The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1915-08-19
IS GOLF A GAME
OR MEDICINE?
So Asks Writer Who Assets That All
Scientific Golf Talk is Mere
Blither and
Bunk.
ARE NO MYSTERIES
Same as Any Other Game, He Says
But Many Take Exception to
His Remarks on the
Subject.

Subject.
One writer goes on record with tne
assertion that books published on
golf are intended only for those VINO
take the game as prescription, ana
he rises to inquire, us golf game
or a medicine?'' Without becoming
intentionally facetious, one can not
help asking whether or not he con-
siders chasing the elusive pill on
the golf links as the practice OF medl.
cine.
The name Of the writer in cues
ton is Walter Prichard Eaton and ne
forthwith declares that he is getting
a bit weary Of the bunk" that IS
written about the game of golf. He
opines that there is,no mystery about
golf and that nine-tenths of the stun
written about its mysteries Is mere
blither.
Eaton explains that he has as much
respect for the game as the next one:
that his wife is as much of gofs
widow as anybody; that he Is secre-
tary Of his club the club Handicapped,
and so percent OF the green commit
tee. in other words. the club door
mat, He lulls himself to sleep dream
ing about how to do the course IN
even fours. He pays his respects to
a recent volume on the mystery OF
golf, in part as follows:
No Particular Mystery.
"This book, which was first issued
in special edition OF moderate size,
was later expanded by its author into
a profound treatise on psychology.
birth control, international law, DIFF
ferential calculus and applied agricul-
ture. and put on the general market.
Now there isn't any, particular
mystery to golf, any more than there
is to hitting a baseball, driving a nail
or buttoning your shoes II you have
never buttoned your boots before you
would take an hour or more to get the
Job done, no DOUBT. Simply your
muscles have acquired the boot but
toning habit. II you had never driven
a nail in your life you would not laugh
SO much when you saw your wife try
ing to perform the feat If you never
had faced pitcher, it Is doubtful II
you would line out two-bagger over
second. It Is doubtful II you do, any
way.
Same az Other Sports.
"All golf consnsts of, when you
come to think of it, is hitting ball
with a club in definite direction
with the greatest percentage of clean
shots. The kind Of shots vary from
the long drive to the pitch and putt:
but the fact remains that the object
T. ~ 1ft wi q,
club to definite place.
THAT is also tennis and baseball
and billiards, and squash, and even
driving nails"
Eaton says lot Of things that are
interesting and not without merit He
at least is logical. Playing golf is
perfecly simple matter. So is fiddle
ty-winks. In the former it is mere
question Of hitting the bail on ones
drive far and straight, accurately
judging distance so that the second
might reach the green If the hole is
a two-shotter. and plopping in the
putt IL the approach be just so and
SO. There you are. A perfect four
on par four hole Merely matter
of hitting the ball in the proper place.
Like Wall Street Finance.
It's like making money in Wall
street. Gather together few hun
dred thousand dollars and beat the
life out of the other fellow. Simple
as the nose on your face. Surely. hit
the ball straight, get it away soundly
and sweetly and you will enjoy golf
as no one ever dreamed. But do It.
That's the problem. And great are
the ''rysteries' thereof.
But Eaton is too interesting to pass
up so quickly After explaining that
nobody wants to play tennis with q
dub" because it would be one-sided,
and that poor baseball player would
never, never find place on team.
he points out that poor old golf Is
taken up by everybody. from boys in
knickergockers to lettering octogen-
arians, quite irrespective of whether
or not they have any natural aptitude
for hitting the ball, and they always
can find partners. always go poking
and foozling happily along"
Lack Athletic Instinct,
"Thev can't hit out 250-yard drives,
thew can't depend on their brassies.
they can't push up mashie to the
pin. they can't gauge their puts and
they decide that golf is mystery;
they write books about it. they pore
over articles telling how to 'concen-
trate.' how to KEEP the eye on the ball,
how to keep the head down, how to
follow through. and so on and so forth.
Most Of them never stop to re-
fleet that they couldn't hit home
run off Christie Mathewson nor place
a railroad service into the corners OF
a service court"-and so on through
divers and sUndry games-"nor do
and one other things which
require that instructive mental and
muscular coordination that charac- |
terizes the born athlete. Moreover, ,
thew couldn't do am of these things
If they studied them as hard as they
study golf and practiced them Just as
much Simolv the athletic instinct