Evening star., 1924-11-02


some of the European coun-
tries with a view to studying
golflng conditions on the other
side of the Atlantic and maybe pick
ing up a few idearS in the way of
novelties to bring back to the old
L. s. a.
Well I found that some Of the coun-
tries across the old pond is playing
under entirely different rules than
ours and vile some of the countries
has simplified things to such a ex-
tent that you can't hardly help play
ing good golf. on the other hand
some of the other countries has made
it such a tough game that pretty near
nobody will play 1t once let alone
twice. Like for inst. they have got
a rule in Slovakia now days which
not only allows but compels a mans
opponents to throw loose paving
stones at him vile he is getting
ready to putt. The opponent who has
the most to do with the mans failure
to hole his putt is entitled to take as
many strokes off of his score as seems
reasonable. This causes a good deal
of argument, sometimes resulting in
duels.
In Rumania they have a regulation
which provides that when a player is
on the green he must pick up the ball
stitute a ball which is too big for the
cup and even if you make d perfect
putt the ball won't go down. This is
reponSible for a great deal of high
scoring but makes a interesting game
and is as fair for one as another.
But one of the most difficult coun-
tries the writer played in was Turkey
where a good many of the holes is
equipped with geysers and the rules
provides that you have got to use
f'oater in putting SO that sometimes
you make perfect putt and the ball
goes into the cup and the next thing
you know the geySer starts to work
ing and your ball flies up in the air
and lands two full wooden shots from
ehe green and by that time it is gen.
orally SO hot that your club catches
on fire when you hit it. .....
The rule in Italy which is notorious
for being sunny is that you can't
make no kind of a stroke unless
this rule many a good golfer has been
defeated on sacct. of getting too old
before it was time for him to shoot.
On several courses in the Swiss Alps
it is compulsory to carry Alpine
stock in one hand vile you shoot
with the other and this makes lot
of trouble for golfers who has been
used to shooting with both hands on
the shaft of the club. Moreover, most
of the shots on these courses is per-
pendicular either one way or the
other, and they's hardly ever a time
when you amt dizzy. The Alpine
amateur championship was win last
year by a steeple jack named Gus.
He done the whole Alps in. 20. Par
for the course Is 60. The day when !
played this course they was two men
ahead of me that drove off noun
tain named old Sal which is said to
be the highest mountain in the Swiss
Alps. Just as each one drove a heavy
gust of wind come up and they fell
to the bottom of the mountain, one
after the other.
What does that make them?'
asked my caddy.
That makes them two down." was
his reply.
But it amt ,like that all over Eu-
rope. In fact they's some countries
where conditions is so easy that
man can't hardly help from breaking
the course record. 1 played one of
these kind of courses in Portugal.
The only trouble with this course is
that before you shoot you have to
say fore in Portuguese. The word is
Jhmsd and is so hard to pro-
nounce that a good many golfers gets
hit in the head before they have a
chance to master 1t.
What makes the course record easy
to beat is the rule that nobody can
play on it unless they been married
four times. The writer deliberately
lied to them and was allowed to play
the course and finished with eagle
112. This win the championship as
no other golfer had ever played on
the course that even pretended like
he had been married four times. They
don't marry much in Portugal.
Germany, however, was where I
found conditions the easiest. They
count your strokes there in terms Of
marks and il the exchange Is q million
marks to the dollar, why that means
that If you play a course in say 126
strokes they divide It by million
and 1t gives you a pretty good score.
shot the eighteen holes in practical
ly nothing. -, ls. 1, =.
All and all golf is. making. rapid
strides in Europe and 1t is only q
question Of time when 1t will hit old
England and then we will see what
will happen.