The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-07-17

Because a golf course has the ap
pearance of a 'millionaire's lawn" an(
is a gently rolling park. dotted witt
flags and flashy knickerbockers. th'
causuaI observer wonders at-the diff
. Guilty of finding the hole with a liveN
golf ball and open faced clubs. Here
is the description of a golf course
taken from a recent magazine that eX
plains it.
obviously. to the stranger on the
veranda, it is too well manicured to
offer sport. 1t is too refined. 1t lacks
the complications without which no
true golfer can be content. 1t should
be maintained exclusively for poets
and artists. But the professional who
supervised the engineering was by
birth seer and Il bushwhacker by
education. To judge from the craft
ness displayed In his handiwork he
could probably have ambushed an
Apache in broad daylight in the middle
Of a field as level and unObstructed
as Il billiard table Not merely against
par does one compete on this course;
not against the edcrepit and Outlawed
colonel: not even against an opponent
in the flesh: the game is played against
the fiendish Imagination and ingenuity
Of Donald Ross. Witness the unex-
pected hanging side hill lies; witness
the unduiating greens Of almost 1mpos-
stble keenneSs; witness the paucfty OF
hazards. the tnfrequency Of rough,
the astonishing presence of both when
ever n shot wanders fitfully from the
line of geometrical progress"
Some day the Shawnee players will
be able to quote the above paragraph
That course was laid out by Donald
Ross-and the work afforded him
great pleasure because of the unusual
opportunities to create his hazards
from the product Of nature without
the aid of pick and shovel
Friends of Dave August who plays
out at Shawnee, are accusing him OF
yelling Three Ninety Eight" at a
listless caddy the other day.
The action of the directors of the
Country club in giving up the develop
ment of the Shawnee course and de-
Gliding TO add nine holes to the present
links, has caused considerable discus
sion on the verandas over the ad-
vantages and disadvantages of
sporty" golf.
Sporty" golf is a game played on
a most hazardous course. The more
hills. the more side hill lies, the more
treacherous the course, the more
sporty" the game.
The Shawnee course is conceded to
be the real sporty" yard in Topeka.
The golfers who favor the present
Country club course seem to be in the
ma ority. Here is their argument:
Golf distinctly is a business mans
game. There are the scratch players.
to be sure. There are the younger
fellows who glory in the difficult shots
and who climb up and down hill with
out a sign of exhaustion. 1t is argued,
however, that to make golf a real
pleasure it must be taken in doses
OF recreation and not effort. The
Country club course is roly-poly
enough to make a ~ par most diff
cult even for the best players. On
the other hand a man may swing
around eighteen holes, take a shower
and feel az ease with his family on the
veranda for the rest of the evening
And the Country club players who
take this angle are not in the retired
class either They are red-blooded
humans who take golf seriously.
Brassy lies are becoming more at
tractive each year at Shawnee. The
wire grass, moved consistently, has
made the sod heavy and pliable. Fair
ways on all the long holes are now well
greened with this natural Kansas