The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-09-10
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS

about the game instead of wasting a column on the proper outfit to wear while playing 1t
 I stated in my article that a young | Atlantian initiated the Georgia
 Washingtonians in golf and that ] ''jined" the club and outfitted myself to take part in the game I also hinted that he led us astray in holding that a small town could keep up the links successfully. It cannot be done unless some rich golfist pays the bill or an endowment of some kind is provided, for the dues will not do it
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 l But I am glad that he won us with his tale. for it gave me a chance to get a little golfing experience before l moved to Birmingham some eighteen years ago. I cannot boast that I am a 1 reformed golfer, for I never got suf- 1 ficiently addicted to the habit for it to usurp my business, but I am proud that Fl had the nerve to quit before 1 got the virus in my system.
 l Do not jump to the conclusion be- l sympathy with those who have been | bitten with the imported disease and are broken out with Scotch rash and after years of study and practice have i acquired speaking vocabulary of golf ing terms. for, if the truth be known, am just, the least bit envious of those l who have taken on foreign game and acquired foreign language.
 
 I have said this much to excuse my self if l use wrongly the lingo" of the game and substitute the words of plebian baseball when I should use the aristocratic ones of golf, but being brought up on back lots' where the national game is seen at Its best l just became saturated with the slang of the diamond and have never been able to free myself from the express sions which got hold of me as a boy, and so please pardon me if I say knock" when shoud have made use of drive"
 After having been coached in the matter of dress and had the various solfing implements named and de- scribed and having laid out quite a sum of money for a young Baptist preacher, I was led out on the field to witness my first game. My cousin. who bears the same name which I advertise so frequently, had given the club the use of his fine meadow at Brookhill his lovely country home just on the edge of town. It was an ideal spot if suf- ficient means had been available to .nrnDnr1U law mt irk lxe the greens in order
 purlipg brook wandered through the course, and until I got to driving a golf ball 1 had never known that most of them had a Baptist strain in them. for it seemed to me all of those l drove somehow landed in the middle of the stream and forthwith were mersed. It may have been because a Baptist preacher was driving them, but be this as it may, it was quite expensive, as in those days the unsuitable ball had not yet been put on the market
 I'm a bit hazy about the game, but taking it for granted that a few who read this may not know the most ele- mental thing about it, I am going to state a.few thingsin thesimplest possible way for their benefit. The biggest thing in golf is the little round ball that is driven by a series of clubs whose names I will not attempt to enumerate. The thing is to see who can put the ball into a buried tomato can in the smallest number of strokes. These holes are of various lengths. But it isn't as easy as it sounds and much harder than it looks, and the strange part of it is that both men and women get a mania for seeing who can make the round of the holes and turn in the smallest score.
 It was getting hold of me good and strong and I only gave up my golf sticks because I found out that it was necessary in order for me to make a living. Had I been blessed with a competency, I would have chung to the game, for every man believes that with just a little more practice he will develop into a world beater. I believe it was Thackeray, who said that the brightest things were always told to the cab driver instead of to the diners out; in other words if one only had chance to stage a come e-back, he could electrify his hearers with his bon mots. The same thing applies to golf. If one could only recall the stroke and have another shot, how different would be the result!
 I'll never forget how after being chagrined at my miserable showing on my first weeks play at Washington. I went out into the back yard of the parsonage and all alone teed up a ball, for I just felt it within my bones that if I could swing at 1t unobserved. could lose it and did. came through clean and hit it square on the nose and away it went down a ravine. It was a regular Charlie Hall drive. Nobody saw it. but deep down in my soul I was glad for I had hit beauty
 
 Living, as I do. facing and on one side surrounded by the Country Club for, years. I have watched the game, and I have never been too busy when cutting through the links to the lake to catch a car to wait until the players have all driven, or if on the greens until the last putt was made. I have lived in a golfing atmosphere and. as most of my neighbors are members of the club have heard them discuss the fine points of the game; and anything boys have supplied, for like all young the merits of the game.
 I know it is said with a suspicion of but if some of you young men, who since you left collage will only admit at Roebuck and the Country Club on TS,,a Iay h11f dn, he 1cha