196
T H E AMERICAN GOLFER
GOOD NEW YEAR GOLFING
RESOLUTIONS.
Swear off pulling, swear off slicing,
Swear off ever looking up;
Swear off doing all but shooting
For the center of the cup.
Swear off topping, over-swinging
As you stand upon the tee,
Swear off doing all but holing
Out in three.
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The Lesley Cup Competition, an
annual event between teams of ten
men representing, respectively, the
Massachusetts Golf Association, the
Metropolitan Golf Association and the
Pennsylvania Golf Association, originated in 1900 in the form of a team
match of twelve men a side between
the Metropolitan Golf Association and
the Philadelphia Golf Association,
known as the Inter-City match. The
first match took place at the Philadelphia Country Club on May 5, 1900,
the Metropolitan team winning by 33
holes to 1. The event was at thirtysix holes match play. The return
match on November 10, 1900, was
played at the St. Andrews Golf Club,
twelve men a side, singles in the morning, at eighteen holes, and four-ball
matches in the afternoon. This arrangement continued until 1903, when
the match was played at Morris County. There the four-ball matches were
played in the morning and the singles
in the afternoon. The following year
the same order of play was maintained.
In 1904 the number of players was
reduced from twelve to ten, on each
side. In 1905 the Lesley Cup Competition was instituted between teams
representing the Metropolitan Golf
Association, the Massachusetts Golf
Association and the Philadelphia Golf
Association, ten men a side, singles
being played in the morning and fourball matches in the afternoon. In
1907 the four-ball matches were
changed to foursomes, and this order
of play has been since maintained. A
brief resume of the matches may be
interesting:
May 5th, 1900, at the Philadelphia Country Club, the Metropolitan team won by 33
holes to 1.
Nov. 10th, 1900, at St. Andrews Golf Club,
the Metropolitan team won the singles by
24 holes to 20, and the four-ball matches by
25 holes to 2, making a gross total of 49
holes to 22 in favor of the Metropolitan.
May 4th, 1901, at Philadelphia Cricket
Club, Metropolitan was again successful,
winning the singles in the morning by 43
holes to 7, and the four-ball matches by 11
holes to 4.
Oct. 26th, 1901, at the Nassau Country
Club, Metropolitan scored 60 holes in the
singles against Philadelphia's 3, and 15
holes in the four-ball matches against Philadelphia's 0.
May 17th, 1902, at the Huntingdon Valley
Country Club, Philadelphia won, for the
197
T H E AMERICAN GOLFER
first time, scoring 17 holes in the singles as
against 13 for Metropolitan, and 10 holes in
the four-ball matches as against 3, making
a gross total of 27 holes to 16.
Nov. 1st, 1902, at the Baltusrol Golf
Club, Metropolitan won by 40 holes in the
singles to Philadelphia's 4, and by 25 holes
in the four-ball matches against 0, making
a gross total of 65 holes to 4. The Philadelphia team was incomplete owing to the
fact that four of the Huntingdon Valley
players who were selected to play on the
team withdrew at the last minute because
Mr. Wirt L. Thompson had not been selected, it being put forward by the Philadelphia Association that he was not a bona
fide resident of the district. This thus deprived Philadelphia of the following players : W. P. Smith, H. B. McFarland, A. H.
Smith and C. I. Starr.
May 16th, 1903, at the Merion Cricket
Club, Philadelphia was again successful,
winning the singles in the morning by 16
holes to 8, and the four-ball matches in the
afternoon by 2 to 3, making a gross total of
18 holes to 11.
Oct. 31st, 1903, at the Morris County Golf
Club, another victory was secured by Philadelphia. In the morning they scored 12
holes against 9 in the four-ball matches, and
15 holes against the Massachusetts' 12 in
the singles.
In 1904, at the Philadelphia Cricket Club,
Philadelphia again won, scoring 9 holes
in the four-ball matches in the morning
against the Metropolitan's 4, and 18 holes
in the singles as against 13.
Oct. 24th, 1904, at the Garden City Golf
Club, Metropolitan were the winners, scorin 6 holes in the four-ball matches in the
morning against 1 for Philadelphia, and 42
holes in the singles in the afternoon against
2.
Oct. 27th, 1905, the first match was played
in the Lesley Cup Competition between
Metropolitan against Philadelphia, the former scoring 7 points in the singles in the
morning against 3, and 3 points as against 2
in the four-ball matches in the afternoon.
It will be observed that the system of scoring by holes was abandoned, each win representing one point only.
Oct. 28th, Metropolitan lost the singles in
the morning to Massachusetts by 4 points
to 6, but by winning all the four-ball matches in the afternoon secured possession of
the Lesley Cup by a gross total of 9 points
to 6.
Oct. 28th, 1906, at the Merion Cricket
Club, Metropolitan, as winners the previous
year, stood out the first day, Massachusetts
and Philadelphia fighting it out, the winners
to play Metropolitan. Massachusetts won,
scoring 7 points in the singles in the morning against Philadelphia's 3, and 2 points in
the four-ball matches in the afternoon
against Philadelphia's 1.
Oct. 27th, both the Metropolitan and Massachusetts teams scored 5 points in the singles in the morning, halving the match, but
the Metropolitans were successful in the
afternoon, winning 4 points in the fourball matches to 1 for Massachusetts.
Oct. 25th, 1907, at The Country Club of
Brookline, Philadelphia beat Massachusetts.
In the singles in the morning the matches
were all square at 5 points each, but in the
afternoon in the foursomes, which were
played for the first time, Philadelphia scored
4 points to Massachusetts' 1.
Oct. 26th, Metropolitan beat Philadelphia
by 8 points to 2 in the morning, and won all
of the foursomes in the afternoon, making
a gross total of 13 points to 2.
Oct. 2nd, 1908, at the Garden City Golf
Club, Massachusetts beat Philadelphia in
the singles 6 points to 4, but lost in the foursomes by 2 points to 3, making a gross total
in favor of the former of 8 points to 7.
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One thing we are free to admit that
we are unalterably opposed to and that
is the substitution, some years ago, of
foursomes for four-ball matches.
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From first to last all sorts of
schemes have been tried in so far as
the playing conditions are concerned.
But finality does not appear to have
yet been reached, as there is some talk
of reverting to the experiment of having the foursomes in the morning and
the singles in the afternoon, such as
was done in 1903 and 1904. For ourselves, we must confess that we are
very much taken with the suggestion
put forward some little time ago which
provided for each member of the three
198
THE AMERICAN GOLFER
teams engaging in a three-ball match.
In this way the whole competition
could be settled in one day, and it
would also have the especial advantage
of not allowing the winning team of
the previous year to stand out, as at
present. This is a principle which is
quite foreign to golfing practice generally. As well allow the amateur
champion to stand out of the qualifying round or of the subsequent match
play, in the amateur championship.
The three-ball match could be played
at thirty-six holes, match play. At the
end of the morning round it would be
interesting to have a change of opponents, for the afternoon play. The
general idea is an excellent one and
well worthy of serious consideration.
Oct. 3rd, Metropolitan beat Massachusetts
in the singles by 7 points to 3, but lost 4 of
the foursomes in the afternoon, winning by
8 points to 7.
Oct. 1st, 1909, at the Huntingdon Valley
Country Club, the newly-formed Pennsylvania team (an enlargement of the Philadelphia team) beat Massachusetts by 7
points in the morning, and scoring 2 points
to 3 in the foursomes in the afternoon, won
by a gross total of 9 points to 6.
Oct. 2nd, Metropolitan scored 8 points to
Pennsylvania's 2 in the singles, which settled
the match, notwithstanding that Pennsylvania won all of the foursomes in the afternoon, the gross total being Metropolitan 8
and Pennsylvania 7.
Sept. 30th, 1910, at the Myopia Hunt
Club, Massachusetts scored 6 points to
Pennsylvania's 4 in the singles, and 4 points
to 1 in the foursomes.
Oct. 1st, Massachusetts beat Metropolitan, scoring 8 points in the singles to 2,
and 2 points in the foursomes to 3, making
a gross total of 10 points to 5.
Sept. 29th, 1911, at the Nassau Country
Club, Metropolitan beat Pennsylvania by 6
points to 4 in the singles, and 3 points to 2
in the foursomes.
Sept. 30th, Metropolitan wiped out the
previous year's defeat in the hands of Massachusetts, beating the latter 6 points to 4
in the singles, and 3 points to 2 in the foursomes.
The nineteenth hole is always the center
of New Year resolutions. We swear to
play it less and then break the course record thereon before the week is out.
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The recent trip made by Geo. Duncan recalls Harry Vardon's American
tour, in 1900. He travelled from one
end of the country to the other, breaking records on practically every course
he played over, and all in all making
a magnificent showing. He was then
in his prime. He played in 88 matches,
of which he won 73, halved 2 and lost
13. The only man who beat him on
even terms was Ben Nicholls, who first
beat him at Ormond, Fla., and, later
on, at the Brae Burn (Mass.) course.
Altogether, Vardon traveled about
100,000 miles during his trip. In the
middle of the programme he made a
flying visit to England to defend his
title as open champion, which, by the
way, he lost to J." H. Taylor, but returned to take part in the U. S. G. A.
championship at the Chicago Golf Club
on October 4th-5th, winning with a
total of 313 strokes to J. H. Taylor's
315.
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The annual meeting of the U. S. G.
A. will be held on January 12th at the
Bellevue-Stratford in Philadelphia.
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"Mathewson has nothing on me with his
fadeaway," remarked a certain golfer recently. "That's what my approach does
whenever I try to pitch over a trap."
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We publish in another column a letter from a correspondent anent the
slovenliness in dress on the part of
golfers. It must be confessed the
criticism is well-founded. Here, there
and everywhere the same sort of thing
may be seen wherever golf is played
in this country. Why it should be so
THE AMERICAN GOLFER
199
Mr. Howard Colby practicing "pitching" into his squash-court at Camp Umbazooksus, North
East Carry, Maine. The squash-court was made by Mr. Colby's guides out of hewn pine
logs cut within fifty yards where it stands. Mr. Colby says that although it is not the
best he has ever played in it is by far the best ventilated.
is hard to understand. Of course, in
the very hot weather there is some excuse for playing in shirt sleeves, but
even at that there is no good reason
why a man should not make himself
decently presentable. The dignity of
the game suffers when players are so
careless of their appearance. Most of
the trouble arises from inattention. A
little more regard for the conventionalities would be an excellent thing, and
in keeping with the traditional dignity
of the royal and ancient game. Time
was when the golfer was held up to
public scorn as a sort of fop. The fear
of being regarded as a "dude" has
doubtless deterred many a man from
attiring himself respectably—but, unfortunately, he has rushed to the other
extreme. It's high time the pendulum
should commence to swing the other
way.
FOUR LITTLE LETTERS.
G is for Golf, that's the game of the day,
O is the Outfit we use for our play;
L is our Language that's most indiscreet,
F is the Finish—our utter defeat.
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THE CUSSEDNESS OF THINGS.
Alas! how easily things go wrong—
A drive too short or a putt too strong,
And there follows a 6, and a growl of pain,
And our card is never the same again.
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Playing in the final for the Army
& Navy Cup at the Dyker Meadow
Golf Club, Mr. F. H. Webster did the
tenth hole (422 yards) in 2. The
event was won by Mr. Webster by 5
up and 4 to play in the thirty-six hole
final. Some years ago this same hole
was done both in the morning and the
afternoon by Mr. Norman S. Dike in
3. Mr. Webster's feat was slightly
bettered when Mr. Geo. E. Morse, of
the Apawamis Club, holed the ninth
T H E AMERICAN GOLFER
200
(443 yards) at the Nassau Country
Club in the fall tournament in 2
strokes.
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The British Amateur Championship
of 1912 will be played over the Westward Ho! links in the week beginning
June 3rd.
The Open will take place at Muirfield a couple of weeks later.
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Mr. Hilton states that American golf is
below the British standard. This may be
true but American rocks are also more fortunately placed for British players at the
36th or 37th hole. It isn't likely that any
American golfer is accurate enough in his
shooting to flip the ball against a rock at
such an angle that it would bound directly
toward the flag. Before this test Americans must give way gracefully and admit
the soft impeachment.
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To brag little;
To show well;
To crow gently if in luck.
To pay up,
To own up,
And to shut up if beaten—
These are the virtues of a sporting man.
Look humble, but pray
Your opponent yet may
In a bunker's dread sepulchre fall.
While you, through a fluke,
Win the match—then can look
Like a Braid or a Vardon, or Ball.
Don't go about scorning
Your foe of the morning,
As disaster may soon overtake you.
And when late in the day
You are whacked all the way,
Your delight my dear friend, will forsake
you.
But when on the day
You are "square," as they say,
Of your victory still you go thundering,
Of your later defeat
Saying nought—a deceit
Which will still keep your listeners wondering.
(These are the virtues of a "cautious"
man.)
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They were playing a pater-filius
four-ball match. One of the fathers
had hit off a very decent sort of teeshot, taken by itself, but which, measured by the son's effort—a tremendous
Mrs. Howard Colby said she would stay there all day until she got one through the window,
but she didn't have to—the club broke.
T H E AMERICAN GOLFER
swipe, a carry of nigh on to 250 yards
—paled into utter insignificance, eliciting from the "old man" the remark
in mingled accents of pride and mournful regret: "Enviable, most enviable,
is the lustiness of youth." "Yes,"
added the other old gentleman, after
half-topping his, "but pitiable, most
pitiable, is the rustiness of old age."
201
thusiasm in the matter, it has to be
remembered that golf is a player's
game rather than a spectator's, and
also that, as it is in certain senses really a selfish game, the average champion is thinking much more of himself
than his country when he is out for
spoils in a foreign land. Mr. Hilton
spoke of the patriotic sentiments which
animated him when he crossed the AtÅ
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It was a four-ball affair. "A" had lantic on the outward journey; but the
sliced his second, " B " had pulled and circumstances are and must remain for
"C" had topped. "Weeping," whis- a long time such as must prevent such
pered "A" to "D," indicating himself, sentiments and national enthusiasm
"wailing," pointing to "B," "and being stirred in the same way as when
gnashing of teeth," nodding in "C's" a cricket team or a rowing crew scores
a success. We are full of admiration
direction.
for Mr. Hilton's successes and the cirÅ
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cumstances
attending on them, and noFollowing is the menu of the first
body
is
more
sincere in congratulating
annual Feast and Frolic of the Goats
him;
but
that
does
not prevent us from
of the Kenilworth Country Club, of
saying
public
dinners,
organized in this
Newell, W. Va., which was held on
way,
on
a
system
yielding
advertiseNovember 23rd. After the dinner the
ment
to
others
who
may
value
it, are
proceedings were enlivened by speecha
mistake,
and
we
feel
sure
that
the
es by various members, and songs.
chief
guest
agrees
with
the
suggestion.
"FORE!"
It is understood that in the course of
"Baby Dimple" Blue Points "Halved"
"Pulled" Olives
"Sand Pit" Celery his remarks at the Connaught Rooms,
"Fair Green" Turtle Soup
Mr. Hilton made some observations
"Foozled" Crackers
regarding a certain American player
St. Andrews Turkey with "Stymie" Stuffing
of
great distinction. Referring to his.
"Red Dot" Cranberry Sauce
"Mashie"-d Potatoes
"G-Niblic" Gravy speech, Mr. A. C. M. Croome has written : "That Mr. Hilton was speaking
"Caddy" Rolls with Goat Butter
"Putting Green" Salad
with absolute candor was proved by
"Slice" Cream
"Casual" Water the fact that when he found cause to
"Kenilworth" Coffee
blame an American he did not mince
"Pressed" Apple Juice
matters.
He told us that we need at"Hazard"-ous Cigars and Cigarettes
tach
no
undue
importance to printed
"Hole Out."
criticism
appearing
over a well-known
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signature,
and
issued
with an air of
"HONEY AND VINEGAR."
authority, because the great body of
The attendances at the Hilton dinAmerican golfers realized quite as well
ners have been small, but a record has
as we can the bias of the writer, and
been made of appreciation by the Britthe baselessness of his prejudice." Weish and American amateur champion's
hardly know which to deprecate the
well-wishers and friends of his splenmore strongly, the impropriety of Mr.
did season's performance. If the golfHilton in making such remarks, or the
ing public has not shown any vast en-
202
THE AMERICAN GOLFER
blazing indiscretion of his reporter in
publishing them. It is obvious to everyone that the reference is to Mr. W.
J. Travis. Mr. Hilton is regarded as
a good sportsman, and he of all others
should know better than to make a
revival of the worn-out attack on the
player who won our Amateur Championship several years ago—a greater
feat than his own—its complement, in
winning the American Championship.
Mr. Travis said many things about his
visit to Britain, "which had been much
better left unsaid," but they were not
spoken without the most intense provocation, and we have never been of
opinion that British sportsmanship and
chivalry were exhibited at their best
by certain gentlemen associated with
our amateur golf in the early summer
of 1904. Mr. Hilton was one of those
who suffered most by Mr. Travis'
skill on that occasion. Recently, in
America, when treated with the utmost hospitality by the American golfers, he was associated in a friendly
way on the links with Mr. Travis.
Again, despite Mr. Hilton's information and advice, we know quite well
that Mr. Travis, representing as he
does what might be called the middle
party in American golf politics, between the pro. St. Andrews section and
the Western revolutionists, has an exceedingly strong backing, his power
and influence are great, and nothing is
known or felt there about any "bias"
or "prejudice." But even if it were
otherwise it would still be a grave error on an occasion of this kind, when
a display of good taste was specially
desirable, to make partisan reference
to such delicate matters. We wish for
the best and most complete friendship
between American and British golfers
of all classes, and the object is not
promoted by sniggling criticism of the
kind indulged in at the Connaught
Rooms, and reported with characteristic approval in the Morning Post.—
Golfing (London).
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A movement is on foot looking to
the inauguration in Metropolitan circles of the Pater-Filius tournament
which has been a feature of Chicago
golf for some years past, and which
last season was so successfully introduced in Philadelphia. From present
indications there is no question at all
as to the event being brought off and
proving an unqualified success. No
regular organization has been so far
perfected, but Mr. Frank Presbrey, 3
West 29th Street, New York City, is
acting as temporary chairman. Any
Mr. Frank Presbrey,
Of the Garden City Golf Club.
T H E AMERICAN GOLFER
member of any Metropolitan golf club
who has a son of golfing age is eligible
for entry. It is proposed when a list
of forty or fifty entrants is reached to
hold a meeting and effect an organization which will handle the tournament
and arrange for making it an annual
event.
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THE PUTT.
On the putting green, the golf ball
is essentially modest; goes unwillingly into the cup, if you watch it. Therefore, in putting for the hole, never
look up, until the modest little idiot
has had time to reach the goal.
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203
Cadet William Coffin Harrison, Class
of 1912, second, 89, and Cadet Robert
Fee Hyatt, Class of 1912, third, 91.
During the month of October a
match play tournament among the officers of the post resulted as per schedule herewith.
Colonel Stuart won the "Consolation" among the defeated eight.
S. L. ALLEN.
Å
GOLF AT WEST POINT.
There is at West Point a rough and
sporty 9-hole golf course, which is well
patronized by the officers and ladies
of the post, and by the cadets. The
par of the course is 39.
During the month of September a
cadet tournament was held; 18-hole
medal play. About forty cadets entered.
The prize was a handsome silver
cup presented by the superintendent of
the academy on which the name of the
winner will be inscribed annually.
Cadet Robert Emmet Patterson,
Class of 1912, won with a score of 88.
Cadet R. E. Patterson,
Of the Military Academy, West Point, N. Y.
O F F I C E R S ' G O L F CLUB, W E S T P O I N T , N Y.
October 2 to October 14, 1911.
Captain Darrah
Lieutenant Larned
Colonel Holt
Lieutenant Mathews
Lieutenant Parker
Lieutenant Glassford
Captain Davis
Captain Morey
Captain Koehler
Chaplain Travers
Lieutenant Manley
Lieutenant McNeil
Lieutenant McLachlan
Lieutenant Lang
General Barry
Colonel Stuart
Larned
6 and 4
Holt
7 and 6
Parker
5 and 4
Morey
6 and 5
Koehler
3 and 2
Manley
6 and 5
Lang
5 and 4
Gen. Barry
3 and 2
Holt
1 up, 19h.
Parker
2 and l
Parker
1 up, 19h.
Barry
4 and 2
Koehler
6 and 5
Barry
9 and 8
Barry
4 and 2
T H E AMERICAN GOLFER
204
The only applicant for the amateur
championship at the annual meeting
of the Metropolitan Golf Association
was the Country Club of Lakewood.
As is ordinarily the case the matter
was referred to the Executive Committee. If ever an application deserved to be favorably acted upon this one
does. For many years Lakewood has
been in the forefront of Metropolitan
competitive golf, religiously giving two
open tournaments a year for the last
fifteen or sixteen years—a record no
other club in the district can boast of.
And although on many occasions the
club has offered its course as a championship venue it has, for some inexplicable reason, invariably been denied
the privilege.
The course is a good enough test . . .
and is at its best in May, when the
event takes place. This of itself
should prove a great argument in its
favor, more especially as the large majority of the Metropolitan courses are
not at that time in good playing condition.
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A certain well known New York golfer
was giving Russell Ford, the crack pitcher,
lessons in the Scottish game. Ford finally
in a vain effort to "hit a home run," broke
the golfer's favorite driver. It was several
weeks after that before he found out the
identity of the man who was almost daily
knocking him from the stands and imploring the visiting team to knock him out of
the box.
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The action taken by the Metropolitan Golf Association at the recent annual meeting in deciding to uphold the
hand of the United States Golf Association in respect to the system employed in fixing national handicaps,
was well considered. In doing so the
M. G. A., in the interests of uniformity, abandoned its own time-honored
system, notwithstanding it has been
found to work most excellently in
practice, and decided to adopt that of
the U. S. G. A. The only real point
of difference between the two is the
use of fractions in establishing par.
For instance, the M. G. A. par was
formerly as follows:
Holes
Holes
Holes
Holes
Holes
Holes
Holes
up to 215 yds., inc., par is 3
216 to 250 yds., inc., par is 3½
251 to 400 yds., inc., par is 4
401 to 450 yds., inc., par is 4½
451 to 575 yds., inc., par is 5
576 to 600 yds., inc., par is 5½
over 600 yds., inc., par is 6
The U. S. G. A. has decided to do
away with the fractions and their table
is as follows:
Holes
Holes
Holes
Holes
up to 225 yds., inc.,
226 to 425 yds., inc.,
426 to 600 yds., inc.,
601 and upwards,
par
par
par
par
is
is
is
is
3
4
5
6
In all other respects the U. S. G. A.
system is substantially the same as
that which had been used by the M.
G. A.
It is to be hoped that the step taken
by the M. G. A. may lead to the abandonment by other subsidiary associations of their own particular methods
and the harmonious adoption of the
U. S. G. A. system.
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The following applications for the
U. S. G. A. championship events for
1912 have been received:
Amateur Championship.
Chicago Golf Club of Wheaton, Ill.
Country Club of Buffalo, of Buffalo, N. Y.
Cincinnati Golf Club of Cincinnati, O.
Essex County Club of Manchester, Mass.
Open Championship.
Essex County Club of Manchester, Mass.
Women's Championship.
Country Club of Buffalo, of Buffalo, N. Y.Essex County Club of Manchester, Mass.
The Nassau Country Club of Glen Cove,
N. Y., offers its course for any event, should
the association desire to use it.