The first Match - Judie Forbe.

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and Dr. Mc:Gillieudd'i

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138 WORCESTER
The New Municipal Golf Links
Worcester Joins the Ranks of Progressive American Cities and Provides a Modern Golf Links for
Her Citizens Where They May Play This Ever Increasing Popular Sport Without
Cost-A Notable Example of the Worcester Spirit in 1915
iME=::::::;;;'.~~li.3 TA B L I S H E D
primaril y with a vi ew of af-:
fording recreation to th ose people of Wor­
ceste r who are unabl e to belon g to clu bs,
;1\~I5t t he free publi c golf links ? 1~ _L i nco l n st r~e t
,<=~. - ' not only ser ve to mark a hi ghl y progressiv e
st ep in th e civic life of th e city , but place it in th e front
ranks of cit ies that hav c ac ted to solve th e public amuse­
meu t p r oblem.
The man of sma ll means ma y play golf at th e Lincoln
stree t cou rse at littl e or no exp ens e, T he Hew golf course
pl aces th a t f ascinating sport withi n the r eac h of every
per son . 'I'h ro ugh the generosity of th e cit y and the
activi t ies of th e park commissioners it is th eir s to en joy
to th e utmost. At the present time 500 peop le in the
city of W orcest er have an opportunity to enj oy golf, Th e
city has a pop ula t ion of approxim ately 170 ,000 .- If 500
pl ay go If beca usc t hey ca n a fford to, the pa rk commis­
sion er s hav e sta ted th at th ey feel th e ot her 169,000 would
play golf if th ey had th e chance .
It is conserva tively esti ma te d tha t th ose wh o belon g to
clubs and enj oy golfin g privil eges th r ou gh membe rsh ip
do so at a n expe nse varying from $50 t o $500 a year.
Y et, by th e action of th e city council in following out
t he s uggest ions of the parks commi ssion er s, this form of
recr eation and amusement, hith erto a va ila ble largely to
the ma n of means, is placed within th e reach of every
pers on in Worcester at a cost so small as to be of no
im po rta nc e.
Th e fr ee golf is to be pl ayed on th e old Worcester
cou nt ry club g rou nds. A leas e of th e g ro u nd s has been
tak en by th e city and th e parks commissione rs will have
direct cha rge of putting th e g rounds in shape and will
su perv ise a ll pla yin g at th e cou rs e. A t a recen t meeting
G l YI N t; 'l' B ": l\ L,Y OR :\ l·' f;W P OI N 'r R R$
MAGAZINE
of city cou ncil, memb ers, actin g on the unanim ou s
recomm en d ation of th e finan ce com mit tee, pa ssed an
orde r providing for an appropria tion of $2000 to cover
th e lease of t he grounds and to put t hem in first class
condition for pl ayin g.
Accordin g to present plans tentati vely draw n up by
the parks commissione r s, there will be a limited number
of golf clu bs for us e of patrons of th e links. Golf balls
will be sold at cost . Later all playing equ ip men t may be
furnish ed free of charge, but this is an im poss ibil ity for
the present, althoug h the commissioner s a rc spa r ing no
effort to place golf, hitherto th e SPOl't of t he r ich man ,
within reach of every body at a minimum ex pense to til e
person enj oy ing th e game.
Worcester is among th e few cit ies in th e world pro­
viding fr-ee go lf. In New York g ro u nds a re set aside
for use of th e publi c. Philad elphia, H artford, Boston ,
Chica go and B uffa lo are among other cities whi ch have
taken up th e free golf idea with enthu siasm aIH] p ushe d
it along with vigor until thousands of people are enjoy ­
ing th e game free of cost. England and Sco tla nd have
their free p n blic golf courses the finest, per haps, being
W estwa r d Ho and St. Andrews. Worcest ers links, it
is sai d, will compa re favorably with th e bro ad expanses
of S cotl an d and England that are g iven o ver to th e use
of p ubli c fo r golf matches.
'1'h e parks commissione rs had consid ered layin g out a
golf COUl'SC a t Green Hill Park at a n est ima ted cos t of
$2 5,000 0 1' $30,000, but this id ea was a ba ndo ned in view
of Mayor George lVI. Wrigh ts wish for rigi d economy .
It was w ith relu ct an ce that th e commission er s abandoned
thi s pl an, for th ey had seen and heard enough to con­
vin ce th em beyond the shadow of a do u bt th a t Worcester
A LO J\G D R IY £ I X '1'1-1E I·'OHBE S -l\[ CGI LL I C UDU Y j}L~1' C ll
 WORCESTER MAGAZINE
people desi re free p ub lic go lf. T hen a m ember of the
commission conce ived t he id ea of leasing th e old coun­
t rv club grou nds . It was found that this coul d be done
at a very mod erat e cost. City cou nc il lent hearty su p por t
to the p lan, a nd it was worked ou t smooth ly to a success­
ful comp letion.
Th e gro u nds are now being put in shape unde r the
direct ion of expe rts. The g reens, desp ite disuse, were
found to be in fu i rl y good cond it ion . W ith a l ittle work
and a t tent ion t he pa rk s com m issioners be lieve t hat t he
Iree li nks wil l be tire «q ua l, if not t he superior, of man y
pri va te golf cou rs es in t he co untry wh ere cl ub members
enjoy t ill' t hri lling un certa in ty of: the ga me at a con­
side rab le burd e n of ex pense. 'I'u e cl ub house is und ergo­
ing r epa iI'S, Pa t ro us of t ire I in ks w i II be privileged to
ren t locker-s. S how cr baths will he p ro vid ed and those
who enj oy t he fr ee links will hav e every pr ivil ege that is
accorded nH'1Il ben; of the exclnsi ve golfi ng organ iza t ions
of t ire Unit ed States an d Great Britain.
"Our wis h is to make the course free to al l, " say th e
parks couun issiou ers. In t his sen t en ce t he eo uun issiou ers
epitomize t he basic p r inc ip le underl yi ng a ll thei r a ct iv­
iti es to p rivid c t he peopl e of W or cest er' w it h clea u,
heal t hy uruu sem ou t at a cost so sma ll t hat it shou ld be
within t he re a ch of ev erybody . The cler k 0 1' t he sho p­
ha nd is n ot o n ly besou g ht as a p a tro n of th e links, bu t
is urged to m ak e t he freest use of t h em . T he link s are
[01' t he wor-kin g m an, his t o enjoy to t he utmost. T he
fr ee a nd ea sy democracy of the bas eba ll game, wh er e all
meet on ('qllCl l t erms, is to be fo und at the- lin ks. King
E dwar-d once Jacet iou sly remarked : "A ll men are equal
on the turf 01' u nde r it." So it will be at th e fr ee public
golf course.
'I' ha f a ll \\'110 desire to learn the in t r ica cies of the
gam e to th e la st detai l ma y do so, t he pa rk s com m ission ­
P I'S a re cons ider ing a pl an t o p ro vid e for ex pe r t instr uc­
tion . It is 1I0t t he inte nt ion of t he com miss ione rs t his
yea r, at least, to pa y a fixed sa lary to a n instruc to r .
'f hey propose ra th er t hat a n ex p er t golf p lay er sha ll be
a t t he l in ks a nd mak e whatever arrangem ents he may
be ab le to w ith patro ns in giv ing them instru ctio ns th at
wi ll im p ro ve t he t echni c of th eir gam e and in crease
th ei r ski ll.
~ [(, 11l1)('1''' of t he city council have shown a coop er a ­
tion ill t he matter that has been most enc ourag in g to
th e parks com m ission er s. Rec ently Co uncilman Cor­
neliu s VV. Corbett sounded the k ey n ot e of a p lan whi ch
will wi t hou t dou bt mee t with much favor , Cou ncilma n
Corbett pr op oses that a di rect appea l be made to t he
shop workei-s to lise t ile lin ks freely . H e u rg es shop­
work er s to mak e free use of t he li nk s.
A no t her s ug gesti on offe re d by Counc ilma n Corbett,
aw l one t hat is likely to find fa vor wi th go lf en th us iasts ,
is th a t tvams be se lected fro m each of th e 10 wa r ds of
"Worce ste r to be ent er ed in a tournam en t. T her e is noth­
ing, in the opinion of Co un cil ma n Corbett, t hat will be
more e ffectiv e in a rou sing interest s in th e links t o the
high est pit ch, t l13 11 a n introduction of t he cle ment of
stron g, healthy com pet it ion into their u se,
Durin g t he win t e r scor es of: employes of sho ps, offices
and oth er p lac es find re la xa t ion, amus em ent in bowling
leag ues in wh ich man y t ea ms are entered , T he sug­
gest ion 1S off ered by Co u nci lma n Corbett that th ese wor k ­
ers , so fond of com pe t it ion and exe r cise, be offe red eve ry
encouragement for a go lfing league for competition.
139
Tn a statem ent issu ed by the p a rk s co mm issioner s,
members say th at as nearly as they can ascerta in, Tat­
nuck conntry club spe n t $200,000 on its prop erty , an d
the nin e hol es are cons ide r ed by many to be in fe ri or t o
the cou rs e lai d out at Lincoln st reet and us ed fo r venrs
by some of t he lead in g ex p one n ts of t he ga me w'it h a
hi gh deg r ee of sa t is fac t ion.
It is fu rt her est ima t ed by ti le p arks commissione rs t ha t
t he W orc este r coun tr y c lub will have ex pe nde d f ully
$300,000 on its new prop erty on L in coln street b efore
th e wo r k is complet ed . Thi s ex pe n d it u r e wi ll be for t he
en joy me nt of on ly a few, the comm issio n er s point ou t ,
wh ile for t he com pa r a t ive ly small sum of $2000, mo re
than 169,000 will fin d fr ee golfing pri vi leges within
their r ea ch , w ith no clu b dues to pay an d pra ct ica lly no
expense to bear,
ON T H ":; G RE I·:N
E very memb er of th e board of parks com missioner s
indorsed th e proj ect over his own signa t ure before cit y
council was aske d to appropriate the mon ey . Si nc e th e
mon ey has been set aside, every member of th e COIll ­
mission has been g iving unsparingl y of hi s t ime aud
labor to in su re th e s uccess of th e p la n to the hi gh est
d egree.
Of th e succe ss of t he pl an t he pa rk s comm iss ione rs
ha ve no doubt. They be lieve t hat th e people of Wo ["­
cester, the peop le of av erage m eans, will en j oy th e ga me
if g iven a n opportun ity to d o so withou t t he usua l h eavy
b urden of ex pen ses being imposed upon t hem , Th e com­
m ission er s beli eve that the p eople of W orcest er', the large
maj ority of th em, will show their app r ecia t ion of the
links an d work a s a bod y to make t hem a stro ng,
perman en t and flou r ishing feature of ou t door r ecr ea t ion .
"The roy al gam e of an cien t Scotland " has sec u re d a
phenomen al g r ip 011 the peop le of th e Un it ed States dur­
ing the p ast d ecad e, Its po pu la r ity is gro wing ste a d ily.
'I'hat more are not p lay ing it is du e to t he hea vy expe nse
whi ch on e must necessar-ily in cur if he belo ngs to a clu b.
With th is bu r den of ex pense r em oved , th r ou gh t h e £1' 1'('
links, th e commi ssio ners look hop efull y f'or wa rd to t he
prod uction of ch am pio ns and a pl a ce of hi gh p ro rni neu ce
f or W orcest er in t h e golfing world.