The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-01-21

1t is obvious that sport, especially
the most strenuous kind, has a place
in our life even in these most siren
uous times. Not long ago Ed Thorpe,
a former college athlete who is in the
sporting goods business, representing
one of the oldest houses in this coun-
try, told me that last fall he received
an order for complete football equip
ment from some Belgium officers at the
font. These men had seen American
troops play the game and they imme-
diately went in for it.
What a strange contrast is the at
titude of these Belgium officers, who
have passed through a more severe
test than the men of any other coun-
try within the memory of man and
in fact are still meeting that test, to
the attitude of Yale, Harvard and
Princeton toward this same game!
Play Of the most rugged sort is as
much a need of the soldier at the
front as is food and drink. To the
vast majority of college men the same
holds good in the abnormal collegiate
existence Of today. Enough said!
Down in Florida approximately forty
golf courses are receiving their last
grooming preparatory to the annual
exodus of northern visitors. There is
the winter playground Of the more
well-to-do. Sunlight, warmth and
surf-bathing vie with golf as allure
ments to anyone who has the price.
One must pay heavily for a place in
the Florida sun. Nothing comes free
in that Land of Promised Youth. Yet
the game is worth the cost and, the
golfer who wishes can soon get his
starting time for golfng under ideal
conditions Mother Nature, Donald
Ross and a host of lesser golf arch1-
tects have combined to make the an
cient game ideal in Florida.
Up north golf clubs have generally
closed in order to conserve fuel and
country club life has been dealt
tough blow by Kaiser Bill and Cen
eral Won Hindenburg. There are but
two courses open to the devotee Of
the links: He must either HE him
self to the land of sunshine and take
his chances with train service or HE
himself to France and take his
chances with the submarine. A great
many have chosen the latter course.
All of which goes to show that the
luxurious life of our winter and sum-
mer resorts has dealt American man
power no dastardly blow, as we have
sometimes been led to think.
Managers of winter golfing resorts
in the south have been quick to meet
new conditions. Those elegant tro-
plies of former years have been
scraped and the mug hunter who saw
visions of returning home in the
spring with trunk full of silverware
because the younger players would
be absent will find conditions not to
his liking. Entrance fees to the varl-
GUS and numerous tournaments have
in many cases been elevated, the
same to go to the Red Cross, and the
winners are % be given medals bear
ing the sign of the Red Cross. Golf
in the south this winter will be more
of an old mans game, so was as the
male is concerned. In the more POP
ular centers-Pinehurst, Palm Beach
and Bellaire-tl1is will make golhng
much like it should be.
Of recent years so great has been
the popularity of the game at these
resorts that all links were cramped
and overcrowded. The public course
at Van CORTLAND Park, New York
City, on Saturday or a Sunday, In
summer, had nothing on the aristo-
cratic course at Palm Beach. in win
ter, The past few Februarys saw as
many as five hundred golfers doing
the eighteen at Palm Beach in one
dav. Our millionaire never liked that
sort of crowding and a lessening in
goliing participants will be pleasant
news to him. He assuredly cannot
object to high taxes, announcement
train schedules and the many patri-
otto donations which will be asked OF
hIn-if he ever did-now that he can