New-York tribune., 1920-04-20
Curtis Says Manufacture
ers Decry Suggestion of
Making Such a Change
By Ray McCarthv

When the meeting of the Unite,
states Golf Association is held or
Aprll 80 to act on possible changes il
the playing rules, the standardized tio1
OF the golf ball is certain to come II
Tor considerable discussion. This pro
posal Of late has gained many adher.
ents. But the pros" including jim
narnes and others Of note, and tn.
| inanuIacturers are very much against
the idea. They think the Suggestion
ABSURD si,S and say such a change woulc
hlll the game. They will be on hanc
10 present their collective views or
the matter.
Alec Pirie, secretary Of the Profes.
sional Golfers Association Of thi,
country, received a letter yesterday
from Harry T. Curtis, an official Of one
or the largest sporting goods concerns
IN the country. Curtis is man Of
much experience in golf and other
sports. He has sounded out many per.
sons prominent in the Scottish game
ana ms views are representative of the
manufacturers as a whole. His letter
to Plrle, IN part, follows:
Our attitude as manufacturers is
strongly opposed to Standardization
and in that opinion we are governed
by two motives: First, we do not
or our interest in it. and, secondly, we
do not wish to be placed in the posi-
tion, manufacturers, where the rul-
ing body will tell US to make one kind
OF bail while the great majority Of
golfers demand a different kind, q re-
suit inevitable if anything radical is
attempted.
81 feel certain the golf ball now has
reached it's practical limits as regards
distance. l say this after many years
OF experience with unequaled re-
sources regarding equipment and de-
vices.
IN fact no new principle in golf
ball construction has come to light
since 1910. The improvements "a re-
duction in size amounting to 25-1 1000
of AM inch and an increase in weight
Of scarcely more than "a pwt.) have
been in the nature of refnements--
mere minute details. Nearly all Of
that is now Of the past, and there
exists under present methods little
chance for another Haskell upheaval.
There is some feeling in Britain
favoring the Standardization on the
part of minority of golfers at least.
However, this attitude can be partly
explained by the fact that in England
golf ball development was checked on
dSSVuLt vi tHe war. In America IL was
not.
1.-THE small heavy ball Of to-day Is an
experts tool. 1t is not easy to play it,
1t lies close, it stops only when q
player knows how to stop it, but in
the hands of an expert it acts ad-
mirably in this respect, and it always
arrives by the air route. 1t is a finely
tuned, high powered instrument in
skilled hands, and to prohibit it would
without question, tend to lower the
quality of golf
ut has been my observation that
the older golfers (n age) are the ones
who almost as whole favor standard
ization and oppose the small heavy ball
both here and in Britain A vote taken
at Pinehurst this winter, at which
place golfers representing twenty tw 0
states were present, showed approx
mately 70 per cent opposed to the
change and 25 per cent in favor of it.
Pirie says he himself is against
Standardization, as are most Of the
others. He is sending the letter Of
Curtis to the different sectional secre-
taries of the P. G. A. They are Louis
Teller, of the New England section:
Dlfried Reid, of Wilmington, in the
Ssutheast; Joe Davis, of Chicago, in
the Middle States, and R. Lager. on
the Pacific Coast.