San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-01-31

point of the onlooker at least, was the
increased size of the galleries.
Paradoxically, this feature was both
gratifying and Notifying. 1t was highly
gratifying in that it showed the growth of
local popular interest in golf. 1t was
notifying in that it resulted in viola
ton of the ethics of the game by many
spectators, even the most seasoned vet
Grams being thus placed under upauthor-
lied handicaps.
1t may be that this is the price of a
community's rapid progress as golf re-
sort. If so, doubtless the professionals, as
well as the most enthusiastic amateurs,
would be willing to pay that price. How
ever, it should be reduced as quickly as
possible-aHd this is a task which can
surely be performed only by those who
are ignorant of the rules and customs OF
the golf links. This statement may sound
irrational, but it is literally true.
For the extra handicaps imposed by the
PLAYERS in the recent tournament-par
ticularlv on the last day, when two famous
professionals PLAYED off tie for the cham
pionship-were due to ignorance on the
part of hundreds OF people who swarmed
over the fairways and around the greens.
1t is not TO be assumed that these people
Intentionally violated the ethics of the
game. They were unconscious of the
spectacle they were making of themselves
and of the game in which they were, in
manner of speaking, participating.
Some of them evidently. had never be-
fore followed golfers around the. links ;
and, doing so for the first time, they were
at loss to know how to conduct them
selves. They didn't know that golf makes
peculiar requirements OF spectators-that
in some respects it rcvcrses the rules of
craftsmanship that apply to other games.
If they had stopped to consider the origin
of golf they might have avoided the mis-
takes they made: the Scotch do not waste
even words.
Hoyle says that any amount of talking
in poker game is permissible. In base
ball, the fans" may "rawhide" a player,
or even the umpire, to certain extent
without being accused of a lack of sports
manship: In football, yell leaders and
brass bands oftentimes undertake to dis
concert the rival team.
Dut III SOii "lldl a IL
ones opponent, or even a bystander so
much as breathes audibly while one is
attempting to- putt or drive, the I'M
pardonable is committed And if anybody
expresses pleasure when a player foozles
good night. Even ones opponent, to
qualify as 4 sportsman in the great game
of golf, must express his Sorrow" when
one makes an extremely bad play.
But such Sorrow" must not be ex-
pressed too loudly or too positively, and
certainly not repeatedly, lest it accentuate
ones poor playing and thus betray the
opponents true feelings. Golf is game
that calls for the exercise of much dis
cretion-for diplomacy as we'll as polite
ness. Those who feel happy when they
are winning must postpone all audible
or perceptible celebration. One who
can't keep his feelings under cover, or
who is unable to dissemble in the name
of craftsmanship, has no proper place
on golf course in company with anybody
else.
To the players and other sophisticated
folk it might be too painful to recount
all the Stunts" which spectators pulled"
during the play-off match for the cham
pionship in last weeks tournament here.
Suffice it-oh, pray let it suffice Ito
say that the large attendance of the I'm
sophisticated augurs we'll for the future
of San Antonio as golf resort. For
if thousands of people who know nothing
of golf take enough interest in the game
to attend tournament, it is reasonable
to expect that some of them subsequently
become enthusiasts