Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-07-17
MERTON EVOLVES
! CADDIE SYSTEM
Has Best Arrangement of
Any Club-Murphy Is
Great Master
HIS GOAT" SAFE
By WILLIAM H. EVANS

If you happen to follow the final
match for the amateur golf cham
pionship of this country at Merton be-
tween Chick Evans and Bob Gardner,
you might have noticed the two caddies.
Chick had n small but chunky youth and
the then champion had a man somewhere
in the fifties, with grizzled hair and a
fine Irish brogue. That was Murphy.
one of the finest caddies that ever car
rled the bag OF champion. Murphy for
some time has been the caddie master
at Merton. and Merton has one Of the
finest caddie systems imaginable.
1t takes a man who understands boys
to handle caddies. They are an ire
pressible lot, full OF life and mischief.
and one of their delights Is getting the
goat of the caddie master. But they
never got Murphy's, and the. hundred
odd boys at Merton and Murphy get
along WELL for Murphy is the boss. and
no one knows It better than the boys.
Flaw in Old System
The old system at Merton was all
right in many ways. but 1t had one flaw,
there was a certain rate for eighteen
holes and you paid so much II the boy
lugged your clubs for nine and eighteen
holes. But there were times when the
boys or the players quit after playing the
thirteenth hole, which Is near the club
house. In that case the player had to
pay for eighteen holes. and IL he con-
tinued playing with a new caddle he had
to pay the nine-hole rate for the fve
remaining hole.
So Murphy got them to change it to
a fiat rate of so much hole. Now the
frst-class caddies get four cents a hole,
whether they carry the bags for one
hole or eighteen. And the second-class
| boys get three cents a hole. Some thought
1t would not work out to the satisfac-
| ton Of the boys IL the players quit
after playing thirteen holes. but Murphy
eaualzes matters by sending the boys
out with other players, SO the boys are
certain Of a fixed pay for the day. The
| first-cass caddie who carries tive bags
! gets a rate of three cents -bae for
each hole, while the second-class boy
! gets two cents bag for each hole. For
chasing balls boys OF both classes are
/ paid at the same rate of twenty-five
/ cents an hour. There Is a caddie effi-
cheney slip with each ticket. and the
members are asked to indicate whether
the boy is excellent. good or poor.
( All the checks are numbered consecu-
lively, and in the event of the player
losing balls through the carelessness of
the caddie the club has a check on the
George Sayers. the professional. and the
boy receives ten cents for each ball
found and the members may redeem
them for fifteen cents.
This system Is an excellent one. as
all players are placed on the same. basis
Frequently one player may pay ninety
cents and the man he is playing with
gets by for seventy-flve cents. Under
the new Merton system this is not pos
sible.
Plan to Stop Cheating
There are courses where the caddie.
take advantage of visiting players. Fou,
of us We're playing recently at a cours'
and after the round the boys told us th'
rate was seventy-fve cents For
tunately for us a member happened Il
be near, and after we had paid the boy
we had the satisfaction of getting a re
fund, for he made the youngsters dis
gorge a quarter each. In addition, h
gave the boys a lecture. II was a cas-
where the boys figured that no membe
was around, and we, being strangers
they had a perfect right to take us II
for whatever the traffic would bear.
At Lansdowne they have sensibl
practice of printing on the scorecar
the rates for two, three and four ba
matches and for matches where the boy
carry double. As result of this ther
is not a chance in the world Of the boy
overcharging. 1t is plan that is worth
of adoption by other clubs.
Tom Norton, formerly OF the Tredyffri
Golf Club, at Paoli, Is the new profe
stonal at the Philmont Country Clu
succeeding Jim Douglas, who has lef
Norton is only eighteen and for whi
was at the st. Davids Golf Clul
Charlie Hoffner, the other Philmont pr
is now at Wissahickon barracks.