GOLF IN ENGLAND

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16827, 14 December 1928, Page 9

GOLF IN ENGLAND

POPULARITY OF PUTTING L.C.C. MAKES EASY MONEY LONDON. Oct. 4. During Hip summer the London County Council has lbadc the astonishing sum of £IO,OOO out of the tittle putting greens which it has set up on some of its open spaces. It is surely one of the easiest ways of making money any endo authority ever employed. Its only outlay has been) in repainted golf balls, cheap putting irons, little red flags, minibred discs and round tins for the holes. No more attention has been given to the lawns than would have been paid in anv case-—rough patches have served as natural hunkers—and a rearrangement of London County Council ground staff has enabled money to be taken without additional outlay. Every day during this wonderful summer queues of players have waited to nay for their turns round the courses. Man and girl clerks have spent their dinner hours at the game, and business staffs have arranged competitions among themselves. The Embankment Gardens have been crowded every day, and at Lincoln’s Inn Fields, barristers, solicitors and law students, together with company directors and office bovs. and the commercial grades in between, have been striving to get- round in 39 (which is the record f or the course). Tt is almost as amusing to watch as it is to nlav. ,ind practically every suitable natch of grass in the eitv has been ernnlnved in tin's way. and has developed into a small lmt profitable gold held. Puttinrr greens are disnlacinir f’m oldt”"n skittle alleys at the public bouses, and in seaside resorts, and at country ln ns and ten houses they have this year r nrung into existence as very paving proposition., One of the most nmos'oy fe n L ures of H'p irame flip pile- has been its domoera'ismy infhmneo, Tleainess managers vbn have '"-•‘■■diiooslv devoted then' week-ends to Walton Heath, have not lufreonenHy found themselves outplayed on *Pp office nofHn" course bv a junior e'erk whose accuracy was more romark-*H-le on the green than in the ledger, and a friendly rivalry lias ensued which t'ss serve-1 least to humanise business relationships The 910,009 spent in threepences on H’e L.C.C. greens is only a drop >n a huukef e'-nrui’T-l with the vast amount v v pended r, n 'O'i f ! n ft rent Britain. .At the beginning of f 1-,is vmr there were in ''■a United Kinedom cmlf clubs with courses of their own. The s're r,r membership varies considerably, accord"i'r to flip district and finality r ' f (bo links, hut the clubs in Great, Britain have an annual membership roll of over 600.000. Til is, of course, does not include tlie thousands of temporary members. from whom the clubs derive a groat nart of their revenue. Annual subscriptions average about 10 guineas a year, so that in Great Britain there is an income of over £6.000,000 a year from regular members alone. The revenue from the green fees of visitors varies from two to four million a year for the whole of the Kingdom, ail of which is free of income tax, due to a recent decision by the revenue authorities. Bv calling the casual uolfcr “a temporary member.” the club is enabled to claim exemption in respect of green fees. T'lese vary in amount from half-a-crown to 10 shillings on week days, and are usually doubled on Saturdays and Sundays.

Courses where championship meetings are held obtain considerable sums from gate money. For instance, the open championship at St. Anne’s a couple of years ago attracted 12,000 visitors, who paid nearly £I4OO. Entrance- fees also mount up considerably at such times. But this is a form of expenditure, confined to the “tigers” among golfers, and not to the ordinary “rabbits.” These however, spend much above their club subscription on their pastime. There are the monthly competition fees, the purchase of new clubs and balls, the expenditure on caddies and tips, the inevitable refreshments at the 19th hole and the cost of transport to and from the course. It is impossible to estimate what these items amount to, but it is a very luke-warm or parsimonious golfer who does not expend £SO a year on his game. New clubs are springing up all over the country, and municipalities are laying down many courses and finding they pay. On the outer fringes of London all the clubs have long waiting lists, and 129 have headquarters in the eitv. Edinburgh has 19 courses, hut 169 clubs without links, whose members play on public courses. Among Glasgow's 51 clubs is a Pawnbrokers’ Golf Club, the members of which' use links lent by other clubs. The largest club in England is Moor Park, Rickniansworth, which has 1100 annual members.