COST OF GOLF.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18674, 24 April 1926, Page 13

COST OF GOLF.

SOME LONDON FIGURES. NORMAL AND ABNORMAL(btxcAixt warrrav rom tax ma*.") (By Harry VSrdon, Six Timet Opta Champion.) An amateur with whom 1 played the other day complained severely about the cost of golf in the London district. He came from,the provinces, and bad been visiting several well-known courses in the now extensive metropolitan none. Evidently his chief impression of the experience was as to the "luxurioosneaa ot the game," as he kept on calling it. He laid most of the blame at the door of the club-house. The erection and maintenance of sumptuous dabhouses, with the large staffs that they necessitated, had sot the standard, of outlay, he declared, in all the features that now entered into a day a golt. Among these he included rerresumenu ujiu Dnage. Me remarked, too, that the amount spout on the upkeep of courses was absurd compared with the sum that sumced twenty yean ago. He supposed it was the sequel to the luxurious club-house, no committee could justifiably squander money on the latter, and then save on the green. The game was far better, he said—end a triumph of economics—in his younger days, when 'all the accommodation that the player expected was something in the nature of a hut, and when the course was suited to the club-house. Naturally, the visitor who insists on* playing on popular courses at weekends, as this one had done, must pay heavily for the privilege. For one thing, the clubs concerned do not particularly want him at week-ends, this being the period when their own members are securing money's worth for .the annual subscriptions which they pay. Several clubs round London charge £1 a day greed fee on Saturdays end Sundays'; but that is not remarkable. The same standard' prevails at weekends at tho golf clubs round*. Paris; it is a form of protection. My critical friend produced a ME for two days at the dormy-house,' showing that bed, bathw, breakfast* ana dinner* had cost him £2 16s. Luncheons and teas in the club-house he estimated at 12s, and caddies at another I9i,'tawtag —with green fees—£6 for days, apart from the oast of travelling to.and fro, and of making-rasb-wsaare with players of unexpected excellence. A Matter of fOurfee. • No doubt this looks dreadful. Bat the truth is that walk «f life the person who goes the most expeoxrv* way to work can always find a, way that. is very expensive, indeed. To/ihe'*v«r-* age player throughout the counttryf tfee> cost of golf is not very high. In*a Jarsja degree it is still true that the pastine is only as expensive as the pmiajf tikee to make it. In a former, era, golf • acquired 4 ttt reputation of being - "a .nek, ma*,'* game," 1 which' gave it a certain sYdeodour in some eyes—a splendour' thaf'wae not really deserved. In point of feet, the man who .paid :an'annual.mbaaftp. tion of five guineas to a local club, and had a round nearly every fNajag--in the summer, and goodness kaows how many rounds on Saturdays-i aid <■ Sundays, received an astonishingly- good return for his outlay. v What more could mortal-desire than the 'use of miles of ground : antqis% prepared for the game, at* a chafgu out at about two eMBUiBm week!. Any -other 'form 'Of..reerj|mli|> apart from walking .pare-iaeT : m|nK would cost mare; • ■ ''*' > *sss There are still hundreds of CJnpjrVC think it is right to say that fttflfc stitute the majority—whoije scriptions do 'not exceed .etgw-fßdwi,'. Apart., from ' public course! plenty suited r to those p4ejie''m'#tt'called so affectinglyr-tad/ so "the new poor." f.\* . ■ :,. gan with an annual subKrtottA.tiaf two guineas for men, ead'*eßVj«da#tfor ladies—a tariff at wa)ek body could complain. /Not' jrer*a|>W ago I heard of a course afc ChfaWMjKt the course of the Mid-Keit which had been opened with'gratt'iaw in 1010 by Mr (now I*rd) and the late Hob. Atfred It was full of variety.and; it, charged only five 'galeae',»J ANfe and anybody who Jived? eeve»'awsj|lsr more from Gravesend .could •bewnWii country member, and enjoy. iUfulf ftfivl; leges, for two-and-a-half guineas! *-ott? '■■ It had adapted all its.'wmtuM a* well as natural advantages; two'o#sbe bunkers, beautifuly shaped had jriMeij were made by Zeppelin bombs, and ek-ids-toned "Big Willie" lie." So far as J ing spirit of the club was-afjjloj 'W*9S» intervals between the Mvigutm eJTjfli and 0.: boats through tuary were devoted to th* stftrpesj&esis work of making golf popular ia r end. - - " ,p " ■-■; ? * . The fttfPhn BBh^t Even in former times, • disburse a lot on the gsme/lC od to do so, by visiting Mm or less remote from his home, fMffbing the week-end at the dnnajtson*JJk or a - neighbouring hotel, and' s*£&£ four-ball matches for,/'mpterrear eexacrs.": . ' : ' J '***' It is for the kind of golfer who feels that he most go at'frequent intervals that the garnet ISi becoming desperately expensive;* aseV aa - the desire to play on strange'' aid much/discussed courses is strong ia:^the" breast of nearly vrtxj entausjaaVgCaf is apt to be made more ft need be. ' . ." There are people ready to face the oiftlay, and they at least help u tlw'aoUe work of making the • money go fofttfd •—although it seems'to,go rouad fast enough without assistance. But iffa ■ occasional expenditure does not reurfe sent the normal cost of golf, tflkxej? the country all through, the cost ic mod-" erate. """""* The rubber-cored ball at 9s 6d ie probably cheaper than- the* old guttapercha ball at Is. The- latter certainly would not last more'than one lesjad(some people were in the habit of putting down a new ball every few' holes because the "gutty" soon lost. its shape), whereas the modern ball, amies* lost or cot will usually serve well, for at least three or four rounds.