USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT A GIFT FOR "GOLF HOUSE" Ben Hogan, a golfer of whom you may have heard previously, is shown here sharing smiles with Isaac B. Grainger, President of the USGA, as he presented to "Golf House" the ball with which he completed his vic­ tory in the 1953 British Open. "Golf House" previously had received the ball Hogan used in cementing his win in the 1953 USGA Open, and the two balls are displayed side by side. USGA JOURNAL ANO TURF MANAGEMENT PUBLISHED BY THE UNITED STATES GOLF ASSOCIATION Permission to reprint articles herein is freely granted (unless specifically noted otherwise) provided credit is given to the USGA Journal VOL VII No. 1 April, 1954 Through the Green ..................................................................................................................................................... 1 How THE R. AND A. Attained its Position ........................................................... Lt. Col. .John Inglis 5 Spectators off Fairways at the Open ................................................................Joseph C. Dey, Jr. 8 An Aid to All Handicappers ......................................................................................... William O. Blaney 10 What’s behind Slow Play ........................................................ Mrs. Harrison F. Flippin 12 The Real Snead Story ................................................................................................... William C. Campbell 13 Minneapolis Juniors Start to Shine ............................................................................. ........BUI Carlson 16 The Earliest Balls and Clubs ........................................... John P. English 18 The Referee: Decisions by the Rules of Golf Committees..................................................................... 21 Turf Management: USGA Green Section Fifth Green Section Office Opened in Southeast............................................... 25 New Research and Education Fund ................................... 27 Turf for the West ..............................................................................Charles G. Wilson 27 National Golf Fund Supports Turf Research ............ Marvin H. Ferguson 31 It’s Your Honor: Letters ...................................................................................................................................... 33 Published seven times a year in February, April, June, July, August, September and November <»y the UNITED STATES GOLF ASSOCIATION 40 EAST 38th ST., NEW YORK 16, N. Y. Subscriptions: $2 a year. Single copies: 30c. Subscriptions, articles, photographs, and correspondence, except pertaining to Green Section matters, shoo'd be sent to the above address. Correspondence pertaining to Green Section matters should be addressed to USGA Green Section, Room 206, South Building, Plant Industry Station, Beltsville, Md.: to USGA Green Section Western Office, Box 241, Davis, Calif.; to USGA Green Section Southwestern Office, Texas A. and M. College, College Station, Texas; to USGA Green Section Northeastern Office, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N. J., or to USGA Green Section Southeastern Office, Georgia Coastal Plain Experiment Station, Tifton, Ga. entered as second-class matter march 3, 1950, AT the post OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y., with addi­ tional ENTRY AT SEA CLIFF, N. Y., JUNE 1951, UNDER THE ACT OF MARCH 8, 1879. Edited by Joseph C. Dey, Jr., and John P. English. All articles voluntarily contributed. USGA COMPETITIONS FOR 1954 Americas Cup Match—August 12 and 13 at the London Hunt and Country Club, London, Ontario, Canada. Men’s Amateur Teams: Canada vs. Mexico vs. United States. Curtis Cup Match —September 2 and 3 at the Merion Golf Club, Ardmore, Pa. Women’s Amateur Teams: British Isles vs. United States. (Dates entries dose mean last dates for applications to reach USGA office, except in the case of the Amateur Public Links Championship. For possible exceptions in dates of Sectional Qualifying Rounds, see entry forms.) Championship Open Entries Close May 24 Sectional Qualifying Rounds Championship Dates June 7 June 17-18-19 Women's Open June 21 none July 1-2-3 Amateur Public Links fJune 4 Junior Amateur July 6 Amateur July 12 Girls' Junior August 16 Women's Amateur August 30 July 20 July 27 none none JJune 20-26 Team: July 10 Indiv: July 12-17 August 4-7 August 23-28 tEntries close with Sectional Qualifying Chairmen. tExact date m each section to be fixed by Sectional Chairmen. Venue Baltusrol G. C. Springfield, N. J. Salem C. C. Peabody, Mass. Cedar Crest G. C. Dallas, Texas The Los Angeles C. C Los Angeles, Cal. C. C. of Detroit Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich. Aug. 30-Sept. 3 Gulph Mills G. C. Bridgeport, Pa. Sept. 13-18 Allegheny C. C. Sewickley, Pa. USGA Journal and Turf Management: April, 1954 1 THROUGH THE GREEN Walter Travis' Putter The chances of Walter Travis’ original Schenectady putter being returned to the Garden City Golf Club, in Garden City, N. Y., seem increasingly remote, and the Club already has set a substitute in its place of honor. More than a year ago, in September, 1952, a night-time thief broke the glass in which this most famous of all putters was encased and spirited it away. He took nothing else, did no other damage and left no clues. The putter was too de­ crepit for use. There was hope, for a time, that the putter might be returned as quietly as it had been removed. If it is recovered at all, it can only be with the assistance, anonymous or otherwise, of the indi­ vidual who removed it since it had no marks which would distinguish it from any other old Schenectady. This factor compounds the villainy and increases the helplessness and indignation felt by those who treasure history and tradition. Travis, who was a member of the Garden City Golf Club through most of his career, borrowed the center-shafted putter in an attempt to regain his putting stroke for the 1904 British Amateur Championship at Sandwich, England. The -nan who loaned it to him was A. W. Knight, who had conceived and developed the model in Schenectady, N. Y. Travis putted his way to the first American vic­ tory in that Championship with the Sche- lectady. Center-shafted clubs immediately were banned in Britain, but Travis con­ tinued to use it for fourteen years in this country. Garden City acquired the famous putter in 1918 when Travis played an exhibi­ tion against Findlay S. Douglas at that Club for the Red Cross. The members were in a most generous mood. Howard Maxwell paid $500 to the Red Cross for the privilege of caddying for Travis, and Albert R. Fish gave an unspecified amount for the right to caddie for Doug­ las. Travis became imbued with the spirit of the occasion and, at the conclusion of the match, permitted the Red Cross to auction off his putter. Lewis H. Lapham won the putter for the Club with a bid of $1,500. Hogan's Lowest Ben Hogan’s lowest round is a statis­ tic to conjure with and to dream about. To keep the record on this phenomenal player of golf straight, the lowest score he has made over 18 holes is 61, and he did it in an informal round at the Seminole Golf Club, in Palm Beach, Fla., on March 21, 1954. The course measures 7,006 yards and par is 72. Hogan went out in 31 and came home in 30. He made eight pars, nine birdies and one eagle—on the 510-yard 2 USGA Journal and Turf Management: April, 1951 fourteenth where his second shot stopped two feet from the hole. Only 24 of his strokes were putts. How Juniors Make It The Rules of Amateur Status, for ob­ vious reasons, permit a boy to accept ex­ penses in connection with a golf compe­ tition until he reaches his eighteenth birth­ day, and 55 of the 128 qualifiers in the last Junior Amateur Championship re­ ported receiving such help from outside their families in order to play at the Southern Hills Country Club, in Tulsa, Okla. Conversely, 73 reported they had received no outside financial assistance. A regulation of the Championship pre­ vents a boy for receiving aid from a commercial source. Amounts varied considerably, of course, depending on the length of the Rules Made Easy Warren Orlick, professional at the Tam O'Shanter Country Club. Orch­ ard Lake, Mich., has been assigned by the Professional Golfers Association to assist its members in developing an in­ creased understanding of the Rules of Golf. Here he explains Rule 29, with the aid of a specially devised chart, at one of his many Rules of Golf clinics. journey for boys from different parts of the country. The most generous assistance appeared to come from a club in Massa­ chusetts which raised $340 for one of its caddies who had qualified. Individual boys from Arizona, Arkansas, Pennsyl­ vania and Washington, D. C., were re­ imbursed for all their expenses by their clubs or local associations, as were five from Wisconsin. Most of those who re­ ceived help, however, received consider­ ably lesser amounts, ranging from $25 to $150. More of the qualifiers traveled by air­ plane than by any other means. To be exact, 43 flew to Tulsa, 41 went by auto­ mobile, 36 by train, 6 by bus and 2 by a combination of these mediums. Nearly half of the players traveled with other qualifiers from their sections. Some 54 shared the trip in this fashion, while 33 traveled alone, 15 were accom­ panied by a friend, 13 by their USGA Junior Championship Committeeman and 13 by one or more members of their family. The USGA customarily arranges with a college or boarding school near the Championship to house qualifiers at a reasonable rate, and 115 took advantage of this arrangement last year to sleep and eat at the University of Tulsa whence bus service was provided to the club with­ out charge. The remaining 13 either lived in the immediate vicinity, were housed with friends or stayed with their parents in a hotel or motel. Nearly all the qualifiers used caddies during the Championship, but 14 planned to save a few dollars by carrying their own bags. All but four stood ready to play in the consolation stroke play tournament for first-round losers at the Tulsa Coun­ try Club, and 61 of a possible 64 turned up for this event. Walker Cup Site The famous Old Course at St. Andrew?. Scotland, has been selected as the site for the 1955 match for the Walker Cup. The dates will be May 20-21, as pre­ viously announced. USGA Journal and Turf Management: April, 1954 3 In the British Amateur SPORTSMAN'S CORNER Although this is the bi-centennial of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, Scotland, the United States par­ ticipation in the British Amateur appar­ ently will be on a somewhat lesser scale than in recent years. However, nearly twenty indicated their intentions early of playing at Muirfield, Scotland, the last week of May. Among them were George F. Bigham, Jr., of Fort Belvoir, Va.; John S. Breckinridge, Jr., of Larchmont, N. Y.; Laurence E. Car­ penter, Jr., of Springfield, N. J ; Richard D. Davies, of Bainbridge, Md.; John W. Foley, Jr., of Trenton, Mich.; Clarke Hardwicke, of Los Angeles, Cal.; John G. Hendrickson, of Fort Belvoir, Va.; W. J. Wallace, Jr., of Pomona, Cal.; 0. F. Woodward, of Palm Beach, Fla., and Hamilton W. Wright, of Sharon, Conn. Also, Theodore S. Bassett, of Rye, N. Y. Robert L. Eichler, of San Francisco; James B. McHale, Jr., of Philadelphia; Sean Meaney, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Lt. Hugh H. Mullin, Jr., of Brookline. Mass.; John M. Schumacher, of Lincoln, Neb., Dr. E. Malcolm Stokes, of Garden City, N. Y., and Frank Strafaci, of Gar­ den City. N. Y. Entries are certified by the USGA and must reach Scotland by April 27. Of these early entrants, Davies, Hard­ wicke, Meaney, Schumacher and Stra­ faci were the only ones who indicated an intention of continuing on to the French Amateur, at Saint-Germain, the first week of June. These entries also are certified by the USGA and must reach France by May 20. H. J. Whigham The second Amateur Champion passed from the golfing scene at Southampton, N. Y., last month. Henry James Wingham came to this country from Scotland in 1895, to lec­ ture and write in the Midwest, and mar­ ried the daughter of Charles Blair Mac­ donald, who won the first Amateur Championship that same year. Mr. Whig­ ham succeeded his new father-in-law by winning at the Shinnecock Hills Golf Ben Hogan This was at Augusta. Ga., during the 1953 Masters' Tournament. After playing to the green of the tricky eleventh hole, a prominent player three- putted. He was so angry that he picked up his ball and threw it violently into a near-by pond. About forty minutes later another prominent player came along. He, too, hit his second shot onio the green. He, too, three-putted. Bui he picked the ball up, put it in his pocket and went calmly on to the next tee. This was Ben Hogan, and he won the tournament with a new record score. Club, in Southampton, in 1896 and re­ peating at the Chicago Golf Club in 1897. At this time he wrote a book entitled “How to Play Golf,” which lifts amateur eyebrows when it is observed in the Li­ brary at “Golf House.” This was a na­ tural activity for him, however, and was not prohibited by the Rules of that day. He also covered the Boer and Spanish- American Wars as a correspondent for Chicago and London newspapers and later became editor of Town and Country Magazine. He had attained the age of 84. 4 USGA Journal and Turf Management: April, 1954 Contributed Most Some time ago we wrote to a group of Champions and former Champions to in­ vite them to donate clubs which had contributed to their victories, for our ex­ hibits of Clubs of Champions in “Golf House.” The response all around was gratify­ ing, but Congressman Jack Westland, of Everett, Wash., who won the 1952 Ama­ teur Championship at the age of 47, injected a note of real wit into his contri­ bution: “At my age, I became so tired during the final that I believe this shooting stick, purchased in Scotland in 1934, contributed more to my victory than any club in the bag.” Permissible Prize Rule l-2a of the Rules of Amateur Status limits to $150 the retail value of a prize or testimonial which an amateur may receive in a golf competition. An individual who desires to remain an amateur under the rules of this Asso­ ciation should bear this clause in mind if he competes in a current driving contest of national scope. A driving contest, like a hole-in-one contest, is considered a golf competition and a prize which consists of a two-week vacation at a resort hotel would be of a value far exceeding $150. When to Concede a Putt If you don’t know when to concede a putt and when to withhold the concession, you should confer directly with William B. Langford, of Chicago. Mr. Langford, a golf-course architect, has devoted a good part of his golfing hours in the last two decades to working out an empirical table of scoring prob­ abilities for distances in the gimme range. Since your opponent may be waiting over his ball hopefully right this minute, we take you immediately to the table: DISTANCE IN INCHES 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 8.5 9 9.5 10 10.5 11 11.5 12 13 14 15 16 PERFORMANCE Reductio ad Absurdum 1 Miss in 2000 tries 1 Miss in 1000 tries 1 Miss in 667 tries 1 Miss in 500 tries Analysis of the Gimmies 1 Miss in 400 " 1 Miss in 333 " 1 Miss in 286 " 1 Miss in 250 " 1 Miss in 222 " 1 Miss in 200 " 1 Miss in 182 " 1 Miss in 167 " 1 Miss in 154 " 1 Miss in 143 " 1 Miss in 123 " 1 Miss in 125 " 1 Miss in 118 " 1 Miss in 111 " 1 Miss in 105 " DO / GIVE? AYE BE GENEROUS BE CANNY PLAY GOLF USGA Journal and Turf Management: April, 1954 5 How the R. and A. Attained its Position By LT. COL. JOHN INGLIS, C. M. G., D. S. O. Captain, Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, Scotland On May 14, 1754, 22 Noblemen and Gentlemen, “being admirers of the an­ cient and healthful exercise of the Golf,” met together at Baile Glass’s Black Bull Tavern, in St. Andrews, Scotland, and drafted thirteen articles and laws for playing “The Golf”. This was the origin of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club, then known as The Society of St. Andrews Golfers. Having settled their articles and laws, the members subscribed for a Silver Club, paying five shillings apiece toward the purchase of this outward and visible sign of golfing prowess which was to be open for competition to all and sundry in Great Britain and Ireland- First Selective Process Until 1824 the winner of this Silver Club became automatically the Captain of the Society for the year and records exist of the scores made by the respec­ tive winners up to 1824. After that year no scores are recorded and the competition became to be regard­ ed as a competition in name only and not as a test of merit. It can therefore be inferred that it was from 1825 onwards that the holder of the Captaincy was de­ cided by election. In 1834 King William IV approved of the Society assuming the designation of Royal and Ancient Golf Club and in the same year became its patron. Up to 1835 the Club was without any local habitation. It held its meetings at the Black Bull Tavern and elsewhere, leading aparently a sort of nomadic life. But in this year the Union Club was in­ augurated for the benefit of such mem­ bers of the Royal and Ancient or the St. Andrews Archers Club as might care to avail themselves of this privilege. Its premises were situated on part of the ground occupied by what was the Grand Hotel and is now a University Residence. Fifty-eight original members were ad- THE AUTHOR AND ST. ANDREWS The 200ih anniversary of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of Si. Andrews, Scot­ land, will be celebrated next month. The position of the R. and A. in the world of golf is unique. Although it is a single club, rather than an association of clubs, it is the custodian of the Rules of Golf and the governing body of the game in Great Britain and many other parts of the world. The Captain of the Club, Lt. Col. John Inglis, has done a great honor to the USA Journal in tracing the Club's his­ tory in the accompanying article. Col. Inglis is steeped in the history and the traditions of golf, his father also having been a Captain of the R. and A. Col. Inglis is one of the comparatively few authentic experts on the Rules of Golf and was a member of the R. and A. Committee which wrote the present code in collabo­ ration with representatives of the USGA and other foreign organizations three years ago. A feature of the R. and A.'s bicentenary year will be a series of matches at St. Andrews during ihe week beginning May 31 between a representative British Ama­ teur team and teams from Canada, Aus­ tralia, South Africa and New Zealand. mitted, the list including all or most of the leading golfers of the day. In 1853 the Union Club, whose finances were sound but whose drains were not, decided to build a clubhouse on a new site and in 1854 the present clubhouse was built. It was the mutual wish of both clubs to amalgamate at that date, but it was not until 1876 that the actual amal­ gamation took place. It was then decided that:— “The Union Club shall be merged in the Royal and Ancient, and that the lat­ ter shall be the sole designation of the amalgamated Club”. The membership of the Club had now grown to 750. The entrance money for members was £8, the annual subscrip­ tion £3 and the sum payable for life membership £35. 6 USGA Journal and Turf Management: April, 1954 CULMINATION OF TRADITIONAL CEREMONY AT ST. ANDREWS Lt. Col. John Inglis (holding driver), the author of the accompanying article, rewards the caddie who retrieved his ball after playing himself in as Captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, Scotland, last fall. The three gentlemen in the background are Lord Simon, Lord Brabazon of Tara and Charles Grace. Once provided with a home of its own, the prestige of the Royal and Ancient rapidly increased. Up till this date each golf club formulated its own code of Rules, though these were mostly based on those of The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers or of the Royal and Ancient. But from this time onwards golf clubs old and new alike began to adopt the St. Andrews code and recog­ nized the Royal and Ancient as the pr e mier legislative body in the Golfing world. Supreme Court of Rules It was not, however, until 1897 that the Club became, at the request of other golf clubs in the United Kingdom, the authorized governing body of the game, with a Rules of Golf Committee appoint­ ed for this purpose, and the recognized ruling body of golf all over the world. Gradually, however, differences in certain rules began to appear in the United States Golf Association code. After the Second World War both gov­ erning bodies felt that it was unsatisfac­ tory to have two different codes for a game that had become world wide and that it would be for the benefit of the game if it were governed by the same Rules wherever it was played. In 1951 a joint Committee of the United States Golf Association and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, with rep­ resentatives from the British Dominions, conferred and agreed on a unified code of Rules for use all over the world. Th’.s code came into force on Jaunary 1, 1952. In addition to being the governing USGA Journal and Turf Management: April, 1954 7 body for the Rules, the Royal and An­ cient Golf Club in 1919 took over the sole management of the Amateur and Open Championships, the formulation of rules governing amateur status and the selection of teams for the Walker Cup and Dominion Matches. In 1948 the manage­ ment of the Boys Championship was also taken over. How did the Royal and Ancient Golf Club attain the position it holds in the world of Golf today? Undoubtedly from its long and continued connection with golf, where the game was played 200 years before the Club was founded and where the wisdom and experience of years has accumulated and been handed on from one generation to another. All In The Family United Press Photo Recent visitors io "Golf House" were Mr. and Mrs. John B. Beck, of Ascot, England, who are shown here examining Robert T. Jones, Jr.'s famous putter "Calamity Jane." Mr. Beck was Captain of the British Walker Cup Team which scored the only British victory, at St. Andrews in 1938. He also was Captain of the British side in the first renewal of the Matches after the war. Mrs. Beck, who was Irish Ladies Champion in 1938 and has many times represented Ireland in Home Interna­ tionals, will be Captain of the British Isles Team in the Curtis Cup Match at the Merion Golf Club, Ardmore, Pa., next September. Mr. and Mrs. Beck are the only hus­ band and wife to serve as Captains of Walker Cup and Curtis Cup Teams. USGA PUBLICATIONS OF GENERAL INTEREST THE RULES OF GOLF, as approved by the United States Golf Association and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, Scotland, effective January 1, 1954. Booklet, 25 cents (special rates for quantity orders). Poster, 25 cents. ARE YOUR LOCAL RULES NECESSARY? a reprint of a USGA Journal article containing recom­ mendations regarding local rules. No charge. THE RULE ABOUT OBSTRUCTIONS, a reprint of a USGA Journal article. No charge. USGA GOLF HANDICAP SYSTEM FOR MEN, containing recommendations for computing Basic and Current Handicaps and for rating courses. Booklet, 25 cents. Poster 10 cents. HANDICAPPING THE UNHANDICAPPED, a re­ print of a USGA Journal article explaining the Callaway System of automatic handicap­ ping for occasional players in a single tourna­ ment. No charge. TOURNAMENTS FOR YOUR CLUB, a reprint of a USGA Journal article detailing various types of competitions. No charge. PROTECTION OF PERSONS AGAINST LIGHTNING ON GOLF COURSES, a poster. No charge. MOTION PICTURES ON GOLF (list). No charge. HOLE-IN-ONE AWARDS. No charge. AMATEURISM IS IN THE HEART, a reprint of a USGA Journal article by E. G. Grace. No charge. BETTER LAWNS TO COME, a reprint of a USGA Journal article. No charge. TURF MANAGEMENT, by H. B. Musser (McGraw- Hill-Book Co., Inc.), the authoritative book on greenkeeping. $7. USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT, a 33- page magazine published seven times a year and containing authoritative information on the Rules of Golf, USGA championships, handicapping, amateur status, greenkeeping methods, clubs and ball, new trends and the play of the game. $2 a year. These publications are available on request to the United States Golf Association, 40 East 38th Street, New York 16, N. Y. 8 USGA Journal and Turf Management: April, 1954 Spectators off Fairways at the Open By JOSEPH C. DEY, JR. USGA Executive Director A new pattern of guiding and control­ ling galleries appears to be emerging in American major golf tournaments. The essence of it is that spectators stay off areas, on the sides of the course. The idea will receive its Open Cham­ pionship baptism when the 54th event in the USGA series is played in June at the Baltusrol Golf Club, Springfield, N. J. The basic principle is not new. For some years several holes at the Augusta Na­ tional Golf Club in Georgia have been so roped off during the Masters tourna­ ment that spectators remained entirely off the fairways. Last year a similar scheme was adapted to the Birmingham Country Club course near Detroit for the Championship of the Professional Golfers’ Association of America. Before all this, the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews had used the plan on certain holes of the Old Course for British Cham­ pionships. At Baltusrol in June, almost all fair­ ways will be roped off so that spectators will not walk on them. As has long been customary, all putting greens and tees will be roped. Where bottlenecks occur on contiguous holes, spectators will either be restrained from entering blind alleys or will cross from one side of the fair­ way to the other side on narrow walkway s after shots have been played. In no case, according to the plan, will spectators form arcs in the fairways while strokes are being made. The advantages of this system are mani­ fold, among them being the following: For players: The condition of the course will be maintained at a high level because of ab­ sence of thousands of spectators’ foot­ marks in playing areas, especially fair­ ways and approaches to putting greens, where delicate strokes are made. Pace of play will be faster, as galleries PAR FOR OPEN TO E-E 70 Par will be 70 for the 54ih USGA Open Championship io be played over the Low­ er Course of the Baltusrol Golf Club on June 17-18-19. Total yardage will be 7,027; if alternative tees are used on the 4th and 6th holes, it will be 6,949. Par for the first nine will be 34. This is two strokes lower than for the 1946 Amateur Championship at Baltusrol. The reductions were made at the first hole and the seventh holes, both of which are with­ in reasonable range of second shots by professionals. At the first a forward tee will be used io make the hole 465 yards long; the seventh will be played at ap­ proximately 468 yards. In recommending a yardage basis as the starting point for computing par, the USGA suggests 445 yards as a general limit for par 4. However, the way the hole plays is the ultimate determining fac­ tor, and both the first and ihe sixth at Baltusrol are actually par 4s for pros. Yardage and par for Baliusrol's Lower Course follow: (160) Hole Yards____ .Par 4 4 4 3 4 4 4 4 3 3,373 (3,295) 34 465 379 444 183 391 467 (412) 468 372 204 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Hole Yards Par 4 450 10 4 421 11 3 190 12 4 391 13 4 14 409 4 15 427 3 16 201 5 ‘17 620 5 545 18 36 3,654 To*al yards—7,027 (alternative: 6,949) Total par--70. will be automatically marshalled to the sides of the course and should provide lit­ tle or no interference or delay to play. Players without large galleries who fol­ low immediately behind “star” attrac­ tions will not be disturbed and delayed by thoughtless spectators who, in the past, have been so absorbed in watching the “stars” that they have paid scant heed to the players following. USGA Journal and Turf Management: April, 1954 9 For spectators: There will be wider areas of visibility. Thus, galloping down fairways for pre­ ferred positions will scarcely be necessary. More play can be seen more easily with less walking and general effort. As spectators will be off the course, there will be much less hazard of being struck by golf balls. For the Championship management: Jones and Willie Anderson have won the Open four times. Following are the places where Sec­ tional Qualifying will be held: ALA. Birmingham C. C. of Birmingham ARIZ. Phoenix Phoenix C. C. CAL. Los Angeles Sacramento Hillcrest C. C. Del Paso C. C. COLO. Denver Denver C. C. It will be easier to maintain the course FLA. Daytona Beach Daytona Beach G. & C. C. in good condition. There will be less likelihood of balls striking spectators. Thus, lucky and un­ lucky “breaks” will be minimized and fair play furthered. Marshalling spectators will be simpli­ fied. The test provided by the course will be kept more nearly normal and uniform. Rough immediately adjacent to the fair­ ways will not be trampled by thousands of feet, and so will serve the purpose for which it was intended — to reward ac­ curacy in play. Plans for gallery guidance at the Open have been worked out by Charles P. Bur­ gess, General Chairman of Baltusrol’s committees; John C. Smaltz, Chairman of the Gallery Committee; John D. Ames, Chairman of the USGA Championship Committee, and Robert Trent Jones, golf course architect who has advocated such a scheme for some time and who has made some revisions in the Baltusrol Low­ er Course in recent years. The test at Baltusrol in June may go far to determine the future pattern of gal­ lery guidance in major tournaments. HAWAII Honolulu Waialae C. C. ILL. Chicago Twin Orchard C. C. IOWA Des Moines Des Moines G. & C. C. LA. MD. New Orleans New Orleans C. C. Baltimore Mount Pleasant G. C. MASS. Boston Winchester C. C. MICH. Detroit Plum Hollow G. C. and Franklin Hills C. C. MINN. St. Paul North Oaks G. C. MO. N.J. N.Y. N. C. OHIO Kansas City St. Louis Indian Hills C. C. Westwood C. C. Montclair Montclair G. C. Long Island Rochester Troy Westchester Rockville C. C. and Hempstead G. C. Brook-Lea C. C. C. C. of Troy Winged Foot G. C. Burlington Alamance C. C. Cincinnati Cleveland Cincinnati C. C. Canterbury G. C. and Beechmont C. C. OKLA. Oklahoma City Oklahoma City G. & C. C< ORE. Portland Tualatin C. C. PA. Philadelphia North Hills C. C. and Pittsburgh Longue Vue C. Sandy Run C. C. TENN. Nashville Richland G. & C. C. Sectional Qualifying Rounds TEXAS Dallas Houston Midland Lakewood C. C. Pine Forrest C. C. Midland C. C. Sectional qualifying rounds, at 36 holes, have been scheduled at 32 locations for this year’s Open Championship. They will be played on Monday, June 7. Entries must reach the USGA office by 5 P.M. on Monday, May 24. The starting field in the Championship proper at Baltusrol on June 17 will com­ prise 162 players. Prize money will again total $20,000, with $5,000 to the winner. Ben Hogan will be seeking his fifth Open Championship. Only Hogan, Bob PGA REPRESENTATIVE AT OPEN Jack Mitchell, professional at the Essex Country Club, West Orange, N. J., has been appointed representative of the Pro­ fessional Golfers’ Association for the 1954 Open Championship. It will be his func­ tion to represent the PGA in questions of mutual interest which may arise in con­ nection with that Championship. 10 USGA Journal and Turf Management: April, 1954 An Aid to All Handicappers By WILLIAM O. BLANEY Chairman, USGA Handicap Committee Handicap computation methods con­ tained in USGA Golf Handicap System for Men are based primarily on a player’s lowest 10 scores—the lowest 10 of his last 50 scores for Basic Handicaps and the lowest 10 of his last 15 scores for Cur­ rent Handicaps. When fewer than the required number of scores have been posted by a player, his Basic Handicap is computed from a figure equal to ten times the average of the lowest 20 per cent of all available scores and his Current Handicap is com­ puted from a figure equal to ten times the average of all available scores except the five highest. The USGA Handicap Differential Con­ version Table on the opposite page is de­ signed to eliminate two steps and make handicap computation just as easy when fewer than 10 scores are used as when the full 10 scores are used. The upper part of the table contains the Handicap Differentials to use when computing a player’s handicap from the total number of scores shown at the top of each column (1 to 10, inclusive). The figures in each column represent only the lowest Handicap Differential of all the differentials in each bracket for the han­ dicaps in the left-hand column. For ex­ ample, the Handicap Differentials for a 21 handicap computed from a total of nine scores ranges from 220 to 231, inclusive. The figure 220 shown in the nine-score column of the Conversion Table is the lowest of all these differentials. A differ­ ential of 219 would fall in the 20 handi­ cap bracket just above, while a differen­ tial of 232 would fall in the 22 handicap bracket just below. The lower part of the Table, headed “Course Rating Factors,” contains the proper equivalents of the ten-times-the- course-rating figure to be deducted from the players’ score total for the number of scores used. These factors have been com­ puted for course ratings of 66 to 75, in­ clusive. For other course ratings, multiply the rating of the course by the number of scores to be used and list the resulting factors under the proper column. For greater speed and accuracy, it is suggest­ ed that red lines be drawn above and below all the Course Rating Factors op­ posite the official rating of the course at which this Table is to be used. To illustrate how to find a player’s handicap through the use of the Conver­ sion Table, let’s assume the player has posted 21 scores on a course rated 71 and wants a Basic Handicap. Select the 4 lowest (20% 96 of 21 scores) 93 92 90 Add these scores together Deduct the Course Rating course rating in the 4-score 371 Factor for a 71 column —284 This leaves a 4-score Handicap Differ­ ential of 87 Apply this differential (87) to the 4-score differential column and get a handicap of 18 Note: This differential of 87 is higher than 83 (the lowest differential in the 4-score column for an 18 handicap) and lower than 88 (the lowest differential for a 19 handicap). A further saving in time can be effect­ ed if each handicapper will make a spe­ cial Conversion Table showing score to­ tals (instead of differentials) for use only at his own course. Such a table can be made by adding the Course Rating Fac­ tors applicable to his course to all the Handicap Differential figures in each score column immediately above said fac­ tors. (Minus differentials, of course, should be deducted from the Course Rat­ ing Factors, not added to them.) The spe­ cial table thus produced will eliminate one more step and it will not be necessary to show any Course Rating Factors on it. This special Conversion Table also can be used to find the handicap of a player who has posted the required total number of scores (50 for Basic -- 15 for Current), as the figures in the 10-score column at the right have been included especially for this purpose. USGA Journal and Turf Management: April, 1954 11 USGA HANDICAP DIFFERENTIAL CONVERSION TABLE 3 6 7 9 8 2 Number of Scores Used 10 5 4 Handicap 1 + 3 — 5 —11 — 16 — 22 — 28 — 33 — 39 — 44 — 50 — 56 + 2 — 4 — 8 — 12 — 17 — 21 — 25 — 30 — 34 — 38 — 43 + 1 — 3 — 6 — 9 — 12 — 15 — 18 — 21 — 24 — 27 — 31 0 — 1 — 3 — 5 — 7 — 9 — 10 — 12 — 14 — 16 — 18 1 — 0 — 1 — 1 — 2 — 3' — 3 — 4 — 4 — 5 — 6 + 7 2 19 3 32 4 44 5 57 6 69 7 82 8 94 9 107 10 119 11 132 12 144 13 157 14 169 15 182 16 194 17 207 18 219 19 232 20 244 21 257 22 269 23 282 24 294 25 307 26 319 27 332 28 344 29 30 357 369 31 382 32 394 33 407 34 419 35 432 36 + 6 16 26 36 46 56 66 76 86 96 106 116 126 136 146 156 166 176 186 196 206 216 226 236 246 256 266 276 286 296 306 316 326 336 346 + 5 12 20 27 35 42 50 57 65 72 80 87 95 102 110 117 125 132 140 147 155 162 170 177 185 192 200 207 215 222 230 237 245 252 260 + 7 18 29 40 52 63 74 85 97 108 119 130 142 153 164 175 187 198 209 220 232 243 254 265 277 288 299 310 322 333 344 355 367 378 389 + 5 14 23 31 40 49 58 66 75 '84 93 101 110 119 128 136 145 154 163 171 180 189 198 206 215 224 233 241 250 259 268 276 285 294 303 + 3 8 13 18 23 28 33 38 43 48 53 58 63 68 73 78 83 88 93 98 103 108 113 118 123 128 133 138 143 148 153 158 163 168 173 + 3 6 10 14 18 21 25 29 33 36 40 44 48 51 55 59 63 66 70 74 78 81 85 89 93 96 100 104 108 111 115 119 123 126 130 + 4 10 16 22 29 35 41 47 54 60 66 72 79 85 91 97 104 110 116 122 129 135 141 147 154 160 166 172 179 185 191 197 204 210 216 + 1 2 4 5 6 7 9 10 11 12 14 15 16 17 19 20 21 22 24 25 26 27 29 30 31 32 34 35 36 37 39 40 41 42 44 + 2 4 7 9 12 14 17 19 22 24 27 29 32 34 37 39 42 44 47 49 52 54 57 59 62 64 67 69 72 74 77 79 82 84 87 COURSE RATING FACTORS Course Ratings 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 1 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 2 132 134 136 138 140 142 144 146 148 150 3 198 201 204 207 210 213 216 219 222 225 4 264 268 272 276 280 284 288 292 296 300 5 330 335 340 345 350 355 360 365 370 375 6 396 402 408 414 420 426 432 438 444 450 7 462 469 476 483 490 497 504 511 518 525 8 528 536 544 552 560 568 576 584 592 600 9 594 603 612 621 630 639 648 657 666 675 10 660 670 680 690 700 710 720 730 740 750 12 USGA Journal and Turf Management: April, 1954 What’s behind Slow Play By MRS. HARRISON F. FLIPPIN Chairman, USGA Women’s Committee The evil of slow play is that it imposes the will of a minority upon the majority. The speed of the fastest player is cut down to that of the slowest. Life on a golf course is community life, a sharing of the use of eighteen holes with other players. This necessitates that certain golf manners prevail. The duty of keeping one’s position or giving way is fully as important in this code of manners as the duty of replacing divots and smoothing footprints in sand. Discharge of this duty is complicated, however, by the fact that it is more dif­ ficult to recognize in ourselves a tend­ ency to be slow than it it to recognize our divot marks and footprints. As a matter of simple fact, we never hear a golfer admitting he is a slow player —although we hear an infinite number of snails disclaim all snail-like tendencies. Slowness usually i j related to one or more of three factors. We should periodi­ cally check our own golfing habits against these characteristics of slow play: 1. Practice swings before every stroke. It is hardly necessary to engage in re­ peated rehearsals of our intentions once the ball is in play. The violinist tests his strings before he starts, but not again be­ fore each phase. We don’t change our theory of hitting the ball unless we are desperate. 2. Indecision in choosing one’s club. Judgment of distance should be almost automatic. In most cases, a player should be able to narrow the choice to one of two clubs before reaching the ball. Act­ ually, the choice thereafter may not be important when the distance to the green is short; there is only eight or ten yards difference between a woman’s No. 7 and No. 8 irons. How she plays the stroke is a good deal more important than which club she uses in that case. 3. Undue deliberation on the putting NEW MEMBERS OF THE USGA Regular Irvine Coast Country Club, Cal. Marlin Country Club, Texas Mayfield Heights Players Club, Ohio Mount Anthony Country Club, Vt. Paradise Valley Country Club, Ariz. Sundown Ranch Country Club, Ariz. William Land Golf Club, Cal. Woodberry Forest Golf Club, Va. Associate Annapolis Roads Country Club, Md. Highlands Golf Course, Kans. Mayfair Country Club, Fla. Rocky Point Golf Course, Wash. green. While tension increases to a greater degree here, the time required for three or four players to hole out and re-try their missed putts sometimes is half as long again as the time it took them to get onto the green. An experienced player should be able to gauge the roll and speed of a green quickly in most cases, and a re-tried putt is nothing more than locking the barn door after the horse has been stolen. All of us have personal knowledge of club groups which are guilty of these habits and which wind their weary way around the course in four and one half or five hours. All of us have been in the groups caught helplessly in their wake. Let us reassess our own playing habits, then, and give greater consideration to those behind us. Someday I should like to see a flag or tombstone tournament conducted on the basis of time, rather than strokes taken. In this event par for the round for a couple would be 2 hours and 45 minutes and each would be required to stop when their time ran out and plant their flag. Such an event would provide the s-low- down on the slow players. USGA Journal and Turf Management: April, 1954 13 The Real Snead Story By WILLIAM C. CAMPBELL Member, 1951 and 1953 Walker Cup Teams You probably know Samuel Jackson Snead as the world’s most naturally tal­ ented striker of golf balls. Like golfers everywhere, you have doubtless marveled at his rhythmic swing and flowing power, as universal standards of golfing perfec­ tion. But you may not know much about Sam himself. I welcome this chance to tell you something of the Snead that you do not read about or see at the golf tour­ naments. Sam is gifted with a beautiful physical coordination that is no less amazing than are his supple strength and his trigger­ quick mental and physical reflexes. Ac­ cordingly, golf is just one of the sports at which he has excelled. As a high school star in football, baseball, basketball, track and boxing, he was the prototype all-around athlete. Many observers have commented on Sam’s strong and flexible back, shoulder and arm muscles. Actually, of even more importance to his unrelenting golfing prowess through the years have been the relaxed strength and bounce of his ath­ letic legs. Proof of Sam’s participation in many sports can also be seen in his strong fingers and hands, of which various bones have been broken. These repaired bones combine with his unique double-jointed- ness to make an impossible task for any one who would try to emulate exactly the appearance of Sam’s golf grip. Incident­ ally, his peculiar hand conformation has misled many students of golf, who have failed to reconcile his open clubface at top of backswing with the apparent straightness of the back of his left hand at maximum wrist-cock. Surely you have in your mind’s eye an accurate picture of Sam’s smooth power-in-motion swing. Just a word here will suffice: I suppose that no other Reprinted from Royal Canadian Golf Association’s Annual Golf Review, 1953. Sam Snead golfer has ever combined such an up­ right plane of arc with such width of arc at the point of impact. His full pivot, long arms, loose shoulders and high hands at top backswing provide a tre­ mendous leverage of power, whereas his clubhead describes through the impact area a path that is as horizontal to the ground as is possible unless the hips were to sway through the ball. I regard this wide-arc-at-impact feature as the one basic common mechanical de­ nominator among all the really top golfers. In Sam’s extreme case, it prob­ ably explains why he can consistently hit “soft’’ iron shots that seem to drop laz­ ily on the green, with little forward force, yet with sharp backspin. Snead's Best Advice The other basic prerequisite is like­ wise in Sam’s favor: an unfailing sense of timing. Characteristically, he does not 14 USGA Journal and Turf Management: April, 1951 care about the numerical weight or swing­ balance specifications of his clubs, re­ lying rather on his own “feel” in choosing his equipment (witness his battered 15- year-old “irreplaceable” driver!). He is blessed with an uncanny sense of balance and timing, the two points I have heard him emphasize most often. He once cautioned me about a fast backswing on a long-driving hole with this revealing gem of golfing wisdom: “If you want to hit a nail especially hard with a hammer, you don’t jerk it back and slash at it. Hather, you draw it far back nice and :slow, gather your power and, with care- ful aim, let ’er rip. Now, why not drive a golf ball that way?” Sam is a true child of nature, revel­ ling in the environment of forests, moun­ tains and streams, and possessing an un­ believable affinity toward wild life. He is a true “ridgerunner,” preferably with a pack of dogs at his heels. He seems to have a sixth sense concerning the whereabouts and instincts of animals which, together with his marksmanship, explain his reputation through the moun­ tains as an expert hunter and fisherman. The local lore about his prowess at field and stream approaches the legend­ ary. Certainly golf could not at all com­ pete with these other out-of-door sports for Sam’s preference and abiding voca­ tional interest if fortunes could be amassed in mountain streams or deep forests. When Sam Plays Best This proclivity towards nature, this quality of naturalness, explains why Sam has reduced his tournament schedule in recent years. Of course the income-tax laws have not been without effect in this direction, but essentially it has just been a case of his allergy to the commercial aspects of tournament golf. True, he plays golf as a business, but in the process he is not immune to office nerves, which are soon frayed by the unnatural pressures of crowds, noise, travel, hotels and even competition for the dollar. He has learned at such times to get back to his natural habitat in the hills, where the tensions are eased and he becomes once more his relaxed self. A week or two thus “off the circuit,” and he is ready to rejoin the fray. You will note that it is after these returns to the hills that Sam plays his best tourna­ ment golf, because he is then doing his best thinking. When Sam does win his first Open, as he surely someday must, and thereby completes his great record, someone will do the Snead Story for the movies or for a book. If proper research is done, peo- ple'will think the resulting story can only be fiction. They will learn things they never knew about Sam: for example, that Sam’s older brothers before him had the same Snead swing and hit the ball prodigious dis­ tances (especially the mighty Homer) when Sam was still knocking acorns about with hickory branches. They will learn that, before turning to golf, Sam worked in a restaurant and still is a good cook, that he played the trumpet in a dance band, that his am­ bition was to be a clothes tailor, at which work he had some amusing and short ex­ perience, that he has a good singing voice and claims that his golf timing would be better if he could play golf to musical accompaniment, that he has a tremendous sense of fun and is a most amusing raconteur of droll stories which could earn him a fancy living on the banquet circuit should he ever tire of golfing, that he has a remarkable mem­ ory for events, places and competitive sit­ uations, that he is careful to stay phys­ ically trim, to sleep long, to eat pro­ perly and never to smoke or drink, that he has consistantly exercised a keen yet cautious financial acumen in saving money and choosing wise investments, so that he is already truly a West Virginia capitalist whose considerable wealth in­ cludes a healthy balance of bonds, an­ nuities and good farmlands, even though Jimmy Demaret still insists that Sam’s backyard is buried deep with tomato cans filled with cash. Ever since, at the age of 15, I tagged USGA Journal and Turf Management: April, 1954 15 ANALYZING THE SECRET OF GOLF Robert T. Jones, Jr., and Horton Smith, President of the PGA, chat in an introductory scene from the new 30-minute instructional film, "Keep 'Em in the Fairway," which was premiered in Augusta, Ga., during the Masters Tournament. The film was pro­ duced by Dallas Jones Productions for PGA and Life magazine and also features Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Lloyd Mangrum, Jerry Barber, Cary Middlecoff, Walter Burkemo, Ed Oliver, Jimmy Demaret, Lawson Little, Byron Nelson, Lew Worsham, Pai Abbott, Miss Louise Suggs, Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. It sets forth the five fun­ damentals which the PGA believes to be present in every good golf swing and is being distributed in connection with National Golf Day (June 5). along as Sam’s partner when he won our state pro-amateur title, I have studied him closely and come to know him well. I am convinced that if he knew in his heart how great a golfer he really is, thanks to doing what comes naturally, the rest of the field would have no choice but to scramble for second-place money. Des­ pite this basic humility and occasional lack of confidence, Sam has put together an amazing record. At 41 years of age, after 17 years of major competition, he is still going strong; and he will still be winning tournaments, or at least be the sentimental favorite, when most of the younger stars of today are retired to their rocking chairs. Beyond and above his golf, in which sport he must be recognized as truly a phenomenon, Sam is a fine gentleman and a wonderful friend, always his de­ lightful, unspoiled, impulsive self. Just as his native golfing genius has remained essentially unchanged through the years, so has his sound character and appeal­ ing personality. 16 USGA Journal and Turf Management: April, 1954 Minneapolis Juniors Start to Shine By BILL CARLSON Golf Writer, Minneapolis Star and Tribune Junior golf, golf for the kids, has made rapid strides all over the country in re­ cent years, but in Minnesota the strides have been with seven-league boots. In the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, the attention paid to golfing kids is ten times what is was five years ago, and the caliber of golf has increased in the same meas­ ure. One of several reasons is a tournament sponsored annually by the Minneapolis Star. The Star claims it to be the largest, as well as the best, of its type in the coun­ try and is proud of the way it is handled. The boys play the rules to the letter, as the accompanying photograph indicates. A record number of youngsters entered the 1953 tournament, the 18th annual, and out of the 312 entrants came its greatest champion. Tom Hadley, a 16-year old youngster who won from 17-year old Bill Crowl, once hit a tee shot 308 yards. Three times in the final he used a No. 5 iron to get home with his second shot on par-5 holes. Hadley, whom Les Bolstad, University An entrant in the Minneapolis Star's annual junior golf tournament takes cognizance of the rules of the day. His name is King Atwood. USGA Journal and Turf Management: April, 1954 17 of Minnesota golf coach, calls “the boy Jimmy Thompson,” is only 5 feet, 8 inches in height and 160 pounds in weight. But at 17 he pounds the ball as far as anybody in Minnesota. He qualified with rounds of 72 and 71 on the longest public course in Minnesota and St. Paul, Meadowbrook, where the Amateur Pub­ lic Links Championship was played in 1947. Par at Meadowbrook is 36-37—73, so Hadley was three under. In those 36 holes, he had 10 birdies, another record. Former Star junior champions have done well. Bill Waryan later won the Minnesota Open. John Falldin, Judd Ringer, Don Waryan, Karl Dosen, Bob Tickle and Tom O’Neil, all former Star champions, have had their names en­ graved on trophies in almost every golf event from Minneapolis to Keokuk. Had­ ley, like these, may go far. Golf As If Should Be Played In some junior tournament, the com­ mittee says, “Oh, they’re only kids. Let ’em go.” Thus, the boys play “winter rules,” tee up the ball wherever they find it, ignore the penalties for a lost ball, out of bounds and/or in water and forget the little niceties of the game. Not so in the Star’s tournament. The boys play according to the book and they have no difficulty knowing what the book says, either. Each contestant is given a USGA Rules of Golf booklet when he ar­ rives at the first tee. Alfred W. Wareham, a member of the USGA Public Links Committee, says “Getting Rules books to these youngsters is almost as good a thing as staging this tournament.” The boys read the Rules, too. They prove that with the number of questions they ask. Minneapolis is Totton P. Heffelfinger’s city, and he has reason to be proud of the kind of golf the boys play. The President of the USGA the last two years can look all around him and find top-grade junior golfers wherever he looks. One of those individually responsible is Les Bolstad. He spends extra hours all winter keeping his driving nets open and giving free lessons to youngsters who show particular talent. Another is Karl Raymond, of the Min­ neapolis Park Board, who not only ar­ ranges for a week of free play for entries in the Star tournament but also permits sectional junior tournaments at each of the five Park Board courses every year. There are dozens of others, including serveral golf bodies which stage tourna­ ments in the area and the USGA and the Junior Chamber of Commerce, which conduct competitions of national scope. From now on, watch Minnesota. In spite of the shortness of the golf season in this area, junior golfers are stepping out. Conduct of the Tournament 1. Every youngster in Hennepin Coun­ ty (Minneapolis and suburbs) is eligible if he’s under 18 on June 1 each year. 2. The tournament is conducted with­ out charge to any entrant. 3. Biggest entry list was last year-- 312 kids. 4. Everybody plays 36 holes free. Af­ ter that, the low 80 golfers are picked for match play. 5. Match play is conducted with 32 in the championship flight, and 16 each in three other flights. 6. For the championship flight, there are two 18-hole rounds on Wednes­ day, the first day of match play. This brings all four flights down to the quarter-finals for Thursday. Semi-finals are Friday and finals Sat­ urday. In the finals, the champion­ ship flight plays 36 holes. The other flights play 18 holes. 7. The tournament is shifted, on a round robin schedule, from one Minneapolis Park Board course to another each year. 18 USGA Journal and Turf Management: April, 1951 The Earliest Balls and Clubs By JOHN P. ENGLISH USGA Assistant Executive Director Golf as we know it was originally played with a leather-covered ball stuffed with feathers, and the principles of the present Rules of Golf were developed in this era. The feather ball remained the standard missile for at least four cen­ turies, until about 1848. Featheries un­ doubtedly were in use far longer than that, but the details of golf’s origin are lost in antiquity. It is known that the Romans in their day of Empire, played a game called paganica, which involved the use of open countryside, a bent stick and a ball stuf­ fed with feathers. In the first century be­ fore Christ, Romans overran Europe, crossed the Channel and occupied parts of England and Scotland. They did not withdraw until the fourth century after Christ. It is therefore assumed that their game of paganica, with its feather ball, was the forerunner not only of golf but of kindred games played in Holland, Bel­ gium, France and England. However the transition from paganica to golf may have been made, “fute-ball and golfe” had become so popular in Scotland by 1457 that they threatened the practice of archery for defense and the Parliament of King James II outlawed both sports. This proscription provided the earliest authentic evidence of the ex­ istence of golf, and the proscription ap­ parently remained effective until the in­ troduction of gunpowder near the end of the fifteenth century lessened the import­ ance of archery and restored golf to the people. Featheries Were Seldom Round The making of feather balls was a tedious and wearisome task, and most ball-makers could produce only about four specials a day. The best balls sold for up to five shillings apiece; in bulk, From an exhibit of the development of clubs and balls in “Golf House.” "GOLF HOUSE" FUND The “Golf House” Fund has crept up­ ward to $102,326 since the last issue of the USGA Journal, and the number of Founders now stands at 5,562. We still need $7,674, however. The recent Found­ ers have been: Individuals Bob Crook teaman S. Harvey Ro!cnd L. Kahler Keith Kallio Jack Mitchell Lester H. Oppenheim E. L Rasmussen In Memoriam—Warren B. Townley by Arthur Townley Clubs Echo Lake Country Club, N. J. Jumping Brook Golf & Country Club, N. J. Knickerbocker Country Club, N. J. Ridgewood Country Club, N. J. Associations Iowa Golf Association Western Seniors' Golf Association rarely less than 1 pound for a dozen. In the making, the leather was softened with alum and water and cut into four, three or two pieces. These were stitched together with waxed threads outside in and reversed when the stitching was near­ ly completed. A small hole was left for the insertion of boiled goose feathers. The ball-maker held the leather cover in his hand, in a recessed ball-holder, and pushed the first feathers through the hole with a stuffing rod, a tapering piece of wrought iron sixteen to twenty inches long and fitted with a wooden crosspiece to be braced against the ball-maker’s chest. When the stuffing iron failed, an awl was brought into play, and a volume of feathers which would fill the crown USGA Journal and Turf Management: April, 1954 J9 WHAT THEY PLAYED WITH TWO CENTURIES AGO These clubs and feather balls in the USGA Golf Museum at "Golf House" date back to the earliest days of the game. The two clubs at the left were called "track irons," designed to enable a golfer to play a ball out of a wheel track. The third club from the left was called a "bunker iron," or "sand iron" and was made about 1780. The three woods at the right were characteristic of the feather era. of a beaver hat eventually was inserted into the leather cover. The hole was then stitched up, and the ball was hammered hard and round and given three coats of paint. Feather balls were seldom exactly round. In wet weather they tended to be­ come sodden and fly apart. They were easily cut on the seams. A player was fortunate if his ball endured through two rounds. Originally, there appear to have been ball-makers in each golfing community, but in the middle of the eighteenth cen­ tury the Gourlay family, of Leith and Musselburgh, Scotland, became preemi­ nent and a “Gourlay” was accepted as the best and most expensive of all the feather balls on the market. The patriarch of the family was Douglas Gourlay, at Leith, but it was his son at Musselburgh, who brought the family name its great­ est renown. Their principal competitor was Allan Robertson, of St. Andrews, son of Davie Robertson, tutor of Old Tom Morris and generally regarded as the greatest player of his day. Robertson, who died in 1859 at the age of 44, turned out 2,456 feather balls in 1844 and was unalterably opposed to the introduction of the gutta percha ball shortly thereafter. When he caught Old Tom Morris playing a gutta ball in 1852, they had words, and Morris left St. Andrews, not to return until after Rob­ ertson’s death. No Matched Seis Then The full, free style which has come to be known as the “St. Andrews swing” developed out of the feather ball period. The clubs, which were at first rudiment­ ary, tended toward the end of the period to be long, thin and graceful; and the feathery was swept from the ground with a full swing which also tended to be long 20 USGA Journal and Turf Management: April, 1954 and graceful. The shafts were whippy, and the grips thick. There was a consider­ able elegance to these clubs. The fore­ most club-makers, Hugh Philp and Douglas McEwan, have become known as the Chippendale and Heppelwhite of club­ making. The earliest known club-maker was William Mayne, of Edinburgh, who re­ ceived a Royal Warrant as club-maker and spear-maker from James VI in 1603. An old notebook of this same period in­ dicates the nomenclature of clubs Mayne must have made by noting payments for the repair of “play clubis,” “honker clubis” and an “irone club.” There are no known examples of these clubs, al­ though some were pictured in the art of the times so that their rudimentary nature is known. Among the oldest known clubs is a set of six woods and two irons preserved in a case in the Big Room at the Troon Golf Club, Troon, Scotland. These were found in a walled-up closet of a house at Hull, England, with a copy of a Yorkshire paper dated 1741. It is possible that they are of Stuart times. All six woods and two iron': are shafted with ash. Only one wood and one iron have grips. The woods are leaded and boned, the lead extend­ ing from near the toe two-thirds of the way to the heel. Although the stamp is too worn for identification, they could have been made by Andrew Dickson, of Leith, or Henry Mill, of St. Andrews, who were well-known club-makers of the Stuart era and next in our line of knowl­ edge after Mayne. Club-making reached its zenith in the last century of the feather ball era, with the advent of the real artists — Simon Cossar, of Leith; the successive genera­ tions of McEwans, James, Peter and Douglas, of Leith and Musselburgh; Hugh Philp, of St. Andrews, and his assistant, James Wilson; and White, of St. An­ drews. Cossar, Philp, Wilson and the McEwans were noted for their woods; Cossar, Wilson and White for cleeks and irons. White is credited with giving Allan Robertson and Young Tom Morris such refined irons that they were able to in­ troduce a wide range of new strokes into the game. Douglas McEwan made his club-heads from small cuts of hedgethorne which had been planted horizontally on sloping banks so that the stem grew at an angle at the root and created a natural bend for the neck. The shafts, spliced onto the heads, were made of split ash. By the first half of the nineteenth cen­ tury, clubs had come to be divided into four classes: Drivers, spoons, irons and putters. Drivers were distinguished by their long, tapering and flexible shafts and their small raking heads. They comprised “play clubs, which had little loft and were designed for use over safe ground only, and “grassed drivers,” which had more loft and were designed to lift a ball from a heavy or downhill lie or over a hazard. Spoons were of four types: long spoons, middle spoons, short spoons and baffing spoons, the distinctions being in the degree of loft. For a time there was also a fifth spoon, the niblick, a well- lofted club with a small head designed to drive a ball out of a rut or cup. Irons were three in number: driving irons, cleek and bunker irons, and their uses are apparent from the terminology. There were two types of putters: driving putters, for approach work over unencumbered terrain, and green putters, for use on put­ ting greens. With these sets, players negotiated their feather balls over holes measuring 80 to 400 yards. In the era of the feather ball there were no Championships as we now know them, but four of the great players of the period returned this card in a feather-ball match at St. Andrews in 1849: Willie and Jamie Dunn: OUT—6 5 IN—5 3 4 6 6 6 4 4 5—46 5 6 5 5 5 6 6—46—92 Allan Robertson and Tom Morris Sr.: OUT—6 5 IN—6 4 6 5 5 5 5 4 4-45 5 6 5 5 5 6 6-48—9.3 USGA Journal and Turf Management: April, 1954 21 THE REFEREE Decisions by the Rules of Golf Committees Example of symbol*: “USGA” indicates decision by the United States Golf Association. “R & A” indicates decision by the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, Scotland. “54-1” means the first decision issued in 1954. “R.37-7” refers to Section 7 of Rule 37 in the 1954 Rules of Golf. Water-Hazard Rule Requires Three-Stroke Penalty USGA 53-37 R. 1, 33-2 Q: During one of our stroke play events, one contestant drove on a short water hole and her ball landed in the confines of the hazard, but not in the water, thus enabling her to play the ball from the hazard. In doing so, her ball hit a rock in the hazard and bounced back into the water. She drop­ ped a ball in front of the hazard and to the right with a clear shot to the green. I ruled the player had not played the ball from the teeing ground into the hole by suc­ cessive strokes as required by Rule 1 as she had not dropped her ball in accordance with Rule 33-2a or b. Question by: Mrs. K. S. Ogilvie Evanston, III. A: The ruling was incorrect. The player should have been penalized three strokes. Under the principle of Rule 33-2a, the player was entitled to drop a ball behind the water hazard so as to keep the point at which the ball lay in the hazard, after her unsuccessful stroke, between herself and the hole, under penalty of one stroke. However, the player did not drop the ball in conformity with the pertinent Rule. The penalty for violation of Rule 33-2 in stroke play is two strokes. It is noted from your sketch that the play­ er did not drop the ball nearer the hole. Ball Played Outside Teeing Ground Comes to Rest Out of Bounds USGA 53-38 R. 1, 7-2, 13-2 Q: In stroke play A played his first stroke from outside the teeing ground and the ball clearly landed out of bounds. He played his second stroke from within the teeing ground. His fellow-competitor, B, said that a penalty stroke should be added to A’s score in accordance with Rule 29-la. A in­ sisted that no penalty stroke should be add­ ed. because he played his first stroke from outside the teeing ground and therefore the ball was not in play from the beginning of the stroke. Is A right? Question by: Komyo Ohtani Kyoto, Japan A: A is correct. There is no penalty other than that stipulated in Rule 13-2. The stroke played outside the teeing ground was not a stroke in the stipulated round (Rule 7-2) and did not bring the ball into play. There­ fore, the fact that it came to rest out of bounds was irrelevant. Insect May Be Frightened Away from Ball USGA 53-39 D. 17; R. 23-3 Q: When a fly landed on a player’s ball, could he have taken a lighted cigarette and held it above the fly, the heat of the cigar­ ette most naturally making the fly move 22 USGA Journal and Turf Management: April, 1954 without touching the ball? Question by: Ira L. Adler Lansford, Pa. A: Yes, provided the cigarette did not touch the ball or the fly. An insect is not a loose impediment when it adheres to a ball (Definition 17) and may not be removed by cleaning the ball (Rule 23-3). However, there is nothing in the Rules to prevent a player from frightening an insect or other animate being. Ball Enmeshed in Wire Screen USGA 53-42 R. 31-2 This refers to USGA Decision 53-23, in which it was stated that the player may not measure through an immovable obstruction in determ­ ining where to drop a ball under Rule 31-2.) Q: Suppose a ball in play became en­ meshed in a wire screen which is an ob­ struction. On which side should it be drop­ ped? Question by: Samuel Y. Boggs Jenkintown, Pa. A: Either side. Small British Ball Used on One Hole USGA 53-43 R. 2-3; 11-1,3; 36-5; 40-3g Q: A and B were playing against C and D in a four-ball tournament. At the seven­ teenth hole C noted that A had used the small British ball on that particular hole. A agreed he had used the ball, not know­ ing it at the time. B won the hole with a par 5, making A and B 1 up. The match was finished with a half on the eighteenth and C asked for a ruling. After deliberation the Rules Committee decided that Rule 41-7 applied and disqual­ ified team A and B, giving the match to team C and D. Appreciate your interpreta­ tion at your earliest convenience. Question by: William C. Newman Siasconset, Mass. A: We do not concur in your decision, al­ though it was final (see Rule 11-3). Your statement of the facts indicates that C did not make a claim before the players played from the eighteenth teeing ground, as required by Rule 11-1. If this was the ■case, the hole should have stood as played. Further, Rule 41-7 applies only to four- ball stroke play, and the situation you cite arose in four-ball match play. If the claim had been made at the pro­ per time, the Committee should have ruled, that A had violated Rule 2-3. The penalty for a breach of this Rule is disqualification from the competition. In four-ball match play, this penalty does not apply to the partner, B (see Rule 40-3g and the prin­ ciple regarding breaches of Rule 2 set forth in Rule 41-7a). A committee is empowered by Rule 36-5 to waive or modify a penalty of disqualifica­ tion, however, if it considers such action warranted in exceptional individual cases. For example, if the committee concluded that the illegal ball had been used inadver­ tently on only one hole, it might have dis­ qualified the player only for that hole. Stroke Could Be Replayed When Fellow-Compeiiior Interferes USGA 53-44 R. 11-4; 26-3a,b; 41-8 Q: In four-ball stroke play, A, outside twenty yards, plays without requesting any­ one to hold the pin. 1. B. his fellow-competitor; sees that ball is close, rushes to pull the pin and is struck. Rule 34-3b implies no penalty for A, since flagstick was not attended at A’s re­ quest; but is B penalized? What is to pre­ vent B from doing this maliciously? 2. In a similar situation, C, A’s partner, does this. What is the decision? Question by: Mitchell Rosenholtz St. Paul, Minn. A: 1. Rule 11-4 would over-ride Rule 26- 3b in this situation, and A could have been permitted to replay his stroke without pen­ alty to either side. Permission to replay the stroke could only have been granted at the time the incident occurred, however. Since A was more than twenty yards from the hole and did not either request or tacit­ ly consent to having the flagstick attended, Rule 34-3b does not apply. 2. A would incur a penalty of two strokes under Rule 26-3a. The penalty would not apply to C; see Rule 41-8. Fourteen-Club Rule USGA 53-45 R. 3, 36-5, 38-1 Q: During the qualifying round of medal play, one of the players discovered, after several holes, that she had fifteen clubs in her bag, and so advised the woman qualify­ ing with her, a member of another team, who immediately reported the breach of rule USGA Journal and Turf Management: April, 1954 23 to the Rules Committee. The player having the fifteen clubs in her bag recognized the extra club as one belonging to a member of her team, who was at the time also play­ ing her qualifying round. The club was sent to her out on the course by a caddie. The owner of the extra club had only thirteen clubs in her bag at the beginning of her qualifying round. The player who had breached the fourteen club rule continued to play, and at the end of the round the player qualifying with her, who was keep­ ing her score, turned in an attested score for her after having previously reported the breach of the rule. The Rules Committee official, having re­ ceived the notice of the breach of the Rule before the attested score was turned in, disqualified the golfer breaching the Rule. Then one of the players advised the Rules Committee later in the evening after the qualifying had been completed, that she had called an official of the USGA on the tele­ phone and had been advised by him that the fourteen club rule did not necessarily apply in team matches to the extent of dis­ qualification, that the penalty for breach of the rule in this instance could have been one, two or three strokes. It is certainly evi­ dent to me that there was a misunderstand­ ing. In my opinion, had the attested score been turned in before the breach of the rule had been reported, the player would not have been disqualified. Is this correct? Although the tournament is over and the winning team has been declared Women’s State Team Champion for 1953, the Presi­ dent of the Women’s Division of the Vir­ ginia State Golf Association has requested me to present the matter to the USGA Rules of Golf Committee for an official opinion. Question by: H. M. Blankinship Lynchburg, Va. A: Your committee’s decision is final (see Rule 11-3), but we are pleased to offer our comments. The competitor who started the competi­ tion with fifteen clubs violated Rule 3. The penalty is disqualification unless the com­ mittee sees fit to waive or to modify the penalty, as it is permitted to do under Rule 36-5 in exceptional individual cases when it considers such action warranted. The competitor who accepted an addi­ tional club during her round from a fellow­ competitor playing on the course also vio­ lated Rule 3, even though she had started with only thirteen clubs. The penalty, again, is disqualification unless the committee sees fit to waive or to modify it. The facts presented seem to indicate that the club concerned was inadvertently trans­ ferred from one player’s bag to another be­ fore play began. If that is so, and if the player who temporarily carried the club did not use it, we feel that the Committee should have waived the penalty of disqualifi­ cation in each case. The marker who reported the violation of Rule 3 but turned in an attested score for the violator incurred no penalty. She was required by Rule 38-1 tb do just that and to leave the imposition of the penalty to the committee, since the committee might choose to waive or to modify it. In stroke play, the committee may impose a penalty whenever the facts requiring one become known and even after an attested score has been returned. The official with whom you discussed the case by telephone undoubtedly was attempt­ ing to inform you that the disqualification penalty could be waived or modified, as ex­ plained above, if the committee so desired. Ball Missed, Then Accidentally Knocked Off Tee USGA 53-46 D. 5; R. 14, 27-lc Q: A tees up his ball within the teeing ground, addresses it and swings with the intention of hitting it. He misses the ball completely. Then, in the act of waggling, he knocks it off the tee. B says he is shooting 3 and must play the ball where it lies, even though it still lies within the teeing ground. A claims there is no Rule that covers this incident, that he can re-tee without penalty. Question by: Mrs. Arnold Simensen Winchendon, Mass. A: A’s ball lies 2, and he must play the ball as it lies. Definition 5 provides: “A ball is ‘in play’ as soon as the player has made a stroke on the teeing ground. It remains in play as his ball until holed out, except when it is out of bounds, lost, or lifted in accordance with the Rules or Local Rules.” Therefore, the ball went into play as soon as A made his first stroke and it was in play when accidentally moved. Rule 27-lc pro­ vides that the player incurs a penalty stroke in such a circumstance and must play the ball as it lies. Rule 14 governs only when the ball is not in play. 24 USGA Journal and Turf Management: April, 1954 Movable Obstruction Defined USGA 53-55 R. 31 Q. A ball was hit from the seventeenth tee and hooked, landing in fairly heavy grass about midway between a tree and a ball washer at the eighteenth tee, the dis­ tance between the tree and the washer be­ ing about two feet. This washer is on a post like a fence post driven about two feet or more in the ground and with a piece of iron V shaped on the bottom to keep it solid. These washers are placed at every tee as a permanent fixture and have never been re­ moved even during the winter. The player who made the shot insisted he had the right to move this washer and with the aid of caddies was able to pull it out of the ground, claiming that under the Rules it was a mov­ able obstruction on the course. He was then able to make a clear shot to the green and tie the match, suffering no penalty for his bad tee shot. The matter was referred to the Golf Committee hut they couldn’t agree as to whether the washer was or was not a movable object but did agree that it had been put there as a permanent fixture. Question by: Frank H. Reynolds New York, N. Y. A. The ball washer which you describe appears to be an immovable obstruction within the meaning of Rule 31. The player may have been entitled to relief under Rule 31-2, governing immovable obstruc­ tions, but he was not entitled to relief un­ der Rule 31-1, governing movable obstruc­ tions. A movable obstruction is one which may be moved only with reasonable effort, with­ out unduly delaying play in violation of Rule 37-7 and without permanently impair­ ing proper course maintenance. The penalty for a violation of Rule 31-1 is loss of hole in match play and two strokes in stroke play; in four-ball play the penalty would not extend to the player’s partner (see Rules 40-3g and 41-8). Handicaps in Extended Competition USGA 53-58 R. 36-1 Q. In a ladies’ handicap tournament in which 32 have qualified on the basis of their current handicaps at the beginning of the qualifying round and whose pairings for match play over a period of four or five weeks have been drawn in accordance with their stroke play round, should the entire tournament be played with each competitor using the same handicap that had been used in qualifying or, as this competition is over a four or five weeks period, should the sur­ viving player use her then current handicap (assuming her handicap may have changed since playing the qualifying round) in effect at the time of each round of match play during the tournament? Question by: Mrs. Anita Morris Rockville Centre, N. Y. A. The matter is one for the committee in charge to determine and publish prior to the competition. Rule 36-1 provides in part: “The Committee shall lay down the conditions under which a competition is to be played.” The USGA recommends that player’s han­ dicaps should not be changed during the progress of a competition that is to be com­ pleted within a week. For competitions ex­ tending over a longer period, each competi­ tor should use his handicap in effect at the time each round or match is played. This applies to both Current Handicaps and Basic Handicaps. This supersedes USGA Decision 52-72 and all previous on this subject. When Ball Is Lost R & A 53-59 Def. 6. Q. A player played his tee shot and, on going forward, failed to find his ball, so, saying he would give that up and go back and play another, he proceeded to do so. The first ball was found by his opponent as soon as he had struck his second. The dispute which later took place in the clubhouse was: (a) Whether the ball should be considered lost as soon as the player gives up the search and declares his intention of going back and playing an­ other, although less than five minutes has elapsed since the search began, (b) Whether the ball can be considered still in play if found within five minutes but after the player has gone back and struck his sec­ ond ball. It is admitted that it is unlikely that the second alternative would occur within the five minute limit but the question there is purely theoretical. A. Under Definition 6 a ball is lost if it be not found within five minutes. Provided the ball is found within that period and the player has not played another ball, other than the provisional ball, from the spot from which he played his previous shot, he can continue play with his original ball. USGA Journal and Turf Management: April, 1954 25 Better Turf for Better Golf [TURF MANAGEMENT :________________________________________________________________ .. from the USGA Green Section FIFTH GREEN SECTION OFFICE OPENED IN SOUTHEAST The fifth office of the USGA Green Sec­ tion has just been established in the South­ east, at the Georgia Coastal Plain Experi­ ment Station, Tifton, Ga. The Regional Director is B. P. Robinson. Primary function of the office is to pro­ vide the Green Section’s new Regional Turf Service to USGA member clubs and courses in the following eight Southern states: Mississippi North Carolina South Carolina Tennessee Alabama Florida Georgia Louisiana The Regional Turf Service is now avail­ able to USGA clubs in 25 states. The others, and the offices which serve them, are as follows: Western Office. Davis, Cal. — Charles G Wilson, Western Director: Arizona California Colorado Idaho Nevada Oregon Utah Washington Southwestern Office. Texas A & M Col- College, College Station, Texas—Dr. Mar­ vin H. Ferguson, Southwestern Director and National Research Coordinator: Arkansas New Mexico Kansas Missouri Oklahoma Texas Northeastern Office. College of Agricul­ ture, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N. J.—Alexander M. Radko, Northeastern Director: Connecticut New Jersey New York The Green Section is continuing its of­ fice at Beltsville, Md., in the Bureau of Plant Industry of the United States De­ partment of Agriculture. As soon as possible the USGA intends to make the Regional Turf Service avail­ able in states not now being serviced. It is hoped to establish Mid-Atlantic and Mid­ Western Regions within a year and to ex­ tend the Northeastern Region to cover all of New England. Under the Regional Turf Service, peri­ odic visits are made by the USGA Re­ gional Directors to individual courses and small group meetings are held with golf course superintendents, to share informa­ tion and experiences about the best and the newest practices in turf management. Each individual visit is supplemented by a written report from the USGA scientist to the club. In addition, each Regional Office issues a Turfletter at least six times a year dealing with turf matters in its particular Region. The Service is subscribed to by USGA member clubs and courses at annual fees, 26 USGA Journal and Turf Management: April, 1954 which cover all work and expenses and which are based on estimated cost. The annual fee for an 18-hole course is $100; for nine holes, $75. There are no extra charges for travel. A percentage of each fee (currently 20%) will be appropriated by the USGA to research, primarily with­ in the Region of the subscribing club. Establishment of the USGA Southeast­ ern Office at Tifton, Ga., is the natural re­ sult of several years of research coopera­ tion there among the Southern Turf Foundation, representing the Southern Golf Association; the Georgia Coastal Plain Experiment Station, and the USGA Green Section. Now the research program is being strengthened and will feed the new program of direct service to golf courses. M. K. Jeffords, Jr., of Orange­ burg, S. C., Chairman of the Southern Turf Foundation, was instrumental in bringing about the new arrangement. B. P. Robinson's Background B. P. Robinson, the USGA’s Southeast­ ern Director, developed Tiffine (Tifton 127) turf Bermuda grass while Tuif Specialist at the Georgia Coastal Plain Experiment Station. He had served in that capacity since 1951, devoting his time to research on turf grasses for the South and consultation visits to various turf areas in the Southeast. He is a member of the Turfgrass Committee of the Ameri­ can Society of Agronomy and is Chair­ man of the Turf Research Committee of the Southern Weed Conference. Mr. Robinson, who is 32, was bom in Dallas County, Texas, and was raised on TURF MANAGEMENT The book “Turf Management,” spon­ sored by the United States Golf Asso­ ciation and edited by Prof. H. B. Musser, is a complete and authoritative guide in the practical development of golf-course turfs. This 354-page volume is available through the USGA, 40 East 38th Street, New York 16, N. Y., the USGA Green Sectional Regional Offices, the Mc­ Graw-Hill Book Co., 330 West 42nd Sstreet, New York 36, N. Y., or local bookstores. The cost is $7. B. P. Robinson Southeastern Director a farm. He has a B.S. degree in agricul­ ture and an M.S. degree in agronomy from Texas A & M College. In February, 1948 he accepted a Turf Research Fellow­ ship at the Georgia Coastal Plain Experi­ ment Station, sponsored by the USGA Green Section and several golf clubs in the Southeast. During the same year he entered North Carolina State College and began work on a Ph.D. degree in agron­ omy. A dissertation on the fertility rela­ tions of Southern turf grasses is now being completed. Mr. Robinson is a Captain in the Ma­ rine Reserve. During World War II he served overseas with the First Marine Di­ vision, participating in the Cape Glou­ cester, Peleliu, Okinawa and Guam opera­ tions. Much Interest In Northeast When the Regional Turf Service was introduced in three Northeastern states re­ cently, more than 200 green committee chairmen and golf course superinten­ dents attended a series of district meet­ ings. Of the USGA member clubs repre­ sented, approximately 88% expressed a desire to subscribe for the Service. USGA Journal and Turf Management: April, 1954 27 NEW RESEARCH AND EDUCATION FUND A new Research and Education Fund of the Green Section has been established by the USGA. Its purposes are to sponsor research on turf and its management and to help educate workers in turf, especially new workers. The work financed by the Fund will be done primarily by educational institu-f tions and agricultural experiment stations. Expenditures will be made mainly as grants, fellowships and research assistant­ ships. The USGA is inviting subscriptions to the Fund from any one interested. Each subscriber will determine the amount of his annual subscription, but the following minimum amounts are suggested: Firms and organizations Individuals There is no limit on the amount accept­ 100. 50. able. The entire income to the Fund will be expended for research and education as outlined above. No part will be retained by the USGA for administrative costs. The USGA will contribute money from its own resources to the Fund, as well as the services of staff members. The Green Section will keep in touch with work in progress and will be alert to needs for new research. This will be done through the Green Section’s Na­ tional Research Coordinator, Dr. Marvin H. Ferguson, and the several Regional Di­ rectors in various parts of the country. This will help to insure efficient use of funds, to minimize duplication of research efforts, and to transmit results promptly to golf courses, through the USGA Re­ gional Directors. Subscribers to the Research and Edu­ cation Fund will receive the following benefits: 1. An organized national program of research and education for better turf. 2. One subscription to the USGA Jour­ nal and Turf Management (seven times a year) and to all Turfletters issued by all USGA Regional Offices (each office issues approximately six editions a year.) 3. Assistance from Green Section agronomists on turf and related matters, through correspondence. 4. Right to attend small group meetings conducted by Green Section Regional Di­ rectors with golf course superintendents and club officials twice a year. The Research and Education Fund is separate from the Green Section’s Re­ gional Turf Service to USGA members. TURF FOR THE WEST By CHARLES G. WILSON Western Director, USGA Green Section Since much of our turf selection and breeding work has been done in the East, there is quite a controversy over the merits of various grasses as they apply to western growing conditions. Widespread publicity has encouraged the acceptance of many of the newer turfgrasses outside their zone of adaptation. University ot California at Los Angeles is the only west­ ern experiment station that has devoted much time and effort towards proving the newer grasses. This should not be con­ strued to mean that there is a hands off attitude on the part of golf clubs. However, it does indicate that what may be right for one section of the West may be entirely wrong for many other sections in this vast area. The fact that there is no such thing as a miracle grass is worthy of constant repetition. The turfgrass itself is but one facet of the broad field of turf manage­ ment which, among other things, includes mowing, fertilizing, watering, disease and insect control. Contrary to popular writ­ ings on the subject, we have yet to see a turfgrass that thrives under neglect. All of them require mowing, watering and fertilizing if they are to perform satis­ factorily for the game of golf. 28 USGA Journal and Turf Management: April, 1954 We can cite many examples of inferior grasses that do an admirable job under the hands of a good turf manager. Con­ versely, the best of improved grasses is worthless if not managed properly. In choosing any turfgrass, or selection of grasses, one fundamental question re­ mains paramount: Will the selection in­ crease the golfer’s enjoyment of his game? Secondary considerations are: (1) Is it adapted to the area? (2) What are its management requirements? (3) Is it an improvement over selections commonly used in the area? (4) Where should it be used? Answers to these questions can best be obtained by experimental testing on the individual course, supplemented by basic information from the USGA Green Sec­ tion. It is hoped that the following infor­ mation will prove helpful in deciding which turfgrasses are worthy of use in the West. Kentucky Bluegrass Throughout most of Colorado, Mon­ tana, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Eastern Oregon and Washington, North­ ern California Valleys, the Bay Area and higher elevations in the Southwest, com­ mon Kentucky bluegrass does well. Its main failure relates to an inability to withstand close cutting, and thus, more and more, we see it relegated to rough areas. For such purposes it is admirably suited and will continue to be used. How ever, for tees and fairways it leaves much to be desired, and herein lies a stroog future for the improved Merion bluegrass. Much has been written concerning the superiority of Merion over common Ken­ tucky bluegrass. The main points of su­ periority as compiled over a period of years are as follows: Improvement where bluegrass is well adapted: In almost all reports where Merion has been compared with common bluegrass and other bluegrass strains, Merion is a decided improvement. Unfavorable reports come from areas where bluegrass is not well adapted. Resistant to leafspot disease: Do not confuse resistance with immunity. Merion may become slightly infected but This silver trophy has been presented, to the Golf Course Superintendents Asso­ ciation of America by the USGA in appre­ ciation of the great contributions io the best interests of golf made by golf course superintendents. It will be held each year by the winner of the GCSA Golf Championship. is vastly superior to common bluegrass where leafspot is prevalent. Leafspot is not too great a problem in the West. Other diseases such as dollarspot, brownpatch, rust, etc., can be just as disastrous to Merion as to common bluegrass. Ability to thrive under close cut­ ting: This is the most important con­ sideration for our western golf courses, where close mowing is rightfully de­ manded by the golfer. Merion, because of its prostrate type of growth, has been suc­ cessfully maintained at a height of 1/2 inch. Common bluegrass is damaged bv cutting closer than 1-inch. As with all turfgrasses, Merion has certain cultural requirements if it is to perform satisfactorily. Some of these are as follows: Heavy fertility requirements: Me- USGA Journal and Turf Management: April, 1954 29 rion is not a low-fertility grass. It requires periodic nitrogen feedings and also super­ phosphate if soils are low in this element. A good dense stand of Merion can assimi­ late 1 pound of actual nitrogen per 1,000 square feet per month of good growing weather. It further requires a non-acid soil with ample reserves of calcium and magnesium and is not too tolerant of al­ kaline conditions. Merion does not like wet feet: Overwatering is decidedly detrimental. Merion is more drought tolerant than common bluegrass. It should be watered heavily and infrequently. The Benigrasses Bentgrasses are used throughout the en­ tire West. Along the coast they grow naturally in fairways, and of course thev have universal acceptance on putting greens. Without bentgrasses in our cooler regions, golf would revert to the dark ages and become a pasture game. Two types (colonial and creeping) are in com­ mon usage. Colonials are used to some extent on greens along the northwest coast, although our personal preference would favor creepers. Colonial bents have their greatest future for fairway use, and as overseedings in bermuda-base greens. Creeping bents have their largest place on putting greens, and in cooler regions on tees as well if they are mowed closely. Your USGA Green Section has sponsored and encouraged improvement work with bentgrasses. This work has developed the following application for the West: Vegetative creeping bent strains: Every course in the West should give im­ proved vegetative bents preference over the seeded seaside and colonials for put­ ting-green use. There are several improved strains available, and all direct compari­ son tests with seeded bents have shown the superiority of these vegetated strains. True, they require regular feeding, close frequent mowing and disease and insect treatments as do the seeded bents. How­ ever, when managed properly they pro­ vide the golfer with the ultimate in play­ ing quality and the superintendent with far less maintenance headaches. The Arlington and Congressional mix­ ture has out-performed seaside in prac­ tical tests at the Utah Copper Golf Course, Magna, Utah, and experimentally at the UCLA Turf Plots. On the old pie greens (several selections established in 1939 at Denver Country Club, Denver, Colo., and the Broadmoor Golf Club, Colorado Springs, Colo., Toronto bent is far su­ perior to any of the seeded bents, with Cohansey running a close second. Co- hansey has the further merit in southern sections of being a good hot-weather bent that is highly resistant to brown­ patch. Arlington is our most dollarspot —resistant bent; Congressional is fa­ vored for snowmold resistance and excel­ lent winter color, and Toronto does the best job of keeping out Poa annua in areas where tested. Polycross Bent: We mention this be­ cause it is the first improved creeping bent that can be seeded. Unfortunately there is no seed available at the present time, and to our knowledge the only ex­ perimental plot in existence is at UCLA. This plot has not been established for a sufficient period of time to indicate su­ periority over Seaside if such superiority exists. The Zoysiagrasses Where adapted, the zoysias show prom­ ise of being drought tolerant, slow grow­ ing, highly resistant to disease and insect damage and require only a nominal amount of fertilizer to keep them in good condition. However, they have been in­ adequately tested in the West. At present they appear to show no promise in the Northwest, Inland Empire and Rocky Mountain areas. Further, their slowness in becoming established and the already excellent qualities of common bermuda in the southern belt make their widespread usage doubtful. Zoysia seems to have its widest usage on home lawns and other small turf areas and thus will be of only minor importance to golf clubs in the West for many years to come. Improved Bermudagrasses We can visualize a great potential for fine bermuda strains, especially as they 30 USGA Journal and Turf Management: April, 1951 apply to putting greens in southwestern and southern California valleys. In these areas, bentgrasses are costly and difficult to maintain, and the common bermuda leaves much to be desired from the stand­ point of putting quality. In the South we have both research and practical infor­ mation to the effect that these improved strains are (1) more vigorous than com­ mon bermuda, (2) similar to bentgrass in texture and (3) present less of a tran­ sition period during the bermudagrass- ryegrass changeover. Possibly of even greater importance is that our northern golfers think they are playing on bent­ grass when these strains are used. The better-known varieties are Tifton 127, Gene Tift, Everglades 3 and Texas 35-A. We strongly urge our Member Clubs in the areas mentioned to experi­ ment with any or all of these strains. We would further point out that Colonial bentgrass and Poa annua deserve con­ sideration in over-seeding the bermuda base. Poa is a natural companion grass for bermuda, and a few of our south­ western clubs report that bentgrass will hold on all season to eliminate the neces­ sity for heavy reseeding each fall. On teeing grounds the U-3 strain still receives our preference over common bermuda. Its finer texture, winter hardi­ ness, earlier growth and greater vigor under proper management should en­ courage more widespread usage. On fair­ ways common bermuda leaves little to be desired if it is mowed closely and fertil­ ized adequately. Red Fescuegrasses Illahee and Rainier strains of creeping red fescue continue to perform better than either common red or chewings fescue along the coast and in the Inland Empire of Washington and Oregon. All of the red fescues show up poorly in California valleys and in the Southwest. Further­ more, even where well adapted, they are relegated primarily to high-cut fairways and roughs. We seldom find them making any appreciable showing on tees, and thev are absolutely worthless on putting greens, even though a few courses con­ tinue to seed a little fescue into the greens each year. Hard fescue (strain of Sheeps fescue) does the best job on SCS Plots at Pullman, Wash., under eight to ten inches of annual rainfall. Its future may be great for non-irrigated roughs. Meadow and Tall Fescue and Perennial Ryegrass To our knowledge there has been no improvement work done on meadow fes­ cue for turf use. UCLA is starting a se­ lection and breeding program that is long overdue. For fairway use in combination with bermuda it is a natural addition throughout much of the West. Alta and Kentucky 31 fescue show con­ siderable merit for roughs and hard-to- hold banks where close mowing is not es­ sential. They have also been tried on fair­ ways and tees with poor to fair success. The coarseness, tendency to bunch and tendency to produce hard-to-mow seed­ heads unless combed regularly overshad­ ows the desirable attributes of wear re­ sistance and drought tolerance. The heat tolerance of tall and meadow fescue also is a well established fact, and we will find these grasses growing in areas that are- too hot for red fescues and bluegrass. Furthermore, they are fairly tolerant to alkaline conditions. Quite often alta fescue seed is con­ taminated with ryegrass, and this may or may not be detrimental to the eventual stand, depending on location. Perennial ryegrass is a true perennial from the mid­ California coastline north to Vancouver. B. C. In the inland valleys it is at best short-lived and not worthy of considera­ tion. The main objection to ryegrass where adapted is its ragged appearance. Oregon State is starting some much-need­ ed research on perennial ryegrasses. Miscellaneous Turfgrasses Much has been said in condemnation of Poa annua. We would point out that along the entire western coast and the- higher elevations inland, Poa is being managed as a perennial, and thus is not an annual as the name implies. Even in the hot areas where Poa is a true annual,, its prolific seeding tendencies make it a USGA Journal and Turf Management: April, 1954 31 natural companion crop for bermuda­ grass. We have observed many fine dense strains of this grass that provide ideal putting qualities and shudder to think what many golfers would do to their su­ perintendents if Poa were suddenly to vanish from the scene. This most maligned of all turf grasses will someday attract *'ie attention of a grass breeder who will •slow its shortcomings for the benefit of our member clubs. Redtop is still used to some extent in mixtures in seeding new areas and over­ seeding tee». We believe that much of this is done by habit rather than with thought for the eventual turf’s benefit. Formerly it was cheap in price and thus was used primarily as a filler in cheap grass seed mixtures. Today the price closely ap­ proaches that of good bentgrass which would be far more desirable. Poa trivialis (shade bluegrass) is often noticed on teeing grounds and in wet, poorly drained areas where moderate summer temperatures prevail. Little is known about its desirable qualities al­ though its presence on a tee, where it has not been seeded in many years, would in­ dicate that wear resistance might be far greater than was formerly suspected. Here again selection and testing is a wide-open field. NATIONAL GOLF FUND SUPPORTS TURF RESEARCH By MARVIN H. FERGUSON Southwestern Director and National Research Coordinator, USGA Green Section Of the funds derived from National Golf Day in 1953, $10,000 has been al­ located for research in turf. The USGA Green Section was asked to make recom­ mendations regarding the projects to be supported by these funds. Ten state re­ search institutions, cooperating with the USGA Green Section, have accepted grants from the National Golf Fund Golfers who will match the net scores they make at their home clubs against the gross score Ben Hogan makes at the Bal­ tusrol Golf Club, Springfield, N. J., on the forthcoming National Golf Day, Sat­ urday, June 5, should be heartened by the following account of how turf research benefited from their participation last year: Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N. J., is the recipient of a grant of $2,000. lliis supports a fellowship for study of the causes of thatch in putting-green turf and methods of eliminating it. This problem is one of universal importance and Rutgers University is admirably equipped for undertaking a study of this nature. The Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, College Station, Texas, has ac­ cepted $2,000 in part support of an as­ sistantship for the study of physical soil properties in putting greens. Considerable information relating to this problem has been developed. There is still need for further study in order that the informa­ tion available may be brought to bear upon the matter of soil compaction in putting greens. This is considered to be one of the most important problems in modern golf-course maintenance The Department of Horticulture of the Kansas State College, Manhattan, Kan., receives $600 to be used in carrying out studies on clipping heights and their ef­ fect on the adaptability of turf species to the Central Great Plains Region. Other phases of research at Kansas State which are related to this consist of crabgrass and other weed control studies. The work proceeds under the able direction of Dr. William F. Pickett. The University of California, at Davis, Cal., will use a grant of $1,000 to sup­ port research in irrigation of turf. Wat­ ering of turf is one of the most poorly understood phases of golf-course man­ agement. Dr. R. M. Hagan, associate ir- rigationist of the University of California, has made outstanding contributions to a better understanding of watering practice. These studies have two objectives: (1) to save water, (2) to use water as effect- 32 USGA Journal and Turf Management: April, 1954 ively as possible for the growing of bet­ ter turf. Purdue University, Lafayette, Ind., is the center for turf research in the Mid­ west. It has accepted a grant of $1,000 to be used in a study of disease resist­ ance in bluegrass. The University has as­ sembled a large number of bluegrass selections from widely scattered areas. It is believed that some of these types may be resistant to some of the more serious diseases that attack bluegrass. Merion bluegrass, which is highly resistant to Helminthosporium leafspot, is the pro­ duct of a similar selection and testing program which was conducted by the USGA Green Section prior to World War II. Such a study holds great promise. The College of Pharmacy of the Uni­ versity of Illinois maintains an experi­ ment station in Chicago. Staff members have been very helpful to golf-course superintendents in the Chicago area. A grant of $1,000 has been placed at the University of Illinois, and it will be used to finance a fundamental study of Poa annua, chickweed and crabgrass. These are the three serious weed pests of north­ ern golf-course turf. Too often weed con­ trol studies are undertaken without a com­ plete understanding of the strength and weaknesses of the plant to be controlled. A study of the kind proposed will contri­ bute a substantial “building block*’ tc our structure of fundamental knowledge. A grant of $1,000 has been accepted by the Georgia Coastal Plain Experiment Station, Tifton, Ga. Tifton is recognized as the center of southern grass breeding studies. Dr. Glenn W. Burton, under whose direction this grant will be used, is one of the world’s outstanding grass breeders. The grant will be used to sup­ port the further development of bermuda­ grass strains that will provide superior turf for golf courses in the South. Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y., has accepted a grant in the amount of $600. Cornell scientists have devoted a great deal of attention to the control of weed and insect pests in turf, and they have pioneered in the field of studying grass­ seed mixtures. Much has been accomp­ lished in the direction of focusing at­ tention upon the practice of using annual or nurse-grass species to make up a large percentage of the grass seed mixture. The offering of good seed mixtures in the trade will result in better turf at lower cost on the golf course. It is proposed that this grant shall help to support such work. A grant of $500 has been accepted by the Oregon Agricultural Experiment Sta­ tion, Corvallis, Ore. The money will be used in support of a study of possibilities for commercial scale production of seed of Poa annua, Poa bulbosa, and other annual winter-growing grasses that may come into greater use in winter turf in the South. Oregon is the center of turf seed production in the United States. Workers at the (Oregon Agricultural Ex­ periment Station are particularly well qualified to investigate matters pertaining to seed production. Colorado A & M College, Fort Collins, Colo., has accepted a grant of $300 which is to be used to get turf investigations started in the Rocky Mountain area. It will be used in conjunction with two turf scholarships which were established at Colorado A & M by the Trans-Mississippi Golf Association and which were descri­ bed on page 16 in the USGA Journal of February, 1954. It is felt that these turf scholarships will be much more valuable to the recipients if turf investigations are being carried on at the College. WATER QUANTITY AND RATE OF FLOW One acre inch of water contains 27,- 080 gallons. If you have a pond that measures 208.7 feet square, this would equal one acre, or 43,560 square feet. If this pond were 15 inches deep, you would have 15 acre inches of water, or 27,080 gallons times 15, of 416,200 gallons, in your reservoir. If this pond is stream fed and your rate of flow in this stream is one cubic foot per second, you would be supplying one acre inch per hour, or 450 gallons per minute to your pond. 27,080 gallons of water is the average amount used in your home over a 5-month period. The Bull Sheet, Vol. 7, No. 8, February, 1954. USGA Journal and Turf Management: April, 1954 33 IT’S YOUR HONOR Effects of Good Handicapping Thrilled To the USGA: I wish you could see our club as it was three years ago and as it is now. It looks like the same place, but ac­ tually it isn’t. Without a good handicap system, our players had become inveterate clique players, but now we mix up pretty well and new members have little trouble getting into games. It has been good for our older members, too. Just recent­ ly one of them told me how much he enjoyed his golf last summer and that he had met a lot of fine new friends. Most of all he was surprised to learn that they were “right here in my own club!” We have tried hard to follow every recommendation of the USGA and the CDGA and the results have simply changed our club from one of very passive interest in golf to one where just about all play and participate in club events. And to show the usefulness of your handicap system, last Labor Day I paired ninety-four fellows in five handi­ cap flights. Every match was played on schedule, and seventeen matches went extra holes. Paul Berryhill Decatur, III. "An Invaluable Aid" To the USGA: Thank you for the report and sug­ gestions for improvements needed at Bel-Air made by Charles G. Wilson, Western Regional Director of your Green Section. Work such as he is doing is an in­ valuable aid to a country club and 1 want to thank the USGA for making this aid available. To The USGA: Received Bob Jones’ portrait, and I can’t begin to tell you how thrilled and honored I am to have the greatest golfer of all time right in my own room. The warmth and inspiration from one glance is worth millions of bad shots. Frank Strafaci Woodhaven, N. Y. An Appreciative Founder To the USGA: It is with a deep sense of apprecia­ tion that I accept your invitation to become a founder of “Golf House.” I have been in and around the game for many years and caddied for Harry Vardon at the Wannamoisett Country- Club, Rumford, R. L, in 1900, and to me this was a real event. My dad was one of the owners of the original Meta­ comet Golf Club, in East Providensce, R. L, later to become an additional nine holes to the Agawam Hunt Club. My one regret is that I didn’t save some of the relics that I have used in the past as contributions to the Museum. James P. Lawson Chicago, III. Taylor On Hogan To the USGA: I don’t think I’ve written since the splendid victory of Ben Hogan at Car­ noustie, Scotland, last July. There have been other American winners of our Open, but I feel I am expressing the sentiments of all golfers in this country when I say there has been none more popular. I hope he will come this year to defend his well-earned title. J. H. Taylor North Devon, England Joe Novak Bel-Air Country Club Los Angeles. Calif. Editor's Noto: The USGA Journal invites comments on matters relating to the welfare of the game and will publish them as space permits. USGA OFFICERS, EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE AND COMMITTEE CHAIRMEN PRESIDENT Isaac B. Grainger, New York, N. Y. VICE-PRESIDENTS John D. Ames, Chicago, III. Richard S. Tufts, Pinehurst, N. C. SECRETARY Charles B. Grace, Philadelphia, Pa. TREASURER Charles L. Peirson, Boston, Mass. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE The above officers and: J. Frederic Byers, Jr., Pittsburgh, Pa. William P. Castleman, Jr., Dallas, Texas Thomas H. Choate, New York, N. Y. John G. Clock, Long Beach, Cal. Frederick L. Dold, Wichita, Kansas John W. Fischer, Cincinnati, Ohio T. R. Garlington, Atlanta, Ga. Gordon E. Kummer, Milwaukee, Wis. . Edward E. Lowery, San Francisco, Cal. F. Warren Munro, Portland, Ore. GENERAL COUNSEL Fraser M. Horn, New York, N. Y. COMMITTEE CHAIRMEN RULES OF GOLF: Richard S. Tufts, Pinehurst, N.C. CHAMPIONSHIP: John D. Ames, Chicago, III. AMATEUR STATUS AND CONDUCT: John W. Fischer, Cincinnati, Ohio IMPLEMENTS AND BALL: Charles B. Grace, Philadelphia, Pa. MEMBERSHIP: John G. Clock, Long Beach, Cal. GREEN SECTION: T. R. Garlington, Atlanta, Ga. WOMEN'S: Mrs. Harrison F. Flippin, Ardmore, Pa. SECTIONAL AFFAIRS: Charles L. Peirson, Boston, Mass. PUBLIC LINKS: Frederick L. Dold, Wichita, Kansas HANDICAP: William O. Blaney, Boston, Mass. JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP: J. Frederic Byers, Jr., Pittsburgh, Pa. GIRLS' JUNIOR: Mrs. John Pennington, Buffalo, N. Y. MUSEUM: Edward E. Lowery, San Francisco, Cal. "GOLF HOUSE" FUND: Daniel A. Freeman, Jr., New York, N. Y. USGA HEADQUARTERS "Golf House" 40 East 38th Street New York 16, N. Y. Joseph C. Dey, Jr., Executive Director John P. English, Assistant Executive Director USGA GREEN SECTION South Building, Plant Industry Station, Beltsville, Md. USGA GREEN SECTION NORTHEASTERN OFFICE . Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N. J. Alexander M. Radko, Northeastern Director USGA GREEN SECTION WESTERN OFFICE Box 241, Davis, Cal. Charles G. Wilson, Western Director USGA GREEN SECTION SOUTHWESTERN OFFICE Texas A. and M. College, College Station, Texas Dr. Marvin H. Ferguson, Southwestern Director and National Research Coordinator USGA GREEN SECTION SOUTHEASTERN OFFICE Georgia Coastal Plain Experiment Station, Tifton, Ga. B. P. Robinson, Southeastern Director