The Woman's National Golf Course

The Ladies Will Soon Overcome the Too Severe Penalties Imposed by the Golf Links Built for Men

GRANTLAND RICE

AS we recall the affair, it was Spartacus who asked "Are ye Romans, or are ye slaves?" It is in much the same spirit that Miss Marion Hollins of Westbrook, Long Island, has spoken to the golf playing members of her sex, and spoken so effectively that, by the spring of 1924, the banner of freedom and emancipation will be flying above the Women's National Golf Club on Long Island, the first organization of its, kind in history.

Heretofore, women golfers—and the number of them now runs into thousands—have been forced to face the test of a masculine par, which is always based upon the top form of the leading men players. The test has been a trifle trifle too severe and out of proportion. Our leading women golfers can beat thousands of good men players, but they are not able to compete upon anything like even terms with such star amateurs as Sweetser, Jones, Evans, Ouimetandotherswhogo around in the low 70's.

The result is that the best of the women players, such as Miss Collett, Miss Hollins, Miss Stirling or Miss Cummings, can rarely break 80 over the longer championship courses for men. And those among the ladies who are not in the championship class are called upon to face carries and second shots that are impossible, even when playing their best games.

It might be argued that the leading women golfers play far better than the average male player. This is true enough. Miss Cummings has had a 77 over the 6400 yard Belleair course. Miss Collett has had a 76 over the 6300 yard Shennecosset course, and Miss Stirling has scored a 75 over the championship Hamilton course and Miss Hollins has had many rounds under 80 over hard courses. But these are all exceptional performances.

These four women stars can all drive well over 200 yards; frequently up to 240; but they are exceptional, and they should have a better chance to show their quality in a fairer test. First class women players rarely drive beyond 180 yards. This means that on a drive and pitch hole of 375 yards or more, their best efforts will not reach the green in two strokes and they will be in no position to carry some trap placed there for the longer hitters.

These same penalties will apply to the vast majority of male players. But since a masculine par has been established there isn't very much a player can do about it except to look for an occasional victory over destiny. The man faces an ancient custom, one that calls 440 yards a good par. It is not only a good par 4 for him—it is entirely too good. But since no golf course was ever built for women, they now have their chance to build a links along a more reasonable scheme that will fairly test their best game.

Rival Tests

IT has been shown by various tests that the best of the male players can give the best women players something like nine strokes to the round, and still win over them. Jim Barnes and Abe Mitchell were both successful against Miss Cecil Leitch on this basis and it is about the margin that Sweetser, Evans and Jones could give the best women in our country.

There is still another point to consider and this is the tendency on so many of the crowded courses in America to restrict the hours for women, especially on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. This restriction has not only deprived them of golf but has also frequently given them an uncomfortable feeling while playing over men's courses. It was with this double thought in mind that Miss Marion Hollins, some time ago, started to develop the idea of a Woman's National Course. The plan was aided immensely by having Miss Hollins back of it. She is not only a very fine golfer, an ex-champion, but in addition to being thoroughly good at golf, polo, four-in-hand driving and other sports, enjoys a general popularity which, from the first, insured success for her enterprise.

And so, upon 160 acres at Glen Head, Long Island, four or five miles from Piping Rock and Nassau, the latest development in golf is now taking shape. With wonderful golf country to begin with, the cooperation of three noted golf architects was secured—Devereux Emmett, Charles B. Macdonald and Seth Raynor, all of whom have been responsible for many of the greatest courses in America. Macdonald has only to point to the National, Lido, Piping Rock and the Links to know that his fame as a golf architect will endure for generations.

Miss Hollins' plan calls for a membership limited to 400 women, each one to purchase a $1000 share. This share may be sold upon resignation from the club, and is therefore an assured investment. And so quickly did the general scheme take hold that Miss Hollins soon began to receive applications for admission all the way from California to Aiken. There are no non-resident membershps, all members paying the same price for a share and the same annual dues of $150.

From the summer of 1923 on, the Women's National Golf and Tennis Club will be a rallying ground for the weaker sex—not so weak of late, to be sure. It will undoubtedly be the first of many similar developments because the growth of golf among women has been one of the most phenomenal features of the last few years, and there doesn't seem to be room enough for both sexes to play golf at the same time. The women in this respect will be somewhat more gallant than the men have been. They are not going to give rights to the men, but the husbands of members may play when the course isn't too crowded with women. Under these conditions there will be an excellent chance to build up a greater demand for two-ball mixed foursome play, so popular in Great Britain and so little known or tried over here. When men and women play together in a four-ball match the woman figures so slightly that she only counts here and there at isolated intervals, but, in a mixed foursome with two balls only, there can be keen and genuine interest on both sides with each partner playing alternate strokes. The new course at Glen Head will make a feature of this form of golf and at least see that it receives a fairer trial than it has had so far.

Here the golf widow will enjoy her chance for a more equal division of the spoils. She has had little opportunity during spring and summer week-ends to get in a good round of golf, the chances being that her husband's course did not admit women on Saturdays and Sundays. The ladies may even bring about a new form of golf widower.

The Course

THE Women's National Course will be an ideal place for a championship test. The fact that it is to be slightly upon the better balanced side for the benefit of the better loved sex doesn't mean that it is to be a duffer's paradise, untrapped and short.

It will extend for over 6000 yards with the carries and the bunkers based upon the play of the leading women stars, who will not be called upon to face any impossible situations. The idea is that the two-shotter will be a twoshotter for Miss Collett, Miss Hollins, etc. and not a two-shotter that only a Hagen or a Sweetser or a Mitchell can reach. The drive and pitch holes, and the short holes, will be built with the same idea in mind, all interesting and well trapped, of course, but quite possible for a good woman player. If the Misses Collett, Hollins, Stirling, Cummings, etc. are at their best they will have a chance to get their 72's just as Bobby Jones and Chick Evans have a 72 in mind over the longer, harder championship courses for men. And the chances of the other women players will be in the same proportion.

The 160 acres at Glen Head have a creek and a pond to help in building the water hazards, so that the male golfer whose game is about 100 will not be able to prance around under 90. It may be that a large number of males who spend so many moody hours in traps and bunkers on the longer courses will find that this type of course is much better suited to their game. This will enable the man golfer who boasts of his 90 game, to prove it now and again.