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Show GOT HIS FIRST GOLF CLUB FOR CHRISTMAS Famous Amateur Player Tells of Youthful Experiences. Chick Evans When Eight Years OW Received His First Introduction to Ancient Game His First Choice Was Cleek. "It was on Christmas day, 1S98, that I received my first golf club," said Chick Evans recently. "It was a cleek a gift from my father and I was not at all surprised to receive It. He had asked me jokingly what I would J4JM y Chick Lvs;-,3. like to have. I am sure that he knew without being told, but he wanted to hear from me. Without hesitation I said, 'a golf club 1' He then asked me what kind, and I told him that I would think about it. That meant that I would seek expert advice. It was an important question, for If a fellow has only one club it is destined to various uses and must be chosen because of its adaptability. Therefore I asked all of the big boys who played golf and as many of the men golfers who seemed approachable as to the best club for a small boy who could have but one. They all agreed that the best single club a golfer could have was a cleek, and cleek It was. I wonder If the same group of individuals would be so unanimous in the choice now. "I was then eight years old, and the previous autumn I had received my first introduction to golf. The family had moved out to Rogers Park, and shortly afterwards, in the order in which I mention them, I had seen my first golf ball, my first golf course, and mv first golf club, and It was not many weeks more before I had got through my first round of caddying. I had been mightily charmed by this first glimpse of a new sport. "Before I received my club I had already obtained a few golf balls. My nearest approach to a golf stroke, however, how-ever, was an attempt to push the ball Into a hole with a stick broken from any handy tree. This makeshift was ended by the gift of the club. "I spent that Christmas day practicing prac-ticing in the house, In the frozen garden. gar-den. In the street. I nearly wrecked the place, and I suppose I was a peril to life and limb in the street, but It was a blissful day and lives In the clearest memory. It foretold a wonderful won-derful year." |