The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1914-03-18
COLFING COSTS
ENORMOUS sum
Expenditures In US. Greater Than
for the National Game


Chicago, March lS.--Switching the
calcium from baseball to the tees and
the putting greens, one discovers the
fact that there are more golf players
than baseball players i'm the United
States today, and that the gollng fever
is sweeping over the nation
one also discovers that the 1000, 900
golfers Of both sexes in this country
spend approximately $3OO,OOO,OO0 a
year in the pursuit of the little white
ball-a staggering, almost unbeliev-
able total, yet one which is arrived AT
after the compilation of accurate sta
| tistics.
There are more than 1000 clubs in
| the country now where the member
| ship is composed very largely OF golf
ers. New clubs are springing up each
/ year The membership of the clubs
now in existence runs from 100 to l.
600. Averaging the gOling members
of each club at only 200, ii means tina:
there are 100000 CLUB men and WON
en-, who are devotees of the great
| Scotch game, which even now, from
the viewpoint of participation has
supplanted baseball as Americans ma
| ticnal pastime.
There are at the very least 100000
| persons i'm the country who play golf
| but don't belong to any club. They
play most of their games on public
links which the big cities have es.
tablished although they often play on
/ club links with friends who are mem
bers of the clubs.
Some Items of Expense.
The average golf course rent club
member must pay is $25. His dues, at
the most conservative estimate, are
! $25. Even the most careful regular
golfer will use UP one ball a week,
which means about forty balls Il year,
averaging the goliing year at forty
weeks.
Forty balls will cost the golfer $50
at the very least. Caddy charges aver
age from 50 to 70 cents for eighteen
holes, which means about S25 more a
year. Most Of the regular golfers get
a new set Of clubs each year, at Il
cost between $35 and $40. But, as
Stunning that they get new set only
every other year, means an average
outlay for clubs of about $50.
Railroad fare to and from the club
is another big item of expense. At
! the very lowest the average is 81 a
round trip. Adding 30 cents for Incl
| dental expenses of each trip. and al
lowing one trip week, means that the
golfer dolcs cut $50 each year for
| transportation.
All Of these figures are conservative,
| yet they show that each club collie!
| spends about $17j yearly which makes
n grand total of $235,oO0,000 that the
/ 800, 900 club golfers spend each year
Non club Members Pay Less.
The cost to the non-club golfer is
somewhat less He doesn't have to-
pay the club fees or for rental of the
links. His transportation cost is con-
| siderably less than the club man who
usually Journeys into the country. And
he doesn't play quite as often as the
club man. thus reducing by about one
third the cost of cadying and new
| balls.
Placing the average yearly eXpendi-
| ture of the non-club golfer at only
S75. il means that the 100000 non
club players spend a total of $4,000
GOO yearly.
To the items already enumerated
must be added the cost of special golf
toggcry Women golfers must wca"
special golfing skirts and special shoes
To prevent their slipping on the greens.
Men also must wear spiked or cheated
shoes. Some club men don complete
goliing attire every time they play the
game.
The total spent each year by all the
golfers simply for golf toys mounts
up to around $2O.OOO.OO0 and brings
the grand total of expenditure to the
$500 600 600 mark.
American golf Is only i'm its infancy
today II was first introduced into
this country about twenty-five years
ago. For fifteen years there WAS about
as much interest i'm ii as there is to-
day in chess. Then, of a sudden, the
game began to jump forward in popu-
larity by leaps and bounds.
"JIMMY" CALLAHAN 40.