Gary Galyean's Golf Letter
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GARY GALYEAN’S ® OLF ETTER® G T H E I N S I D E R E PL O R T O N W O R L D G O L F NUMBER 337 OUR 31st YEAR MAY 2020 Dear Subscriber: SOME GOLF IN 1888 Compiled and Edited by ruited here a few weeks back, the 149th Open D.M. Wilson III BChampionship, which was scheduled to be played this coming July at Sandwich, will instead be played at Yet again, Grant Books, through the collaboration of Sandwich next July [2021]. of D.M. Wilson III and H.R.J. Grant, has produced a golf book that reflects the formative years of 19th century This maintains the return of the Open Championship golf in Great Britain through the to St. Andrews for its 150th playing. intriguing language, customs, and The Old Course has been the Open art of that time. venue 29 times since 1873. INSIDE THIS ISSUE Some Golf in 1888 was com- Major Championships’ New Dates The Open Championship is the piled and edited by Mr. Wilson only 2020 major championship–at SOME GOLF IN 1888 who communicated that “there was least so far–to have canceled altogeth- A Reader’s Comment plenty of pleasure and serendipity er for 2020. The three other 2020 in creating ‘1888’, not the least of majors have moved to late summer which was discovering the delightful and autumn as follows: art of John Fulleylove”. 2020 - 102nd P.G.A. Championship - Harding Park, This is an engrossing, attractive and fulfilling book. Its San Francisco - Aug. 6 - 9. 60 pages are comprised of a backgrounding introduction 2020 - 120th U.S. Open - Winged Foot, by Mr. Wilson, the reproduction of four articles–ranging Mamaroneck - Sept. 17 - 20. Ryder Cup - Whistling Straits - Sep 25 - 27 2020 - 84th Masters - Nov. 12 - 15. Next Year 2021 - 85th Masters - Apr. 8 - 11. 2021 - 103rd P.G.A. Championship - Kiawah [Ocean], South Carolina - May 17 - 23. 2021 - 121st U.S. Open - Torrey Pines [South], San Diego - June 14 - 20. 2021 149th Open - Royal St. George’s, Sandwich - July 15 - 18. from golf travel in Scotland to the psychology of play- Games of the XXXII Olympiad - Golf event, ing–and a charming reproduction of the Rules of Golf Kasumigaseki, Japan - Jul 30 - Aug 8. and Local Rules for the Links of St. Andrews from 1888. Published Monthly • Subscription Rate US $88 Per Year www.thegolfletter.com • 20 V 1p The year 1888 was relatively ordinary during an liam Borroughs patented the adding machine, George extraordinary time on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Eastman created Eastman Kodak, and the Washington Golf was booming in Great Britain, Ireland, and across Monument opened. T.S. Eliot, Harpo Marx, and Joseph the British Empire; and just coming ashore in America. Kennedy Sr. were born. Two important golf clubs were founded in 1888: In The first two articles in Some Golf in 1888 are a Ireland, The County Club, which would be renamed two-part account of a 20-day, 12-course trip through Royal Portrush in 1892; and, in New York, the St. Scotland titled A Tour Round Scottish Golf Courses. They Andrews Golf Club were published in of Yonkers, which The Newcastle became one of the Daily Journal and five founding clubs written under the of the United States pen-name Scriba. Golf Association. The traveling group was comprised of The Royal and four men who began Ancient Golf Club their journey at of St. Andrews en- Dunbar and fin- joyed its 134th year ished at Prestwick. in 1888 while the There is a descriptive U.S.G.A. was nine entry for each course years from being played, as well as established. contemporary course Queen Victoria, maps and scorecards. 67, was in her 51st The 12 courses year as sovereign and in the order played 12 years out from were: Dunbar, North having adopted the Berwick, Gullane, Luffness, Musselburgh, Edinburgh, title Empress of India. St. Andrews, Carnoustie, Leven, Glasgow, Troon, and In England, the Lawn Tennis Association was born Prestwick. Note: In 1888, The Honourable Company of in 1888, as was T.E. Lawrence, monikered “Lawrence of Edinburgh Golfers still played at Musselburgh. It was not Arabia” by Lowell Thomas and simultaneously “you little until 1891 that the Club moved to Muirfield. twerp” by Gertrude Bell. Thomas Hardy’sWessex Tales It is significant to remember that Bernard Darwin’s were published. The Whitechapel Murders–11 unsolved Golf Courses of the British Isles was not published cases attributed to Jack the Ripper–began their three year until 1910. While it was the first, and remains the finest, run of terror in London’s East End. opinionated description of golf courses in Great Britain, In America, “The Schoolhouse Blizzard” in the upper that standard had not yet been reached in 1888. Midwest killed Scriba’s accounts of their trip’s 12 courses are more a 235–including many knowledgeable enthusiast’s descriptions, as opposed to children on their SOME GOLF IN 1888 those of a professional writer, genius, and highly skilled way home from Compiled and Edited by amateur player. That being said (written), the reader will school–and “The D.M. Wilson III find it easy to appreciate Scriba’s effort. As he and his Great Blizzard” killed Orders: Hughes & Company friends began their trip’s golf at Dunbar, this first para- more than 400 on Pershore, Worcestershire, England graph sets the stage for the entire piece: the eastern seaboard. www.hughesprinters.com Casey at the Bat e-mail: Dunbar [email protected] was published, the Arriving at Dunbar by the 2:50 train from £18.88 national typing com- Newcastle on the afternoon of Saturday, 23rd June, plus postage UK £4 Overseas £7 petition was won by we engaged the station bus to convey us to the Links, a stenographer using 8½" high x 11½" wide 60 pages about three-quarters of a mile distant, where, having touch typing for the 29 illustrations [6 color] selected whom we thought the most intelligent-look- first time, Wil- Rules of Golf insert 24 pages ing “caddies” from amongst the throngs of boys in THE GOLF LETTER® • 20 V 3p waiting, we commenced the round of 18 holes. The It is surprising how situation of the golfing course is very fine, charm- similar in language and ing views of the Bass Rock, May Island, and long approach so many of the stretches of the Haddington coast forming a delightful 1888 rules are to those of panorama. The grass throughout the course is rather the last 75 years. Grant longer than is desirable for the game, but the “putting Books’ brochure states: greens” were all that could be desired. The year also saw In addition to golf course descriptions and evalua- the important 1888 tions, Scriba is unafraid to wander into the social aspects Rules of Golf by the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of their trip that do not include golf. His take on visiting of St. Andrews, the near-final step in making golf’s an Edinburgh club for dinner gives a calm and tasteful Rules uniform. account of an evening that, perhaps thankfully, distracted This must have been true in 1888. However, the for- from the game: Edinburgh mation of the U.S.G.A. in 1895, and their appointment of themselves for the administration of U.S. and Mexican Returning to Edinburgh, and divesting ourselves golf, disrupted uniformity in the Rules. Bill Campbell of our golfing attire, we made our way to the Con- often spoke of being handed pages of Rules differences servative Club in Princess Street, where we had an when the Walker Cup was played in the U.K. It would engagement to dine with a party of golfing friends. be 1952 before this divergence was addressed; 1984 for a Our host, Mr. W.B. Glen, S.S.C., was ready to meet major re-org; and 1990 before we all used the same ball. us, and showed us over the magnificent building ... The booklet also contains local rules for the St. An- The view from the windows is charming, the upper drews links. This one is noteworthy: ones commanding the entire length of Princess Street, with Sir Walter Scott’s monument, and facing into Ball Lost. the gardens and on to the grand old Castle. 4. A ball getting into the enclosure (between the Additional segments from Some Golf in 1888 Road and Dyke holes) called the “Station-Master’s include The Psychology of Golf , reprinted from Edinburgh Garden,” shall be treated as a lost ball. Magazine [May 1888], and simply Golf, which appeared My Kingdom for a Course in Outdoor Sports in Scotland in 1889. The former is Stratford-upon-Avon & Some Golf intriguing in light of all that is currently written about sports psychology. Nothing has changed much in this While sequestered by Wuhan virus, we can still make area–and probably never will. plans for future golf in attractive, faraway places. Strat- ford-upon-Avon is such a place if you have a hankering Golf describes the game’s history and traditions in a for Shakespeare and the ancient game. delightful and entertaining way for those, presumably, newly drawn to the game’s magnetic qualities. The Welcombe is less than two miles from Stratford, situated on 150 acres, and features 18-holes of golf. It is In addition to the main volume, there is an inserted also just 45 minutes from Blenheim Palace and Winston reprint of the Rules of Golf from 1888. The little book Churchill’s grave.