The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-03

and believe in more and moro as the years go by. That Is, the democracy of the game.
 It is the duty of all golfers to keep to this ideal. and more especially the duty of the so-called good golfers" They should welcome the golfer from the public links even though he de- feats them. What does it profit man to be champion only of those who have inherited a certain income? Sport is better than that.
 Blythe Is at fault. when he tells us the first golf club in this country was organized on November IS, 1888, Some time l am going to tell wait ing public when the first one was organized.
 They Cost Too Much.
 But he Is right when he calls our attention to the fact that golf clubs and courses cost too much to keep up. and constantly make over. and that 1t Is a crime against sport to drive men and women by increased dues and special assessments from clubs they have helped to support for years. Some times 1t is necessary to make changes. of course-the rub ber-core ball has brought about strange results-but there is no doubt that upkeep and changes are mak ing golf very expensive game in America. l am a firm believer in the idea that public courses should be increased in number, and the private ones kept as reasonable in cost as possible. This does not apply to men, most of them past middle age. who have founded clubs with limited memberships in order to protect their small leisure and allow them to en- joy it in healthful exercise. It is among them l have found tho most enthusiastic advocate of the public links and the public links golfer. But the necessity of Keeping down ex penses does apply with great force to the ordinary country club, found ed to meet the needs of average players of average incomes. It is a tragedy when man, loving his game, Is forced to drop out of his club because of special assessments for so-called improvements.
 o o O
 Where Blythe Erred.
 Blythe is wrong when he attributes this constant tearing up of golf courses to the two or three glitter ing amateurs" in each of these clubs. , Possibly, at certain times of my life l may have been called a "glitering
 
 Blythe that no one ever remodeled golf course because I was dissatis- fled with 1t. learned golf and prac- ticed for many years on little. flat. nine hole course slightly diversified by few oldfashioned bunkers. and l loved it. l have known many "glttering amateurs" and I feel sure that none of them has ever been the cause of remodeled course. When the powers that were decreed a change the so-called "glittering amateurs" gave the best advice of which they were capable. but that was all.
 ] Neither do l think 1t Is the golf l architect who is responsible for the continual and expensive changing 1 golf courses. It is his business to design golf courses. and naturally in 1 the course of business he does every thing in his power to increase its volume. It is human nature for him | to think any course designed by an- other man is all wrong. Why shouldn't he? Every one thinks | along his own line But granting | all this I still do not believe that golf clubs feverishly destroy the old and build the new in order to give golf architects employment I will | discuss this more in another article. ] Copyright JoEn F. Dille company