Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-04-12
BY John G. Anderson.

! (RunneTup to Jerome D. TraVers IN
the Amateur Championship of 1887
~ ENG sufficiently ancient golf
X er to have had my early expe-
riences on the links linked
with the guilty. ball and sufficiently
modern to have proper appreciation
of the extra distance the rubber core
. can be hit with an equal expenditure
Of effort being "all stirred up" over
the great experimental match to test
the relative merits of the guilty and
the rubber core, involving Harry Var
| don, George Duncan, James Baird and
James H. Taylor; being eager to get
| out on the links anyway, after golf
| less winter in the frozen North.
have done a little experimenting nay
self on the guilty versus the rubber
core
In a match at the Albemarle Golf
Club, Newtonville, Mass. j. G.. An
derson, guilty. played J. G. Anderson,
rubber core, nine mole round, in
which the rubber core had the better
of the argument by one stroke oa
medal play and one hole in match
play. 1t was not the actual score that
, interested me however but the way
the figures for each hole came about.
Not many strokes did it require 20
convince me that there is a vast diff
| ference between the old hard ball
and the new sphere Of far more lively
temperament, and right at the start.
| will venture the opinion that a re-
turn to the guilty now would be fatal
to the popularity Of the game. l will
not be so certain about the degree
of skill that the two different quail
ties of ball bring forth but am willing
to submit that the guilty would de-
mand far more accurate hitting u
get good results.
Duncan Denied Balls.
To conduct an experiment between
the guilty and the rubber core the
first thing was to get a stock Of gut
ties 4 Boston sporting goods es-
adjustment managed to get track
of ten old balls, which looked as If
they had seen better days. but which
proved, even by the dents in their sur
faces. that they could stand punish
ment and still retain their shape. In
accounts concerning some of the eX-
periments made abroad recently the
fact was mentioned that the old gut
ties played by George Duncan were
badly out of shape when he had fin
| ished, The balls with which | expert
mented were as round at the finish
as at the start. Maybe he hits them
harder.
Before relating some Of the details
of the experiment let me say that
the next time | undertake similar
venture it will be either with some
old clubs for which l long since have
lost high esteem, or else l shall ask
some kind friend to lend me his clubs
| for the experiment. 1t was at the
sixth hole, on the tee, that ] hap
pened to look at the face of a favor
lite driver and discovered a stable
depression in the wood. palpably dis
playing the marking of Just the guilty
ball. ! had used that driver once 20
get that result and promptly decided
that if I wanted to get any good re-
suits with it during the coming sea-
son ! had better keep it away from
the old hard ball. Later, at the
eight hole, I though / would take It
out once more just for a trial, and
taking another glance at the head,
found that the socket thread was
loose and coming undone. Whether
the end had become loose before
started out was a question | could
not answer but upon looking over
my brassy I discovered the same
thing had happened with that To
cap the climax. ! thought I would
make a still closer inspection OF the
driver head to see if any further
damage had been done and discovered
distinct crack in the wood.
On the strength of this discovery |
am ready to believe that a combina =
ton Of the hard guilty ball a hard
hitter and the present day socket
shafted wooden club would be about
as costly as for a beginner to do all
his practicing by trying to drive over
wide pond with new sinkable balls.
The difference between the guilty
and the rubber core in the mere mat
! ter Of distance showed up in The
drives to the first hole. But the rub
Der core and the guilty were well hit.
straight down the course and with
the wind in back Neither got more
than a few feet Of roll. because the
ground was soft, and there was a diff
-