Evening star., 1941-11-18
BY WALTER McCALLUM.

Proper regulation of handicaps by
correct par ratings of golf courses
just now the hottest subject among
the feminine golfers of Washington
leaves Mrs. Mvron Davy cold to
suggestions that the local courses
should have lower par ratings in
order to increase handicaps of the
women playing under the banner Of
the Women's District Golf Asso-
ciation
AS the Middle Atlantic champion.
holder OF the Maryland State Golf
Association medal play trophy and
unoficially the top feminine golfer
of the year around the Capital. Mrs.
Davy qualities as one who knows
whereof she speaks. And she speaks
in no uncertain tones regarding the
inability of even the top segment OF
feminine golf you might call them
the best in the world to lightly
brush off par with a series of par
busting rounds.
Keeps Feminine Records.
Mrs Davy, it seems, is quite a
statistician. She has kept accurate
figures on competitive medal-play
scores made by most of the top
players of the land in the bigger
tournaments.
Her conclusion is that not only
do they not give par licking but
that par dishes it out to them. She
rroFooor Lor cooro cov, nj 10 tim with
this remark: II would like to invite
attention to the fact that in all
these tournaments. which include
all the top scratch women golfers in
the country, women's par WIS only
broken once and then by only one
stroke; and it was only equaled
twice" The tournaments from
which the scores were taken in
clude the 194l women'S national
championship and feminine affairs
at St. Augustine, Palm Beach, Or
mond Beach and Augusta.
Betty Jameson, the Texas girl
who won the national title in 1889
and 1910, was the only player to
bust par, her round of IA at St.
Augustine in 1910 licking Old Man
Par by a single stroke.
Par Is Too Low.
These figures would seem to
prove that womens par still is too
low when the best players in the
world are s.s much above it as they
are" concludes Mrs. Davy. The
players she mentions with scores
include Betty Hicks Newell, present
national champ, just turned profess
sional: Grace Amory, Betty Jane
son, Dorothy Kirby, Patty Berg,
Estelle Lawson Page, the late
Marion Miley, Maureen Orcutt,
Helen Sigel, Virginia Guilfoyle,
Clara Calender and several other
topnotchers.
Mrs. Davy's conclusions bring up
point of disagreement with the pre-
vailing disposition among some OF
the local feminine golfers Some OF
them, notably Mrs. Walter L.
Weible, president of the w. D. G. A.,
believe that feminine handicaps
around town are too low because
the par ratings of the Washington
courses are too high. Mrs. Weible
would have all courses remeasured,
and claims par ratings would be
lowered by correct measurement,
which would increase the handicaps
of the local women golfers. On
much the same side of the picture
Mrs. Betty P. Meckley. MARYLAND
State women's champion. believes
feminine handicaps around Wash
ington are much too low. Mrs.
Meckley has said that in her opin-
ion no woman around Washington
consistently plays to a handicap
lower than S strokes. At least three
local feminine golfers have handi-
caps considerably below that, two
of them being handicapped at l
stroke against par.
Any comparison of feminine scores