The Washington herald., 1914-07-19
GOLF LACKS pep
OF GREAT GAMES
B. ]. 7. Bosanquet, Of Lon
don, Claims 1t Tends to
Sel6shness.
DEMANDS NO REAL PLUCK
Vardon Says Americans Make Play.
ing a Labor-Honus Wagner Drives
Bah Out of Sight.

d
Ball Out Of Sight.
New York. July 1s-Golf is efreminate.
tends to selnshness and ili-temper. and
destroys character. II you wish to take
the word Of B.. J. T.. Bosanquet, Of Lon
don. for IL
Bosanquet, who Is one Of the greatest
cricket players In the world In addition
to being an aIi-around athlete, and who
has become quite proficient In the game
OF golf. says:
Golf has none Of the essentials Of q
great game. II calls for none Of the
essential qualities OF a great game. such
as pluck, endurance. physical fitness,
agility, unselnshness. esprit de corps.
quickness Of the eye, or judgment IL
is merely a pleasant recreation and an
indueement TO indolent people to take
exercise.
Golf destroys rather than builds Up
character. II tends to seifishness and NJ
temper. II develops no qualities OF man.
illness or fighting ability that are Of as
sistance In the more serious pursuits OF
life II Is an effeminate game at best
''Of course. golf brings pleasure 70
thousands. and the game deserves some
credit for that. But 10 say that the
game Is great. TO say that the game Is
hard to play and hard to master. or to
feel proud or boastful over ones accom-
plishments at the game Is folly. II Is q
simple game TO learn and a simpler one
to play. as Is shown the world over by
the fact that mere youths. who usually
within the year. show me any other
game In which q player can become h
top-notcber in a year or two years. or
even three.
Il have played golf very often and
no one Is more grateful to the game for
many pleasant hours than i, nor does
any one appreciate the charms and in
tricaeies of the game more han / do.
But there Is charm and intricacy In q
game OF lawn tennis or croquet There
Is charm and intricacy in every game
that Ia played. whether indoor or out. and
so no real credit should be given to golf
because OF the fact that II In a charm
ing game. or that II presents intricacies
for the players to master.
The game does not demand any real
pluck or physical courage: II demands
nothing like cricket, polo. football or the
other games demand, and as view the
situation. golf Is a game that IL more
for women than for men"
Chick Evans. of Chicago, 10 the
greatest amateur golfer In America. in
the opinion of Harry Vardon. the Eng
lish wonder. who has played against the
brightest American stars at one time or
another
Evans understands every shot-that's
one Of the big reasons for his greatness
writes Vardon. in Everybody's Magazine
He plays every club well. IL cool and
brainy. and plays his best game when
hard pressed ouimet is good player.
and has wonderful nerve Travers Is q
mighty good man, too. but neither, in
my opinion, compare with Evans. He Il
the best amateur in America"
vardon. in handing out advice to Amer.
lean golfers, says:
The Americans make q labor Of golf
Hundreds OF Americans viii go out and
play forty-five holes Of golf day. That
is bad-very bad. To play 30 many holes
In one day ruins the benefits that can
be derived from golf.
''The biggest fault with the American
beginner is that he plays more than he
practices. 1t should be Just the opposite.
Practice makes perfect. OF course, some
Americans incline to the belief that by
playing they get practice, but it's not
the same in perfecting their play. II one
spends a long time practicing shots at
which one has a natural weakness. ones
game will develop much sooner.
Its really surprising how little prac-
tice OF the right kind will make q, good
player. II one practiced consistently for
an hour each day at the hard shots. IT
soon would end In near-perfection- But
the trouble with Americans is that they
don't care to practice. It seems like
work to them and it doesn't give them
the pleasure that the playing OF the
game itself gives.
But IL they Just curbed their desires
to play the game itself and spend some
time practicing they soon would become
so proficient that their pleasure In play
ing the game would be doubled and
tripled. because, by practice. they would
have learned to make the dimcult shots
that present themselves during the game
There always is an exhiliration In max
ing those difficult shots-thats one OF
the incest features Of the game"
Down in Hot Springs, Va. the natives
stiIl tell. with bated breath, Of the ter
rife drive made by Honus Wagner. Of
the Pirates, when he mixed up In a. golf
Ing game there during recent visit
Honus, go the story goes, had been
coaxed out onto the links and was shown
the intricacies of the game. Honus wenf
the rounds once or twice but, because he
was handicapped by the advice Of the
expert golfers. he never was able to get
a full swing at the ball However. after
the game was over. Honus remarked
that he thought he could get more dis
tancs with drive n allowed to follow his
own IDEAS
That's a mistake" said one Of the
golfers. ~In baseball the harder you
hit ball the farther Il goes. But It's
different IN golf II isn't strength that
counts In the golnng game"
sMebbe not, mebbe not" remarked
Honus. IsBut / kinda think could shoot
that little ball pretty far II got a good
swips on IT,"