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Show Ipbaklng Released by Western Newspaper Union. A LTHOUGH every big-time sport has suffered from necessary wartime restrictions, golf has taken some of the hardest whacks of all. Occasionally a few paragraphs concerning golf creep into the sports pages. They usually deal with some well-known player whose induction into the service merits a short story. Or perhaps a champion is playing a modest benefit match in some part of the country. Major tonrnaments are out. Even the PGA decided against its show for this year. The North and South tournament at Finehurst will be played, but entrance requirements are on a unique basis. If a player is under 38 be can't play unless he is in uniform, on leave. For the first time an adult championship has an age limit excluding the senior sen-ior matches. Most of the golf pros are rather young, and few have children. The circuit tours mean a roving existence exis-tence and the boys usually wait until un-til they've grown older and made their stake before starting a family life. The Civilian Game Big time golf is out until the war's end. And civilian golf is confronted with problems which are going to be difficult and, in some cases, impossible im-possible to solve. Fairways are not easy to maintain, and help is difficult to get. Civilian golf likely will run to week-end play. It probably won't be unusual to see John H. Duffer help keep the course in playable shape. Some private pri-vate clubs have organized worker-member worker-member committees. It is entirely possible that these committees will be successful in many localities particularly smaller towns and cities. cit-ies. Golf took a terrific boom after the last war. Most of the great stars came to the front , ; ' including Bobby w ! Jnes an(l Gene f,f Sarazen. Golf's win-1' win-1' ter tours were in- M - J augurated and be- SsiSfcm came ,a? himPrtant I - "qj part of the game. liW'Vv j Those days saw mIm i the game's most op-"""w op-"""w ulent period. There L3&CiIl? was nothing unusual unusu-al about a $5,000 Bobby Jones tournament. Big ones paid from $10,-000 $10,-000 to $15,000. Yet the greatest of them all the National Open paid only $1,000 to the winner. As an indication of the times, Walter Ha-gen Ha-gen signed as pro at St. Petersburg for $30,000 for the winter season a record price. Country Clubs The situation wasn't too healthy. Golf clubs were transformed into elaborate country clubs. They were more like night clubs with gymnastic gymnas-tic facilities available upon request. Every locker held its quota of liquid liq-uid refreshments. Club officials were in an expansive frame of mind. The depression changed the picture. pic-ture. Almost all clubs were forced to retrench some of them closed. Players didn't have the money to spend and golfing costs became more moderate. The end of this war won't see another an-other era of gaudiness. Today's players represent a truer cross section sec-tion of the public as a whole. More and more workers are playing the game, and they aren't going to give it back to the playboys. Such a situation augurs well for the game. With such a huge investment in-vestment in the sport, it would be worse than folly to allow its appeal to be narrowed. Two USGA officials George Blossom, president, and Joe Dey, secretary have compiled some amazing figures for your inspection. in-spection. Their figures show that a known total of 2,351,000 play the game on 5,209 golf courses comprising more than a half-million acres. It bas been estimated that the clubs used more than 600,000 caddies. The wages paid to caddies ran more than $30,000,000 a year. These figures haven't included the amounts paid to thousands of professionals, greens keepers and other workers needed by each course. Statistics tell only part of the story. sto-ry. Golf has a big advantage over any other sport It provides exercise exer-cise for player and spectator alike. The average spectator following a big match gets fully as much exercise exer-cise as the player. His ditch-jumping six-mile hike definitely Is good for the muscles. And the gate receipts re-ceipts of the major tournaments help boost golf as big business in any man's language. When war was declared in December De-cember of 1941 the investment In golf was estimated at $726,000,000. This includes land, courses, clubhouses, club-houses, etc, and Is only a part of the total outlay which runs far more than a billion dollars. Despite the huge investment, golf is no longer only a rich man's game. It is only because it is a game for the masses that so much money has been spent on courses. Golf has been a li'esaver for thousands of men and women who need exercise exer-cise and relief from business complications com-plications and worries. |