Man-Eating Hazards ing game with a high standard of sports- manship. A club is an asset to a com- A local rule at the Nyanza Club, Ken- munity as a- social center, its green acres ya, British East reads, "If a ball have unusual aesthetic values which bene- comes to rest in dangerous proximity to fit the club's neighborhood as well as its a hippopotamus or crocodile, another ball members. The mere presence of a golf may be dropped at a safe distance, no course tends to enhance the value of nearer the hole, without penalty." adjacent property for residential pur- poses. Amendment Although there is a record number of Many golf and country clubs through- approximately 6,000 golf courses in the out the have recently en- United States today, they are not ade- countered financial difficulties because quate to serve the interests of the golfing of real estate tax problems. In California, population. for example, the problem is so acute that The USGA Executive Committee whole- golf clubs and associations there. have heartedly endorses the action of golf as- made it possible that a California consti- sociations in California in seeking to have tutional amendment will be voted upon golf courses in their State assessed pro- in November. The amendment known as perly on their value as recreational facili- Proposition 6 on California's November ties. 8 ballot, would have the effect of taxing golf clubs on their value as recreational Anniversary facilities instead of on some higher scale. It was 30 years ago on September 27, The Executive Committee of the United that Robert T. Jones, Jr., completed the States Golf Association has made the fol- "Grand Slam" -the unparalleled winning lowing statement: of the National Open and Amateur and The United States Golf Association is the British Open and Amateur Champion- cognizant of the difficulties created for ships in a single year. many golf and country clubs by real The feat stands as golf's most remark- estate assessments which are excessive able achievement. It also was the crown- for the - true value of their courses as ing act at the end of an illustrious career recreational facilities. The Association in competitive golf: Jones retired in No- notes that some clubs have literally been vember, 1930, soon after completing his taxed out of existence. four-championship sweep. The Association deplores tax policies The third championship of this "Im- which can produce such results. Such pregnable Quadrilateral" came in the policies would seem to be short-sighted U. S. Open, July 10-12, 1930, at the Inter- and ill-advised for they can lead to deny- lachen Country Club, Minneapolis. Mac- ing people the benefits of golf. donald Smith was Jones' biggest chal- Golf is a health-giving, character-build- lenger in the final moments of the Cham-

USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: SEPTEMBER, 1960 pionship. Smith had almost overtaken the Keeler Course Atlanta amateur on the first 13 holes. A fine old golfing name-Oscar Bane The final two holes carried tremendous Keeler-will soon appear once again in excitement. Jones, who had pulled into a the world of golf. five-stroke lead after his 68 in the third The "0. B. Keeler Golf Course" is due round, almost lost on the 17th hole. He to open in Cobb County, Georgia, just sliced his drive into a water hazard and north of Atlanta, in the autumn. The 18- took his third five of the round on a par hole, par 72 course, was named in honor 3 hole. of the late golf writer for the Atlanta But, it was exactly the opposite on the Journal, who died in 1950. 402-yard final hole. Jones reached the Mr. Keeler covered practically every front edge in two and sank a 40-foot up- golfing move made by Robert T. Jones, hill putt for a birdie three that barred Jr., from his very introduction to national the door for Smith. This gave Jones a golf to the Grand Slam of 30 years ago. two-stroke victory margin. The final Championship of the "Grand /lGolf-O-Rama/l Slam" came September 27, and it was fitting that the great amateur should com- In modern life we have all sorts of plete the last leg in the Amateur Cham- "O-Ramas" - "Bowl-O-Ramas," 'Speed-O- pionship. Jones won at the same course- Ramas," "Skate-O-Ramas." Now, it seems, the Merion Cricket Club, Ardmore, Pa.- there are "Golf-O-Ramas." where he had played in his first Amateur The most recent was the Berkshire in 1916 and also where he had won his Hills Golf-O-Rama at the Pittsfield, Mass., first Amateur Championship in 1924. Boys Club. The program included shot- Gene Homans was his victim in the final making exhibitions; displays by equip- round by a margin of 8 and 7. ment manufacturers; a talk by William Earlier in 1930, Jones had won the Bri- O. Blaney, former Chairman of the tish Amateur, defeating USGA's Handicap Procedure Committee; in the final by 6 and 5, at St. Andrews, talks on the Rules of Golf by John Haw- and the British Open at Hoylake, Eng- kins, of the Massachusetts Golf Associa- land, with 70-72-74-75-291. To add tion, and John English, former Assistant further to his laurels that year, Jones was Executive Director of the USGA; a clinic also Captain of the American on turf matters by Alexander Radko, team which won, 10-2,over Great Britain. Director of the Eastern Region of the Jones' performances in National Cham- USGA Green Section. pionships is unsurpassed. Between 1923 Speeches, awards and movies rounded and 1930, Jones won 13 major champion- out the program which began at 1 P. M. ships-nine here and four in Great Bri- and ended before midnight. tain All proceeds went to the Berkshire A chart of his major tournament Junior Golf Foundation for a scholarship record in those eight years shows the program of turf study at the University measure of his dominance: of Massachusetts. Two boys already are studying at the University.

III III More than 400 persons attended the : : night session and the whole affair was .:! .:! 11) ... II) considered a fine success. :) 'OQI '0 QI+- .. 111 :C .- QI 'c E CD. Course Rating Origins :)< :)0 The origins of the USGA Course Rating 1923 Lost, 1st, 2nd Rd. Play-off System go far back. 1924 1st 2nd In a recent letter Raynor M. Gardiner, 1925 1st 2nd, Play-off a Boston attorney, traced one of the roots: 1926 Lost 1st 2nd 1st "Most people have long since forgotten, 5th Rd. 1927 1st 1st Tie, and I had almost forgotten myself, that 11th in about 1926 when I was president of 1928 1st 2nd, Play-off the Massachusetts Golf Association, one 1929 Lost, 1st, of our Executive Committee members, 1st Rd. Play-off 1930 1st 1st 1st 1st Horace Workman, and I invented what

2 USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: SEPTEMBER, 1960 was then called the Massachusetts Golf laus finished second with 282 in the U. S. Course Ratings." Open, only two strokes behind Arnold Mr. Gardiner recalled that he and Mr. Palmer. Amateur Don Cherry finished in Workman decided that par was "a very a tie for 11th with 284. For company in poor" measuring stick so they originated the tie, Cherry had Ben Hogan and Jerry the course rating idea. He added that he Barber. felt the only serious mistake made in the In the British Open there were three beginning was to assume that the scratch amateurs among the top 12. Guy Wolsten- golfer invariably got a nice long drive holme was sixth with 283, was down the middle. eighth with 285 and David Blair was 12th "However, since scratch golfers do not with 286. Kel Nagle, of , won spray their tee shots very often the de- with 278. fect in our original system was not too Nicklaus' finish was the highest in the serious," he said. United States Open by an Amateur since For some time two schools of thought 1933 when John Goodman, then an ama- had existed. The Massachusetts Golf As- teur, won the Championship. Frank sociation had sponsored the idea of the Stranahan, at the time an amateur, theoretical scratch golfer against whose finished in a tie for second place in the performance all courses were to be British Open Championship of 1953-the rated. The Chicago District Golf Associa- year Ben Hogan won. tion had developed the fractional par method of rating courses, based on actual Big Winners performances recorded for individual Speaking of nominatIOn? How are these holes. Both methods had certain merit, examples? so now these two ideas have been blended Miss Philomena Garvey, of County together in the new USGA Course Rating Louth, Ireland, has won the Irish Ladies' System. Championship 12 times. Henri de Lamaze, of , has won Jail Birdie the French Amateur Championship 11 times. Three times Thomas Stovall, 81, has done time at the Federal Correction In- Necrology stitution at Danbury, Conn. In a way each incarceration was a It is with deep regret that we record pleasure and the good game of golf was the deaths of: the reason. Mrs. Genevieve Hecker Stout, of New On the first of Mr. Stovall's visits to York, winner of both the USGA Women's the Institution, he says he sharpened up Amateur and Metropolitan Women's his game by playing often on a course at Amateur Championships in 1901 and the Correction home. The second visit 1902. She won the Metropolitan title was equally pleasurable and for the same again in 1905 and 1906. reason. Keith Conway, of Atlanta, member of By the finish of his third sentence, Mr. the USGA Sectional Affairs Committee Stovall was playing really well. since 1938. He was past president of the Now, he has waived a hearing in Chi- Atlanta Golf Association and vice presi- cago on charges of cashing a rubbery $30 dent and director of the Georgia Golf check and requested permission to do his Association. time at Danbury. Little is known about Books his handicap but by the time he is a free man again, it should be quite low. Golf for Women by Louise Suggs as- sisted by six other women professionals (Rutledge Books, $3.95). Each profes- Amateurs sional contributed at least one chapter Amateur golfers on both sides of the on a phase of play. Much of the text is Atlantic Ocean made outstanding bids in in the form of giving a lesson. There are the two national open championships- several hundred pictures. Other contri- the United States Open and the British butors: Marlene Bauer Hagge, Beverly Open. Hanson, Jackie Pung, Barbara Romack, 1959 Amateur Champion Jack Nick- ..JoyceZiske and Ruth Jessen.

USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: SEPTEMBER, 1960 3 FIRST INTERCOLLEGIATE CHAMPIONS

Solomon A. Smith, now a Chicago banker, visited "Golf House" and presented this picture of the Yale University Golf Team of 1897 which won the first intercollegiate , golf championship. Teams from Yale,. Ha!ivard, Princeton and Columbia competed. The historic picture shows John Reid, Jr., son of the founder of St. Andrews Golf Club, Yonkers, N. Y., who was one of the very earliest figures in American golf. w. B. Smith, standing on the left, brother of the donor of the picture, wa" l"unnpr.np to the late Findlay S. Douglas in the Amateur Championship of 1898. Standing: W. B. Smith, Craig Colgate, Reid, Solomon Smith. Seated Roderick Terry, Jr., W. Rosseter Betts.

4 USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: SEPTEMSER, 1960