Evening star., 1924-03-10
THE MAKING OF 4 GOLF CHAMPION
CHAPTER 1.-The Mashie as a
Hobby Horse.

| M earnest recoliection OF nan
- ding golf club was when !
was about four years old. There
was an old Scotchman, a hardy old
fellow, who used to come over once
a week for an evenings chat with
my father. I looked forward to
those visits with a great relish. for
the old gentleman always carried a
golf club with him, whether as a
means of protection in his walk
through the woods, or as a cane, or
2 sort OF companion, / never knew.
| do know that it served my pur-
poses admirably-as a hobby horse.
the hall than i had It between my legs
and was taking the hurdles in an ad-
joining room, somewhat to the detri-
ment of the furniture. ] recall now that
lent imitation-by slight stretch of
, the imagin9tion--of a steed's head. One
night he caught me galloping about
and, while he laughed heartily at, the
discovery. gravely. informed me that the
stick was made for another and, as
gathered, very serious purpose.
! Gets His First Lesson.
The next evening he came over earlier
| than usual. and, taking me out in the
yard, gave me my first lesson in its use.
can still see the CLEAN in that aged
! Scotchman's eyes as he stood me in
| position and patiently aided my feeble
| wallops at an old base ball which had
been substituted, probably to spare my
| feelings. for the more elusive golf ball.
| / might truthfully say that this was
the beginning of my golf experience.
| That was toward the close Of the year
1895. The previous summer the first
| American open golf championship had
! been played at Chicago an event which.
though | was too young to know what
IL was all about, provided my father
and his friend with subject matter for
many y long evenings confab. Little
did imagine, nor my father either, that
fnot many years later ] would be wal
! looping a real golf ball over that Same
course for the championship of the
| United States
Serves as . Caddie.
My first actual contact with the
game came about, as ii has with SO
! many other successful golfers,
| through an apprenticeship at caddy-
ing. Some years later i was coming
| home from swimming with a party
! Of boys when one of the fellows
I proudly exhibited two silver dollar
| which he claimed had been paid him
for certain mysterious services rem
f, dered. After a bombardment of
questions he reluctantly disclosed the
J source of this unheard-of wealth. 1t
developed that a fellow could report
ct the Rochester Country Club. just
outside OF town, on Saturdays and
rying golf bag around the course
| and incidentally adding literally to
! his vocabulary-receive the magnifi-
cent recompsnse of a dollar and a
quarter an hour.
Although / was much interested in
| I n m
mind that the prestige of a few loose
| dollars jingling in a fellows pocket
| outweighed the transient glory of
home runs with the bases full. and
the following day applied at the club
and got a job as caddie. 1t was not
1 long before l had mastered all the
tricks Of the trade. Every caddie
gets a lot of time to himself as 1t is
| in anticipation of work even when
| there is no one on the links. Our
minds naturally turned to play and
| the play consisted in hitting golf
! targets of trees and fence poles.
| This was the way i acquired my
| first insight into the game and. al
| though j began 1t backward. l think
to learn. II every one who takes up
golf would begin by hitting tho ball
q very short distance ] am sure they
| would master the true golhng stroke
much quicker and more easily.
7 Try First With = Puttcr.
1t is we'll to begin first OF all with
only a putter. Learning to hit the
and it is likely that one will learn
much easier with the simple strokes
and then work back through the
mashie, the midiron and the driving
iron to the wooden clubs. il this was
done the drive would be much simpler
to perfect. L think it was months
| after 1 took up golf before i ever
tswung a driver. Pitching the ball at
I trees and putting on uneven ground
helped to develop a touch. Most pro-
is the real basis for a sound game.
Every boy loves to initiate his
elders, and, while 1 had no thought
Of becoming a golf player when l
began to caddy, l soon got into the
habit of nlimicking the stance and
swings Of the various players.
| 1t was not long before / knew a
| good Stroke from a bad one. ! could
pick out the faults in the styles OF
| the different golfers and knew in
stantly where they were wrong. 1
soon began to play a little by my
self in the evenings and my game
developed fast I would spend hours
watching the club professional, AL
Christie, giving lessons to beginners
and then would go or and practice
| Luc FATlouS SLIOAcS.
| was later to get a valuable lesson
from AL Christie. although one only
indirectly related to golf
! All this while I had not entirely
| given up my base ball, at which
was rather adept. and every other
| Saturday and Sunday / used to play
| on one Of the local semi i-professional
ball teams, receiving FIVE dollars a
game for my work.
One Saturday afternoon after the
| game an incident occurred which
| nearly altered the entire course OF
] my career.