Evening star., 1933-08-27
McDermott Then Champ.

TOHN J. McDERMOTT. the Atlantic
City wizard of the mashie -niblick,
~ was the open champion in the year
Freddy came to Columbia, not long
after the club had moved over from
the old layout in Brightwood to its
sumptuous new layout on Connecticut
avenue near Chevy Chase Lake. Freddy
was one of the brightest stars Of the
Scottish group. later almost entirely
supplanted by a new crop of hOme-bred
stars of whom McDermott was the
first to make his mark.
Francis Ouimet was an un-
heard of young amateur around
Boston, soon to win his spurs.
Chick Evans was the big shot
amateur of the Middle West and
YardOn and Ray were the stars
of Britain.
Golf was just coming out Of the red
coat and white spats stage. back in
those days when the Bull Moose was
rampant in national politics and Will
liam Howard Taft was the first Presi-
dent to take up golf in a serious way.
Twenty-one years at one club, and
Freddy looks back over them with
tender memories of the kindly way the
Columbia members received the young
Scot then, and the generous treatment
he has received over the years which
have seen him change from one of the
fastest of the young group OF golf pro-
fessionals into the grizzled master OF
the game. still able to wallop the. ball
around his home course in 68 and bet
ter.
Turning back the pages of
time Freddy recalls the old days
when golf was played with only
few clubs, numbered irons were
unknown and the master really
had to be the master of shots
and not of clubs graded for full
shot for each
Even today Freddy disdains this
matched club business. His golf bag
contains a heterogeneous collection OF
tools, gathered here and there. wher-
ever he found one which felt good. For
a time he played steel-shafted irons,
but today he is back on the wooden
standard. with wood shafts Of the same
type which he used in the days when
he was learning the game on the wind
swept course at North Berwick, Scot
land.
Has Seen Many Changes.
WYE asked Freddy what have been
" the main factors IN the i'm
provement in scoring over the
DAYS when he was winning champion
ship with scores around 300. or an aver
age of 75s Smiling quizZically the little
Columbia master replied that there have
been so many Improvements and
changes in the game that it is hard to
pin the scoring improvement down to
any one factor.
But" he said. "back in the old days
We didn't take the game SO seriously
as do these youngsters Of today. The
golf professional of the old days got
some fun out of the game. If he wanted
a drink or two he took 1t and If he
took one too many. what of it? We
played good golf in those days, too. and
We didn't train for tournaments as do
the winners OF today.
Twenty years ago we had real
rough, more than knee deep.
There was some premium for
staying on the fairway then. II
we got off the fairway it usually
cost stroke to get back.
I'VE didn't play brassies from the
rough We were lucky to get out at
all Another factor is the way modern
golf courses are built The greens are
so constructed nowadays that they liter
ally play the ball instead of playing
the shot to fit the conditions. l hear
lot OF talk about greens Sloping away
from the shot being bad construction
work but it is golf These days you
can fling almost any kind of shot up
to banked green and it will stick on
those watered surfaces. But in the
old days. when greens were not so plen-
tifully watered you had to play the
shot to fit the conditions. Pitch and
run shots. hooked shots in to avoid
bunkers. low shots with plenty Of run,
all these were needed.
Young America OF today tDould
haze plenty Of trouble playing
those shots. NoUadays they take
a tuH Udllop knock the ball up
in the ar, and know it will stick
If il hits the green.
Furthermore We had no standard
ball in those days We played with
any ball we wanted-a Glory Dimple
down the wind and Black Domino or
Baby Dimple against the wind. 1t all
depended on the conditions. Clubs
have been improved. Steel shafts have
mace a big difference for your average
PLAYER end the game has been made
eyier for him by grading the clubs ac-
ccrding to the distance. But I'll stick
to my o,d bats"