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I
Some human beings go
through life as mere spec
tators, looking on at a game
in which they take no real
part, watching those that ac
complish results or achieve
destruction—and themselves
adding nothing to the re
sults or the distinctions of
their day.
How many go through life
watching what other men
do, and doing nothing for
themselves f
Please do not imagine,
To see a wonderful game
of skillful baseball occasion
ally is a good thing. To
watch the wonderful skill of
trained billiard players—
VERY RARELY—is a good
thing.
Anything you watch is
good if it inspires you TO
DO SOMETHING ON
YOUR OWN ACCOUNT.
But when you watch mere
ly for the pleasure of watch
ing—when you sit around a
baseball game or a football
game or, a running race as
the men and women of Rome
used to sit and watch the
gladiators murder each oth
er—YOU ARE SIMPLY
WASTING YOUR MIND,
WASTING YOUR TIME,
DWINDLING DOWN INTO
A POOR, MISERABLE
WATCHER.
—From a Briabana Editorial.
By Percy H. Whiting.
HE "Get out of the grand
stand" Idea Is gaining ground
In Atlanta. And it should,
itching games should be the
usement of the old and the
itned. The playing of games Is
at builds up health and strength
1 makes for riiore efficient men
1 women.
Vatching baseball games Is a
•mless pastime. It takes the en-
isiasts out In the fresh air and
jrds a pleasant and harmless di-
slon. But the ball players are
ting the chief benefit.
Sail parks for amateurs, tennis
irts, swimming pools and golf
irses are among the most useful
Atlanta Institutions. They get
iple out In the fresh air and en-
irage healthful exercise. Long
y they wive.
• * *
F ALL the exercises available
for the health and pleasure-
leers of Dixie, the best, to my
don, is golf. Baseball Is good,
t It Is all too violent except for
• young. Tennis is In the same
egory.
3olf affords pleasant exercise, but
i exercise is not violent. It is
lugh to tire one out, without
lausting him.
...
"S an odd thing about golf, but
there will always be as many
yers In any city as there are ac-
nmodations. Open a five-hundred
mber course and five hundred
fers will develop. Open another
» of the same size and five hun-
id more will take up the game—
t all in a day, but in a few
>nths.
*o city in the world has yet been
;e to supply enough golf courses
its population.
• -V the same has held true of
resorts. The city of Plnehurst Is
the only one that ever attempted
to keep pace with the demand and
It now has four full eighteen-hole
courses—and more building.
* * •
A LL of which being true, it is of
interest to the lovers of outdoor
sports that Atlanta will soon have
a new nine-hole course at Ansley
Park—a course entirely inside the
city limits of Atlanta, fifteen min
utes from Five Points by automo
bile and soon to be on a direct car
line from the city.
This course was a natural out
growth of the demand for more
courses in Atlanta—which stands
to-day as the foremost golfing city
in the South and as one of the most
amazing, considering the popula
tion, in all the world.
It is probable that no city on the
globe to-day numbers as many golf
ing enthusiasts In relation to the
white population as this Gate City
of the South.
Another two hundred and fifty,
most of them residents now of that
section of the City north of Tenth
Street, will be developed when the
Ansley Park course is opened—and
it will be before long.
• * •
J UST by way of seeing what they
had out there. I went out and
took a look around yesterday,
tramping every inch of the course
and getting a pretty clear idea of
what it w'ill be like a few' weeks
hence when, they roll it, cut the
grass, put in the cups, brush up the
tees a bit and declare it formally
open.
Right now the only thing lacking
is a little rain to put the finishing
touches on the turf. It is all there,
underneath the surface or springing
through. Another rain or two and
the last bare spots will cover and
afford excellent lies.
'T' HEY tell me a matter of $135,-
* 000 has been spent on the golf
course and the land immediately
surrounding it, and knowing the
cost of preparing courses, I haven't
the least reason to doubt it. It
was pretty nice land, too, before
they did anything to it, having the
easy roll that is so desirable on
golf courses, combined with good
soil and gome picturesque little
streams that are neatly used In
providing hazards.
The location of the proposed club
house is a pleasing one, on a knoll
w'here It will afford • not only a
view of most of the course, but of
a delightful section of Ansley Park
and of Atlanta itself as well—the
skyscrapers, that is.
The club house has not been built
as yet, but plans have been pre
pared by W. L. Stoddart for a rus
tic building of octagon shape, with
big verandas, assembly room with
a dancing floor, restaurant, and all
the improvements and accessories
of a modern country club house.
One of the features will be a dress
ing room on the top floor instead of
in the basement, as is usually the
case—an innovation which has de
sirable features that any golfer will
appreciate.
* • *
NE of the prize features of the
^ new club will be a swimming
pool quarried out of the solid rock.
This will be connected with the club
house by a pergola. Bath houses
will be built near the swimming
pool for those w'ho prefer to dress
there rather than in the club house.
* * *
A EL of which is very attractive—
but the “main chance” is the
golf course. The be9t club house
in the world is wasted if the course
isn't right. A good course will at
tract players by the hundreds if
there isn’t a club house within
miles.
And when you combine the two,
you have something worth talking
about.
The Ansley Park Club seem* In a
fair way to have that combination.
• • •
r T' HE real foundation of a eucceag-
A ful golf course Is the turf. To
secure a good covering of gTass
much work was done on the new
course. It was first plowed four
times to a depth of sixteen inches.
Next it was cut with a harrow and
then smoothed off. AfteT that It
was loaded with Bermuda grass,
Italian rye and mixed grass seed*
The first rains brought this grass
shooting through the soil, and al
ready it is covering nicely and
promises a find stand of grass. The
soil Itself is rich and free from
stones and clay. It should afford
a fine turf.
* * •
nr O give you an idea of the course
it will be necessary to take you
over it and to tell you, hole by hole,
how it looks. So here goes:
First hole, 260 yards—The tee is
located near the club house and the
drive is over a road, down a drop
of 35 feet or so to a level plateau
beneath. On the left are trees and
“rough.” On the right Is “rough.”
The second shot is open, but be
yond the green are a creek, trees
and “rough,” while farther back and
to the left is a railroad embank
ment. This is a good, open hole,
with little trouble—which is as it
should be with all first holes, in or
der that the golfers may get away
in good style and without tying up
in any troublesome hazards. It Is
a simple two-shot hole, offering a
drive and a pitch for the green.
Second hole, 170 yards—This is a
a good stiff one-shot hole, for the
drive is up hill. Trees on the left
will punish a hook, while on the
right there are trees and some ex
tremely rough ground. The shot is
over a road.
Third hole, 220 yards—While the
tremendous driver may occasionally
reach this green in one shot, to the
average player it Is a neat drtve-
and-pitch hole. Playing It with a
drive and an approach the first
shot is over a small stream, about
125 yards from the tee. To the left
are trees, to the right a railroad
embankment. However, the fair
green is 400 feet wide, affording
plenty of elbow room. The tee Is on
high ground. Then comes the dip
down to the stream and then a rise
on the other side. The stream itself
Is small, but the ditch is eight or
ten feet wide, and it plows across
the course nearly at right angles in
general direction, but making three
reverse curves and broadening out
in such fashion as to be troublesome
for a short slice, or a slightly long
er hook. The stream runs through
pipes on the left, and a road at that
point offers an easy place to cross.
Going up the hill beyond the creek
the ground falls away sharply at the
left, making it bad for a pulled shot.
On the right is the railroad right-
of-way. The green is a hundred
feet square and located on high
ground. On the right the land runs
up to a bank, on the left It falls
away, giving a chance for fine trou
ble with a hooked approach.
Fourth hole, 469 yards—This is
the first long hole, and it affords a
fine test of golf, without being un
duly difficult. From the tee the
ground drops away to a ditch, just
as it does on the third hole. This
ditch is about the same distance
from the tee and about the same
w’idth. A hooked hall finds ground
that falls away a bit, accentuating
the pull, and If It is a long one it
finds the extension of the stream
and ditch that crosses the course.
On the right, to keep the sheers
from carelessness, is the railroad
embankment and some ferocious
rough.
The drive should land a man
somewhere at the top of the first
rise. The player ready to make his
next shot finds a mild ditch cross
ing the course in his way. This is
at the bottom of the hill and should
not prove troublesome. It Is mod
erately deep on the right, where it
might worry a vicious sheer. On
the left It opens out to practically
nothing.
The pitch for the green is over
another slight rise and then down
into a “bloody angle” sort of a
green. To the left is a stream. To
the right and meeting it at a sharp
angle Is a railroad embankment.
The two together form a neat
pocket. A player who has missed a
shot and must lace his third for the
green may find the hazards be
yond the green embarrassing. The
man who has played tw j good shots
will have only an easy pitch for it
and will not be troubled.
The ^course at this point is pe
culiarly attractive. The deep woods
to the left of the course furnish fine
shade, the view is alluring and the
course stretches away with a pleas
ant roll up to the high ground be
yond.
From that point on the course
extends most of the way along the
edge of a thick wood which Is on
the west. After 3 o’clock in the
afternoon the woods cast a deep
shade over most of the course and
make It possible to play then even
on the hottest afternoon in real
comfort.
Fifth hore, 412 yards—The fair
green of this line runs back
at a narrow angle with the
fourth fair green and to the west
of It. The tee is low and the green
rises rapidly. To the left the
ground is open. To the right
are the w r oods—and out of bounds.
The fairway of this hole is out
lined by two rows of trees. A drive
places the ball at the opening of
the tree-bounded fair green. The
second shot is over another stream
that crosses the course at right
angles. A very long player might
reach the green on his second. The
ordinary player will be contented to
“get home” with his pitch, however,
as this green, like the fourth, Is of
the “blind alley” variety, with
trouble to right, left and beyond.
At the left of the “triangle” green
are trees and a knoll. On the
right is & stream. Beyond this Is
sharply rolling ground.
Sixth hole, 265 yards—The tee
Is cut into the base of a
knoll on which runs a road. The
play U over a slight knoll and to
a green which is protected beyond
and to the left by a ditch. On the
right it is open.
Seventh hole, 143 yards—This
is a fine pitch hole, with a
well guarded gTeen. To the ex
treme right are the deep woods. A
tree not so far to the right makes It
interesting for the slicer. A trou
blesome ditch guards the green on
the left. Beyond it Is a road, and
beyond that a knoll which rises to
building property. It will take an
accurate shot, but not a tremen
dously difficult one, to get on the
green and stick.
Eighth hole, 387 yards—The
drive on the eighth is up a
brisk rise, with plenty of fairway,
but with woods to the far right
and a road to the left. A good
drive will get beyond the top of the
hill and offer a, fair chance for a
second shot, which will need to be
a screamer over the broadest creek
of the course. There is not much
water in the stream, but plenty of
sand. However, the banks are easy j
and a player with ordinary luclc
could get out of almost any part of
it with a single stroke. A hanging
bridge w r ill cross the stream at thi# j
point. The green is about 150 feel I
beyond the creek. The approach If I
open to the left, but on the
are some deep woods. Beyond and ]
to the left is a creek. On the rigW
Is a ditch and the deep woods again.
Ninth hol«, 190 yard•—As this
hole stands at present It is
a terror, and it is oertain that
It will be modified a good bit by
bringing the tee forward considera
bly. Thus changed it will be a fine
one-shot hole to & gTeen that is
practically surrounded by various J
assorted kinds of trouble. To the
left will be a bunker. Beyond
green on the left Is a steep bank.
Beyond It to the right is a bridge. 1
And in front of It Is a wide ditch
and stream that must be crossed.
By playing to the left the distance
Is short, but as the stream
in toward the green it calls
longer shot If the ball goes
right, either straight or with a slice.
With the green moved up & bit thfl
will be a grand one-shot hole
a fine test of golf. At the same
time It will afford no great trouble
to the duffer, who can play short
and then pitch to the green.
• • •
/'"'OLF courses are divided Into two
sorts—championship courses
and the other kind. The cham- 1
pionshlp courses are loaded up with
bunkers, traps and miscellaneous
hazards. The holes are so placed j
in relation to the tees that the dis
tance can be covered in one, two, j
or three full shots. These courses j
are all right for the expert players,
but are mighty hard on the duffers.
The other courses are made
the average man to play on. They
are not loaded up with hazards.
They are not so narrow as to be
troublesome. They are places to
find amusement—not to test the best
game of a star player.
In this latter class the Ansley
Park course belongs. It is medium j
In length. It has no extremely di?- (
flcult holes. It has no terrible haz
ards.
It is Just a nice, open, compara
tively easy course, with just enough
hazards to make it interesting for
the average player. It is on rolling
ground, which is attractive, but It
Is not precipitous enough to make
it tiresome for players.
Scenically It is extremely attrac
tive. The woods along which sever
al of the holes extend are beautiful ,
and the ground of the entire course**
is high enough to afford a fine view
in all directions.
Six months from now this course
will be furnishing vast amusement
for two or three hundred players,
most of them new golfers who have
just taken up the game. Wh^n it is
it will be doing a good work in
bringing people out into the open
and in affording amusement and re
laxation. It will be creating •doers”
instead of “watchers.” It will be j
furthering the “get-out-of-the-
grandstand” movement.