for the or
binary member Both classes must be
considered for any links laid out to ca
ter for championship play alone would
intiict great hardship upon the mainstay
of the club and a links which was too
obsequious to the demands OF the ord-
nary member would soon be deserted by
all the better players and would be
sorry training ground for the inefficient
yet aspiring golfer.
An example may be cited. A hole
which was especially closely guarded on
the left was adversely criticized when
the hole was cut on the left side OF the
green, it being admitted that when the
hole was cut on the right side of the
green there was no unfair problem pre-
scented The prevailing wind is from the
left
The type of one-shot hole here de-
scribed seems to me fair compromise
A green of moderate dimensions accessi-
BILE to players of moderate powers but
with the hole SO placed that none but a
most skilful shot can get very near there
to. He who endeavors to get near TO the
pin must entail great risks; he who has
not enough skill to encounter those risks
must trust to laying long approach putt
dead, not daring more than to get some
where on the green.
The admission seems to me fully to JUS
tify the hole being cut on the left, as the
possibility of placing the ball
on the right side of the green is granted.
He who Is contented with being any
where on the green Is not asked to do
much but the man who. trying to get
near the pin, has to bring his iron shot
up against the wind, risks disaster il he
overdoes his pull in the least
Most modern one-shot holes are far
more trying 10 the better players than
TO the Indifferent if only the latter would
not attempt too much. To be somewhere
Oh the green is well within their powers,
whereas the others realize the difficulty
If getting very near the pin valiantly at
tempt shots OF extreme difficulty and
most hazardous. Cecil Bancroft in World
Of Golf