San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-01-14
LARDNER'S PROJECT
OF SAHARA GOLF is
TREATED SERIOUSLY
FQirplay Discusses PossibiE-
ties If Desert Ever Sab
jugated.
BY FAIRPLAY

Copyright. 1928. by The San Antonio Light.
When the desert of Sahara is thor
oughly subjugated. ms in time it prob
ably will be, it will furnish admirable
golf courses as irrigation canals pene-
trate further and further into its less
explored regions.
The thick covering of sand which lies
over its surface will have given way
in vast areas to some growth of vege-
tation following the advent of water.
Whoever conquers the desert will have
opened the greatest golf prospect in the
world.
This seems TO be assured by the fact
that on the fringe of other desert golf
has been found to go splendidly. Over
in MesOptamia, for instance, there is a
capital golf course on which the British
officers find no little amusement as
they can drive seemingly endless sho S
without a bush or a shrub to get in
the way of the ball A tree is unheard
of. No self-respecting tree would per
nit itself to grow on a desert golf
course.
The English are very fond Of sea-
side golf. Many of their best courses
are constructed along the waters which
surround the island and some of their
best championships are played on the
links which are carried over the sand
dunes that have been left by wind and
wave. 1t is quite natural for British
players, therefore, to find amusement
in their golf where the links have the
desert for a background, while some of
the holes infringe upon the wilderness
of the sands which were once the beds
Of seas or rivers.
If the desert surface were as firmly
packed as the long strips of ocean beach
such as we have in some parts of the
United States and especially along the
border of the Atlantic, those who delight
in the long driving game would be in
| their element.
Imagine the carry ana roll with a
favOring wind if a man could lift his
ball from n tee to q surface like the
hard-sand surface of the Atlantic along
the coast of Florida. A ball on such
a fairway would roll even further than
over the smoOthPst asphalt. Six hun
bred yards should at least be the mini.
mum distance between holes. Some OF
them might go up to 1000. 1t would
all depend upon how far the player
would wish to walk. OF course, by the
size OF the ocean one Cdu Wink lDNeI'
mite distances without realizing how
great the mileage has become.
A driving game was once played or
the beach from one Florida town to an
other. 1t was hugely enjoyed Part oI
the crowd fl wed along in automobiles
1t was beSAIe it was necessary. to i'm
port all hootch from Mimini and nat
urally there was an attractiveness t
the nineteenth Role wherever it nigh
be when the objective was reached in thu
way of a hotel at the town toward
!, which the game was proceeding.
REWRITING to the Sahara, if the SAN
ever gets well flattened what will b,
more agreeable than TO play from oasi
, to oasis and camp long the way. Cara
vans can accompany each golf excursion
as it sets out from tie first hole. Their
is no restricting law in the Sahara eithe
; as it effects food or drink with an al
; coholic percentage. There is abundan
sunshine. This is looking forward
J little but there may be an internationa
Sahara Ann tournament one Of thes
; days and the United States players vii
have a fair chaLce to win because tn
British say the golfers here love I
"swat the ball. There win be no limi
!. on Sahara.