IS G .1 JOI R\AL AND TURF MANAGEMENT COWBOY ON A SAND GREEN An unusual phase of American golf was captured by Peter Hurd in his painting of a scene on the original course at Carrizozo, New Mexico. A reproduction has been presented to “Coif House” by Arthur Prager, of Albuquerque. AUGUST 1955 US«A JOURNAL TURF MANAGEMENT Published by the United States Coif Association Permission to reprint articles herein is freely granted (unless specifically noted otherwise) provided credit is given to the USGA Journal VOL. VIII, No. 4 AUGUST, 1955 Through the Green ------------------- ------------------------------------------- ------------------- 1 The Place of Intent in Amateur Golf ------------------------------------ Isaac B. Grainger 5 Miss Crocker Caps Unusual Record--------------------------------------- Joseph C. Dey, Jr. 8 Is Your Club Ready For the Family? --------------------------------------Frank C. Rabold 11 Another Kocsis Moves to the Fore ----------------------------------------- John P. English 14 Do You Know Your Golf? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16 How Jack Fleck Beat Jack Fleck ------------------------------------------------------------------ 17 The New Senior Amateur Championship ---------------------------------------------------- —- 19 The Referee: Decisions by the Rules of Golf Committees------------------------------------ 21 Turf Management: USGA Green Section Everett Queen: His Golf Course and His Methods ---------- Marvin H. Ferguson 24 Better Turfgrasses Can Be Produced by Breeding-------------- Glenn W. Burton 28 Fertilization of Turfgrasses --------- ----------------------------- Marvin H. Ferguson 30 Make Hay in Early Autumn ______________________William H. Bengeyfield 32 It’s Your Honor: Letters __________________________________________________ 33 Published seven times a year in February, April, June, July, August, September and November by the UNITED STATES GOLF ASSOCIATION 40 EAST 38th ST., NEW YORK 16, N. Y. Subscription: $2 a year. Single copies: 30c. Subscriptions, articles, photographs, and correspondence, except pertaining to Green Section matters, should be sent to the above address. Correspondence pertaining to Green Section matters USGA Green Section Northeastern Office, Lipman Hall, College of Agriculture, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N. J. USGA Green Section Mid-Atlantic Office, Room 206, South Building, Plant Industry Station, Beltsville, Md. should be addressed to the nearest office below: USGA Green Section Southeastern Office, Georgia Coastal Plain Experiment Station, Tifton, Ca. USGA Green Section Southwestern Office, Texas A. and M. College, College Station, Texas. USGA Green Section Western Office, 1709 West Eighth Street, Los Angeles 17, Cal. Entered as Second-class Matter March 3, 1950, at the Post Office at Nevi York, N. Y., under the Act of March 8, 1879. Edited by Joseph C. Dey, Jr., and John P. English. Managing Editor: Frank C. True. AU articles voluntarily contributed. USGA COMPETITIONS FOR 1955 (Dates entries close mean last dates for applications to reach USGA office. For possible exceptions in dates of Sectional Qualifying Rounds, see entry forms.) Championship Girls' Junior Women's Amateur Amateur Senior Amateur Entries Close Closed Closed Sectional Qualifying Rounds None None Championship Dates_______ August 15-19 August 22-27 August 12 August 30 Sept. 12-17 Venue Florence C.C., Florence, S.C. Myers Park C. C., Charlotte, N. C. Country Club of Virginia, Richmond, Va. August 26 Sept. 8 Sept. 26-Oct. 1 Belle Meade Country Club, Nashville, Tenn. Girlish Inspiration British Pro Suggestions One of the more interesting aspects of the USGA Women’s Open Championship at Wichita, Kans., was the presence of a good number of teen-age competitors. There’s a budding generation of really promising players, for all amateurs in this event had to be handicapped at not more than five strokes. But for all their skill at golf, they were playful children at heart. After the pair­ ings had been made for Saturday’s last two rounds, one of the youngsters with­ drew, and a change in pairings had to be made. This rather perturbed 17-year-old Jill Kreager, one of Bill Wotherspoon’s pupils at Southern Hills Country Club, in Tulsa. "Are you going to have to change any of the other pairings?” she asked an of­ ficial. "No,” was the reply. "Oh, goodie goodie,” Jill said delightedly. "What’s so good about that?” the official inquired. "I get to play with Betsy Rawls!” Jill enthused. Just to show you how inspiration works, Jill and Betsy went out the next morning with the following results: Betsy Rawls 84, Jill Kreager 79. But it works the other way, too. In the afternoon Betsy was around in 77, as became a former Champion, while Jill eased off to even fives. A number of suggestions designed to increase interest in professional golf tour­ naments in Great Britain have been pre­ sented by F. H. Taylor, Chairman of the Professional Golfers Association there. Among them are the folowing: "All competition must be tests of skill of the highest order. Any attempt to make them otherwise would be severely depre­ cated by the public, promoters and host clubs, and what is even more important to British golf, they would fail in their chief object — to improve our standard of play despite the very questionable boost to morale by returning low scores. "To still further develop the mature player and to give encourageemnt to the young player of promise, the allocation of prize money can be of the greatest value by having a few big prizes for the leading players and the remainder graduated all down the list. The incentive and encour­ agement thus provided are plain to see. The best players must have every induce­ ment to get to the top. Otherwise they will never attain their utmost skill and temperament. "Extra prizes for young competitors, according to age, would materially help them to enter further events and so gain the experience so essential to successful development. To work in this direction is vital if we are to contest successfully in future international events.” USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: AUGUST. 1955 1 Furgol Makes His Report When Ed Furgol returned home from the British Open Championship last month, his wife "almost wouldn’t let me in the house,” he reported. That was because of the bad light in which Ed had erroneously been placed by some newspaper reports. For example, one report said he knocked an autograph album from a boy’s hand on the St. Andrews Old Course. In a Rules incident involving Mike Krak, an­ other American, Furgol was reported as saying he thought the visitors "wouldn’t get a fair deal.” When our 1954 Open Champion re­ turned to the United States, he was amazed at both reports and flatly denied that he was involved in either case. Ed Furgol is an honest man. Whenever you read of a tempestuous "incident” involving an American golfer in a British competition, you would be well advised to take it with a large grain of salt and make up your own mind as to whether the source is trustworthy. All too often, we have found, such reports are greatly exaggerated or have no basis in fact. "There were several things I said which may have been misconstrued,” Ed told Oscar Fraley of the United Press. "These I won’t deny.” About the lad seeking an autograph who was pushed away by a player, "It was a case of mistaken identity,” Furgol told Fraley. "I’ve never pushed away any­ one seeking an autograph because I feel it is an honor. I stood for a half-hour at a time signing them, and then would have been glad to sign more. "I would like everyone to know that I did not have any difficulty with any­ one.” Golf Gains a Champion It was baseball’s loss and golf’s gain the day Doug Ford’s father and four uncles persuaded him that fairways could be more interesting than a baseball diamond. The 3 2-year-old Ford, one of the few PGA Champions, like Gene Sarazen, to grow up in the New York area; attained the peak of his game in defeating Cary Middlecoff in the final at Northville, Mich., last month, 4 and 3. He received not only the cup but also the medal, earned for setting the pace in the 36-hole qualifying test with 135, one stroke under the PGA record. When Doug was a child his father, Mike, who now is at Loon Lake, N. Y., was pro at the Van Cortlandt Park public course, in New York City. The youngster liked baseball. Later, at George Washing­ ton High School in New York City, he was an outstanding baseball player. It was then the father and four uncles, all golf pros, convinced young Ford his future lay in golf. When Doug won the New York State Junior Championship at the age of 17, he forgot about baseball. Then he won the Westchester Amateur and reached the final in the Metropolitan Amateur Champion­ ship. He became a professional in 1949. Ace Is Lucky For Two A hole-in-one made by Albert B. Bishop at Westwood Country Club, Rocky River, Ohio, was reported just in time to enable Billy Linn, 12 years old, of Maple Heights, Ohio, to join the first group of handi­ capped youngsters bound for Camp Cheer­ ful of the Cleveland Society of Crippled Children. Billy became the first child to receive a "campership” awarded by the Cleveland District Golf Association and the Cleve­ land Coca-Cola Bottling Company. The Company underwrites the cost of sending a, child to the camp for one week and makes the donation in the name of each golfer who records a hole-in-one at a member club of the C.D.G.A. The Society of Crippled Children selects the camper. The program is directed by Harry C. Pollock, Secretary of the Cleveland Dis­ trict Golf Association, and William C. Dahn, of the company. 2 USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: AUGUST. 1955 “Golf House" Fund SPORTSMAN’S CORNER The "Golf House” Fund has increased to $103,70 5 and the number of Founders now stands at 5,623. We still need $6,295. The Fund is for the purchase, equipment and maintenance of "Golf House.” Those we have enrolled as Founders recently are: Dr. Jesse J. Englander Mrs. William McWane Stuart Murray A. C. Oliphant Familiar Name A familiar name has returned to the headlines, again as a Champion. Byron Nelson celebrated France’s greatest holi­ day, Bastille Day, by becoming the first American to win the French Open Championship since Walter Hagen in 1920. The gallery at the rolling Golf de la Boulie course, at Versailles, was amazed by the 43-year-old Texas professional’s straight drives and 10-foot putts in achieving a 72-hole score of 271, which was 17 under par. On the final day Nelson shot a five- under-par 67 in the third round, then turned in a 70 after lunch. Two strokes behind him at the close of the tournament was Harry Weetman, of England. Harry Bradshaw, of Ireland, who tied Nelson and Weetman for the 36-hole lead at 134, finished third with 275. It was Nelson’s third-round score which proved decisive. Ten players bettered 70 in the final round, Ken Bousfield, of Eng­ land, Antonio Cerda, of Argentina, and Ugo Grappasonni, of Italy, turning in 67s. Liberal Genealogy Under a new rule of the Women’s Metropolitan Golf Association, in New York, brothers-in-law are brothers. Thus when David Baldwin and Miss Essene DeCozen, of the Baltusrol Golf Club, were married, he became eligible to team with her sister, Miss Charlotte DeCozen, in the Association’s annual brother-sister tournament at the Twin Brooks Country Club. The rule also made David’s twin brother, Theodore, eligible to team with Thomas Cunningham, of Baltimore, was low in the sectional qualifying round of the USGA Amateur Public Links Championship at Baltimore’s Clifton Park course with 71-72 —143. Being a veteran in public links competition, he looked forward with much anticipation to playing in the Championship at Indianapolis last month. It wasn’t the first time he had qualified at Clifton Park for the Championship. Back in 1934 his 36-hole qualifying score in­ cluded thirteen 3s and a 2, along with sixteen one-putt greens. THOMAS CUNNINGHAM In looking over his scorecard several days after qualifying for the Championship at Indianapolis, Cunningham noticed an error. The total remained the same, but on one hole he had posted a 4 when he actually had a 5. On the following hole his card showed a 5, which should have been a 4. He immediately telephoned Horton F. Weeks, of Baltimore, a member of the USGA Public Links Committee, and reported the error. A special meeting of the committee in charge of the sectional qualifying round at Baltimore was called, and there was no alter­ native but to disqualify Cunningham in ac­ cordance with Rule 38-3 of the Rules of Golf. “I am sorry for any inconvenience I may have caused the Committee, but I feel much better about it than if the error had been dis­ covered too late,” said Cunningham. Mrs. David Baldwin. David Baldwin was the 1954 New Jersey State Open champion. Result: I'he Baldwins swept all honors. USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: AUGUST, 1955 3 Golf In a Hurry The Myers Park Country Club, of Charlotte, N. C., where the USGA Women s Amateur Championship is to be played this month, is the culmination of many years of planning by thoughtful civic leaders. the ninth time over a span of thirty-five years, however, by Stephen W. Berrien, former president of the Metropolitan Golf Association, and his achievement certainly should be part of the record. Morton G. Bogue The manner in which the original course was laid out may have established a record in golf course "construction.” It is said that Paul Haddock, a business man and amateur golfer, sallied forth one day inJ921 accompanied by a man loaded with stakes. Nine tees and nine sand greens were quickly located by means of he stakes—and a few days later play r 7 began. Some 350 citizens became members and agreed to remain members for a period or three years. An old wooden building °n the property was converted into a clubhouse. Additional land subsequently was procured and Earl Draper, local golf course architect, drew plans and super­ vised the construction of a second nine holes. In 1926 the club opened its first 18-hole, grass greens course. During suc- cee ing years more land was purchased an a new course, including re-designed portions of the old course, was put into play in 1947. A number of the new holes were designed by the late Donald Ross. With all debts paid and a cash surplus on hand, plans for a new clubhouse were formulated. A building committee was appointed, with Herbert Glenn as Chair­ man. H. H. Everett, who became Pres­ ident in 1949, organized „ I a group that re­ , - - suited * in the realization of a new club- house, which was completed in 1951. Another Long Span We 1 _____________ _ w _ have recorded from time to time achievements by individuals who have won t c same club championship over particu­ larly long spans of years—and thirty-nine years seems to be the longest of which we have record. The Upper Montclair (N. J.) Country Club Championship recently was won for The golf world was grieved by the passing of Morton G. Bogue, of New York City, on July 11 at Southampton, N. Y. Mr. Bogue was President of the USGA in 1944 and 1945 and was a mem­ ber of the Ad­ visory Committee Ex-Presidents at the time of his death. He had served as General Counsel from 1934 to 1937, as a member of the in 1938 and 1939 from 1940 to 1943. Executive Committee and as Vice-President His age was 74. M. C. BOGUE The senior member of the law firm of Beekman and Bogue, Mr. Bogue was a corporation counsel. He also served as Special Counsel to the War Finance Corporation from 1918 to 1924 and was General Counsel to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation in 1932. As an undergraduate in Columbia College, from which he was graduated in 1900, Mr. Bogue was coxswain of the crew. From 1912 to 1916, and from 1923 to 1925, he was Chairman of the Board of Stewards of the Intercollegiate Rowing Association. He also served as Chairman and Treasurer of Columbia’s Graduate Rowing Committee for four years after graduation. From 1937 to 1943, and from 1944 to 1946, Mr. Bogue served as an alumni trustee of Columbia. He also was a trustee of Bard College from 1938 to 1946. He was a member of the National Golf Links of America, Southampton, N. Y. USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: AUGUST, 1955 THE PLACE OF INTENT IN AMATEUR GOLF by ISAAC B. GRAINGER President United States Golf Association This is a boom period for spectator sports, which mainly means profes­ sional sports. A thriving economy, more leisure time and wide public interest in athletics contribute to make professional sports an attractive vocation for some young people. This is especially true in in which succssful professionalism can be practiced for one’s lifetime, and is not limited to the few years of strong and fast young manhood. This is also a boom period for partici­ pant sports, which mainly means amateur sports. As we all know, games are basically amateur, for the very nature of a game is that it is played for recreation and fun. It is perfectly natural for some pro­ ficient amateurs to point toward profes­ sional careers. In doing so, however, some of them continue to appear as amateurs long past the time when they have made a positive decision to turn professional. They try to develop skill and reputation by defeat­ ing other amateurs until their skill and reputation have reached the point of being salable professionally. This may seem natural—but is it fair? Is it a sporting thing to use one’s fellow­ amateurs as stepping stones?—to seek to defeat them in order to advance closer to the financial rewards of professionalism? —in short, to exploit one’s friends who are playing the game for fun, as an avoca­ tion? In golf, the USGA Executive Commit­ tee considers that this is unfair. ISAAC B. GRAINGER afar the attractions of professionalism and mentally toys with the idea of a profes­ sional career but who has not come to a fixed decision. We speak, rather, of the player who, secretly within himself, has embraced professionalism as a career and carefully waits only for the ripe time to change over. In saying this, we speak only of the player who definitely intends to become a professional and is purposefully pointing his life to that end. We do not refer to the young man who wistfully eyes from There is a Rule of Amateur Status which disqualifies as an amateur anyone for "taking any action which clearly in­ dicates the intention of becoming a pro­ fessional golfer.” USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: AUGUST. 1955 5 But here we are speaking of the inten­ tion which precedes an overt action. Such an intention can scarcely be discerned by an outsider. Only the player knows it, in his heart. Appeal to Sportsmanship Thus, you can’t have a precise rule in the code about it. You can only appeal to the sportsmanship which is within us all. Why should such an appeal be made? Simply because amateur competitions are for people who are amateurs at heart. Suppose you are the runner-up in an amateur championship. Shortly after the championship the winner turns profes­ sional. He disqualifies himself as an amateur and he disqualifies himself as champion. There is no champion. > Would you not feel rather put out? For once in your life you had reached the final, and then had lost to someone who didn’t care enough about the title to re­ main eligible for it. That would be bitter for you. You might be the champion but for that other fellow. This is not fantasy. It has happened rather frequently in late years. In the last five years, two USGA Amateur Champions and two USGA Women’s Amateur Champions have turned professional long before their year’s tenure as Champion expired. Combining both classes, seven of the last ten winners ultimately turned professional. Let us quickly add that some of the non-defenders and some of the others probably did not intend to forsake am­ ateurism when they entered the champion­ ships. Circumstances can alter cases, and some of the winners were attracted to professionalism after they had won. We understand their positions, and we shall always respect their decision and wish them well. But the USGA Executive Committee takes a different view of those who, know­ ing they are definitely on their way to professionalism, enter amateur events to build themselves up at the expense of true amateurs. We take such a different view that we do not want them to enter as amateurs for USGA competitions. If they want to be professionals, let them turn professional and enter the USGA Open Championship and other open tournaments as professionals. To make the USGA’s position clear, we are sending the following message to all entrants in this year’s Amateur and Women’s Amateur Championships: ‘'In accepting your entry, the USGA Executive Committee under­ stands that it is your intention to continue to be an amateur golfer. "If we are mistaken, and if you intend to become a professional within the next year, please inform us im­ mediately so that your entry may be withdrawn. We feel that a champion should not disqualify himself before defending his title. "USGA amateur competitions are for amateur golfers. An amateur is 'one who plays the game solely as a npn-remunerative or non-profit- making sport.’ The Championships should not be exploited as stepping stones to professionalism. "There is a proper place for pro­ fessionalism. But the line between amateur and professional must be clearly drawn, in fairness to both. "The code of amateurism has helped golf to thrive. The game is in the keeping of the players. Your help in upholding golf’s standards will be most welcome.” We’ll always remember some wise re­ marks on amateurism by Eugene G. Grace, Honorary Chairman of the Saucon Valley Country Club’s Executive Com­ mittee for the 1951 USGA Amateur Championship at Bethlehem, Pa. Mr. Grace, a leading industrialist, Chairman of the Bethlehem Steel Corp., has long 6 USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: AUGUST, 1955 been deeply interested in athletics. Ad­ dressing the contestants in the 1951 Championship, he said in part: "We felt that by holding the Amateur Golf Championship here we might be able to make a contribution to amateurism in golf, and to sport in general. That seems particularly vital at this time when the public has been disturbed by commercial­ ism, and worse, in some of our sports. "Don’t misunderstand me — American sport is generally clean, but we must face the fact that there have been various ex­ ceptions and that there has been over­ emphasis on the commercial end. "Hence it is particularly important right now to emphasize that amateur golf is just that and completely that in the fullest spirit of the w:ord. You contestants know better than anyone that you have paid your own way here, and that you are entirely on your own. Answer Lies in Heart "The only way in which amateurism in sports can be defined is in the sports­ man’s own heart. "If the player says to himself that the only reason he is playing (and putting up with the sacrifices and inconveniences of stiff amateur competition) is that he gets his full reward out of his enjoyment of the game, then he is a sure-enough amateur. If he expects direct or indirect cash reward, then he is a pro. "It is certainly not dishonorable to be frankly a professional; but to lie to your­ self and pretend you are an amateur, when you know in your heart you are lying, is just a ruinous habit. That’s the real nub of the amateur problem in athletics. Schools that are supposed to train young men, yet warp their consciences by phony amateur standards, can’t have much to brag about. "There is an honorable place, of course, for professional sport. Professional base­ ball is a great and constructive national institution. Professional golf is conducted on a high level. The players are a great credit to the sport. AUDIENCE REACTION TO USGA FILM There have been more than 385 book­ ings thus far of the USGA motion picture entitled “The Rules of Golf—Etiquette.” Some of the comments from audiences are: Fort Knox, Ky., — “Tremendous movie; enthusiastically received.” Dayton, Ohio — “Enjoyed it very much. Many wanted it to show at different golf clubs.” Seattle, Wash., — “Excellent.” The film, which recently was awarded a Recognition of Merit by the Film Coun­ cil of America, is a 16 mm. Kodachrome with a running time of 17% minutes. The importance of etiquette is em­ phasized visually through portrayal of various violations of the code in the course of a family four-ball match. Robert T. Jones, Jr., makes the intro­ ductory statement. Ben Hogan appears in several scenes. The shipping of prints is handled by National Educational Films, Inc., 165 West 46th Street, New York 16, N. Y., which produced the film in cooperation with the USGA. The rental fee is $15, which includes the cost of shipping the print to the renter. "There is a place for the professional and a place for the amateur, but the point is to keep the distinction sharp and clear.” In 1947 Cary Middlecoff was invited to be a member of the United States Walker Cup Team which was going abroad to play the British. He declined. He said he intended to turn professional soon. Cary Middlecoff could have taken that Walker Cup trip and could have turned professional after returning home. His reputation might have been enhanced by play in the Walker Cup Match and the British Amateur Championship. But Cary Middlecoff had already given his heart over to professional golf. He declined one of the most desirable honors in amateur golf. He thereby made it pos­ sible for another amateur to take his place. Cary Middlecoff, in that simple sporting act, thus honored the game of golf—and, indirectly, himself. USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: AUGUST, 1955 7 - MISS CROCKER CAPS by UNUSUAL RECORD JOSEPH C. DEY, Jr. USGA Executive Director When THE final annals of women’s golf are written, a prominent place must be reserved for Miss Fay Crocker, Promising Young Amateur on both playing style and competitive record. Her victory in the USGA Women’s Open Championship last month was not surprising to those who know her game. But not many North Americans are familiar with it. For many years Miss Crocker was the dominant personality in South American women’s golf. Twenty times she won the Championship of her native Uruguay. She was Argentine Champion fourteen times. Her first appearance in a USGA event was back in the 1939 Women’s Amateur at the Wee Burn Club, Noroton, Conn. In the third round she lost on the 20th hole to Miss Elizabeth Hicks. It was 1950 before Miss Crocker again played in the Women’s Amateur. At East Lake, in Atlanta, that year, she won her first three matches handily, no margin being less than 7 and 5. In the fourth round she and Miss Mae Murray had a classic match. They went 27 holes—nine extra—before Miss Murray won. Never more than a hole separated them. For the regulation 18 holes Miss Crocker was around in 72, Miss Murray in 73, against par of 75. Darkness over­ took them after 24 holes. When they resumed the next morning, a par 5 by Miss Murray on the 27th decided it. Nine extra holes is an overtime record for a USGA Women’s Championship. Miss Crocker lost no stature in defeat. Her game was remarkably strong, par­ ticularly her long irons. One was tempted Wichita Eagle Photo Miss Jacqueline Yates, of Honolulu, tied Miss Polly Riley, of Fort Worth, for low amateur with 309 in the USGA Women's Open Championship. She is 19 years old. to wonder how she failed to win every­ thing she played in. Iron Control Decisive With this background, and now in her second season as a professional, Miss Crocker scored an impressive victory in the USGA’s third Women’s Open last month at the Wichita Country Club, in Kansas. Her control of the long irons was decisive over a very testing course, in winds that ranged from 40 miles per hour the first day down to about 20 on the last day. It was an unusual victory in that Miss 8 USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: AUGUST, 1955 A Champion Turns In Her Card Miss Fay Crocker, of Montevideo, Uruguay, (right), finishes with a 74 for a 72-hole total of 299 in the USGA Women's Open Championship. Receiving her card ot the table are (left to right); Mrs. E. F. Ristine and Mrs. Henri Prunaret, members of the USGA Women's Committee. Wichita Eagle Photo Crocker led after each of the four rounds. But it was not an easy victory. After 36 holes Miss Crocker had an eight-stroke lead with 74-72—146, two over par. All but one stroke of her ad­ vantage evaporated in the third round when she took 79 for 225, while Miss Mary Lena Faulk challenged with a 72 for 226. Miss Louise Suggs also shot into contention with 72 for 228 and was three strokes off the pace with one round to play. Miss Crocker rallied her game and closed with a sterling 74 for a 72-hole total of 299. That was better than both of her nearest challengers could do, Miss Faulk taking 77 and Miss Suggs 75, to tie for second place at 303. USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: AUGUST. 1955 9 Victory was worth $2,000 to Miss Crocker. Prizes totaling $7,500 were awarded to the twelve lowest professional scorers. Miss Crocker, who was born in Monte­ video in 1914, was presented an honorary membership by the Wichita Country Club. This is the home club of Miss Crocker’s good friend, Miss Marilynn Smith, and the two are Tournament Co- Chairmen of the Ladies’ Professional Golf Association. Miss Crocker presently re­ sides in Wichita with Miss Smith’s grand­ mother. Amateurs in the Fore Amateurs won three of the first eight places. Miss Polly Riley, of Fort Worth, and Miss Jacqueline Yates, of Honolulu, tied for low amateur with 309. Miss Pat Lesser was next with 311. Miss Riley made a good surge on the last day with 74-77. Miss Yates started with 76 and was second to Miss Crocker’s 74 in the first 18 holes. She followed with 79-76-78 and was always among the leaders. “Jocko” Yates is a charming young lady of 19 with quite a record for her short career. She won the National Inter­ collegiate Championship this year (she’ll be a sophomore next fall at Redlands College, in California). In the 1954 USGA Women’s Amateur, she reached the fifth round. Miss Yates is the youngest of fourteen children. Her 70-ycar-old father, Julian Yates, often attends Championships with her. "She used to pull a caddie cart for me and for others,” Mr. Yates reports. "When she had earned $80 she bought her first set of golf clubs. She was 12 years old then.” There were 46 starters at Wichita, of whom 26 were amateurs, including a large number of ’teen-agers. Mrs. George Zaharias was unable to defend the Championship because of an operation for a spinal disk. The Wichita Country Club was a most gracious host, under the Chairmanship of Frederick L. Dold, with Robert K. Howse as Co-Chairman. 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. Booklet, 25 cents (spe­ cial rates for quantity orders). Poster, 25 cents. ARE YOUR LOCAL RULES NECESSARY? a re­ print of a USGA Journal article containing recommendations 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 comput­ ing Basic and Current Handicaps and for rating courses. Booklet, 25 cents. Poster, 10 cents. THE CONDUCT OF WOMEN'S GOLF, con­ taining suggestions for guidance in the conduct of women's golf in clubs and associations, including tournament pro­ cedures, handicapping and course rating. 25 cents. HANDICAPPING THE UNHANDICAPPED, a reprint of a USGA Journal article explain­ ing the Callaway System of automatic handicapping for occasional players in a single tournament. No charge. TOURNAMENTS FOR YOUR CLUB, a reprint of a USGA Journal article detailing vari­ ous types of competitions. No charge. PROTECTION OF PERSONS AGAINST LIGHTNING ON GOLF COURSES, a poster. No charge. MOTION PICTURE, "The Rules of Golf-Eti­ quette," an official USGA film. Descriptive folder. No charge. (Film rental $15.) MOTION PICTURES ON GOLF (list). No charge. MOTION PICTURES RELATING TO GOLF COURSE MAINTENANCE (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 (Mc­ Graw-Hill Book Co., Inc.), the authorita­ tive book on greenkeeping. $7. USGA CHAMPIONSHIP RECORD BOOK. De­ tailed results of all USGA competitions since their start in 1895. $2. USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT, a 33-page magazine published seven times a year. $2. a year. These publications are available on request to the United States Golf Association, 40 East 38th Street, JVew York 16, N. Y. Please send payment with your order. 10 USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: AUGUST, 1955 IS YOUR CLUB READY FOR THE FAMILY? by FRANK C. RABOLD Chairman, House Committee Saucon Valley Country Club Bethlehem, Pa. The title, "Is Your Club Ready for the Family?” represents a challenge. It is a challenge which every country club most face. Some already have accepted the chal­ lenge and made great strides toward a solution. It is a fact that, at the start, most clubs centered largely around golf—golf for the man of the family. But there are very few country clubs which are for men only now. Saucon Valley Country Club has been a family club to a degree for many years, but five years ago we realized our facili­ ties were inadequate to handle the family properly. Children were over-running the place. We heard complaints of children taking over the terraces, sitting on the furniture in their wet clothes, running through the living room, swinging from the draperies, jumping on the furniture, being in the men’s and women’s locker­ rooms and plugging up the drains with turkish towels. Having recognized the problem—and that wasn’t very difficult, since many people had brought it forcibly to man­ agement’s attention—we decided in 1950 to develop means to meet this challenge. A committee was appointed to investigate precisely what our needs were. These people wrote the program. A second com­ mittee was appointed to develop the means for financing the program and a third committee, which we called our building committee, was appointed to ob­ tain the necessary professional advice, de­ velop detailed plans and build the required new facilities. The Program We realized the initial necessity of a FRANK C. RABOLD master plan and the need for top-side professional advice. The Program Com­ mittee’s investigation resulted in a four- point plan: 1. Some golf facilities for the juniors. 2. Clubhouse facilities for the youngsters, probably in the form of a separate structure, complete with canteen, locker-rooms and browsing area. 3. Improved playground facilities. 4. A new, larger and depart­ mentalized swimming pool to better serve all age groups. Two years ago we set aside one corner of our property and there developed a short six-hole golf course, an interesting layout with a minimum of hazards but USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT; AUGUST, 1955 H NEW MEMBERS OF THE USGA Regular Bostonia Country Club, Pa. Carthage Golf Club, Ill. Cazenovia Golf Club, N. Y. Chippanee Golf Club, Conn. Churchville Golf Club, N. Y. Crow River Country Club, Minn. Desert Mashie Golf Club, Ariz. Elks Golf and Country Club, Okla. Green Hills Golf and Country Club, Ind. Leavenworth Golf Club, Wash. Lewistown Elks Country Club, Mont. Memorial Park Golf Club, Wash. Mitchel Golf Association, N. Y. Monacan Hills Association, Va. Moorhead Country Club, Minn. Newton Country Club, Iowa North Park Golfers’ Association, Pa. Officers* Open Mess Golf Club, Md. Oxford Country Club, Ohio Pine Lake Country Club, Iowa Ramsey Golf and Country Club, N. J. Rehoboth Beach Country Club, Del. Streator Country Club, Ill. Vero Beach Country Club, Fla. taking advantage of the natural contours to present a great variety of shots. Its success, marked by its use by our children and others who formerly were non-golfers, surpassed all our expectations. It is a re­ warding sight to see fathers walking around with their young sons and daughters, each carrying a golf bag with three or four clubs, teaching these children the fundamentals of the game, developing new family ties and certainly contributing to the improvement of the game of golf. Incidentally, it also avoids a great deal of hacking on our regular course. At the same time, we selected a spot on our property, a few hundred yards from our main clubhouse, and there erected a junior clubhouse, which we call the field house. Here boys and girls from toddlers —and I mean toddlers—to about 16 years old have their own locker-rooms, small, individual lockers good enough for young­ sters of that age. And here we installed a canteen in the form of the old-fashioned soda fountain. This building has removed the total burden from the clubhouse. Incidentally, we have had as many as 1,000 individual transactions at the snack bar in a single day. Between the main clubhouse and the field house we had our tennis courts, and adjacent to these we had an area referred to as the playground. It was badly under­ developed. We redeveloped this play­ ground area and now have a grove of trees which camouflages the activities that go on there. There are opportunities for young people to play shuffleboard, volley ball, handball, basketball, horse­ shoes and quoits, as well as a few swings, seesaws, sandbox and some modern play sculpture for the very small fry. The founders of our club thirty-five years ago realized the need for some family facilities, even then, and courage­ ously installed a swimming pool. How­ ever, the ravages of time had taken their toll. We have just completed a new pool, or a series of pools. There are four pools in tandem, all served by the same me­ chanical equipment, but architecturally divided into a diving pool, a 75-yard swimming pool, a shallow junior swim­ ming pool and a wading basin. Most Important Factor Before I get to the problem of financ­ ing, let me emphasize what, in retrospect, we found to be probably the most im­ portant factor to consider. That was to select as our Building Committee a group which would be sensitive to planning and good design, reflect a cross-section of the membership and have the authority to go out and secure the professional talents which our club deserved. We carefully avoided home-made de­ signs and plans, either in our golf course construction, field house, playground, swimming pool and even in our land­ scaping. The best professional advice represents a very small, but necessary, addition to the cost of any project under­ taken. 1Z USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: AUGUST, 1955 It takes a courageous committee to handle the financing part of a problem. Our program was a large one, requiring a substantial amount of money. Even after generous contributions by a few individ­ ual members, we still were faced with the need to raise $200,000. We have a mem­ bership of about 600. The problem was complicated by the fact we had on our books, as of 1950, a mortgage for $95,000. The Finance Committee first recom­ mended that the mortgage be discharged by debt reduction contributions on the part of all members, either in a lump sum or by monthly payments over a 5-year period. Most members selected the lump sum payment, which amounted to about $114 each for active members, or one- half of that amount for associate and non­ resident members, rather than a time-pay­ ment, which amounted, in this case, to $132. It was well received by the member­ ship and the participation in this program was almost 100 per cent. Financing Plan The Finance Committee then marked time until the Building Committee’s plans had progressed to a point where costs could be more definitely established. In 1953 the Finance Committee recom­ mended to the membership through the Board of Governors a plan which would raise $75,000 from the active member­ ship by contributions of approximately $150 per member, $25,000 by transfer of regular club funds over a 3-year period and a re-mortgage of the club for $100,000.. . This was our $200,000 financing plan. Most families already had assimilated the debt-reduction contribution for the 1950 mortgage and readily accepted the sug­ gestion to contribute $150 for this new building fund. Once again the option was given to contribute in a lump sum—$144 —or $7.50 a month for twenty months. Thus by June of this year the old mortgage had been completely discharged, the $75,000 building fund completely sub­ scribed and the $25,000 from regular funds transferred to the building fund. We will take out the new; $100,000 mortgage this month. This will give us the required $200,000 and allow us to discharge all construction costs. Our financing plans have been so well received by our entire membership that we have planned a new debt-reduction program by monthly contributions, this time at $2 per family, which we calculate will amortize this new mortgage within the next eight years. We believe by the end of this summer we will have completed all the facilities required. It takes time; it takes courage; it takes money. We think we are ready for the family. Are you? MEN’S HANDICAPS FOR CHAMPIONSHIPS Effective thia year, handicaps submitted by amateurs as a basis for eligibility for the Amateur and Senior Amateur Cham­ pionships must have been computed in accordance with the USGA Golf Handicap System for Men (1953 edition). Either basic or current handicaps will be accept­ able. While the USGA has long maintained a handicap qualification as a basis for eligi­ bility of amateurs in its championships, it not previously specified the method by which these handicaps should be com­ puted. Scores to be recorded shall be only those made when the player has complied with the Rules of Golf. Scores made under “winter rules”, general “teeing up” or “preferred lies” must never be used for handicapping purposes. USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: AUGUST, 1955 13 ANOTHER KOCSIS MOVES TO THE FORE by JOHN P. ENGLISH USGA Assistant Executive Director One OF THE most notable distinctions between the Amateur Championship and the Amateur Public Links Champion­ ship lies in the fact that many of the players in the Amateur Public Links Championship actually play comparatively little golf. Sam D. Kocsis, of Detroit, Mich., is a prime example of this distinction. He had played about half a dozen complete rounds this year when he went to the Coffin Municipal Golf Course, in Indianapolis, Ind., for the 30th USGA Amateur Public Links Championship. Actually, Sam’s decision to enter was somewhat of a spur of the moment one. He had played in the event, but in per­ using a USGA schedule one day he noticed that it was being held not too far from his home during the dates which had already been assigned for his annual vaca­ tion from a Detroit tool factory. The fates were certainly with Sam in the sectional qualifying round, too. He tied for last place with a score of 154 and won his trip to Detroit only through a sudden death play-off. Of such things are Amateur Public Links Champions made, however. Sam went serenely through the field and de­ feated Tommy Bean, of Summerville, Ga., on the thirty-sixth hole of a most inter­ esting final. During the first three or four rounds his game was a little shaky, undoubtedly because of the infrequency of his play, but he was even par for fifteen holes in the fifth round, three over par for seven­ teen holes in the sixth round, five over par for thirty-six holes in ousting the defending Champion, Gene Andrews, of Indianapolis News Photo SAM KOCSIS Pacific Palisades, Cal., 1 up, in the semi­ final, and he played the last nine holes of the final in 34 to close out Tommy Bean. Test of Control The Coffin Golf Course, which actually measured only 6,536 yards and carried a par of 70, proved an extremely fine test, especially of control. The course is hilly and wooded, and the rough had been drawn in and allowed to grow in a way which placed a real premium on accurate tee shots. The coating of turf was excel­ lent throughout most of the course, and the tees and greens were above the stand­ ard found on many municipal layouts. The name Kocsis is familiar to golfers everywhere through the exploits of Sam’s older brother Chuck, who was a member of the 1938 and 1949 Walker Cup Teams. M USGA J( IRNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: AUGUST, 1955 Sam’s rise to national prominence indicates that the Kocsis family can give even such a large and distinguished family as the Tumesas a run for their money. The key club in Sam’s bag at Indian­ apolis was his blade putter and this was a hand-me-down from Chuck. Sam’s bag, incidentally, contained only twelve clubs, including two putters, one of which he uses only for warm-up purposes in practice rounds. Until the semi-final round Sam pulled his own clubs on a cart. The victory was an extremely popular one because of Sam’s excellent bearing and demeanor throughout the Championship, but the gallery of about 1,500 which followed the final could not find it in its heart to be partisan. Tommy Bean, a most light-hearted and attractive southerner, had also won his share of admirers by a remarkable act of good sportsmanship in the fifth round. Bean was playing Mike Borson, of Anderson, Ind., a prime Hoosier threat. On the seventh hole Borson dropped his approach into the ditch in front of the green, and when he blasted out his ball arrived on the putting surface caked with mud. Borson putted once and his ball bounded and zig-zagged four feet past the hole. Bean promptly conceded the four-foot putt, which was for the half, remarking: "I wouldn’t want to have to try a putt that long with that ball.” Bean, an automobile salesman who reached the quarter-finals in 1952, also had engaged in a thrilling semi-final with Ralph Allen, of Miami Springs, Fla. Allen played the morning eighteen holes in 74 to go 6 up, but in the afternoon Bean won four straight holes, from the second through the fifth, squared the match at the sixteenth and went 1 up with a birdie 4 on the 570-yard seventeenth. Allen then holed a ten-foot putt for a birdie 3 on the eighteenth to send the engagement into extra holes, but he ran into all kinds of hard luck on the first extra hole and Bean won with a par 5. The 18-hole stroke-play competition for the Harding Trophy was held on the Saturday before the individual Champion­ ship and was won by the Miami, Fla., section with a score of 224. The Miami team comprised Joe San Fillipo, 72; Marshall Carlson, 75; and Ralph Allen, 77. The Seattle section was second at 225, and the Indianapolis section was third at 226. New Order of Holes It was the second playing of the event at the Coffin Municipal Golf Course, but the layout had a brand-new clubhouse and an altered order of holes this time. The event was previously held there in 193 5, and the Hon. John L. Niblack, who has been a member of the USGA Public Links Committee since 1933, was local chairman for both events. Judge Niblack had an excellent local committee and the enthusiastic support of Mayor Alex M. Clark and the City of Indianapolis, as well as the Indianapolis Golf Association and the Coffin Golf Club. The hosts could hardly have done a nicer job for the players or provided a better test of golf. The holding of the event in the central part of the country apparently proved attractive to both players and Public Links Committeemen. The entry, which had been declining since World War II, turned upward once again and settled at 2,007. The Public Links Committeemen turned out in the number of 20, three as qualifiers and seventeen to help conduct the play. Among the Committeemen were Joseph S. Dickson, of Louisville, Ky., who has been a member of the Committee since 1929 and was attending his 22nd Champi­ onship, having missed only in 1952; Harry Packham, of Los Angeles, who has been a member since 1934 and was attending his 16th consecutive Championship; and Judge Niblack, who was attending his 14th Championship and his second as local chairman. They symbolize the en­ thusiasm of a great USGA Public Links Committee. USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: AUGUST. 1955 15 DO YOU KNOW YOUR GOLF? Answers to questions below -will be found on page 20 Scoring: All questions right: par 35. For each answer wrong: add 5 to 35. 1. In match play, a player before playing asks his opponent’s caddie what club the opponent used on the same shot. Does the player incur a penalty? __________(a) No. __________(b) Yes. Score __________ 2. A player plays a provisional ball from the tee. Unable to find his original ball, he decides to continue with" the provisional ball. He now lies: ---------------(a) Two. __________(b) Three. __________ 3. In stroke play a competitor’s ball strikes the caddie of a fellow-competitor in the fairway and is deflected into the rough. The competitor incurs: (a) A rub of the green. (b) A two-stroke penalty. --------------- 4. A player in match play plays a ball from outside the teeing ground, then replays the stroke from within the teeing ground at the opponent’s request. He now lies: __________(a) Two. (b) One. 5. A player in match play plays his opponent’s ball, which was not in a hazard. The ball was returned by a caddie and each contestant then played his own ball. Is a penalty involved? --------------- __________(a) No. __________(b) Yes. __________ 6. In making an approach shot in match play, a player’s ball knocks his opponent’s ball into the hole. Has the opponent holed out? --------------- (a) No. --------------- (b) Yes. 7. A ball, in being dropped by a player, strikes the player’s foot and rolls several feet away, but not nearer the hole nor in a hazard nor out of bounds. May the player re-drop the ball without penalty? __________(a) Yes. --------------- (b) No. 16 USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: AUGUST, 1955 HOW JACK FLECK BEAT JACK FLECK IF you want to win the Open Champi­ onship, on what do you concentrate in practice? Jack Fleck has an unusual answer. "On keeping composed,” he says frankly. "In the last three years I’ve worked much more at keeping myself under control than at hitting shots.” You wanted to know why that was. "Well,” Jack replied, "I used to let my­ self get disturbed easily, and it was ruinous. I remember, for instance, one tournament on the winter circuit a few years ago when I was going well. Lynn and I were on our honeymoon. I was under par in the first round and I was also under par for the second round through the 15 th hole. "At the 16th I three-putted. I let my­ self get mad at myself. At the 17th I three-putted again. I hate to play badly like that, and it upset me so that, seeing my wife near the 18th tee, I told her 'You go pack up—we’re going to leave.’ "Lynn looked at me as if she thought I was crazy. 'Pack up?’ she said. 'Why, you’re well under par.’ "I agreed that if I made a birdie on the last hole we’d stay. But I took 6, one over par, and we left the tournament then and there. I just couldn’t control my feel­ ings of deep disturbance with myself.” But how did Jack happen to change? "A number of people helped me,” the Open Champion said. "I remember once that Horton Smith, realizing the trouble I was having to keep myself under control, said to me: 'Jack, there’s just one thing you’ve got to learn to do—Put Your Score On The Board. Put it up there no matter whether it’s 89 or 69.’ "Dr. Paul Barton has helped me a lot, too. I used to caddie for him. He has been a good player for a long time—once won the Iowa Amateur Championship. He helped me to learn about trying real hard to avoid giving in to discouragement. He told me that the only way to play the game is always to keep on trying, no matter what happens. "I certainly have a lot of people to thank for helping me to realize that I had to conquer myself first before I could do anything worth while.” Anyone who saw Jack Fleck win the Open at San Francisco in June must have been deeply impressed with his self-control. Even in the thick of his play-off with Ben Hogan at the Olympic Country Club, he did not allow anything to get the better of his composure. It’s an old lesson, but it has a fresh meaning with every new Champion. Puffer for "Golf House" Jack Fleck visited "Golf House” a few weeks after his victory and presented the putter with which he won the Open to the USGA Golf Museum. Actually, he is going to continue to use the putter for a while longer but he has given title to it to the Golf Museum and, in the meantime, an exact duplicate of it will repose in "Golf House.” The USGA has a truly great collection of clubs, balls and other mementoes of Champions’ victories. The putter was the most useful single club in Jack’s bag in the Open. In the five rounds of the Championship proper and the play-off, he figured he used a total of 149 putts—just a fraction under 30 per round. He says you can’t win a tourna­ ment on the professional circuit unless you average better than 30 putts per round. Jack was the first professionl from a municipal course to win the Open. Young Craig Wood Fleck, the Champi­ on’s 4%-year-old son, came rather close to having a different combination of names. Mrs. Fleck told the story to Brad Wilson of the Des Moines Register: "Jack wanted to name him Snead Hogan Fleck, but I wouldn’t stand for it. So we compromised. Jack gave me a list of all the Open winners and I picked Craig Wood.” USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: AUGUST. 1955 17 “Golf House” Gets the Champion’s Putter New York Herald-Tribune Photo Jack Fleck, USGA Open Champion, (left)) presents the putter which was instrumental in defeating Ben Hogan in the play-off at San Francisco to Joseph C. Dey, Jr., Executive Director of the USGA. The putter will eventually be placed among the Clubs of Champions in the Golf Museum. Actually Fleck will continue to use the original club a while longer. Meanwhile a replica will repose in "Golf House." Jack drinks milk and eats quantities of ice cream, his wife said. "He doesn’t drink, smoke or even drink coffee. Why, he thinks cigarettes cause everything from dandruff to athlete’s foot,” she laughed. Things are a bit different for the Flecks today, money-wise, than in 1950, when they were driving from one circuit tourna­ ment to another. "It cost us $8 for every $1 Jack won that season,” said Mrs. Fleck. "In 1953 Jack won $13.75 at the San Diego Open, and then turned around and paid his caddie $25. "He used to tell me when I saw some­ thing: 'I’ll buy that for you when I win the Open. So put it down on your list.’ Last winter I stopped by a store window to look at a dress and Jack remarked: You know, that list of yours must be so long now that I don’t think I can afford to win the Open this year.’ ” 18 USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: AUGUST. 1955 THE NEW SENIOR AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP The schedule of sectional qualifying rounds for the first USGA Senior Amateur Championship has been estab­ lished, as well as all other conditions of an event which promises to be one of the most interesting and popular on our list. Senior golfers who will have reached their 5 5 th birthday by September 8, the day on which most of the sectional qualify­ ing rounds will be played, and who have handicaps not exceeding ten strokes com­ puted under the USGA Golf Handicap System for Men, will be eligible. Residents of the United States must be members of USGA Regular Member Clubs, as is true of the Amateur and Women’s Amateur Championships. Former USGA Amateur Champions who meet the entry requirements will be eligible for exemption from sectional qualifying rounds. Entries must be received at the USGA office in New York no later than 5 P.M. on Friday, August 26. The entry fee is $10. Entry forms may be obtained from the USGA office, USGA Member Clubs, senior and sectional golf associations or members of the USGA Senior Champion­ ship Committee. The Championship will be played at the Belle Meade Country Club, Nashville, Tenn., from September 26 through October 1. One hundred twenty players will be eligible, including sectional qualifiers and those exempt from sectional rounds, and they will compete in another 18-hole qualifying round at the Belle Meade Country Club on Monday, September 26. The 32 lowest scorers will qualify for match play, and this will proceed at the rate of one 18-hole round a day through the final on Saturday, October 1. Each round will start at 10 A.M. There will be a 3 6-hole stroke play competition for non-qualifiers on Tuesday and Wednesday of the Championship week and a match play flight for first-round losers from Wednesday through Saturday. The USGA will entertain all qualifiers at dinner in the clubhouse on the Satur­ day evening before the Championship. The schedule of sectional rounds fol­ lows: CAL. Los Angeles Virginia C.C. San Francisco Menlo C.C. COLO. Denver Lakewood C.C. D.C. FLA. GA. ILL. LA. MASS. MICH. MINN. MO. Washington Burning Tree C. Jacksonville Timuquana C.C. Atlanta Chicago Peachtree G.C. Bob O’Link G.C. New Orleans New Orleans C.C. Boston Detroit The Country Club C.C. of Detroit Minneapolis Minikahda C. Kansas City Indian Hills C.C. St. Louis Sunset C.C. N.J.—N.Y. Metropolitan Ridgewood C.C. N.Y. N.C. Niagara Falls Niagara Falls C.C. Charlotte Charlotte C.C. OHIO Cincinnati The Camargo C. Cleveland Lakewood C.C. OKLA. Tulsa Southern Hills C.C. PA. Philadelphia Gulph Mills C.C. Pittsburgh Oakmont C.C. TENN. Memphis Memphis C.C. TEXAS Dallas WASH. Seattle Dallas C.C. Seattle G.C. USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: AUGUST, 1955 19 USGA COMPETITIONS FOR 1956 International Matches CURTIS CUP—June 8 and 9 at Prince’s Golf Club, Sandwich, England. Women’s amateur teams: British Isles vs. United States. AMERICAS CUP—in Mexico, dates and place to be fixed. Men’s amateur teams: Canada vs. Mexico vs. United States. Championship Open Amateur Public Links Women's Open Junior Amateur Championships Entries Close Sectional Qualifying Rounds May 18 June 4 *June 1 tJune 17-23 July 13 None Championship Dates June 14-1S-16 Team: July 7 Indiv: July 9-14 July 26-27-28 July 6 July 24 Aug. 8-11 Senior Amateur July 20 Aug. 7 Aug. 20-25 Amateur Girls' Junior Women's Amateur Aug. 10 Aug. 28 Sept. 10-15 Aug. 24 Aug. 31 None None Sept. 10-14 Sept. 17-22 Venue Oak Hill C. C., Rochester, N. Y. Harding Park G. C., San Francisco, Cal. Northland C. C., Duluth, Minn. Taconic G. C., Williams College, Williamstown, Mass. Somerset C. C., St. Paul, Minn. Knollwood C. Lake Forest, Ill. Heather Downs C. C., Toledo, Ohio Meridian Hills C. C., Indianapolis, Ind. • Entries close t Exact date in (Dates entries close mean last dates with Sectional Qualifying Chairmen. each Section to be fixed by Sectional Chairmen. Amateur Public Links Championship.) for applications to reach USGA office,, except in the case of the Intercity Competition An annual series of public links team matches between Chicago and Milwaukee, inaugurated this year, is providing an interesting type of intercity rivalry. The event is under the sponsorship of William B. Langford, of Chicago, and Raymond O. Fischer, of Greendale, Wis., members of the USGA Public Links Committee. The teams consist of ten players each, competition involving ten singles matches and five four-ball matches. The Chicago team was chosen by a poll of players who have been active in public links golf in the Chicago area for the last five years. The Milkwaukee team was selected on the basis of public links handicap records. In the initial match of the year, played at the Sportsman’s Country Club, a daily fee course at Northbrook, Ill., the Chicago team won the singles, 17 to 13, and cap­ tured the four-ball 9 J/2 to 5 Through the generosity of Richard Chamberlain, owner of the Sportsman’s Country Club, all green fees of contestants in the inter­ city contest were applied to the expenses of Chicago district golfers who qualified for the USGA Amateur Public Links Championship at Indianapolis last month. The return match will be played at the Whitnail Park, Milwaukee County, Golf Course on September 18. DO YOU KNOW YOUR GOLF? {Answers to questions on page 16) 1. (b) Yes. Loss of hole (Rule 9-1 and Definition 2). 2. (b) Three. Penalty stroke for lost ball, plus strokes made with original and provisional balls. (Rules 30-2 and 29-1). 3. (a) A rub of the green (Rule 26- 3 b and Definition 27.) 4. (b) One (Rule 13-1). 5. (b) Yes. Player loses hole. (Rule 21-2). 6. (b) Yes. (Rule 3J-2c). 7. (b) No (Rule 22-2). 20 USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT; AUGUST, 1955 THE REFEREE Decisions by the Rules of Golf Committees Two Penalties On One Stroke USGA 54-33 R. 26-2, 3, 29-1 Q: A peculiar incident happened. A player played a ball which cannoned off something, hit the player and bounced out of bounds. I contend the player lost two strokes and distance for the ball out of bounds. Can a player be penalized under two different rules for the same stroke? Question by: Harold R. Simpson Caracas, Venezuela A: Yes. Rule 26-2 or 3 governs when the play­ er’s ball strikes himself, but we cannot render a specific decision without knowing whether the competition was at match or stroke play. However, any penalty under Rule 26 would be in addition to the penalty in­ curred under Rule 29-1 for a ball out of bounds. Ball Knocked Off Tee By Practice Swing USGA 5 5-7 D. 5; 30 Q. A player teed up her ball within the teeing ground, then stepped back and made a practice swing with no intention of hitting the ball. However, this swing was taken too close to the ball and the clubhead contacted the ball so that it was knocked off the tee and into the rough. May the ball be re-teed without penalty, or must the stroke be counted and the ball played as it lies? Under the definition of a stroke we note "A stroke is the forward movement of the club with the intention of moving the ball.” In this example all players and competitors agreed there was no such intention. We have also noted Rule 14 with regard to "ball falling off tee,” and we can find no definition of a practice swing. Question by: Mrs. J. H. Lasater Seattle, Wash. A. The matter depends upon whether the player made a stroke as defined in Definition 30—that is, a forward move­ ment of the club with the intention of moving the ball. As it was clearly established that there was no such intention, the ball was not in play within the meaning of Definition 5, and the player was entitled to re-tee and play it without penalty. However, where there is any question about intention in such circumstances, the player must be deemed to have played a stroke. The player can always prevent USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: AUGl 1955 21 any such question from arising, and he must accept the consequences if it does arise. (Note — This supersedes Decision 49- 176.) Two Balls Hit Out Of Bunker USGA 51-20 R. 21-2, 3; 27-lc, 2a, 3; 33-li; 40-3d, f Q.: In match play, A and B, opponents, found their respective balls within a club­ length of each other in a bunker. It was impossible to identify either ball. Accord­ ingly, A hit the ball farther away with­ out requesting the other ball to be lifted. In executing his stroke, A hit both balls out of the bunker. 1. (a) If the ball which A addressed and hit first be his own, is the other ball replaced, and, if so, is it replaced without penalty to A? (b) Is the decision altered if it is found that the ball A addressed and hit first was B’s ball? 2. Under the above circumstances, what is your decision if A and B were partners in a four-ball match? 3. Under the above circumstances, what is your decision if the game was stroke play? Question by: Charles B. Cleveland Miami Beach, Fla. A.: We assume that A struck both balls with his club. In that case, the answers would be as follows: 1. (a) B’s ball is dropped as near as possible to the spot from which it was moved without penalty to B (Rule 27-2a). A could have had the ball lifted (Rule 33-li). Having failed to exercise that privilege, A incurs a penalty stroke (Rule 27-2a). (b) Yes, the situation is altered in some respects. B’s ball is dropped as near as possible to the spot from which it was moved without penalty to B (Rule 27- 2a). However, A has in this case played a wrong ball, and, while there is no penalty for playing a wrong ball in a hazard (Rule 21-2), A incurs a penalty stroke for accidentally moving his own ball (Rule 27-lc), and his own ball must be played as it then lies. 2. (a) B, the partner whose ball was accidentally moved, incurs a penalty stroke and must play his ball as it then lies (Rule 40-3d). A incurs no penalty. (b) B must drop his ball as near as possible to the spot from which it was wrongly played (Rule 40-3f). A has played a wrong ball but incurs no penalty for that because it was in a hazard (Rule 21-2). However, A does incur a penalty stroke under Rule 27-lc for accidentally moving his own ball and his own ball must be played as it then lies. 3. (a) B must drop his ball as near as possible to the spot from which it was moved without penalty to either player (Rule 27-3). (b) B’s ball must be dropped as near as possible to the spot where it originally lay (Rule 27-3). A incurs a penalty stroke for accidentally moving his own ball (Rule 27-lc) and his ball must be played as it lies. A incurs no penalty for having played a wrong ball because it was in a hazard (Rule 21-3). Putting From Wrong Spot USGA 55-21 R. 8, 22-4 Q.: During the 1955 Trans-Mississippi Senior Tournament, at Palm Springs, Cal., the following situation arose. A and B marked their balls on the put­ ting green so another putter could putt without interference. A, thinking he was away, replaced his ball and putted, making the putt for his par. Thereupon he dis­ covered that he had putted from the spot where B had marked his ball, rather than where his had been. He replaced his ball again and sank his putt. Being a stroke-play tournament, what rule applied and what, if any, was the penalty? Question by: Carl E. Haymond Long Beach, Cal. A.: A violated Rule 22-4 and incurred a penalty of two strokes. His score for the hole comprised the number of strokes he 22 USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: AUGUST, 1955 played, including the putt from the wrong spot, plus the two penalty strokes. The second putt from the correct spot was irrelevant since he had paid a penalty of two strokes for putting from the wrong spot, and it did not count in his score. If he had putted and not holed out from the wrong spot but had subsequently holed out from the correct spot, he would have incurred a penalty of two strokes under Rule 8 for making a practice stroke during the play of the hole. Net or Gross Prize? USGA 5 5-22 R. 11-3; 36-1, 3 Q.: If a player ties for the second net prize and also the best gross prize, should he get the second net prize or the best gross prize? It is our opinion that, this being a net competition, the net prizes should be the important ones, in which case the player with the second gross score would get the first gross prize and the player who had the best gross score should get the second net prize. Question by: I. Delevante Kingston, Jamaica, B.W.I. A.: It is within the province of the local committee to decide. Rule 36-1 requires the committee to lay down the conditions under which a competition is to be played. This should include any stipulations as to which prize a player may win if he qualifies for both gross and net prizes. These conditions should be announced in advance of 'the competition. See also Rule 36-3 regarding ties. Since your committee made no such stipulation, we suggest the player be given his choice. When there is a question as to who has first choice and the players involved can­ not reach an agreement, the committee must decide in the light of the objective of the tournament and equity to all, or by lot. Its decision is final under Rule 11-3. Low Ball Determines Honor In 4-Ball Match USGA 5 5-24 D. 28; R. 12-la, 40-la Q. In a four-ball match, two points are involved at each hole—one for low ball and one for low aggregate of the two balls played by each side. Is the honor determined by low ball only, or is low aggregate also considered? Question by: Julius Goodman Atlantic Beach, N. Y. A. The honor is determined by low ball only. The Rules of Golf do not pro­ vide for low aggregate scores in multi­ ball matches. See Definition 28, Rule 12-la and Rule 40-la. Bending Bush To Take Stance R & A 54-48 R. 17-3, 2 Q. 1 : When stance is interfered with by a small shrub or bush, say one foot high, is one allowed to bend bush and stand on it so long as one does not break it? A. 1 : Interference with a growing ob­ ject (bending or breaking) is permitted only if this is the natural consequence of taking up a normal stance and not if the bush is bent so as to improve the line of play, the lie of the ball, or the stroke. Taking Stance Under Tree Q. 2: When stance is under a tree with overhanging branches, is caddie allowed to hold branch back without breaking branch? A. 2: No. The player must make the stroke unaided. Rule 17-3 applies. Identifying Ball Q. 3: When ball is lying in long grass is one permitted to part the grass behind the ball without disturbing the lie, so as to obtain view of the ball? A. 3: Only so far as is necessary to identify the ball. As laid down in Rule 17-2 "the player is not of necessity en­ titled to see the ball when playing a stroke.” USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: AUGUST, 1955 23 EVERETT QUEEN: HIS GOLF COURSE AND HIS METHODS By MARVIN H. FERGUSON USGA Green Section Southwestern Director and National Research Coordinator Everett queen didn’t go to much extra trouble in preparing his golf course for the 1955 USGA Women’s Open Championship. It wasn’t necessary. He keeps the Wichita (Kans.) Country Club course in near championship condition at all times. It’s that kind of a golf course and he’s that kind of a superintendent. One person described the condition of the course as "magnificent.” The course, which is only five years old, is charac­ terized by large rolling greens planted to a mixture of Arlington and Congressional bent, and wide close-clipped aprons of Seaside bent. There are some 54 large sand bunkers and fairway turf is an excellent stand of bluegrass and Highland bent. This golf course is not an easy one to keep. The wind is an important factor in this respect. On most days the wind varies from 15 to 30 miles per hour or more. The rolling character of greens re­ quires careful watering to keep high spots wet enough and low spots dry enough. Imagine the difficulty of trying to use fixed sprinkler locations to water such greens, particularly when you can’t pre­ dict the wind velocity. The answer, of course, is to make use of a great deal of hand sprinkling. Daytime temperatures in mid-summer can run pretty high in EVERETT QUEEN Wichita. The high temperatures coupled with low humidity and high winds can keep a water man very busy. One can see readily that Queen must stay "on top of his job” and that he must have a good training program for his employees. Queen has been at the Wichita Coun­ try Club for several years. He worked with W. E. Updegraff, an outstanding golf course superintendent, prior to Updegraff’s resignation in 1953. Before coming to Wichita Queen had been superintendent of the golf course at Abilene, Kans. 24 USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: AUGUST 1955 In his relatively short tenure as super­ intendent at the Wichita Country Club Queen, working with Frederick L. Dold, Green Committee Chairman, has made a number of improvements. One of these is an extensive tree planting program. A large number of pines and some deciduous species will make the golf course even more attractive in the future. One of the secrets of Queen’s success is good planning. An important part of his planning is a training program for new employees. His thoroughness and foresight is reflected in the following outline which he furnishes in mimeographed form to new employees: Maintenance Program Outlined To Educate New Workers (Routine operations of maintenance which generally determine the stand­ ard of playing facilities.) Greens Work: Poling, sweeping, mowing putting surface, mowing collars and ap­ proaches, mowing outer banks, changing cup holes, watering, spike rolling, aerifying, fungicide treat­ ment, topdressing, fertilizing, weed­ ing, patching, repairing ball marks, insecticide application, compost, and topdressing preparation. Tee Work: 1. Mowing, moving markers, serv­ icing ball washers, cleaning lit­ ter, sprinkling, topdressing, seed­ ing divots, fertilizing and weed­ ing. Fairway Work: 1. Mowing, sprinkling, patching divots, repairing holes, picking up paper, cans, trash, etc. Rough Work: 1. Mowing, cleaning underbrush, picking up paper, trash, cans, etc. Traps and Mounds: 1. Raking, weeding, trimming, and clean-up work. Maintenance Instructions Greens: 1. Removing dew and moisture from grass on putting surface. a. Remove with a chain drag, as provided. 2. Mowing greens. a. Mow on schedule. b. Mow greens different direc­ tions (6 or 8). c. Always mow in straight line, except two rounds around the outside putting surface. d. Make all turns of machine on shoulder of green; never on putting surface. 3. Placing cups. a. Selection of spot is the most important. b. Never set any closer than 8 feet from edge of green. c. Replace plug in old cup holes very carefully, keep very smooth and level. d. Keep cup setter sharp and make clean cut. 4. Repair ball marks. a. Raise mark with tool pro­ vided. b. Be careful, do not injure grass. c. Raise evenly and press with foot for smoothness. 5. Mowing shoulders, approaches and trap collars. a. Mow regularly. b. Be careful with mower. Do not scalp or skin grass. 6. Repair divots. a. Fill with soil if grass divots haven’t enough roots to live. b. Seed when necessary. 7. Eliminate all weeds and foreign grass from green. a. Pull or cut out with knife. b. Repair spot left from re­ moval of foreign matter. 8. Keep area well groomed. a. Keep clean of all weeds, Johnson grass, grass clippings and anything else, such as paper, bottles, match books, etc. USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: AUGUST, 1955 25 9. Sprinkling. a. Supplementary sprinkling as needed for good grass growth. Make a follow-up check of night sprinkling. 10. Report any condition which calls for superintendent’s atten­ tion. a. Fungus diseases, brown patch, dollar spot, copper spot or what seems to be a moldy condition. b. All evidence of worms and grubs. c. Any condition that requires help in fulfilling. 11. Applying fungicides and insec­ ticides as directed. a. Always under close super­ vision of superintendent. 12. Control of ants and gophers. a. Use poison on ants with pro­ per procedure. b. Trap gophers, using spring traps provided. 13. Patching spots on greens as directed. a. Make every effort to elimi­ nate all bare spots. 14. Keep shoulders, approaches and trap collars in good repair. a. Fill and grass over all holes and low spots. b. Level off all high spots that tend to scalp or where the grass is skinned off through mowing. 15. Keep hose coiled up and out of immediate playing area. 16. Keep all automotive equipment off green shoulders and ap­ proaches. Traps: 1. Keep grass and weeds out. 2. Keep sand loose; don’t allow to cake or harden. 3. Keep sand pulled toward edges. Do not leave steep edges. 4. Rake smooth and level length­ wise. 5. Report when additional sand is needed. COMING EVENTS 1955 Aug. 9-11: Third University of Florida Turf Conference, Gainesville, Fla. Dr. Gene C. Nutter. Aug. 10-11: 24th Annual Rhode Island Field Day, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, R. I. Dr. J. A. DeFrance. Aug. 15-19: American Society of Agronomy Meetings, Davis, Cal. L. G. Monthey. Sept. 7-8: Penn State Field Days, Pennsylvania State Uni­ versity, State College, Pa. Prof. H. B. Musser. Sept. 15: Lawn and Turfgrass Field Day, Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station, Wooster, Ohio, Dr. R. R. Davis. Sept. 23-24: Edmonton Turfgrass Conference, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Prof. R. H. Knowles. Sept. 27-28: Northwest Turfgrass Conference, Pullman, Wash. Prof. A. G. Law. Sept. 30-Oct. 1: Utah Turfgrass Conference, Utah Copper Golf Course, Magna, Utah. J. W. Richardson. Oct. 3-4: Rocky Mountain Turfgrass Conference, Colorado A. & M. College, Fort Collins, Colo. Prof. George A. Beach. Oct. 6-7: New Mexico Turfgrass Conference, New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, State College, N. M. Clarence E. Watson. Oct. 19-21: Central Plains Turfgrass Conference, Kansas State College, Manhattan, Kans. Chester Mendenhall. Tees: 1. Move tee markers daily. a. Keep tee markers in good re­ pair. 2. Repair divots. 3. Police and keep clear of all paper, rubbish, etc. 4. Report and ask for replacement of unsightly or damaged benches. 5. Service ball washers. a. Keep ball washers clean, filled with fresh water, and replace towels daily. 26 USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: AUGUST, 1955 6. Fertilize when needed. 7. Seeding. Fairways and Roughs: 1. Mowing. a. All fairways and up to green shoulders. b. All roughs, including clean­ ing of underbrush around trees, shrubs and fences. 2. Check and follow-up night sprinkling and irrigation. Sup­ plementary day sprinkling when needed. 3. Check for holes, ruts and rough spots. a. Fill, level and seed. b. Repair divots. 4. Keep fairways and rough clean. (Papers, cans, trash, etc.) 5. All tools and equipment are to be given special care and pro­ perly stored. 6. Keep automotive equipment off shoulders and approaches. 7. Avoid driving equipment across wet or soft areas. 8. Inspect regularly out-of-bounds and yardage distance markers and keep in good repair. 9. Keep all fences repaired and clear of grass and weeds. 10. Clean grass and weeds from rough areas and around trees and shrubs. Sprinkling and Irrigation: 1. Sprinkling. a. Sprinkling greens, tees, fair­ ways. b. Sprinkle on regular schedule, as directed by superintendent. Check daily for time set. c. Check area for too much water or too little and report to superintendent. d. A follow-up check on the results obtained. TURF MANAGEMENT The book “Turf Management," sponsored by the United States Golf Association 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 Section Re­ gional Offices, the McGraw-Hill Book Co., 350 West 42nd Street, New York 36, N. Y., or local bookstores. The cost is $7. f. Avoid driving equipment across wet or soft areas. 2. Irrigation (flood). a. As assigned by superintend­ ent. Assist in all the Following Duties as Directed by Super­ intendent: 1. Mixing topdressing. 2. Hauling topdressing. 3. Repairing pipe lines. 4. Cleaning irrigation and sprinkler outlets. 5. Repairing sprinklers. 6. Repairing flags and flagpoles. 7. Fertilizing. 8. Control of weeds. 9. Keep all sprinkler valves level, smooth, and grassed around. When employees know their duties and carry them out properly, the superintend­ ent has a much easier life and he can spend more time finding ways to do his job more efficiently and providing greater pleasure for his golfing members. An out­ line such as this should help a great deal in aiding employees to learn their duties faster. One other factor contributes to Queen’s success and the satisfaction of his em­ ployees. He plans his budget carefully and he keeps accurate account of his expendi­ tures. e. Keep all automotive equip­ ment off greens, shoulders and approaches. The Wichita Country Club members must be proud of their superintendent and their golf course. USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: AUGUST, 1955 27 BETTER TURFGRASSES CAN BE PRODUCED BY BREEDING Principal Geneticist, Field Crops Research Branch, Agricultural Research Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture and Georgia Coastal Plain Experiment Station, Tifton, Ga. By GLENN W. BURTON The science of plant breeding that has worked wonders with most of our crop and garden plants can also work wonders with turfgrasses. The expensive disease-control program so essential for good turf can be forgotten when grasses resistant to disease have been developed. New herbicides like 2,4-D arc very effec­ tive in controlling many turf weeds, but superior strains of grass developed by the plant breeder can solve many of the weed problems at a fraction of the cost of herbicides. The plant breeder can develop turfgrasses with better root systems that will grow on soils where the common type will not grow. Given time, the plant breeder can help solve most of the turf problems generally found on the golf course. Perhaps you would like to know how the plant breeder undertakes to develop superior turfgrasses. To begin with he must first know the grass with which he is working. Some grasses are extremely variable and every seed that grows gives rise to a plant that is different from every other one. Most of these differences are very slight, but are so great that anyone can see them. Bermudagrass, bentgrass and Zoysia grass are examples of this type of grasses. Very often much progress can be made with these grasses just by discovering in­ dividual plants that are well suited for turf. Most of the good bentgrass strains in use today are natural variations that were found doing very well on a green, on somebody’s golf course. U-3, Gene Tift and some of the other improved turf Bermudas had their origin in this way. Usually grasses arising in this way have faults that need to be corrected. Con­ tinued search through thousands of plants might bring the desired individual. Gen­ erally, however, the process can be greatly hastened by applying the science of plant breeding. Our work with Bermudagrass will illustrate some phases of this pro­ cedure. Suspectible To Disease In 1938 we found a very unusual plant of Bermudagrass growing in some 5,000 spaced plants. It produced no seed heads, had very short leaves and made an un­ usually dense growth. It looked like the answer to a home-owner’s prayer—a lawn grass that would need no mowing. When planted in lawns, however, this grass, called No. 12, was found to be quite susceptible to disease. Weeds and the more aggressive common Bermuda crowded it out. Obviously it needed disease resistance and more vigor. Our pasture breeding program had developed Bermuda selections that had both disease resistance and greater vigor. The science of plant breeding indicated the quickest way to improve No. 12 was to cross it with the more vigorous, disease resistance selections. Finally, in 1942, No. 12 produced seed heads and 100 hybrids were made. These were spaced 8 feet apart in each direction in the spring of 1943. By the fall of 1946 it was apparent that a number of these plants were better than No. 12. In the spring of 1947, twelve of these hybrids and thirty others from the pasture breeding program were planted in the turf plots along with common Ber­ muda and 50 Bermudas sent in by golf course superintendents from some of the best putting greens in the Southeast. For a four-year period these Bermudas were fertilized and managed exactly alike. During this time they were rated on 38 different occasions on such things as disease resistance, density, weed resistance, rate of recovery after the transition period, playing quality, and aggressivc- 28 USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: AUGUST. 1955 ness. When all these ratings were totaled, Tifton 57 had the best score of any Ber­ muda in the test. Some of the Bermudas that looked very good the first season made a poor showing a year or two later. Several selections from golf courses were equal or superior to Tifton 57 at favorable seasons of the year, but during periods of adversity Tifton 57 was consistently better than these selections. The logical way to improve the putting qualities of Tifton 57 is to cross it with a grass that makes a better putting sur­ face. Perhaps you are wondering why it couldn’t be crossed with bentgrass? I wish we could, but nature has set up certain barriers that no one has been able to pass. In general, things must be rather closely related if they are to be crossed. The horse and the donkey can be crossed, but the horse and the cow cannot be crossed. Even though they look very much alike, bentgrass and Bermudagrass are very dif­ ferent, and would be more difficult to hybridize then cows and horses. Eighty-nine Hybrids Obtained A number of years ago a very fine Bermudagrass that has excellent putting qualities was introduced from Africa. A number of people tried this African Ber­ muda on golf greens and found it made an excellent putting surface in the spring and late fall, but that it dies back very badly in the summer. Disease caused a part of this dying back. Five years ago we undertook to combine the excellent put­ ting qualities of African Bermuda with the other good qualities of our best com­ mon Bermuda grass selections. Eighty- nine hybrids were obtained, which were finer than common, but not as fine as African Bermuda. Tifton 127 (Tiffine) was a product of this breeding program. Although great improvements over com­ mon Bermuda have been made for putting greens, Bermudagrass breeding and selec­ tion work is being continued at Tifton, Ga., Gainesville, Fla., Texas A. & M. and Arizona in the hope that even better Bermudas may be found. SUBSCRIBERS TO USGA GREEN SECTION RESEARCH FUND American Cyanamid Company, N. Y. William F. Bell, Cal. Cooperative Seed & Farm Supply Service, Va. C. L. Cornell Company, Md. Davison Chemical Company, Md. Elmwood Country Club, N. Y. Ferti-Soil Company, N. J. William F. and David W. Gordon, Pa. Robert Trent Jones, N. Y. T. C. King, Ala. George E. Lineer, Cal. New York-Connecticut Turf Improve­ ment Association, N. Y. J. C. Oliger Seed Company, Ohio Bernard H. Ridder, Jr., Minn. W. H. C. Ruthven, Canada Sewerage Commission of the City of Milwaukee, Wis. D. G. Scott Farm, Ohio Standard Manufacturing Company, Iowa Vaughan’s Seed Company, HL Western Pennsylvania Golf Association, Pa. F. H. Woodruff 8C Sons, Conn. Dr. Ian Forbes and Dr. Fred V. Grau and his associates, working with the Zoysias at Beltsville, Md., and Tifton, Ga., made progress in developing superior strains of these desirable turfgrasses. At Penn State, Prof. H. Burton Musser and his co-workers have been isolating superior strains of bent, fescue, and bluegrass. If the plant breed­ ers can develop strains of bentgrass that are resistant to disease, all of the South may be able to enjoy year-around putting greens. There is room for improvement, by the breeding of every grass now used for turf in the United States. Well sup­ ported turfgrass breeding programs are bound to pay dividends. Better turf by breeding can be guranteed. USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: AUGUST, 1955 29 FERTILIZATION OF TURFGRASSES By MARVIN H. FERGUSON USGA Green Section Southwestern Director and National Research Coordinator The many new materials becoming available for fertilization of turf­ grasses raise numerous problems. There is a tendency and a necessity to change some of our methods in order to make use of the new materials. Among the new materials are the urea­ formaldehyde products which have recently become available in commercial quantities and the high-analysis soluble fertilizer materials which are used in liquid fer­ tilizer preparations. Materials of both types have been known for some time and considerable experimental work has been done with them, but they are relatively little known from the standpoint of widespread use on golf courses. There are still arguments concerning the use of fertilizers that have been used for years, particularly concerning the relative merits of organic and inorganic fertilizers. More and more products of the sewage sludge type are coming into use and most of these have the good quality of becoming available relatively slowly. On the other hand, inorganic fertilizers are considerably cheaper per unit of plant food, but inorganic fertilizer materials become available to the plant much more rapidly and they either pro­ vide a rapid flush of growth, which is sometimes undesirable, or, where rainfall is heavy, they leach out of the soil quite rapidly so that frequent use is necessary. The basic needs of turf have not changed. Changes in fertilizer practice are due to the use of different materials and a better knowledge of fertilizer be­ havior rather than due to the difference in the needs of the grass. Grass takes up any of the nutrient elements in relatively small amounts and in reasonably good soil it obtains a considerable portion of its nutrients from the soil itself rather than from the fertilizer applied. The job of the superintendent is to make certain that all elements are available in sufficient quantity at all times. The job of keeping nutrient elements available to the plant may depend upon soil conditions or upon the pH of the soil as much as it does on the actual supply of these materials in the soil. The pH of the soil ideally should range between 6.0 and 7.0. This is the range at which most elements are available to the grass plant. Conditions of good drainage and good aeration, together with reasonable mois­ ture supplies, are necessary before the plant can make use of fertilizer materials, no matter how plentiful they may be in the soil. Frequency of Fertilization It has been rather common practice on golf courses to use slowly available ma­ terials, such as organic sources of nitrogen, in sufficient quantity to supply the needs of the grass for about a month at a time. Some superintendents fertilize at even less frequent intervals and use correspondingly larger amounts per application. "Where in­ organic fertilizers are used, the tendency is to fertilize more frequently, using less plant food per application. This prevents having a heavy flush of growth at one time and a low ebb in growth at another time. There is a growing tendency to apply both organic and inorganic types of fer­ tilizers more frequently in order to have an adequate supply at all times and also in order to avoid having a superabundance of nutrient elements at any time in case weather conditions should favor disease attacks. Weather which favors disease also provides conditions causing the rapid breakdown of nitrogenous materials (nitrification) and the rapid release of nitrogen. Frequent, small applications minimize the possibility of encouraging disease activity. The soluble high-analysis fertilizers which are used in liquid form lend them­ selves very well to frequent applications 30 USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: AUGUST, 1955 in which very little plant food per ap­ plication is used. These fertilizers can be used in the spray tank along with fungi­ cides or insecticides and the labor of ap­ plication is thereby eliminated because the maintenance practice of spraying would be accomplished anyway. These materials will keep grass green during the summer months when applied at very light rates because a part of the fertilizer is absorbed through the leaves of the grass and a good color is provided without producing the lush growth, which is expected when larger amounts of fertilizer are applied by the conventional method. The urea-formaldehyde products, which were developed for the purpose of giving a high nitrogen material which releases nitrogen for plant use very slowly and which lasts for a long period of time, behave very much like the organic nitro­ genous materials. The release of nitrogen can be controlled more precisely and the release may spread over a much longer period of time. It may be foreseen that these materials will enjoy widespread popularity because fewer applications will be necessary and a saving of labor will be effected. It seems reasonable that one ap­ plication per year of such material may be sufficient to keep the grass growing well throughout the season; therefore, only one fertilizer application must be undertaken. These urea-formaldehyde products have not been widely tested on putting greens and their reaction under such conditions is not well known. It does seem likely that they will find a very useful place on fair­ ways, provided the price is such that it will compare favorably with other forms of nitrogen. The smaller amount of labor required would be an advantage which would offset a considerable cost differ­ ential. In making comparisons between urea-formaldehyde products and sewage sludge materials, one should consider the small quantities of many other elements contained in sewage sludge fertilizers which are not found in a material such as a urea-formaldehyde product. To this point- our discussion has cen­ tered largely around nitrogen materials. Phosphorus and potash are the other two major plant nutrients. We know that grasses require relatively small amounts of phosphorus. Phosphorus has been con­ sidered to be a root producing element and we have been told that the plant needs to have phosphorus placed deeply in the soil in sufficient quantities to pro­ mote the development of roots. It is now considered by most plant physiologists that the most important function of phosphorus in the plant is probably its role in the respiration and transport of carbohydrates within the plant. Relatively small amounts of phosphorus are necessary for this process and we find that the grass plant takes up relatively small quantities of phosphorus in propor­ tion to the quantities of either nitrogen or potassium. Phosphorus levels should be checked periodically in the soil to deter­ mine whether or not they may be a limit­ ing factor, but phosphorus levels should not be built up beyond the point necessary to maintain adequate growth. We know that from a cultural standpoint, high levels of phosphorus encourage Poa annua in putting greens and offset some of the inhibiting effect of arsenicals. Potash is an element for which no specific role of essentiality has been deter­ mined, yet it is well known that potash is essential to the growth of plants. It has been demonstrated that potash levels within the plant have an effect upon the disease resistance of the plant and we know that potash has some effect upon the structure of the plant in that an over-abundance of potash will cause a stiffness in the leaves. Therefore, as in the case with nitrogen and phosphorus, potash must be supplied in adequate quantities, but it should not be supplied in such quantities that there will be what is com­ monly known as "luxury consumption.” The plant regulates its uptake of most materials very well, but it seems to be unable to regulate its uptake of potassium and will absorb much more than is needed. USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: AUGUST, 1955 31 The point of this entire discussion is to emphasize that the needs of grass plants have not changed, but that many of our practices have changed. As our knowledge concerning the nutrient needs of grasses has been improved, and as research con­ tinues to disclose new materials and new methods for supplying plant nutrients, it is likely that we will continue to make small changes in our practices of fertilizer application. It does not mean that we have been wrong in the past, but it does mean that with the development of new ma­ terials and better methods our practice will have to undergo some changes in order to keep abreast of the times. Fer­ tilizer technology advances furnish one example of the many developments that allow the production of higher quality turf for the nation’s golf courses. Make Hay In Early Autum By WILLIAM H. BENGEYFIELD Western Director, USGA Green Section fT Inhere is no royal road to a wholly “*■ satisfied membership.” These are the words of J. Porter Henry, a man who has spent the past 16 years as Green Commit­ tee Chairman at the Algonquin Club near St. Louis.* It is difficult to keep up with the whims and the fancies of all the mem­ bers and even more difficult to get your turf program and problems over to the golfing membership. Your USGA Green Section offers an idea. This is the time, and now is the best chance, for you to do a public relations job within your club on behalf of your turf program. The publicity in mind is a planned program or meeting for club members on Home Lawn Care, to be held this month or early September, sponsored by the Green Committee, and conducted by the Green Committee Chairman and Course Superintendent. Interest in fine lawns has never been greater. There will be no problem in attracting a large num­ ber of members to such a meeting. Early September is the most appropriate time to do something about improving turf composed of cool-season grasses. By discussing the problems of home-lawn maintenance and care you will also be discussing many of the problems en­ countered in producing fine turf. Mem­ bers will come away with a better under­ standing of grass and its management. And that, of course, is what you are after. Will this type of program work? It already has, many times! At Henry’s course, for example, a dinner meeting was arranged. The chairman gave a short talk on the grass plant, the function of its leaves and roots, soil conditions and fer­ tilization. He then turned the meeting over to the superintendent for a question period. It was a great success. The importance of publicity and in­ forming the membership should not be overlooked. It pays dividends. It should be a part of your Green Committee’s program. If our office can assist you in developing a home-lawn care program, please let us know. You see, you can make hay, even on lawns! •From an article, "The Superintendent, the Chairman and the Locker Room," USGA Journal, August, 1954. You can’t help a little child up the hill without getting nearer the top your­ self. 32 USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: AUGUST. 1955 IT’S YOUR HONOR True Test Of Golf Praise For Handicaps To the USGA: I can’t go along with the argument that the Olympic Country Club course was too tough or unfair for the Open Championship. Rather, I think it was a fine, true test. A premium was placed upon ac­ curacy and distance for each shot— from the tee efforts right through the greens work. I spent a week there before the Open and predicted the winner would be a champion in every sense (he would not be weak in any department of the game, would think and plan well, not frustrate easily, etc.). I also felt that the winner’s total might go as high as 291. Too many of the regular circuit tourneys are played on short, "open” courses where aggressiveness and good putting are more important than shot­ making and strategy, the refinements. Youngsters fresh off the circuit often make the mistake of trying to "bull” a course conditioned for the Open, become over-bold, and the results are invariably disastrous. They become frustrated and some, not being en­ tirely honest with themselves, prefer to think the course is unfair rather than face the fact that they made errors in judgment or shot-making. I think it’s just this simple: Every­ one starts at the same place, each hole, and finishes at the same place— playing the same Rules en route. The Open courses always demand more of the players, and if a man has a weak department, mentally or physically, he stands little chance of winning the Open. That’s what makes our Open Championship. Howard Capps Las Vegas, Nevada To the USGA: Thanks to the inauguration of USGA Golf Handicap System for Men at our club, our tournaments have all had very close matches and it has made for a splendid increase in golf interest among our members. Our players’ handicaps, figured by the USGA system, have proved so equitable in their private matches, as well as our tournaments, it has made our players unusually conscientious in handing in every score. The Golf Committee audits each player’s score, posts every score on the individual’s handicap card, figures each handicap and posts it weekly. It requires con­ siderable time and work on the com­ mittee’s part, as we use the Current System, but since we have weekly handicap events and the play and interest have increased so under the system, the committee feels the time and work are most worth-while. Congratulations to the USGA Handicap Committee for its fine work in preparing such an improved handi­ capping system for men, and we do hope you have an equally good one for the ladies. In my forty years of golfing at various clubs from coast-to-coast, it is the most equitable system I have experienced. Francis L. Clayton Chairman Golf Committee Twin Hill Golf and Country Club Joplin, Mo. USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: AUGUST, 1955 33 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. Emerson Carey, Jr., Denver, Colo. Thomas H. Choate, New York, N. Y. John G. Clock, Long Beach, Cal. 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. John Mf>.Winters, Jr., Tulsa, Okla. CENTRAL 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: Edward E. Lowery, San Francisco, Cal. HANDICAP: William O. Blaney, Boston, Mass. JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP: J. Frederic Byers, Jr., Pittsburgh, Pa. SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP: Richard S. Tufts, Pinehurst, N. C. GIRLS' JUNIOR: Mrs. John Pennington, Buffalo, N. Y. MUSEUM: Gordon E. Kummer, Milwaukee, Wis. BOB JONES AWARD: Totton P. Heffelfir.ger, Minneapolis, Minn. "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 USGA GREEN SECTION MID-ATLANTIC OFFICE South Building, Plant Industry Station, Beltsville, Md. Charles K. Hallowell, Mid-Atlantic Director USGA GREEN SECTION NORTHEASTERN OFFICE Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N. J. Alexander M. Radko, Northeastern Director USGA GREEN SECTION SOUTHEASTERN OFFICE Georgia Coastal Plain Experiment Station, Tifton, Ga. B. P. Robinson, Southeastern 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 WESTERN OFFICE 1709 West Eighth Street, Los Angeles 17, Cal. William H. Bengeyfield, Western Director