by h. l. fitzpatrick.

THE Golfing Amateur Champion-ships are over, and there are somevery thankful golfers in the land,especially amongst those of the

selected band who won their way to thecoveted honor of the contest; for al-though golf is, and rightly, claimed asthe game that calls the least upon thereserve forces of the physique, yet thereis no championship based upon exer-tion that calls upon the contestants forso prolonged an exhibition of skill andendurance.

Think of it, ye happy mortals whosecontest begins and ends in a ten-secondsprint, and ye the fewer and oftencondoled-wit athletes whose mile-longcourse is covered under five minutes,that the successful golf champion be-his competit ion at a lmost break ofday on Monday, and continues it overa course several miles long every fore.noon and afternoon until the next Satur-day’s sunset.

Who shall gainsay, then, that the golfchampion is entitled to his honor, orshal l not see a good and suff ic ientground for the great company of inter-ested spectators, or, still better it wouldbe to say, of lay participants, who willmerri ly plod and keenly fol low theplayers through their prolonged, butnever uninteresting, week of striving.

The standard of the championshiphas been set high, as high, indeed, as inthe home of golf ; and in that fact

alone is one of the most striking exem-plifications of the width and depth ofour practice and playing of the “royaland ancient game.” That within tenyears of the acorn beingoak should be able to

plantcd thestand the stress

of such an effort, speaks more than vol-umes. And as for the quality of theplaying itself, may we not safely con-tinue the parable and ask, if this be thegreen twig, what may we not look forin the seasoned tree?

Four years seems but a trifle scarceworth consideration in the lifetime of agame, and such a lapse in the long yearsto come will be of lesser moment; butthe first years, the advent and infantyears, of the championship games, seemworthy of a place in that one repositoryof passing events that will pass the sportsof the day down to posterity, Outing.

Having been present at the whole ofthe championship contests, I make noexcuse to fellow golfers for gatheringtogether the main facts relating to themere they pass into oblivion, or become

tive andthe happy hunting ground of specula-

rians.often untrustworthy antiqua-

The United States golf contests whichhave culminated in the amateur cham-pionship began only in 1894, and thenwere really the outcome of a zealous dis-agreement. The golfing pulse was justchanging from the calm to the quick, andboth the Newport Golf Club and the St.

A M A T E U R G O L F C H A M P I O N S H I P S . 133

Andrew’s Golf Club determined to holdchampionship tournaments. And so, inthe last week of August, when the socialseason was at its height at Newport,some thirty golfers met at medal play,over a short but well-planned course.None of our home-bred players were inthe finals, for the winner, by a stroke,was William Lawrence, who had learnedthe game at Pau, and the second con-testant, C. B. Macdonald, learned his golfwhile a student at St. Andrew’s Univer-sity, Scotland’s named Mecca for golfers.

The tournament at St. Andrew’s, whichfollowed, and was played on the nine-hole course on the Sawmill River road,was a more pretentious one, being atmatch play, and the winner of the goldand diamond badge was to be proclaimedthe “Amateur Champion of the UnitedStates.” A circular embodying the con-ditions, signed by John Reid, H. O. Tal-madge, W. E. Hodgman and J. C. TenE y c k , h a dbeen sent toe v e r y g o l fc l u b t h a tcould be dis-covered, andthe field thatmet on Oc-t o b e r 1 1th,1 2th and 13thwas a thor-oughly rep-r e s e n t a t i v eone . P lace sin the semi-f i n a l s w e r ec l a i m e d b yL. B. Stod-dart, St. An-drew’s; C. B.Macdona ld ,Chicago GolfClub; Archi-bald Rogers,Sh innecockH i l l s , a n dW i l l i a mL a w r e n c e ,N e w p o r tG o l f C l u b .H e r e Mac-d o n a l da t o n e d f o rthe defeat at,Newport bybeating Law-r e n c e b y 2

up and 1 to play. On the sixth hole Law-rence ran down in 2 with a long cleekshot, one of the earliest instances of themarvelous in golf on record here. Stod-dart, who had learned to play as a boy inEngland, beat Rogers, who at that time,was more devoted to yachting than togolf, by 5 up and 4 to play. In the finals,played on soggy links, Stoddart won fromMacdonald by 1 up. All the roundswere at eighteen holes.

In view of the conflict, it could not besaid that the amateur championship hadbeen satisfactorily settled.

The disagreement regarding the re-spective value and importance of ourtwo championship meetings made itevident that there was need of somepermanent body to guide the affairs ofthe game. The result was the creationof the United States Golf Associationat a meeting in New York on Dec. 24, ‘94.

The five clubs represented at the firstm e e t i n gwere the nu-c l e u s o f asociety nowc o n t a i n i n gn e a r l y t w oh u n d r e dclubs as as-sociate andallied mem-bers. To itsf i rs t Pres i-dent, the lateTheodore A.Havemeyer,we owe thepresent per-petual cham-p i o n s h i pvase, w h i c his but one ofh i s m a n ydeeds to fos-ter the causeo f g o l f i nAmerica. Informulatingt h e c h a m -pionship con-ditions thes y s t e madopted wassubstantiallythe same asi n G r e a tBritain, theone a meet-findlay s. douglas, champion 1898.

134 O U T I N G F O R N O V E M B E R .

ing open to amateurs only, and theother an open tournament, in which pro-fessionals and amateurs might meet onequal terms. The amateur champion-ship is open only to members of clubs inthe United States Golf Association, arestriction framed as an inducement toall clubs in the United States to becomemembers of the national organization.

The first amateur championship un-der the new order of things was held atNewport in October, 1895, the late datehaving been chosen to avoid a conflictwith international yacht races.

Thirty-two players left the first tee inthis meeting on the first day, the field

It was the first instance in the UnitedStates of madcap youth overleaping theset plans and prognostications of thegolfing sages and elderly althletes. Sandshad foozled his drive from the first teein every match of the week, and he didthe same in starting out with Macdonald,but in this case the match ended rightthere, although the exact score for thethirty-six holes showed that the Chi-cagoan won by 12 up and 11 to play. Hisbrother, W. H. Sands, was regarded asa likely winner, but he was put out inthe second round by Dr. Charles Clax-ton, Philadelphia Cricket Club, who hadpicked up a knowledge of golf while

putting at the first green.

including doctors, lawyers, clergymen,and men of business prominence, butthe col lege player had not yet de-veloped into championship form. Hewas already in existence, but the latedate of the meeting, even if he had de-sired to put the question to the test,compelled an attendance at his lectures,A fine crop of club champions had mus-tered together for this competition, butthe finals narrowed down to a matchbetween Macdonald and Charles E.Sands, a lawn tennis player of repute,but who had been at golf for only somethree months. Good luck brought himto the finals, much to his surprise.

attending Trinity College, Dublin. Clax-ton was then on his game and lasteduntil he met Macdonald in the semi-finals.

Undoubtedly the best match of themeeting was between Winthrop Ruther-ford, who had been playing abroad inthe preceding summer, and L. B. Stod-dart, champion of 1894. Stoddart hadthe match dormie, but Rutherford randown a long put and took the homehole in 4, making a tie. Rutherford,although he made a barefaced foozle ofhis second shot, made the green of theextra hole in 3, Stoddart playing amashie somewhat short on the link, the

A M A T E U R G O L F C H A M P I O N S H I P S . 135

following the players over the railroad track.

ball hitting the bank of the terracedgreen and running into a bad lie, sothat Rutherford won in 5 strokes to 6.Macdonald put him out by 5 up and3 to play, in the succeeding round.

Visitors to Newport found the newclub-house a magnificent structure, butthe links were as full of reminiscencesas a modern comic opera, for at thatperiod cop bunkers and terraced put-ting-greens were the rule on every links.

After disposing of Sands, Macdonaldplayed out the last round with JamesFoulis, the Chicago Club’s professional, inan endeavor to lower the amateur recordof 1887. By strokes his score was 88,87—175. Sands needed 101 for the firsteighteen and 48 for the next nine holes.That Macdonald was on his game was re-vealed by a comparison with the scoresmade the next day by the professionalsin the open championship, when H. T.

on the sixth tee.

136 O U T I N G F O R N O V E M B E R .

silent partners in the game.

Rawlins won with an 89 and 86, while Macdonald’s reign as champion lastedW. F. Davis made the best round, an 84. unti l July , 1896, when the amateurs

It was at this amateur competition that met on the sand dunes at Southhampton.Richard Peters, of Newport, put into At last they had an eighteen-hole coursepractice an attempt to put with a billiard to play over, although the Shinnecockcue, to the great grief of the more ortho- Hills Golf Club links then measured butdox exponents of golf. 4,423 yards in playing distances, and

the privileged.

AMATEUR GOLF CHAMPONSHIPS. 137

would now be termed a short course.A qualifying round at thirty-six holes

well-arranged country club, the Wheatonorganization was the host of a scare of

medal play, the first sixteen to keep on dinner parties each evening, and, asat match play, was the system intro- dances in large tents followed, the club-duced for the first time. Four tied for house was a gay scene by night as wellthe sixteenth place out of eighty start- as by day. At midnight a special trainers, and, as L. B. Stoddart withdrew conveyed the guests to Chicago, the golf-from the play-off, which L. P. Bayard, ers seeking a brief sleep in the club-Jr., Princeton, won, only five who had house or at the near-by country houses.started in 1895— Macdonald, W. H. The week on the social side was a whirlSands, A. L. Livermore, E. C. Rush- of gayety. On the links, after the pre-more and H. G. Trevor—gained a place liminary skirmish of the qualifyingamong the elect. Of the others, two round, it was learned that Macdonaldwere college boys, and two, H. J. Whig- had won the gold medal for the bestham and A. M. Coats, graduates of score with 174, and of the sixteen toScotch links, the rest being self-taught qualify, the veterans of the previousand self-reliant golfers, who made up inzeal for any deficiencies

year were Macdonald, H. J. Whigham,

in style. H. J. Whig-A. H. Fenn, J. A. Tyng,

ham with his woodenA. M. Coats, H. R.

putter was the sensationSweny and J. R. Chad-

of the meeting. Fewwick. Two college boys

of our players had everhad a place, W. R. Bettsand

seen a wooden putter,and, indeed, to run upan approach instead ofpitching up, was con-sidered, until then, tobe rather “bad form;”in brief, it was often

John Reid, Jr., bothof Yale, and the mostprominent of the otherswere Findlay S. Doug-las, formerly a playerat St. Andrew’s, in Scot-land, but now a residenthere, and W. Girdwood

c r o q u e t , n o t g o l f . Stewart, a well-knownWhigham won the gold go l f e r a t Troon andmedal with 163 in the other links abroad, whoqualifying round; then, was on this side on adefeating in turn Bay- visit. The element whoard, H. R. Sweny, Coats had not qualified theand J . G. Thorp, he year before were Dev-held his title clear to eraux Emmet, Herbertchampionship honors, M. Harriman, James A.Former l y a ba s eba l l Stillman, of the East,and lawn tennis player,Thorp played a

and D. R. Forgan, abrainy, c. b. macdonald, ex-champion. Scotchman, and G. S.

“get-there” sort of a Willetts, both enteredgame, that enabled him to beat Mac- from Chicago. Douglas, w h o h a ddonald, who was ill, however, W. H. brought a grand reputation as a golferSands, and H. P. Toler, and gain the with him from old St. Andrew’s, wassemi-finals. Thorp has since changed regarded as a likely winner, but hehis style, and now is orthodox to Bad- failed to equal the expectations of hisminton in swing and short approaches. friends, for, when the progress of the

As at Newport, the life at the Shinne- game brought Douglas and Whighamcock Hills Golf Club ended each daywith the posting up of the scores, andthere was a constant round of dancesand dinners at the country houses dur-ing the week.

In this respect there was a decidedchange at Wheaton last year when theamateur championship was played onthe fine eighteen-hole course of the Chi-cago Golf Club. Possessing a large and

together in the semi-finals, the cham-pion had little trouble in winning, by6 up and 5 to play. In the thirty-six-hole finals, Whigham won with equalfacility from Betts, who, catching Mac-donald off his game, had beaten theex-champion in the semi-finals. Yale,as the recent championship againbrought out, is a stumbling block inMacdonald’s golfing path.

O U T I N G F O R N O V E M B E R .138

So much for the past and its statistics.They reveal that to the time of thisyear's championship the United Stateshad not produced one player equal toWhigham or Douglas in class, althoughsome were capable of great performancesin an erratic way when on their game.The query that clubmen asked each otheras the date for the Morris County tourna-ment drew near was whether time hadproduced the man fit to cope with thegolfers trained abroad.

Only two of the players in the cham-pionship of 1895 were among the quali-fied at Morris County; and, more s adstill, two more failed to qualify, finish-ing in the unplaced division with H. J.Whigham, but, unlike the ex-champion,they could not put forward a Cuban warrecord or a tale of vile malarias to ac-count for the downfall. The two sur-vivors were C. B. Macdonald and W. H.Sands, representatives of the best typesof the exotic and the homebred golfer.Macdonald, aside from his zeal in theaffairs of the U. S. G. A., has done anincalculable amount of good among ourplayers by his advocacy and practicalillustrations of good style in the game,while Sands has been one of the mostdiligent pupils of the links developedhere. Both play better golf now thanat any earlier period in their careers,but the others are moving faster, whichis the only reason why the two do notfigure more prominently as winners to-day. Of the fate of the two veterans inthe present contest it is to be recordedthat Sands was put out in the first roundby F. H. Bohlen, the noted Philadelphiacricketer, who chanced to play one ofhis dashing games; but Macdonald lastedto the semi-finals, when he was beatenby his young fellow-townsman, W. B.Smith, a Yale senior, by the close scoreof 2 up and 1 to play. While the brill-iant play of the younger golfer may notbe questioned, nor hisMacdonald was undou

luck impugned,btedly somewhat

over-golfed. Smith, it is true, had aclose match with L. P. Bayard, Jr., theex-Princetonian, in the second round,but he had had easy matches with J. H.Choate, Jr., in the first round, and withG. D. Fowle, in the third; while Mac-donald had defeated in turn such clink-ing good golfers as G. G. Hubbard,Newport; John Reid, Jr., Yale, and A.M. Coats , Newport . He showed atWheaton last year that a week of con-

tinuuus golf unhinged him, when, bysuccumbing to W. Rosseter Betts, heopened the finals to a Yale man, a prec-edent that his unlucky star made himfollow this year.

The “luck of the draw,” however,was, in a general way, more fair thanusual, yet the goddess who guides thedestinies of the golfers may not be ac-cused of favoritism in the case of Wal-ter J. Travis, of the Oakland Club, whocertainly had his week’s work cut outfor him. He had to defeat, in turn, towin the right to play, Findlay S. Doug-las in the semi-finals, J. I. Blair, Jr.,Princeton: J. G. Thorp, Cambridge,and Foxhall P. Keene, Oakland. It wasa succession of well-earned victories,and the meeting with Keene broughtout about the be s t match be tweenhomebred players witnessed on thelinks. It was a contest that broughtout to the quick the real spirit of golf,earnestly fought out, but in a manly,generous way, that would have won thehearty plaudits of the most captiousstickler for Scotch traditions and cus-toms.

This, then, brought to the semi-finalsDouglas, Macdonald, Smith and Travis,representatives of four distinct schoolsof golf: Douglas, only two years agoCaptain of the St.Andrew’s Universityteam, and embodying the modern andaggressive in the game; Macdonald,who was at St. Andrew's nearly twodecades before; Smith, a collegewho has a natural apt i tude for the

b o y

game and the energy of youth, withTravis, who learned the game whensomewhat past thirty, and who owes hisprominence to a diligent study of golf-ing methods and style in the libraryand on the links. Smith, to the honorof the homebreds, plucked a victoryfrom Macdonald, but neither Travis norhe was a match for Douglas, who hadsimply to wait to win. Including the

the ball into 191 holes during the week,and was as fresh as the proverbial daisyat the end. The meeting made it clearthat a success ion of thirty-s ix-holematch-play rounds is a true test of golf-s k i l l , f a r m o r e s o t h a n e i g h t e e n -matche s , i n wh i ch the young andless experienced player may, by a luckystreak, either win or halve with a su-perior man. Undoubtedly the longergame is the more perfect test of “form,”

medal-play round, Douglas ran down.

A M A T E U R GOLF

but the elimination of the unexpecteddoes not enhance a championship meet-ing as a spectacle, except to those withinthe cult.

At the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club,on the day of Whigham’s first triumph,President Havemeyer prophesied thatwithin three years a native-born golferwould win the amateur championshipfrom the foreign players. Two of theyears have passed, and, while youngblood has twice been second, the Scotsare still supreme. With the increase ingolf links of the best class, time shouldbear out the truth of the prophecy; butthe consummation is more apt to be adecade than twelve months away, that is,with men entered of the class of Doug-las and Whigham, not to speak of thepossible advent of H. H. Hilton or F. G.Tait, or others in their ranks from theother side. In a recent letter, in men-tioning the two amateurs named, W.Girdwood Stewart, who was a visitorhere in 1897, states: “The leading menhere now are really so good that furtherimprovement seems impossible. Theydrive further, approach more accuratelyand put better than of old.” It is evi-dent that the golfing pilgrims Scotlandis still to send us will be no less skilfulthan those who have preceded them, acondition that our ambitious golfersmust face. It is not sufficient to learn togolf well enoughcompetitions;

to win cups at clubfor the ambitious wight

must labor unceasingly to acquire styleand force, if the grand climax is to be at-tained.

Uniformity in style is not an essential—the short swing of Hoylake is as effect-ive as the heel-tapping swing of old St.Andrew’s—but it must be a golfing style,not one that suggests either baseball,cricket, racquets or tennis. There aremen on our links who play well in themost heedless of self-taught styles, likeArthur H. Fenn, who is still the bestplayer the United States has yet broughtout, although no longer eligible to ama-teur competitions, but his strokes aremade with an ease and steadiness that isin itself graceful. To most men whotake up the game when over thirty, whenmuscles and joints are set, like Fenn,Travis, Thorp, Keene, Tyng or Toler,execution must be cultivate at the ex-pense of the graces. The one great de-sideratum is that the club-head shallmove with the ball at the impact—even

CHAMPIONSHIPS. 1 3 9

in jerk strokes—and shall follow after itas far as possible. Those who fairlymeet and follow through in each stroke,even though the method may suggest agymnastic feat, may attain a considera-ble degree of proficiency; but, and thisis the one great lesson of the MorrisCounty championship, they must suc-cumb in the competitive phase of thegame to the youths, whose supple mus-cles have made possible a style orthodoxin every detail. How many of our olderset who qualified this year will be amongthe elect in 1899? Yet, and this is thegreat glory of golf, when their day ofcompetitive prominence will pass, theywill be the better for the knowledge ofthe most healthy and rational of games.The may tramp the links, over greensbordered by forests and with greatmountains in the distance, or throughpark-like lawns, or where sea and riverbound the view, and gain a pleasure thatnever cloys nor punishes. There is nosenility in golf.

Good-fellowship, in the best sense ofthe word, was in the air at the meeting.There was so little of that spirit ofrivalry that borders on contention—therecklessness of the jockey or the ill-humor of overzealous baseball or foot-ball adherents—that the odd lapse ortwo gained a fictitious prominence.The handshake at the end of eachmatch was from the heart, and not theperfunctory finger-touching of pugilistsentering the ring—or else there was nohandshake! An incident or two re-vealed that even our scratch playershave sometimes only a very elementaryidea of the golf rules. It will be re-called that in the match between Doug-las and A. H. Smith, of the HuntingdonValley Club, the latter laid a half-stimie,and objected when Douglas, in the pre-scribed manner, lightly brushed the lineof his put with his hand. Douglasmerely stated his right to do so, andthen ran the ball down by a most ac-curate put. It was a case where hair-line accuracy was required, and with aplayer of less experience the objectionmight have supe r induced a mi s s .Thoughtlessness, in another instance,worked to the disadvantage of the indi-vidual. A local rule, created becauseon two holes the woodland approachestoo closely the line of play, permits, aplayer to drop another ball withoutalty save the loss of distance should he

140

send one into the obstruction. Keene, quite generally established local rulein the match with Travis, drove into the was in force at Morris County, Smithwoods from the tenth tee, and, in tak- would not have been penalized, anding advantage of the rule, he inadvert- might have made a three. Some half-ently teed up instead of dropping the dozen players drove into this bunkersecond bal l . After the play Travis during the week, all of whom felt thatasked for the hole on account of the in- they had been unduly punished. W.fraction of the rule, and, as it was a H. Sands, of the Country Club of West-proposition that did not admit of de- chester, made the green on the drive,murrer, Keene conceded the point. The the ball bounding over the cop. Theretwo instances, while they reveal that the are two sides to every question, and, inrules should be conned as diligently as a the opinion of C. B. Macdonald, it ismariner learns to box the compass, are right that a drive into this bunker shouldhardly in the same category, for Smith be punished, for the true golfer shoulddisplayed an ignorance of his golfing play short, either by sparing the woodenA B C, while Keene, in the stress of club or by using a cleek, and reach theconflict, ignored a local rule that has green on is second stroke. The play,a lmost no paral le l in in his judgment, shouldmatch play. be modified by the place

and nature of the haz-ards, and the smashing,headstrong driver de-serves no more consid-e r a t i o n t h a n h e w h ofoozles, pulls or slices,Under this argumentthere wou ld be l i t t l eneed for local rules onany links, and the tend-ency is to abolish them.There were very few atMorris County, and therewill probably be still lesswhen, in its appointedc y c l e t i m e , i t a g a i nb r i n g s t h e a m a t e u rchampionship to Morris-town.

There was somethingunique in the positionof the Morris County

Local rules are often afungous growth of ex-cessive legislation, anevil our countrymen aresaid to be prone to, andthe competitions at manylinks would be more in-viting to the golfing pil-grims if they were rigor-ously cut away. Thereis one rule enforced onmany links that seemsto have a degree of righton i ts s ide. which is .that when a stra ight ,true drive of 210 to 220yards is trapped by abunker, the player shalllift and drop clear of thehazard without payingany penalty.

The local reason forthis rule is usually that, h. j. whigham, ex-champion.in the early days, when

Club to the champion-

the course was laid out it was impossibleship. When the c lub,

through its representatives, asked for thefor anyone in the club to carry such a amateur championship at the annualbunker except on the second play, and meeting of the United States Golf As-when the ratio of skill has so advanced sociation in February, it was franklythat to drive into it is not unusual, a de. stated that the course was not then whatcree is framed to free the long stroke it should be as a fair test of golf, andfrom a penalty. It is implied that cir- the promise was made that if the booncumstances forbid the placing back of was granted the links would be alteredthe tee. The third hole of the cham-pionship course, 234 yards, has a cop

until every expert would be satisfied.

bunker just at the putting green, whichThe promise was nobly kept, for, after

is generally made by a drive and aconsulting with professionals and am-ateurs, the best links now in the United

“wee pitch.” Smith, in the finals with States was evolved from the formerDouglas, drove into this bunker, taking short course. The playingtwo to get out, but rolling close to the yards.

was 5,960

cup, so that he ran down in four. As itBest of all, the Greens Commit-

tee intends to keep on improving thehappened, he won the hole, but if the already excellent course.

O U T I N G F O R N O V E M B E R .