SENIORS APPEAL BY JOSEPH C. DEY, JR. FOR SPEEDIE[{ USGA Executive Director • AR more than a champion is apt to cation and public OpInIOn, cut out some F come out of a national golf champion- of the unduly slow play now bedeviling ship, especially when the players are elder golf. statesmen of the game. So it was with the The problem is, to some extent, a mat- third Senior Amateur Championship of the ter of courtesy. Ray Schlicht, a senior of Golf Association, conducted St. Paul, Minn., had suggested to the USGA recently at the Ridgewood Country Club that seniors be asked to take the lead in in New Jersey, on the outskirts of New bringing about better observance of golf's York City. ,-ode of etiquette. Now the spearhead is to The Champion who came out of this be an attack on slow play. Championship is J. Clark Espie, of So, Seniors, arise! Out with the stop- Indianapolis, and a very deserving win- watches! Ready ... Set ... Go! ner he is. He was 3 down and 6 to play Repeat Finalists in the final match against the man who had Clark Espie and Fred Wright set a defeated him in last year's final, Frederick USGA record for men's championships in J. Wright, of Boston. being the Senior Championship finalists But there were other happenings of note for the second year in succession. Bob ~t Ridgewood, and chief among them was Jones and were twice the start of an effort by the seniors to finalists in the USGA Amateur Champion- influence golfers in general to speed up ship but not in consecutive years-I 924, play. when Jones won, and 1926, when Von The seniors began with themselves. At Elm won. The Women's Amateur Cham- the USGA Players' Dinner before the pionship has had one case of consecutive Championship, four types of golfing finalists-Mrs. Julius A. Page, Jr., and "snails" were described-the Nature-Lover, Miss Patty Berg, who won in that order in the Debator, the Waggler, and the Sur- 1937 and 1938. Mrs. Edwin H. Vare, Jr. veyor. The unhappy delay they can cause (Glenna Collett) and Miss Virginia Van for following golfers was pointed out by Wie thrice met for the Championship but four prominent seniors-Messrs. Espie, never in successive years. Wright, and Woodie Platt, Espie produced perhaps his best golf who was the first USGA Senior Champion of the week at the crucial stage of his 18- in 1955. hole Championship match with Wright. As elder statesmen, seniors can exert It looked as if Wright would retain the good inB.uence upon the game in their Ch~mpionship when he was 2 up at the home clubs and districts. The USGA Sen- turn and 3 up after 1I holes. But Espie ior Championship Committee hopes to en- played the next six holes in one under par list them to carry the gospel of speedier and took five of them, winning the match play through the land. Chairman of the by 2 and I. Factors in his winning surge were Committee is John G. Clock, of Long two big putts he holed, two three-putt Beach, Cat, a USGA Vice-President. greens by Wright and a virtually unplay- It is entirely possible that from the able lie by Wright in the base of a tree- small beginning at Ridgewood can start trunk,pn the concluding hole. an effort which will, through force of edu- The new Champion, who is 58 years old,

USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: NOVEMBER, 1957 11 reached the final by victories over Martin Rochelle, N. Y., defeated C. E. Bader, M. Issler, of West Orange, N. J.; Vincent Gary, Ind., 3 and 2. Fitzgerald, Garden City, N. Y.; Harold B. Fourth flight—Maurice L. Wilcox, Phila­ Ryder, Siasconset, Mass., and John M. Win­ delphia, defeated G. Calvert Hoyt, Red­ ters, Jr., Tulsa, Okla., who is Chairman of wood City, Cal., 3 and 1. the USGA Rules of Golf Committee. The Losers in the first round of all flights semi-final with Winters was even after n became eligible for an 18-hole consolation holes and Espie took four of the next five stroke play, which resulted in a tie at 83 for a 4-and-2 victory. between Robert U. Davidson, of Kansas Wright's victim in the semi-finals was City, and Paul W. Horn, Allentown, Pa. James H. McAlvin, of Lake Forest, 111., 2 A Lifetime Game and 1. Before that he defeated Roy L. Anyone seeking to make a virtuous case Corey, of Syracuse, N. Y.; Paul A. Dunkel, for golf as a lifetime game doesn't have far Ridgewood, N. J., and Thomas C. Robbins, to look. Among the many exemplars in the Mamaroneck, N. Y. Senior Championship we would cite Chick Espie, who has several grandchildren, Evans and Runcie Martin. has won the Indianapolis district, Indiana Chick Evans is 67 now, and it is 41 Senior and Western Senior Championships. years since he won the Open and the Ama­ He is a member of the USGA Senior teur in the same season. This year, after Championship Committee. winning two matches in the National Ama­ The Ridgewood course provided a sound teur in September, Chick went to the and exacting test. It was the scene of the Senior Championship. His qualifying score Ryder Cup Match between British and of 84 landed him in the first consolation American professionals in 1935, and it flight. In spite of some seventh-decade kept the seniors on their toes. The course aches and pains, he played as far as his was in splendid condition. So was Ridge- game would take him. wood's hospitality—nothing was left un­ Runcie Martin, a curler and a golfer done for the seniors, thanks to Howard from Duluth, Minn., has never had the Smith, Ridgewood's President; Joseph skill of Chick Evans but, today at age 72, Ganann, General Chairman of the Club's he is no less enthusiastic. He played at Committees for the Championship, and Ridgewood, and it was just 52 years after George Jacobus, long-time Professional he first played in—a national Champion­ and formerly PGA President. ship, the Amateur of 1905. Sectional qualifying at 24 locations re­ After the tournament he wrote the duced the original entry of 349 to 120 for USGA as follows: "I thoroughly enjoyed, the Championship proper. At Ridgewood meeting some 27 contestants in your Sen­ the medalist was a new senior, 55-year-old ior Championship whom I had either Thomas M. Green, Jr., of Seattle, with 73. played with in previous tournaments or Scores of 81 tied for the last place in the made the acquaintance of during tourna­ Championship flight of 32 who competed ments in the past." for the trophy presented by Frederick L. Now there is supposed to be an essential Dold. difference between the USGA Senior event For the first time there were consolation and most other senior tournaments. In the match play flights of 16 for non-qualifiers, LTSGA Championship the emphasis is on and the results in the finals were: competition; in the others, the main ideji First flight—Allen R. Rankin, Columbus, seems to be just fun and sociability. But Ohio, won by default from James S. Man- the two objects are not mutually exclusive, ion, St. Louis. as Mr. Martin has so nicely testified. Second flight—Maurice R. Smith, Kan­ Senior golf has had a tremendous growth sas City, defeated William E. Norvell, Jr., since World War II. The last ten years have Chattanooga, 6 and 4. produced a favorable climate for the game Third flight—Frank K. Stevens, New to appeal to elder citizens—an abundant 12 USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: NOVEMBER, 1957 J. Clark Espie, of Indianapolis, Ind., lines up a putt in the final of the USGA Seniors' Championship. From 3 down with 6 to play, he made a great come back to win by 2 and 1 from the holder, Frederick J. Wright, of Boston. economy, shorter work days, earlier retire- less than 55 and whose handicaps do not ment, more leisure time, the example of a exceed 10. golfing President. These elements have Although various senior events have been added to the natural charm of golf as various emphases, they all have the same a lifetime game in which, with handicaps, flavor of boyish play. The participants may you can make a match with your grand- be business leaders or manual laborers, mother. The result has been a quiet but ministers of the gospel or skilled techni- rather phenomenal upsurge in interest cians, but in golf they find a common de- among older men. It has been evident at nominator, and become boys again. all levels, starting in individual clubs and Golfers often improve with age. AI- extending to international team matches. (hough it ~$ not really an old ,nan's game, A strong reflection of booming local in- it has produced some rather astounding terest is seen in sectional and nation~l Champions. The 1933 British Amateur competitions for seniors. New tournaments Champion was a gentleman aged 54, the have sprung up all over the country. Sen- Hon. Michael Scott. Just five years ago the ior entry lists sometimes must be held USGA Amateur Championship had its old- down by such devices as limits of age and est winner in Jack Westland, of Everett, handicap. Wash., now a Congressman. He won at The United States Seniors' Golf Associa- age 47. When it was all over and the tion pioneered national competition, start- USGA asked Mr. Westland for a club or ing in 1905. Its members are individual other memento for the USGA Museum seniors at least 55 years old. The member- in "Golf House," he sent a shooting stick- ship list is restricted to a fixed number. seat on which he had rested frequently The USGA started its Senior Amateur during the Championship; it was accom- Championship in 1955, for members of panied by a note saying it had helped USGA member clubs whose age is not him "more than any club in the bag."

USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: NOVEMBER, 1957 13