Evening star., 1924-09-30
Vanderbilt Griden Adopt Unusual Methods Eastern Coue Schoh
Golf Today Is Rated the Most Popular of American Sports
Links Still Fighting Horse Racing and Base Ball in
Appeal to the Masses

can scarcely find 1t within the bounds
of possibility that he could be inter-
ested in Chasing a little white bail
all over the countryside" We all
know what happens to this same man
once he takes club in hand and hits
the ball-or tries to.
The statement that. golf now has
attained supremacy among sports in
America may find challenge There
are those who will point to the mil
lion dollar throngs' that attend prize
fights. Or to the tens of thousands
who follow horse racing. Or to base
ball.
Prize fighting and base ball have,
in my own humble opinion, almost
ceased to be sports. AS for horse
racing. it isn't a sport at all, but a
means for gambling. The man who
follows the horses is not the least in
tereSted in the science of creating
horse flesh. He is interested only in
the money he hopes to win when the
horse runs. l cite this not at all be-
cause L am personally opposed to
horse racing. j am for it, if anything.
If thousands of men who go to the
tracks get sport and relaxation from
it, my attitude is that perhaps they
enjoy that as much as you or | enjoy
round of golf. My purpose here is
to compare it as sport with golf,
and golf wins.
For every man or woman who at
tends base ball game today, | yen-
ture there are two playing golf. Add
to the actual participants in rounds
of golf over the country today the
numberless small boys who may be
seen here and there, everywhere
swinging mashIe or midiron in a va
mt lot Il
tens Of thousands of caddies-all
healthy. superb boys who are, in golf
today. being made better citizens for
tomorrow. Add all these up and it
Is plain, at glance. that golf now
is the American sport
AS for boxing, II is hopelessly out
Of it. The professional bout is bally-
hooed for months before it takes
place. For some strange reason pub
lic!ty all out Of proportion with the
Importance Of the affair. as sport.
is given the promotion. Then, if 1O0.-
600 persons attend it is heralded Is
the battle of a century" or what
not? On the day it takes place. ten
times the number of men and women
would be- found playing golf. Stage
one of these so-called big lights .very
day for month and the sport OF
boxing would almost pass into OBJ
lives through a professional repres-
sion; the country will absorb but so
much of it and no more. Contrast
that with golf, Of which we appar-
emily cannot get enough
Despite all this, golf is in its in
fancy here In .his country. We have
made the sport democratic and
Chick" Evans whose golf record is
without parallel in the annals of any
other sport, must go down in golf his
tory the greatest single influence
that made golf in America so differ
ent from golf abroad. Chick" erased
the class borders which for centuries
bounded this charming sport. His
contributions of time. his hundreds of
public appearances throughout the
country and his never-ceasing exhor-
tations to everybody to take up golf.
finally gave the tidal wave its origi-
nal lunge into action, and today the
country is engulfed by 1t.
Chick" once computed~that he had
walked, during his play of exhibition
matches. as far as from his Chicago
home to China. and that. as nearly
as he could estimate it, he had swung
his clubs more than 100000 times.
These were the hammer blows that
forged the new link between all
America and the healthful out of doors.
that gave TO golf Its original appeal to
the masses. 1t was the genial Chick"
in these exhibitions, ten years and
more ago. who started the farmers
out in Iowa. today, to driving in in
the evening for nine holes of pas
ture pool" If you have never heard
of this ramification of golf you
haven't grasped the amazing appeal
the sport is having everywhere, in
the villages and towns the same as in
the cities.
1t is only a matter of time now be-
fore. literally. everybody will be
playing golf in this country. Let the
day be hastened because. while other
sports amuse. golf is the builder of
muscle and character Golf is taken
on the hoof. and in this day of motor
cars and speed. with it's consequent
softening of the rising generations.
anything that calls for "hoof action"
is a fine thing for the future.
The most important thing in adult
life today is to learn to play-good
golf.
Copyright 1924