The Washington herald., 1915-04-04

| amateur champion. E not rated alone at
| scratch-in class by himself-in the
| handicap list of the United States GOLF
| Association, recently given out. Ouimct
is made to share the honor with Jerome
d. Travers, four times holder OF the
title.
OF course. the pecvishness is not dis
played by officials in the Bay state. but
IL newspaper comment from the Hub is
to be taken a criterion. the New Eng
| landers arc all but up In arms. II is
quite natural that local pride in the
splendid - they IRE splendid-achieve-
ments OF Ouimet should somewhat over
| shadow the light of reason. 1t is a ma
tive SON. proposition.
, To go into great details explaining
| why Travers was placed on scratch with
j Ouimet would require considerable space.
1t is difficult to describe the handicap
ping workings to the average golfer. for
the reason that these workings are many
| sided. and to properly estimate golf
| ers worth requires knowledge OF the
| game and the man which is little short
| Of profound
Perhaps the system can be generally
| explained briefly. In the first place. each
| lub is supposed to handicap its MEM
| bers. Five of the best scores of a player
| form the nucleus of the calculation,
| comparing the average, of course. with
| the par of the links as estimated by the
| |alkins system. That is the first step.
Once the club submits its data the
governors consider what has been
done in some of the local tournaments.
! and the achievements i'm the national
amateur bear considerable weight. Past
performanc are not overlooked, al
| though they are not the entire basis
of handicapping, some of our Mas
sachusetts friends would assume. In
other words. ability is what is rated.
and guide to that ability must neces-
sarily be past performances, local
achievements. national Importance,
match and medal play successes, even
temperament. II is very broad
scheme.
When the handiCaps were announced
there were two very significant points
made by Howard +. Whitney. secretary
of the national body. He said, first.
that the conclusions We're reached by
actual vote of the executive committee,
and second. that it was the opinion of
the committee that the time was not
yet ripe when Ouimet could be con-
sidered absolutely in a class by him
self. which would be the meaning of
his occupying the scratch position
alone.
In other words, the hint was that if
Ouimet once more captured the nation
al amateur this year he would be en-
tilted 10 SuCn consideration. lnefe Is
no overlooking the fact that prominent
amateurs and professionals of two ma
tions have agreed that there are few /,
if any, match players of greater abil- |
ity than Travers in this wide world. |
He has won the national title four |
times-no one has ever done that but |
him. Because he played little last sea- |
son does not relegate him to the rear. /.
His showing abroad counts for little. |
To he In
season. and TO Ouimet. Travers was
beaten by Ouimet in the Lesley cup
matches. but what might he do this !
year if he finds time enough from bus |
mess to take up the game seriously? |
He has it in him and might just as
well come out on top again as he did |
SO siSnally in 1913.
The golfer who takes his clubs with
him when he goes to the exposition in
San Francisco will find no end of golf
tournaments in which he will be per-
mitted 10 play. On the golf schedule
for April will be found any number
of tournaments. The most important
OF these will be the Panama Pacific In
ternatienal tournament at the San Fran
cisco Country Club. beginning April 10.
While there are very few Eastern play
ers of mote in the far West, there are
a great number of golfers from the Mid
die West, who have announced their
intention of competing. These competi-
tions will bring the golfers OF the East
and West in closer touch. 1t is very
likely that California will be represented
in our next amateur cham
pionship.
According to the latest figures there
are just an even hundred golf courses
that are available for the devotees of
the royal and ancient sport in the New
York district This includes all the
Long Island links and some so FAR away
as Connecticut. but they are all within an
hour and a quarters ride Of the city,
and it is not impossible to play on ;
any OF them after leaving the office OH
afternoon. These faraway
links are mostly patronized by the long
distance commuters. but strange to say.
there are few born-and-bred city chaps
that are willing to go far for an after
Moons golf and never mind the trip in
the least. /,
Quite a number of the golfers of
The Columbia Country Club, have beeni
taking advantage of the fine. clear
weather during the past week 10 go
over the regular course which was
opened for the season about ten days
ago. The order revoking "winter
rules" was welcomed by everybody.
The falrway mas Deen rolled and the
course is in excellent condition.
Travellers returning from the South
report that golf links below the Mason
and Dixon line have been enjoying
great patronage. with few exceptions.
It Is freely predicted. that not many
,ears hence. there will be added many I
ixtures which will be competed for
Turing the winter and spring seasons
It the various Southern resorts Golf
RS here feel that to keep in trim one
must get something better than the
practice afforded by indoor golf links" I
n the cold weather. Should Southern !
,lubs offer few more open competi- ]
ions for trophies. large numbers Q
would be attracted from all parts of /
he country.
Francis Ouimet. the national Ameri-
an champion, who recently declared | 4
q did not like to play golf In cold /
weather.. has gone to Pinehurst for q ! Z
curse OF sprouts preparatory to the {
competitive season. Walter
7. Travis. former international cham Z
ion, early each year dies away for 1
he Southern competitive season. and
his year he has been blessed with
IL usual success. Charles II. Evans e
r. Ii now in the South and viii visit r
eyeral places before he returns to Chi. 4
ago Walter Ragen. the national j
pen champion, is now on . tour Of ld
hs South for exhibited purposes. The / h
act s that thousands Of 6olfsrf ar ~