The sun., 1916-01-10
NJ JOHN q. ANDERSON.

The finance committee Of a club. II
must be admitted, IL one Of the most
important bodies OF men in the affairs OF
the organization. should be loath.
however, 10 say that II was the most
important body. for to my mind that
distinction should always be given to
the green committee.
In line with many other changes that
have come over the country's golfers
as "a whole Is the care which is being
taken in the selection of those who shall
make up that coinmittee's membership
] doubt not that nine-tenths Of the men,
bers OF the green committees In this
land at the present time know mighty
little about how the green committee
work should be done. simply because it
is new experience to most Of them.
We find doctors. lawyers. business men.
in fact men from every walk OF life,
chosen members OF green committees
with perhaps one man I'm the group
who actually knows a little about
grasses md seeds. soil and subsoil
moisture, drainage, percolation, &c.
The words of this man are usually
taken for the truth by the other mem
bers. who tacitly admit that they are
mere hgureheads elected because they
were prominent meinters Of the club or
else were supposed to have enough
leisure time to visit the club in the
morning sometime when the others were
not around. ] am not in the least find
ipg fault with those men who consent TO
serve on such committees. knowing that
they will do their best. hut ! believe tina
the club officials should be extremely
judicious in their choice fSS these posi-
tions. We must not Judge the general
run Of green committeeman by the club
members who have charge Of the big
clut~ IN the country, FOR they are most
excellent there are nevertheless prob
ably 500 courses where bad greens and
bad holes from "A goting standpoint are
encountered because of the technical
ignorance Of the men in charge.
Is there a golfer who cannot name
scores of courses where the greens have
gone bad through no specially found
reason There are 500 links in the
land where the sole hope of getting
good greens depends upon a grecnkeeper
who has not had sufficient experience TO
meet all the new problems which arise
and upon a chairman of a green COM
mite. who tries hard hut has never
"'lhliG hllbWleIC' 'I luTl.
Perhaps one good and sufficient reason
why this is true IL because of the
short tenure ~ service which COM
mitteeman renders to a club. il Is
often the case that a man viii be elected
for single year. or three men for "a
single year This is q grave mistake.
Likely members Of green commit tees
should he asked befor. election If they
could serve for length of time. and II
II was certain that the right men wer.
put w the tenure for one should be
iive wears, for another four and for an
other three. This would make two old
members Of hoard Al all times, three
wears he.ig the tenure Of office after
tho first election had been made. In
ths WAY the club would give to these
members a position of great honor and
the right kind Of men would appreciate
II and work accordingly.
II must always he borne In mind
that unless there IS a I'm, course there
is more or less dissatisfactiou, which
errcads among the members aud ~
inclined to keep "ontroN crs'es alive. The
golfer ls fire." sIrkou iulivldiHl yar-
ttcularly II he has missed short pu't
uu tn" eighteenth green or found Il bad
lie on tn" latter part Of the round
which costs a hole. and many and heavy
are the burdens which Tho green COM
'uiitce mlst face. WAY down deep in
h.S heart the golfer j. proud of the
men who nurse III. course for him
and MS game. one has only 10 listen
speak about their own links TO discover