Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-06-09
GOLF GOSSIP

The desire to keep a reckoning Of
the score Is generally most marked in
those who have not played the game
for long. says the London Times. and
this is only natural because they are
really improving and not merely as
befalIs US in the last phase. dreaming
OF purely imaginary advance owing
TO the last new Tip. Perhaps II is
because the Americans. although they
play the game SO well, have yet come
to it. comparatively speaking. so re-
Gently that they have a passionate
love for scores apart from official
score play.
An American friend lately told the
writer pleasant little story of how
some years ago he was sitting In the
club house veranda at small nine
hole course on the hottest of hot DAYS.
The solitary figure in the landscape
was that Of an old gentleman toiling
up the length Of the long last hole.
ever and anon. topping his bali and
mopping his brow. Beat my record. -
triumphantly exclaimed the old gentle
man to the story.teller. whom he had
never seen before In the whole course
of his life, for he had to tell some
body that he had made" those nine
holes In "a strokes. ..~--:s.
There spoke the spirit of enthusiasts
tic progress, and it is the spirit OF the
golfer who plays on the other side of
the Atlantic whatever his degree of
skill. We may or may not sympathfze |
with 1t, but at any rate this should In |
fairness be added, that the American
golfer being frankly, or as We might |
say shamelessly. keen upon the bust |
ness Of score-counting, sets about IL In /
more businesslike and a more hon
est way than does his British counter
part.
He really does, as rule, hole out
the short puts that have no effect on
his match-he does not try them with
one hand and then issue that the ball I
would have gone In If he had taken
Two hands. Whatever the precise /,
value that attaches to score done In /,
match. at least a large measure of
credibility attaches to his statement
of 1t. 1t Is probably on account of this
aes1re for scoring that the American Ii
plays so well In sDite of hts almost
constant playing of four-ball matches.
1t Is sometimes said, and that by /
hose whose opinion carries weight,
that certain stagnation, il not act.
nal decadence. among the young golf
srs OF Britain Is due to their indul-
sence In what one may take the lib {
srtv of calling this detestable game.
This outburst may be due to personal I
,reiudice, bat at least it Is hard to
ieny that the four-ball match as play.
ID here tends to slap-dasll and ire
ponsible type Of game. 1t does not
10 that, however. as played in Amer
ca. when each of the four men is In
ent On turning in a good card" and
o incidentally on carrying his mart
er around inert burden ON his own
road shoulders. Still less does. It
end to Hghthearted or careless play
Tflen. as is often the case, the aggre. /
ate score of each pair Of partners is
dded together in order to decide the /
ate or the hole. A desire to get round
ne course in daylight would cause
ne to hesitate long before recon-
lending this form Of game, but II "A
lakes the counting of scores a genu. 2
lie trial and not merely an elegant D
xercise in mendacity. 81