The New York herald., 1921-12-01
Golfers Reverse Usual Practice
to Keep Near Par on Fa-
nous Hole at Engineers.
BY KERR N. PETRIE.

BY KERR N. PETRIE.
Bunkers. and especially bunkers
located so close to the putting green
that they threaten every approach that
is played, are not as general rule. re-
garded as a saving grace by the rank
and file of golfers. However. on the
links of the Engineers Country Clup
there are such n set Of hazards, these be-
ing on the short fourteenth, one OF the
most talked about golf holes in this
or any other country. and which Card
liner w. White characterizes as one of
the best three-shot holes In America"
When this much discussed fourteenth.
sometimes referred TO at the 1.-TWO or
twenty" first was laid out there was
knob of ground that obscured a good
deal OF the green from the view of the
player on the tee and added SO per
cent. to the mental hazard on the hole.
Later, said knob was levelled, but many
of those who had been advocating such
a change so that they could break the
ball on this ground and thereby allow
it to trickle on to the green. were horri-
fed some time later to find that the
green committee had gone to the other
extreme by inserting a sand trap where
the knob had been.
Hero was an entirely new problem.
There was nothing for it now but TO
pitch boldly for the pin, leaving 1t to
fate whether the ball should hold or go
over the bank. Most of the golfers ac-
cepted this as the only plan. but not
all of them. There was one who put on
his thinking cap and reasoned thus:
1t is better to be in that bunker up there
on the side of the green than down in
the traps on either side, dozen feet
or so below the putting strip.
Once In the newly made bunker the
player had a shot out. with the full
length of the green to play on. The
chances were that he still would have
his putt for a par 8. With the ball
down in the sand on either side of the
peninsula green, however. player
might go on indefinitely.
And SO it happens that players may
be seen on the fourteenth at the En-
glneers who aim deliberately at the
bunkers, for there is another and deeper
one just beyond the one first described
Some get both into line and then let GO
feeling certain that il they miss the
first the second will save them.
A Bunker in n New Light.
Save them, indeed This is seeing
a bunker in a new light, but it is a fact
nevertheless, that they play this par
ticular hole this way. Indeed, one Long
Island player does not even take q
chance on the forward shallow trap but
blazes away for the deeper one beyond.
1t is seldom that lie takes more than
for the hole, while often he is out
of the sand and close enough to hole
out in a single putt.
And what happens to the hapless
wight who turns his club face in the
direction of the flag and underpitches
or overapproaches? AS an illustration.
let us take the match between J. ;.
Worthington of Siwanoy, the west
chester champion, and A. N. Brand OF
Garden City, In the recent invitation
tournament at the Engineers. Brand
began by pitching short while worth
ington overran. In both cases II was
only question of IN inch or so. Erand
ball stumbled on the rough on the edge
of the green, while that of his opponent
Just trickled over. Playing his second
shot Brand overshot the mark COM
pletely finding himself in the sand
alongside of Worthington. v
The subsequent play was comedy
but It is what can be seen any day al
the fourteenth of the Engineers Stand
ing together with the rubber cores re-
bounding from the hillside with discour-
ging persistence right to the back o'
the trap. where the club head had
scarcely room enough to clear the STRIP
OF turf that keeps the sand from run
ming downhill, Worthington and Brand
played shot after shot At length
Brand walloped his ball so hard that u
flew right out of the sand over th'
green and came to rest IN the rough
under an apple tree away below.
IL his plight had been bad before II
was fifty times worse now. Had .hs
been playing for a score It Is hard "a
say what his total for that hole might
have been. Playing from the rough hs
again reached the trap I'm which he hao
been ensconsed on his first shot. Will
the prospect of beginning the knowing
scene" all over again. Tho incident wa:
closed. as It invariably is when the prin.
cipals in a match make a mutual trip Il
the ledge bunker on this hole. by the
other man reaching the green.
Some contend that the famous tive
or twenty" is fair inasmuch as It re-
wards a perfect shot There IS no dis
putting this, of course, for Just behind
Worthington and Brand in the recent
invitation tourney player in a minor
beaten eight drove his ball right against
the pin from the tee. being kept from
registering one only by the position OF
the flagstaff.
However. that is not the point. What
really matters is that once the golfer
has underplayed or overplayed he is in
serious trouble at this fourteenth at the
Engineers, with a ruined score in medal
play staring him in the face and the los.
OF the hole in match play unless his op.
ponent happens to be in like predica.
ment. A perfect shot no doubt does get
fits deserts, but IL has TO be remembered
that not even the expert produces Tho
perfect shot on every occasion that il
is required.
Bulls eyes are all too rare in golf
but there are any number OF inners and
cutters. The average golfer does not
mind paying ccrain price for his bad
shots. but hates like the dickens to SEE
n par hole stretched to Z. 10 or
a perfect Is just because he has failed
by ono turn of the ball TO hold the green
The fourteenth at the Engineers give,
lot OF sport, but il cannot be classed
as other than a freak. A freak. too, I,
will remain just as long as II offers for
the player TO aim at n space about the
width of the deck Of O submarine chaser
and, rs one golfer has put ~. all eternity
for the ball that misses. Some day the
Il SA Ill L.