New-York tribune., 1921-08-07
MAKING GOLF.
CLUBS SAFE
Continued from puge four)

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@On all sides you hear folks saying how much
ehey'd like to take up the game If they could
only afford to. Any one would think that
golf balls were made of platinum and stick Of
solid silver and that caddie drew down the
fee of corporation lawyer. Lots Of people
have that idea, too. The actual running ex-
penses Of golf game don't run any higher,
than the upkeep of fiver. It's the member
ship fees that make the game prohibitive, and
shat's what I'm coming to-"
Old Doc Sology was moving along at 200
word-a-minute clip and leaving me far behind
But he was unburdening his soul and doing
himself heap of good SO / let him run on
at breakneck speed.
II have friend in the Office, the Doc con-
tinued, "who had never played golf until last
summer He took his family, two sons and
daughter, up to New Hampshire resort and
they all got bitten by the golf bug. He
talked about it all during the fall and in the
winter bought place out in the country near
a golf course. Said he was going to bring
his family, up right; make 'em all regular
golfers. u
IL saw him again the other day and asked
him about the country and his golf game, and
he pulled face mile long Seems he went
right ahead with fixing his place up and every
thing before joining the club. Just took 1t
for granted that they'd be glad to have him
and his whole family play their course.
sand they would have been only when it
came to totaling up the figures he discovered
that he and his adult son would each have to
put up $4,000 as an initiation fee, pay $500
E.
wife and $1O0 for each of the minor children.
His first year of family golf would cost as a
starter $11,450, and there was no telling
when an assessment for a few hundred dol
lars would along to buy new set Of
interior decorations for the ballroom
"Of course, he might have made it If he
had mortgaged his new home, sold his car and
put the family wartime rations. But he
didn't. He rented his house and moved back
in town, and if you mention golf to him to-
day he is ready to fight.
That's fairly typical case. All over the
country golf clubs are boosting their en-
trance fees and pushing their yearly dues up
to the gve-till-it-hurts limit. Gradually the
game is narrowing down to polite pastime
for the ultra-rich and few sympathetic
hangers-on. A fine state of affairs in demo-
cratic country!
''It wouldn't be so bad if fair percentage
Of the money went for golf. But it doesn't.
Take peek at the budget of any golf club.
Fifty thousand dollars goes into interior
decorations, while patry thousand is devoted
to improving the fairways. The ladies' parolr
gets four coats of enamel paint, while the
burned out turf on the eight green gets a
handful of second-grade fertilizer. They be-
gin talking about sinking fortune in a tile
swimming pool when any who knows any
thing about golf realizes the necessity Of re-
moving the cross -bunkers and putting in a
few modern hazards.
"They hire a S10,000-a-year imbecile with
wing collar and an English accent to look
after the club cuisine and turn the course
over to the mercy Of a $50-a-month Irishman
who smokes a corncob pipe.
"In the activities of the average golf club
golf is considered minor but necessary evil.
The Saturday night dances and the Thursday
afternoon bridge parties draw bigger and at
tract more general interest than the annual
club, championship. And those are the items
that run up your monthly house account and
make golf real luxury
why, know man who said he couldn't
afford to belong to golf club because his wife
was such poor bridge player.
Actually, the golf clubs of this country are
doing more to discourage the game of golf
than they are to encourage it. It's confusing
the country club idea with the golf club that's
all wrong All we need in the way of club
house is room for few lockers, some shower
baths and place to grab off a slight lunch.
No real golfer wants palatial hotel and
funkies standing around waiting for dollar
tips. It's absurd.
''The municipal golf course is the right idea,
but until they start building them by the
dozen no one but real enthusiast wants to
get up at 3 a. M and stand in line until noon
for the privilege Of being sandwiched in with
lot of beginners who are long on profanity
and short on etiquette
"Yeah," said the Doc, bringing up short,
"I'm strong for golf. It's more than re-
ligion to me. But can't stand seeing it NAL
treated and abused the way it is. I'm
through"
Somehow | had an idea that the Doctor was
weaker in his climax than he had been in his
opening fire. Perhaps he was only running
out of breath. Anyway, ! took a chance
"Weli, I'm sorry to hear that, Doc" told
him, stroking long package had tucked un-