The Washington times., 1924-01-17

NO effort is being made to ever
1nsinpate that the golfing manners
Of municipal park players, as a
whole, are in sad need of polishing
But. the, fact cannot be denied that
the municipal golfer who does not
violate the rules of the game when
he is tearing is far and in the
minority.
The beginner over one of Wash.
1ngton's altogether too few pair of
public courses has hard row to
hoe to say the least. The prob
abilities are that in the first dozen
or SO times the novice goes out he
does so accompanied by one or
more ''dubs" like himself. Rules
are just so much Greek to them.
Being a beginner he finds lot Of
traps; he fails to mark his ball
with any degree Of accuracy even
though he gets hold of it fairly
well and drives somewhere down
the fairway, or he finds himself
lost in the woods or the rough.
Such is the life of beginner.
A sand trap to one starting in
to learn the game looks just the
same as the fairWay, with the
exception that the trap is filled
with sand and not covered with
grass. He mills around, leaving
many and large heel prints and
In scme cases, while waiting for
his opponent or opponents to play
gives q perfect imitation of q
Marion steam shovel i'm action.
II he is fortunate, however, and
IN in the fairway he proceeds to
cut enough divots to sod the Capt.
toll grounds. A good golfer cuts
almost as many divots as begin
ner, but a good player always re-
places them-the novice seldom.
Even If he finds no trps or
rough and is continually down the
center his progress in many cases
a. Just about as fast as that Of a
June bug going through a barrel
OF soap.
r.. In back of him comes a TWO
some or foursome of fairly good
players. He is holding them up.
One of those to the rear requests
to go through. Where does that
guy get off? Must think he owns
the course" is about what wends
its way through the mind of the
average beginner. He resents the
insinuation that he is a poor or
slow player.
Does he step aside and let them
through. He does not. He paid
for his place in that line Of
golfers trudging around the course
and he is going to hold 1T the
same as he would were he in line
to purchase a ticket for movie
or three-ring circus. He figures
he loses something if he lets other
players pass him.
Why is it that the beginner
makes unnecessary heel prints in
che sand traps and then fails to
smooth them QUIT. Why is it he
never replaces div0tS? And why
is it that in the majority of cases
he refuses to stand aside and al
low faster playing players in back
Of him to go ON through?
The answer is easy. For the
very reason that he has never
been taken in hand and taught the
fundamental rules and etiquette Of
the game. He acquires habits
which are hard to break, the same
as every other beginner picks up
who fails to have a competent In
0tructor right at the start.
There are a lot of golfers who
hate to see a beginner or novice
upon the curse. They forget that
they themselves were beginners at
one time. The greatest star Of
them all at one time or another
was a beginner.
It is these beginners that the
proposed Rock Creek Park organ
ization plans to help. They are
going to require Of each and every
member that he or she exert every
Influence towards correcting tho
faults of any novice they may find
violating the rules of the game
while upon the course. And the
members are to correct their own
shortcomings first.
The idea is a great one and It
would be well IL these golfers who
frequent east and west Potomac
parks were to get together and
organize a similar association or