The Washington herald., 1918-01-13

AASAANoA SUI 40 hO" It's
thirtieth year as it was in Novem-
Der. 1888, that the Scottish game
was formally imported and i'm
planted in this country. OF course
there are traditions of it having
been played in a small way in the
United States before that year, but
there was really no organization
until the st. Andrews Golf Club was
formed in 'SS.
1t has been estimated that there
are between one and two million
people between the ages OF Is and
80 who have taken up the game
| In this country. 1t stands to rea-
| son. therefore that. with the growth
Of the players and the increasing
measure of skill, there has also
been wonderful development of
golf courses. In spite OF the fact
that during last season there was
little or no competitive play, indi-
vidual everyday golf has suffered
slightly If at all. New clubs are
being organized all the time; others
are acquiring additional acreage or
improving or enlarging the old
links so that course architects in
this country have been kept busy
and expect this state of AFFAIRS to
continue.
In the early days OF American golf,
professionals laid out courses be-
fore breakfast. and there was none
to dispute their dictums. 1t was
not until 1897 that pros" began to
recognize what large field there
was for specialists in course-mak-
Ing and Tom Bendelow was prob
ably the first to give up instruct
ing and to turn his efforts in this
direction. When considered in COM
partspn with testing circuits of to-
day. courses laid out in the old days
look rather Insignificant. Bunkers
right across the fairway, about the
helght OF the jumps on a steeple-
chase course. with shallow bitches
in front of them, were the reguIa-
tion hazards of early golf archi-
tects. On long holes there would
be a bunker to trap a weak drive.
second for a short brassie and
perhaps a third, or else merely the
shallow ditch. before the putting
green to compel a pitched ap-
proach.
IL was not long. however. before the
monotony of such courses began to
pail and this feeling was intensified
When the rubber-core ball came into
general use about fifteen years ago,
LINKS had to be made more interest
ing with regard to hazards, and
ounkers had to be placed at longer
carries on account of the greater dis
tance obtained by the new sphere
over the old gutta percha. Col,
course architecture. a placing of holes
and of hazards with natural condi-
uons made use of, became a study.
As far as possible, many of the Law
outs had duplicates made of some Of
the more famous holes from courses
on the other side Of the Atlantic. and
the architects, once they got coins.
where natural conditions were lack
ing to make the proposed layout fit
into some particular British or Scotch
hole. obtained exact measurements to
be duplicated, putting in fairways,
undulations, mounds and greens.
But there were few of the foreign
born pros" who caught the mercurial
American spirit which demanded not
only that these importations of IA
nous foreign holes be duplicated, but
they be improvements over the orig
inals. The result was that not only
home-bred professionals got into the
game, but many amateurs as well, SO
that golf course architecture has had
to keep apace with the growth and
demands of the game. and has now
reached the highest state of efficiency.
There Is possibility that the
Middle Atlantic tennis Champion
ship tournament, which has been
local fixture for years, will be
given to Baltimore or some other
city in the association this year.
according to A. Y. Leach, jr., chair
man of the tennis committe OF the
Columbia Country Club. For the
last few years, this sectional event
has been awarded to the Columbia
Country Club. but last years tour
ney drew so small an entry list and
one of such inferior class for a sec
tional championship that the Col
umbia Club feels that, unless local
conditions change materially this
season, the event should be as
signed somewhere else Although
this event carries with it a title for
the section including Virginia.
Maryland and the District, for years
1t has turned out to be nothing
more or less than a local one with
usually no out-of-town entrants.
The winners of the mems doubles,
as sectional title-holders, are ELI
gible to compete against other sec
tional champions for the national
title. but one can imagine how far
Connie" Doyle and Arthur Heaton,
last years winners. could get in a
national event where they would
stack up against the crack pairs of
the country. OF course, last years
event is no criterion, as 1t was held
in the nature of q patriotic" tour
nament and no titles were awarded,
but the same conditions would un-
doubtedly apply this year, as the
old Doyle apd Doyle" combination
has been broken up, while Breck,
who, with Connie" formed a dan
gerous team in 1915. is now in. the
army. This leaves Connie" Doyle
as the only local player of possible
championship calibre left in Wash
ington. OF course. IL Columbia de-
cides not to put in a bid for this
event. it is possible. that Chevy
Chase or Dumbarton might ask for
it but even this is hardly likely as