There is another development of the game in this country in the direction of increased interest in club matches, which has both advantages and disadvantages. Golf has never been regarded as a game for team matches in the past; it never can, from the very nature of thing's, be regarded in that light in the future. There is absolutely no scope for team work in these encounters between clubs, and so, at best, they can only be taken as an excuse for friendly gatherings. Looked at from that point of view, they are entirely unobjectionable, and very often most enjoyable. Yet there is a certain danger in them, especially in America, which, however slight, ought to be carefully guarded against. So far golf, both here and in Great Britain, has been free from any taint of semi-professionalism; and very naturally so, because it has always been regarded as a game for individual amusement. Amateur championships are inventions of recent date, and club matches would probably never have crept into practice if it had not been for the inter-university contests at Oxford and Cambridge.

It is easily understood that where a man plays for his own amusement the element of semi-professionalism cannot exist; but as soon as club rivalry is introduced the inducement to resort to questionable methods becomes a factor in the game. It is very hard for golfers in England and Scotland to understand that such a danger can exist, because they have never looked upon club rivalry as a determining feature of the situation. Here in America the spirit of competition is so keen in every walk of life that it is just as well to face the danger at the outset and make provision against it; for it would be a thousand pities if the disease which has infected both football and baseball should spread into golf.

The Benefit Of Better Courses

Possibly the best way of dealing with the subject is for the association to take absolutely no cognizance of club matches; in that way the club match may still be a source of enjoyment without becoming a matter of public interest. And in the second place, I am confident that the gradual improvement in the various courses all over the country will make golf more and more desirable for its own sake, and not for the glory or rewards which at present give it a spurious value. There is not a doubt that inferior courses lead to a multiplying of competitions of every kind, because interest must be stimulated in every way to make up for the defects in the game itself. It is an invariable rule that the better the links the fewer are the competitions. This argument applies not only to the hunting after prizes, but in a minor degree to club matches. If your course is a good one you will get far more enjoyment out of a week's good match play than from any number of official events.