LADY GOLFERS IN AMERICA

Taranaki Daily News, 17 October 1931, Page 4

LADY GOLFERS IN AMERICA

PROBLEMS OF HOSPITALITY. DLjjI.CATE POINTS AT ISSU?.

By

—Special to News.)’

Harry Vardon

It is announced, that the first official ijpa.teK,:bet\yeen teams of la<|y golfers Great Britain, and the United States will take place next spring ip.’ Atrierica. -Virtually all the best the two countries engaged in epfitest at SuT}nihd<}ale Ifist year when •Bri’taiif won,’ but that was a privately arrayed affair for the reason that the (ity'i)iorities were not : then prepared id tike charge of the fixture. The ’, Golf Onion has acted ’ leeurageously in embarking on the new ’ ■ Enterprise, which is to be perpetuated’at . iniprvjils like the ’Walker Cup and the Rfder’Ctyp matches for men. When the umdfi resolved upon it there' was no dejfniid idea y as to how to raise ro’opfey for the firist expedition. The Americans are «•" idspii&V le > • OA' IB B Pi t ? ■ eir . ‘Well" Street crashes they still seem to have siiph abundant financial fmr.- golf, that no doubt they wpuld . iljdiy. have met all the of such -£ visit. But that is not quite in accordance with the traditions of inter- ;■ ■ ’ national rivalry, nor in it permissible under the regulation which governs thi ways of amateurs. Last winter Several of .the leading British lady golfers were invited to take part’ in a round of tournaments '• in'Florida. Thpv were informed that ' ■■ members of the golf clubs, in the districts which it was- proposed , to visit hid' expressed a wish to entertain, the tourltte as guests,, who would therefore he relieved of hdtel. expenses—an item, which; in Florida, has made many a holjdiy-mgker blanch. Th.y would be ■ called upon to pay. only their travelling and incidental expenses. , The Ladies’ Golf Union decided to ajk the Royal and Ancient Club whether such an arrangement could be permit; ted. The ruling body replied that any bbdy who agreed to accept private host pi’tality for the purpose of taking part in tournaments must cease to play as an amateur, and so the small party that went paid their own expenses. PRECEDENTS. That was excellent, but for Almost is long .is’l can remember people have 'been, ■ talking and meditating on the Subject of hospitality, or at any, rate, ■lJsfe exact degree in which it may be offered, and . accepted with propriety. ■Everyone •'kilo ws there has. been plenty of •it ever since golf began' to be a ,'game of .universal interest. Well-known imateiiri have gone far afield to stay it the Hbuses of friends, .vho sent hearty invitations, dictated I dare ayvear, ■fay the ffict that the clubs to which ■they belonged were holding open competitions in which the presence of distinguished strangers was held to be vital. Nobody has ever, thought anything of thifi, not 'so fnuch a. 6 a breath of scandal has come of it. And 1 hope Bone’.'ever will. .' . ■ Social amenities have some right to a trtacb in the Sun, and if they happen to induce £ champion to travel hundreds of ' miilfes and appear in public because he is .Staying, at the house of a friend close by, sb much the better for. every‘bbdy concerned. The system might be ibiisexi, but 1 have never'hedrd of. anything to its discredit. And, in any Case, it is better that it should be abus- & occasionally than thal the harmless pleasantries of life Should be entirely ■ sacrificed. , ■ r -Thb Royal and Ancient Club has been ’'■ ebrihisterit jn its attitude, for I re.meinIbei that, quite a quart-r of & century ! i \ .. it put its veto on the scheme of a f railway company which, desiring to ■ draw attention to a. course which it owned,- offered .free travel passes and j‘<- accommodation to well-known v Afhkteurs who would compete in a tournaiupnt on the course.. The situation geetoe to'be that an amateur may ac- • . eept,* friend’s hospitality, but norther. For instance, the members of the British iWlifter ‘ Cup team • are entertained a ■good deal when they go to the United lt is inevitable that it should be so. , . ~ , . „ i "The Americans would not accept a rule which debarred them from inviting visiting British amateurs to stay at their houses as guests, and the visitors wmild'fie chuHish if they declined. Thq touri6o. have, their hotel well > • tri veiling expenses paid up to tipe when they ".take part in the, Walker Cup match, but during the remainder oi their sthy in Anieriba, which'is invariably prolonged £o t'hat they may com--pete in the United States amateur championship, they have io draw upon their own resources. MITCHELL’S FIRST TRIAL. Yet how full it is of incongruities! I remember Ape Mitchell, as known amateur, being taken to Hoy- ■ lake by his’ patrons, Mr. Horace Hutch, ihson and Mr. S. Winkley Smith, to pliy in' the amateur championship. Mit- - chell had dope nothing to infringe his status; 1 he. had never been qway fiom hl# home at Forest ?ow in Sussex ai d hit work in the grounds of the hosts who. bore him North. Still, touch as ■people praised hig skill and his 10ngdfitihg (lie reached the semi-final, if I rightly), th?y- talked, hard ajbout the fact that he had come as the guest of his employers, and made it virtually impossible for anything of tne kiftd to happen again. It is desperately difficult to know inhere, in these matters, the state of ■being ’ proper be'giiis and ends. Just ihbw difficult it is can be appreciated hv one little note which the Royal and Ancient Club, with all its broaiLmindedneas on the subject, has incorporated in •ike definition of an amateur ' This note aayg lhat.he may accept two golf balls free of charge from manufacturers for testing purposes,, and that , they “must in every case be clearly marked with the word ‘sample.”’ Two!. And how thte blessed word “sample is going to save his soul .1 do not know.