Evening star., 1916-03-26
FREAK HOLES NOT INSTALLED
ON ANY MODERN GOLF COURSE
Links Architects of the Present Realize
Folly of ZOO and 800 Yard Holes
That Used to Be Seen.

Some courses in America have gained
regulations for merit due to the quail
ity of golf required throughout the
round ir making good score: others
wishing to become famous have hit
upon the expedeint of having one or
more freakish holes. Free advertising
is often deemed desirable. but success
has rarely followed it, writes John
Anderson in the New York Sun.
have in mind course in western
ssachusetts which once had hole
s02 wards long, the worst in the world.
bar none The first shot had to be
PLAYED with an iron, followed by a
mashie. to be followed by another iron.
and then a narrow lane for brassie
shot Par was seven Cor rather bogey,
for this was over ten years ago), and
il was a fortunate man who was able
TO get down in less than double figures,
since the green was on the very edge
Of steep precipice. and few If any
dared risk a shot other than an easy
chip ma ashie. The hole was an abomi-
nation unto golf Yet this club gained
afar-once-to play over a course
which had the longest hole in the wide
world
For a year there was this sort Of
praise ami then few golfers pro-
ceeded from a scientific standpoint to
pick the hole to pieces. Immediately
the press chimed in with ridicule, and
in the next few months the hole was
divided into two, one short hole thus
ma king a better link. Not long ago I
was In the vicinity of the course and
asked player if he remembered the
Big Burn Ben" as the hole was called
by some. and he said that the recO1-
lection of that mistake had saved them
from a similar catastrophe only two
wears before when the same man who
had engineered the first tried to put
through a 100-yard affair The sponsor
was beaten in his pet scheme by an
overWhe Inning vote. Golf cannot be
made Il game for extremes.
Sentiment Will Change.
Now the Interesting part OF the
aforementioned instance is that only a
few DAYS ago I heard of a club in the
metropolitan district which is thinking
of having 3 hole of inordnate length,
not because the committee believes
that il is the soundest golf, but be
cause there is q desire TO have the
longest hole in the United States. The
amount of notoriety which the club
Will gain in this respect may cause IT
10 find a place in the sporting pages
for a brief spell but when the shafts
of ridicule are pointed and the best
players and critics point out to the
members that il is a bad golf hole the
sentiment will change and there will
be a return TO the golden mean of
golfng distance.
The question naturally arises there
fore as to what should be the distance
for the shortest short hole and the
length for the longest long hole. What
Of interest in that we have with us
the tendency toward 7.oo0yard links
which, to my mind. is the utmost folly
Last autumn AZ the Detroit cham
pionship there was an excellent op-
portunity. The best which has yet been
afforded to discover what length
pleased the golfers and what length
seemed to make for the best golf The
Detroit course. b! means of it's mani
fold tees, can be made into a three
ring-so TO speak-course. the length
varying from 6.l50 yards to $500 yards
with $3.50 yards as the intermediate
point. With no exceptions. at least
from the two dozen l asked. the mid
die distance was preferred. There
were two main reasons given. Too
the physical effort involved. especially
and too short d length only gives the
golfers a chance to compare the course
with many others of like yardage
which are not considered championship
at all, and yet at their best vie easily
with the so-called championship green
There are other reasons. to be sure
such as the belief that the courses