The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1936-02-12

human interest history of the game
in America" said Mr. Harry Brown
low Martin, better known to the
fairway ferrets and bunker beagles
as Dickie Martin 1T covers the fifty
years existence of the game"
Started in Yonkers
Mr.. Martin should have added
''more or less" The precise age Of
American golf is a matter Of specu-
lation. There is evidence of the
game being played as early as 1895
in Savannah, Ga, and l talked With
an old settler last spring at Sara
sofa, Fla, who convinced me the
game was played in that city in
1885.
The historians of the game, how
ever, seem to have decided to agree
the American game got its real ORR
gin at what is now known as the
st. Andrews Club in Yonkers, N. Y.
The records show that on Nov. d,
1888 five men, paced by one John
Reid. 1.-The father of American golf,
played a six hole course on a va
cant lot in this neighboring Man
haitian city. Unlike the Savannah
and Sarasota enterprises the Yon-
kers' course lived on; it still func-
lions at the original stand and for
continuity of existence is indisputa-
bly, the oldest golf course in this
country.
Four Different Courses
Lifting his haggard face from his
epic for a few breathless seconds
Mr.. Martin says in the early
months of the game there were four
different courses in operation in the
East, and each was looked upon by
its sponsors as the first course in
America.
That's a fact" insists Mr.. Mar
tin. st. Andrews. Tuxedo, SHINE
cock and Newport all thought they
were pioneers. The newspapers
didn't print golf news in those days
and there wasn't much fraternizing
among the various groups of sports
men, so these four early clubs
moved along in blissful ignorance
of one another"
Mr.. Martins epic goes back to the
days when the hardy adventurers
of the period played the game in
skull caps and red blazers; when
the sight of gent toting gunny
sack of golf wands in public never
failed to evoke derisive cries from
the corner roWdieS.
Frozen Golf Balls
Some Of the episodes of that era
are what might be cautiously char
acterized as rich Mr.. Martin re-
calls the time Willie Park, a Wis
iting English pro pulled a fast one
(high inside) on his simple Amer
lean cousins at the domestic ST..
Andrews course. Paired with an
amateur he faced Willie Tucker, an
American pro. and his amateur
partner. From the start Park and
his partner outdrove their oppon-
entS by many yards.
1t was observed that Mr.. Park
was attended by caddy who car
ried a large zinc bucket. At fire.
quent intervals Mr. Park-and his
partner, too-would visit the bucket
and perform mysterious rituals with
their hands. Meanwhile they con-
tinued to outdrive their opponents.
Curiosity soon disclosed the secret
a bucket flied with ice and frozen
golf balls.
This was back in the days of the
gutta percha golf ball, which soft
ened up and lost its delicate purity
of line after mild battering. The
ice treatment kept the gutties hard,
enabled then to fly far and true.
Billiard Cue as Putter
And then there was the incident
of Mr.. Richard Peters who persistea
in putting with a billiard cue in the
first national amateur championship
ever held. AS Mr. Peters saw it, put
ting and billiards had much in COM
mon and SO. with no idea other than
to approach testing problem in
the most practical manner. he dis
carded the putter in favor of his
favorite billiard cue.