Show narrow fairways vy stymie champs ch amps by GRANTLAND RICE UDLEY ROBERTS AND bill kent two easthampton golfers arrange arranged dan an 18 hole exhibition recently that I 1 had wanted to see for a long time it was the slugger against nature the big hitter against the hazards of water sand and wind it was a matter of power vs control the four aur men athe in the tour of maidstone were sammy snead P r G A champion cary dl ecoff open champion lloyd mangrum ex open champion n and skip alexander these four had been shooting from 64 to 68 63 on much longer courses than maid a stone t 0 n e which is on only ly yards yard but at the finish finis their range I 1 in scoring was from 70 to 76 and only one of the four equalled equal led par snead had a 75 and a 76 with a nor mal wind they grantland rice would have been two or three strokes higher it S so happens that maidstone Mald stone Is a links link snot not lacourse a course A links Is a course by a sea or an ocean no t trees rees are involved the only hazards are winds sand dunes and sea grass maidstone Mald stone looks kooks more like scotland than st andrews does it has more dunes and mor more e water and more sand if this be treason to scotland let scotland come to malmstone Mald HaId stone johnny kieran the sage once a 76 78 shooter in golf gave up the game years ago 1 I would never have quit golf he be told me rea recently it if I 1 had seen this links the that maidstone malmstone Mald stone was too narrow too well trapped for snead and the two champions at so many other courses around the country snead and Middle cof f two of the greatest greate st could wander 40 yards 0 off if line a and nd have a good lie not at maidstone Mald stone where each waver ing or off line shot exacted its pen penalty alty you are in sand or sets sea gr grass ass or some form of sea side eide trouble the greens at maidstone are small and the fairways narrow this Is my idea of a great course I 1 dont care for the big gr greens beens and the wide spreading fairways now so much in vogue maidstone Mald stone at yards is much tougher than most courses at or yards there are no hills to 0 o climb at maidstone Mald stone which a as 8 tho the years roll in is an added feature each year the hills get higher maidstone Maid stona Is a pretty narrow target sammy snead said you cant turn loose like you can on those big fairways and the greens are pretty small why not most greens are much too big putting is much too important por tant putting where a stooping gentleman of 75 might outputs sammy snead for the true te test st I 1 believe in narrow fairways smaller greens and shorter marches the snead Middle maur mane rum alexander show proved I 1 was right control is more important than uncontrolled power there should be a serious Berlo iia penalty for every shot off line the rules illes ll of golf giff gou golf happens to be a game qulia quite an ancient game that has far more players than baseball and football combined the number runs into several millions it is a playing inlaying game not a spectators game but in recent years the rules rule of the game gam have clipped badly under poor control the original rules of at the game being an outdoor competition covering some or or er acres was that the he ball be played where you found lt it without any caressing or lifting recently Becent ly I 1 was following a match with two ex presidents of the U S G A they were john jackson jac an eminent lawyer and archie held whose fattier father was one of the siemen six men who form formed edthe the apple tree gang at st andrews ere in 1892 this was a match play round the sun was shining the sky was blue As each player came to a gre green en he promptly picked up his ball marked it and stuck the ball in his pocket poc ket why asked jackson jack son and held who know more of the spirit and purpose of golf than most of the players the me ball bal is ii not supposed to be touched archie areld said if it were raining and muddy and a special rule were made for the day that ahat would ve be different under the rules of golf they have no right to lift the ball and clean it mr jackson concurred both were per cent right 1 I should like to know why the presidents of the U S G A and the P G A permit this drift |