The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-02-05
GAVE WORLD MANY
 GOLFERS

The Old World. Scotland in parti- cular, has given us our golfing heroes. Sad to relate. we Americans could scarcely count upon the fingers of our hands the number of we'll known golf ing giants of Lygone days, for we are more concerned in thinking of our own game and how to better it than ill spending a few moments at night reading a paragraph or two of the deeds of such men as Allan Robert son, Old Tom Morris, Young Tom Morris, who at the age of "A had cap tured four open titles; Bob Ferguson, Willie Park, Straith and Jamies An derson, three times successive winner of the championship.
 These men played golf in the days when the game was even more of a religion than it is today, when a match victory meant a sectional tris ump and put the winner on the pin nacle of local and sometimes a na- tional fame. In the years to come, probably fifty years from today, much the same will be written concerning the wonderful deeds of the grand tri- umVirate, Vardon, Braid and Taylor, for assuredly they merit all the ecom- iums of praise which can be bestowed.
 But what will America have to show, what will interested writers be able to point out as the one great list of golfing adventurers whose skill reached a hign point of success well worthy of commemoration by the new generation of golfers? The Old World gave us rules, it produced great golf CTS, par excellence, but America will be able to point to her golf course conStructioniSts and claim a spot in the realm of golfing honors unequal led.
 The recent death of that splendid golfing gentiem9n, George A. Crump of Philadelphia, has brought out most forcibly the genius of American in- centive and the stubborness of pur- pose in the search after quality and golf course perfection. Few there are, perhaps, in the great body of golfers in America who will realize the tre- mendous loss which the world of golf suffered less than a fortnight ago, when George Crump so suddenly passed away.
 I have no doubt that his name will go down in history as one of the greatest if not the greatest conceptor of ideal golfing holes which the world has ever seen. Pine Valley, to my mind surpassed by no other links was the product of the most carefully con- ,,I0 n, off to detail simply astounding, and the critic who could find much fault with any of the fourteen holes completed was and is indeed rarity.
 At that meeting of the U. S. G. A. Robert Lesley in a fitting manner paid tribute to the genius of Ameri- ca's greatest links moulder, and the association delegates voted to have recorded in the minutes of the meet ing a record of the grief felt at his less. MT. LeSley's closing words were to the effect that the most fitting cpl taph which could be written would be this:
 George A. Crump, "The Finder, the Founder, the Constructor" the same to be placed cn bronze tablet decor ated with a pine tree and placed over the fieplcae. No doubt this thought will be carried out. There may have been golfers who loved to play more, but there never was a man who loved the construction of wonderful and su- perlatively fine golfing holes as did George Crump.
 There may be some of our British cousins who will ob1ecc 90 Unss pIac- ing of a golfer little known abroad. perhaps, in the first rank of links constructors. They will point out to the links at St. Andrews, Muirfield, Prestwick, Westward Ho, Hoylake, Sandwich, Deal, Walton Heath and the rest and mention the names or the men who have been identified tIl some way or ether with the present championship nature of the courses, but if they do will fail to convince.
 The natural start of the foreign links was better and their age begat excellence through the fostering care of many keen linksmen. No one CT two can claim the lions share in the constructior- of these championship venues. There have been most ex- cellent golf architects from across the sea and there still are many of the best. but of later years I have come to the conclusion that for ingenuity, vision, carefulness, soundness of judg- ment and persistence American archi- tects rank high. American golf in years to come will be under a heavy debt to the present day constructors, for we seem to agree on the one point that quite often the links makes the player.
 The list of our well known archi- tects is strong in quality as well as in numbers, comprising as it does Charles B. Macdonald, Walter J. Travis and Messrs. TiIlinghast Lock- wood, DevereIux Emmett, to say nothing of George O'Neill and the most sought after of all, Donald Ross We have with Us two of the best of foreign golf architects in Willie Park and Tom Winton, and a host of oth- CTS, such as George Low, Robertson l White and Bendelow.
 1 The list given is by no means con- plete, but it affords comparison if de- sired. Many of these golfers were born on the other side of the water i but they have done most if not all of their links -'architecting" in this land and we can safely call them our own. No task is of too great a mag their courage is equalled by their skill. s
 It may not be known to most golf