The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-01-09
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ABOUT WATER HOLES
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 Some one asked me the other day what I considered the Ideal water hole in America
 That was an interesting question inasmuch as there are hundreds of water holes in this country. But perhaps I should explain to those who golf but little that by a water hole one means golf Mole with water hazard which furnishes many a chance for extra shots
 There is something about a water hole that sticks in ones memory, ana I think every golfer will agree that on all the courses he has played he remembers the water hole the best Perhaps one of the aids to memory Is certain beauty or picturesque daai- ity. l know that I have found that so. Water used for hazards is usual ly still-surfaced, and bespeaks the quiet of the country. The top is like mirror reflecting the trees bend ing above it and the birds winging their flight over 1t.
 Many Improvements
 Thousands of dollars have been spent in improving the forsaken wa  The courses laid out alongside seas and lakes seldom have water between the golfer and the hole Some time, however. the water hazard is a brook or running stream. Who can forget the sight from the high trees at Sleepy Hollow, N. T., as one looks out onto the Hudson? Or the view of the Pacific ocean from the new course at Del Monte. Cal? Or Lake Ontario from the Toronto Golf club? Or Lake Michigan on its weirdest days from Lincoln park? And hundreds of other beautiful sights of water and golfing land?
 l remember being caught and so transfixed by the view from the eleventh tee at Sandwich, England. that l did not realize that my time had come to play My opponent hac gone out in 31, in an 1S-hole match. and somewhere, 1000 miles away, was home!
 1 have never quite believed in the fairness of the penalty for getting into water hole. The loss of full stroke seems too much punishment for something one has no chance to recover from. When floater balls were popular golfers used to try to play out and 1 remember one fellow row ing out in a boat and playing from the middle of the lake, but the com mittee would not allow 1t because hs did not have his feet on terra firma. Nowadays our heavy balls sink and render such an attempt impossible It is my rule now, even if the ball lies in shallow water to take the penalty. Of course. there may be great exception, but failure to follow rllla baG grae and hole.
 A Deceptive Hole
 Playing across water Is deceptive. Recently l was playing the pretty seventh hole at Flossmoor, Chicago, and twice I missed carrying the bank when l thought I was we'll over. I took an s on the hole. On the eleventh hole at the Shawnee County club. l Shawnee, Penn. there is a tee at the rivers edge. The other bank looks | like good wooden shot away, and all the great players have attempted i to carry across, only to see their ball seemingly over, splash few feet from the other shore. believe that Walter Hagen came the closest to | getting over.
 My ideal water hole would be short | with an elevated tee, and a large. 1 sofe green. with water in front. and bunkers on the other sides. I want skim over the water like skipping the tee higher than the green, be- sause l have seen a poorly-hit ball stone and reach the green. and it can not do this if the ball is down drop ping. l want the hole short enough for everyone to reach 1t. And I wan. the green soft and catchy enough, so that those who must use the longer irons and the wooden clubs need not be afraid of the ball running over if 1t is we'll hit.
 The hole can be trimmed up with other refinements, but 1t must moi be too fancy. It makes a sporty hole to remember, and 1t Is a great satis- faction to see a white ball flying over blue wster to a shining green. But one can have too much water on a course, and if he gets into it often 1t is bad score-wrecker.
 l Copyright, John F. Dille company.) ---------s----