The Washington herald., 1922-02-10
Professors Ide as
On Sport Might Be
Changed By Golf
Philadelphia Adds the Links
Game to School Athletic
Program = Teachers and
Students Battle" for
Chance to Learn It..
By GORDON sHAND.

II golf were the main sport. in
stead Of football. at some of our
Institutions of learning it is not
unlikely that the professor element
might change its views on the rel
atiye Importance Of education and
sport.
The report comes down from
Philadelphia that an indoor golf
alley is being built at one of the
slowtown high schools. The stu
dents planned on using it to keep
themselves in trim for the spring
tryouts for the school golf team.
But members of the faculty are
putting in bids so fast for a
crack at the new alley that 1t looks
as though the boys would have a
job on their hands to break in
themselves.
At that. it's the one game where
the faculty team could probably
trim the varsity.
Philly Schools Adopt Golf
Washington high schools, partic-
ularly Central, have taken UP near
ly every sport worthy of the name.
with the exception Of golf. All OF
the so-called minor sports-tednis,
soccer. craftsmanship, swimming,
etc, are being fostered with enthu-
siasm, but golf. a game which has
long outgrown the minor" stage,
has yet to be adopted.
At Philadelphia, the public
schools supervisory athletic COM
mittee has unanimously passed a
resolution that golf be added to the
sport program Of the schools. Many
Of the schools have. already formed
their own golf associations and the
chances seem to be all in favor Of
an interscholastic league there.
And yet we call 1t the SLEEPY
City"
One of the indoor golf schools in
Philly has thrown open its alley to
the boys in the evening and Is
swamped with applicants to learn
the game. They form in a long line
and are taken on by the instructor,
one after the other. There Is only
time to give each one a couple OF
smacks at the ball and few
words of advice, but the boys al
ways come back for more.
start Too Late.
Although the number of young
players adopting golf has increased
tremendously during the past few
years, 1t is still the exception rather
than the rule when a man takes up
the game before the age of rs or
so. He does not learn II while in
the formative stage in high school
or while he is at the height of his
athletic career in college, but rather
takes it up when he feels that he
is slipping" physically. a few
years after he has -forsaken the
gridiron. diamond or cinder track.
As q result. he never reaches the
heights of golf which he might
have attained had he started
earlier.
Take tennis. for example Why
have California's aspirants for the
national championship been so
often successful in their quest de-
spite the fact that they had to cross
the continent to reach the scene Of
the title tournament? Simply be-
cause nearly every kid in California
has a racquet in his hand from the
time he is able to run about. and
because the sport Is fostered in the
grammar and high schools to an ex-
tent never thought of here in the
East.
Bill Tilden was one of the first
in the East to appreciate the i'm
portance of starting 'em in youn
and has been largely responsible
for the development of pany of
the present juvenile stars, partic-
ularly Vincent Richards.
Work Is again in progress on the
Indian Spring Golf Club course.
The snow has been almost entirely
cleared OF. and by next Monday it
is expected that about eighty men
will be on the job. Two new fore
men are coming up here from Pine
hurst, making a total OF fve who
will supervise the work in the fu-
ture.
Experienced laborers are being
taken on as fast as they can get
them. Despite the handicap which
the blizzard imposed on him, Don
aid Ross is still confident that
twelve holes of the course VIII be
completed by April 1!