Newsletter from the Society of Hickory Golfers Golf with Hickory Golf Clubs

(This newsletter is published 8 times a year - or as often as events warrant it. See schedule at the end of the newsletter)

HOLE-IN-ONE. Someone recently emailed information about a hole in one. Unfortunately during a fit of decrepitude I deleted this message! Would whoever had the hole in one please resend the information to me. Frank@mainspringtech.com

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Presidents Message

March is here and signals the start of the Hickory Golf season. I have had to cancel the Southern Fourball for this year but will have it next year once we are settled into Selma. Max Hill we be having his great event in Austin Texas with many of the Canadian 'Snow Birds" showing up to test their new weapons they have assembled up in the frozen tundra this Winter. I know I mention this always but now is the time for the tune up of YOUR clubs.

Pete is having the NHC early this year. I know he would like for you to get your entry in as soon as possible.

Upcoming Events

Carolina Mountains Hickory Tournament May 31st - June 1st

The 2007 Carolina Mountains Hickory Event will again be contested at the Donald Ross designed Country Club of Ashville May 31st and June 1st.

The 2007 Carolina Mountains Hickory event will be a 36 hole medal competition contested over two days. The $200 entry fee includes the tourney, green fees, cart, lunch, clinic, range balls, prizes, gift and awards banquet. In addition to the golf, a trade fair/swap meet and golf clinic are also being planned. Days Inn North, 2 miles from the golf club, is the host hotel. Their telephone number is 800 937-0224. Be sure to ask for the Carolina Mountain Hickory Tourney room.

National Hickory Championship - June 7th - 9th

C.B MacDonald Tournament 2007 September 14th-16th.

This is an event to recreate the first US-Canada amateur tourney organized by MacDonald in 1895. He invited a group of his Chicago friends to play a friendly match with some of his Canadian golfing friends. Macdonald, who was born in Niagara, had a summer home there and played his golf at Niagara GC at the mouth of the Niagara river and Lake Ontario. This course dates from 1875 and was founded by British soldiers on a military base complete with an 1812 fort. The course is the oldest in North America still on the original site. MacDonald describes this first tournament at length in his book 'Scotlands Gift-Golf. A trophy from subsequent events dated 1899 sits in the golf shop to this day. A secondary but important part of this event is the 27 hole Eastern Canada Medal Play Championship. We (The Golf Historical Society of Canada) invite you to come and join us in this historical event. It is a combined international match and medal play tournament featuring one day 1890's golf and one day 1920's golf. On Sunday, we crown an Eastern Canada individual champion and the winning team in the US-Canada matches.

Doug Marshall is the contact at dougmarsh7@aol.com

See http://www.hickorygolfers.com/macdonald for further details.

World Hickory Open Championship 2007 26th - 28th September.

The World Hickory Open Championship 2007 will be held at Craigielaw Golf Club in Aberlady, Scotland on 26th - 28th September.

If you would like your event highlighted in our newsletter please e-mail the Newsletter Editor. The next (May) Edition will be mailed about the beginning of May

Announcement

Dick Donovan

It is with great sadness that we announce announce the death of Dick Donovan, the noted book dealer and golf historian, who died Sunday 25th Feb at the age of 71.

Mr. Donovan's survivors include his wife, Angie; three daughters and sons-in-law, Kathleen and Gerald Smith, Terri and Mike Attinello, and Michelle and Todd Thompson; son Patrick Donovan; and six grandchildren. We offer them our sympathies and condolences.

Here's the worst news I've heard in a long time. Dick Donovan was a man who loved the game and the Niagara of words flowing from it. More than that, he loved life.

The first time I met Dick was a long-ago edition of the Chicago Golf Show. He had lugged his cases of books in the hope a few buyers could be found. I found a Henry Longhurst anthology and, I believe, Wind's "The Complete Golfer." Better still, I found a friend.

On a later trip to Chicago, he brought a mountain of Golf World back issues, meticulously catalogued, plus, gratis, the slip cased copy of the famed D&M, autographed, no less, by himself, Joe, and Herb. More Golf Worlds and books would follow. Each time we met, we would catch up on each other and on what was new in old golf books.

The last time I saw Dick was on the first tee at Chicago Golf Club during the 2005 Walker Cup. I came back from watching a match on Friday afternoon, and there he was, surveying the scene, both of us wondering what Charles Blair Macdonald would think of a television tower on his course and a satellite dish on the clubhouse roof. We had a great chat, and he was delighted to tell me that the long-awaited revision of the D&M, which he had first spoken of when giving me the first edition, was almost complete.

I pray he got more than a few rounds in before the trip to Las Vegas. Friends like Dick Donovan make this crazy game a joy. Let us all, the next time we play, raise a glass in honor of a great guy.

Calendar

If you would like your event added to the calendar please email the fixtures Secretary

Wee Nip Contributions

The Winter addition is out, and what a great read it is. Congratulations to Jim for a magnificent job well done!. [download 'Wee Nip']

We are now looking for contributions for the fall issue, so fire up your word processors and send your contribution to Jim Davis at jdavis@gr-press.com.

Jim Writes "Letters, comments, small articles... all are welcome. Ask them to include photos of anything they might cover in their submission, i.e. a favorite club, course, player, etc."

Please support this effort, and let's make sure that the next "Wee Nip" is every bit as good as this one!

Portrait

Walter Hagen

The incomparable, fabulous, the greatest artist golf has produced, the one and only Walter Hagen!

The following was written by Robert E. Harlow in 1929 after Hagen had won the British Open at Muirfield.

Robert Harlow served as Hagen's manager, and was also instrumental in setting up the PGA tour.

Feature Article

Walter Hagen

The Maestro of Match Play. Part I

In this, the first of three articles we look at Hagen's formative years for clues as to why he became such a great match player)

The Accenture Match Play Tournament has just been completed (Feb. 24 2007), and the cup has been won by Swede Henrik Stenson. It is fittingly called the Walter Hagen Cup after the greatest match player of all time!

Ask who was the best golfer in the world during the '20,s and '30,s, and most people would answer Bobby Jones, although not a few would give Walter Hagen the nod; ask who was the best match player of the era and almost no one would reply other than Walter Hagen. Walter won the PGA Championship an incredible five times including, between 1924 and 1927, an astonishing four times in a row! Walter had an awesome record in challenge matches - prior to 1925 he had only lost three. It was also common for the winners of majors to challenge each other over 72 holes for the 'Unofficial Championship of the World' Walter won this an amazing 4 times between 1924 and 1928 with defeats of Cyril Walker (1924 - 17 & 16), Bobby Jones (1926 - 12 & 11), Gene Sarazen (1927 - 9 & 8) and Johnny Farrell (1928 - 3 out of 5 matches). Remember that in all cases he was playing against who was then considered the best player in the world! His PGA record is particularly astounding. He beat every top professional of his era, sometimes at a romp, sometimes in a close match, and some times from coming from behind. Poor Leo Diegel was caught twice in this manner, once after being dormie 2! Understandably he said "I never want to play that !!%^$#$... again!", although it was in fact he who put an end to Sir Walters reign in the PGA in 1928!

The question that must be asked - and has been asked and answered several times - is why was the Haig so good! This series will review and rehash some of the theories, although so much has been said on the subject it is doubtful that it will come up with anything new, but perhaps a new light will be shone on some of the old.

First of all it must be remembered that Walter was a really good golfer and was certainly no slouch at medal play. After all he won 2 US Opens and 4 British Opens as well as numerous other stroke championships, including 4 Western Open Championships, then considered a 'Major'; second he was a phenomenal athlete and excelled in every sport to which he turned his hand; third he was a master of psychology; and fourth he was a great showman who thrived on the drama and give and take of match play. Not to be overlooked was his ability to stay calm in seemingly impossible situations, and something that is also often forgotten is that he practiced more than most of his contemporaries and he was match hardened. No professional has probably played more golf than the Haig. He would play up to 200 exhibition matches a year - and he would always insist on having something on the line! To see why he was such a great match player we will start by looking at his formative golf years.

Athlete and Golfer - Beginnings

Golf was not Walter's first love, his first love was baseball, and he was a very good baseball player, good enough to be invited to spring training with Philadelphia Nationals. In fact golf was a secondary sport for him until his US Open win. He had started at age eight as a caddie at the Country Club of Rochester, helping to put bread on the family table, and apart from golf he tried his hand at the numerous other sports played at the club - tennis, polo skating, hunting and fishing, and he excelled at all of them. As he himself put it:

He had no formal golf lessons, but he had - like all great actors and showmen - a wonderful power of mimicry. He could mimic the duffers as well as the better players. He figured out what it was about the duffers swing that made them duffers, and then set out to avoid it.

In the famous 1913 US open - an Open he might have won had he been more suitably shod - this mimicry served him well. He was dressed to the nines - more of this later when we discuss his showmanship, and a part of his attire was a pair of red-rubber soled shoes. Very flashy but they gave him little traction. By the final round after days of rain, the fairways were slippery, and Hagen had difficulty keeping his balance. As he himself described it, his swing "started with a sway and ended with a lunge", not the ideal swing for one shod in rubber soles on slippery turf! His shoes probably cost him the seven that kept him out of the famous playoff. However during the final round he realized that his swing was also not suited for the conditions - he started 5 over par on the first three holes, so he decided to mimic that most graceful and balanced of all swings, that of Harry Vardon, and remember, he had seen Vardon swing for the first time just two days previously. The swing change did the trick, his game settled down and he got the second best score in this his first US Open.

Hagen has the reputation of being a playboy, and he certainly loved his parties, although this was often part and parcel of his great showmanship, but when it came to practice he was the very opposite of a dilettante. As he points out, by the age of 15 he had "played more golf and practiced more shots than most golfers of 21 today" (written in 1956), and at the age of 14 he was taken on as assistant pro by Andrew Christie. When not in the pro shop he was playing semi-professional baseball as a starting pitcher with the Rochester Ramblers, clearly a star player. Incredibly he was not only a switch hitter, he was a switch pitcher, and could pitch with either hand! In 1912, the US Open was being held in Buffalo, and Hagen went up with his pro for some practice rounds. Hagen shot a 73 in his practice round, a great score - but he was sent back home for the tournament proper to mind the shop, while Andrew Christie stayed on to play. Probably the pro did not want to be one-upped by his assistant. But as a consolation Hagen was promised time off to play in the Canadian Championship. As he put it though, he did not come away from Buffalo empty handed. Hagen was always a snappy dresser and his dress usually contrasted with the shabby dress and dull shades of the majority of the players. While in Buffalo he saw Tom Anderson Jr., the brother of the late, great Willie Anderson, winner of 4 US Opens, and Anderson was a sharp dresser! As Walter put it:

Walter did not do well in the Canadian Open - or so he thought. Even in his first tournament he had acquired the habit of thinking he should win. George Sargent won with Jim Barnes as runner up, but 11th place, just out of the money was in fact a great finish for a 19 year old in his first tournament, and he did finish ahead of the great Aleck Smith, two times winner of the US Open. On returning, he was greeted with the news that Andrew Christie was leaving for another job, and Walter Hagen was offered, and accepted the position of head pro. So here he was, age nineteen and head pro at a prestigious Rochester Country Club!

In the winter after the 1913 US Open Hagen headed for Florida. While there he played with the Phillies at their training camp, which resulted in the invitation to their camp the following winter. Hagen was sure that he was on his way to becoming a baseball star! That summer as the US Open came round, Hagen decided not to enter. He was somewhat discouraged with golf, after all the best he had managed was an eleventh place finish in the Canadian Open and a runner-up up spot in the National Championship! One of Rochester's members, Ernest Willard, editor of the Rochester "Democrat and Chronicle" was astounded. To encourage him to go he offered to pay Walters expenses, and also, luckily as it turned out, the expenses of his assistant Dutch Leonard. Hagen got out his fancy outfit again, but not the Red Rubber soled shoes! They went to the memory chest and were replaced by a pair of hobnailed shoes - buckskin of course! Also he exhibited another trait that made him the greatest player of his era, but for which he is little known to day - he practiced, practiced and practiced!

The story of the 1914 US Open at the Midlothian Country Club in Chicago is well known, but bears repeating. Hagen suffered severe food poisoning after eating lobster (any one who eats lobster in Chicago probably deserves food poisoning!) and almost scratched on the first day. However his assistant insisted that as they were on Willard's nickel he should at least attempt to play. He played the first round in a daze, barely able to swing his club. He was in the rough all day, but his short game shone and he rarely took more than one putt, establishing a pattern that would often be repeated in coming years. He finished with a 68, a new course record. Still ill, but now at least semi-conscious he continued to play well and at the end of four rounds Hagen posted a 290, equaling the US Open record. This was good enough to give him a one-stroke victory over Chick Evans. How the victory changed Hagen's out look! Here are his own words:

He also realized the limitations of his game, he began to study form - swing mechanics we would call it today - he learnt the rules backwards and forwards, and he practiced, practiced and then put in more practice. Hagen was known for his luck in later years, but perhaps his luck was due to, as Ben Hogan was to later put it, "the more I practice, the luckier I get".

This look at Hagen's early years illustrates the emergence of the traits that made him such a superb match player, and some of the traits for which he was not so well know historically. His outstanding athleticism; his overwhelming self-confidence; his showmanship; his ability to arise above adversity; an ability to keep things going when everything seems to be falling apart; his willingness to learn, and above all, somewhat surprisingly to those of us reared on the 'Hagen - Playboy - Party Animal' outlook, his incredible work ethic.

Hagen birdies the 72nd Hole at Midlothian in 1914.
A drive, a pitch -from the rough, naturally - and a putt.

In Part II & III we will look at how these traits played out and how they made him the match player par-excellence.

Regional News

Carolina Hickory Golf Association

Today we played our February event in our monthly hickory series under sunny skies and calm wind conditions -Perfect Golf weather. Nineteen players took part ( 5 groups) and low man for the day was Andy Moye with a fine score of 76. Second best individual score was Chris Deinlein with an 82. Best net score was Bob Georgiade with 71 followed by Barry Markowitz with a 72.

In the team competition the team of Andy Moye, Bob Georgiade, Larry Moye, and Doug Marshall were low for the day with a score of 132. Second were the team of Chris Deinlein, Barry Markowitz, John McKee, and Harry Caperton with a score of 137.At 139 were Mike Fay, Hamp Munsey, Jan Ludwig and a blind draw.

A fine lunch was served by the Table on the Green restaurant and we all say many thanks for the great food. If you have not eaten there before, make sure you try them soon.

Clubhouse Leader

New 'Guttie' Balls

With the return of the National Hickory Championship to Oakhurst this year, and because of an oft-voiced dissatisfaction with the current ball, perhaps it's time to re-examine the issue of golf balls for the pre-1905 division. Keep the following aims in mind: the ball should resemble the old guttie as close as possible; it should be readily available; it should be affordable. Furthermore, because the ball type has a significant affect on scores, a single ball should be used by all players in any tournament.

First of all what about the old "Oakhurst Guttie". This is in fact a rubber ball that has about the same carry as the old guttie. However the "cut" pattern on the ball leads to poor in flight performance, and to boot from a historical perspective, it does not match any of the more traditional patterns of guttie. I suppose it is meant to resemble the old 'hammered' guttie, but in fact the hammered guttie has far superior flight characteristics. The Oakland guttie also tends to bounce rather a lot, although it putts quite nicely. To be said in it's favor is that it is relatively cheap, and at Oakhurst is readily available. Indeed most of the entrants in the NHC will already have a supply of Oakhurst gutties. Further, its soft rubber does not cause any damage to the faces of expensive wooden clubs.

Next there is the '80-percent ball' that is put out by several manufacturers for smaller driving ranges. Many of us tried these at the C.B. MacDonald tournament in Canada last year, and were favorably impressed. The carry appears to be about the same as the rubber ball, but the flight characteristics and feel are far superior. Most also felt that it was a better ball around the green and the feel closely resembled the traditional guttie. It is soft enough that it would not damage wooden clubs. It is also readily available and comparable in price to the rubber ball. However the downside of this ball is that it has a modern dimpling pattern which makes it far from authentic.

This last objection is being overcome by Chris McIntyre, who is remolding the cover of the Srixon 80-percent ball ball, and if he can manage to do this at an affordable rate, then this would appear to be a good way to go though availability would remain an issue.

Lastly we have the guttie itself, which are produced by Eric Wolke. This is the ball that the writer has tested both the 80-percent ball and the rubber ball against. However Eric can only make a few of these - and they are expensive! Eric states he can get the price down to about $16 if given a big enough order, but he would also have to be given quite a bit of lead time to produce the balls in the necessary quantities for the NHC. Another potential problem is that the hard gutta percha ball might cause damage to the faces of wooden clubs.

So these are just a few of the possibilities, and, of course it is up to the ball committee of the NHC to decide on such matters. In any case it is probably too late to make a change for this years NHC, but we can assure you that you are not alone if you would be prepared to pay a premium price not to have to play that durn rubber ball!

Preferred Lies

LORETTO SCHOOL

by Lionel Freedman

Lionel Freedman investigates one school's influence on the great and good of the game.

LORETTO SCHOOL, founded in 1827 by Dr Thomas Langhorne, lies within a mashie niblick shot of the historic Musselburgh Old Links. It is therefore not surprising that there is something of a golfing theme running through its 180 years. Much of the information for this article comes from an excellent book entitled Loretto 150, by Frank Stewart (1930-36)[1], an old Lorettonian, later to become Chairman of the Governors (1972-1981).

A Spartan Regime

Perhaps it is worth describing briefly what it was like in a public school in the middle of the nineteenth century. William Langhorne (1833-39) - son of the founder, wrote a book Reminiscences in which he recorded a few of his memories of school life when he was living there, firstly as a schoolboy and later as a young man. Living conditions were, of course, rigorous. The school, we are told, was woken at 7am, by a ringing of a bell in the passages. Prayers were read half an hour later and there was an hour's lesson before breakfast. The school hours were longer than they have become and holidays were shorter. The writer commented philosophically 'but whether more work was done it would be hard to say'.

Games of that time consisted of running, wrestling, football and golf. Rugby football had not been invented; cricket had not yet taken root in Scotland; and hockey was forbidden as being too dangerous 'as it had been the occasion to too numerous accidents'. There was space within Loretto grounds for exercise in the area, still known as The Park, but boys were allowed to use the neighbouring links as a playground whenever they liked. There were also morning bathes in the Firth of Forth, three times a week, which 'were more agreeable in the retrospect than they sometimes were in reality; for when as often the case, there had been a frost in the night, it required no small resolution to plunge into the briny deep and hear the ocean gurgling in one's ears'. The ordeal, however, had to be passed through on pain of being ducked by one of the masters, which nobody preferred. In the winter too, there were opportunities for skating as, for instance, during the great frost in 1835, when the River Esk was frozen for six weeks without a break, when curling and skating were enjoyed to the full and the ice became so thick and strong that horses and carts crossed upon it.

Electric light, of course was a long way off, and even gas, which was used for illuminating the streets, was still considered too dangerous to be introduced into houses. Lighting indoors at Loretto was by means of whale oil or tallow candles which were lit, not by 'Lucifer' matches, which had not been invented, but by tinder boxes equipped with flint and steel or by 'spunks' or strips of fur tipped with brimstone or preparation of phosphorous in a bottle into which a stick was dipped. Nor had railways yet to come to change the whole conception of travel and transport. Journeys, if not on foot, were made on horseback or by coach. The stagecoaches to and from London and Newcastle passed along the high road outside Loretto gates several times a day. There were two mail coaches, two 'union' and two 'high fliers'. They always gave a warning of their approach by the blaring of the guard's horn and boys would often rush out to watch the horses spanking along, the coaches enveloped in a cloud of dust in summer and smeared with mud or covered in snow in winter.

Early Golf at Loretto

Loretto seems to have very quickly gained the confidence of the nobles, lairds and commoners of the Lothians and neighbouring counties. During the period of 1827 until 1851, when Langhorne retired, he helped to educate six sons of earls, twelve sons of baronets and at least 43 sons of lairds, one of which, James Hamilton North-Dalrymple (1830-1834), later tenth Earl of Stair, and the first of a long line of Old Lorettonians to become Captain of The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers in 1865/66. Another pupil, at the same time, was A Dennistoun (1831-1840), a member of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, whose claim to fame was that he introduced golf to the American continent by founding the Royal Montreal Golf Club in 1873.

Golf at the great Public Schools has not always been encouraged as it was often thought to be a selfish game, and that team games of football and cricket were considered more suitable. However, this was not always the case - in the early days of Loretto and for much of the nineteenth century the links was the main playground and golf was their principal sport. Musselburgh links in those days was one of the most notable centres of golf in the country and at this time, the home of four famous clubs: the Royal Musselburgh, Edinburgh Burgess Golfing Society (later to become 'Royal'), the Bruntsfield Links Golfing Society and since 1836, the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers. Nevertheless, at no time were the links the sole preserve of those four clubs. They were, and still are, common ground, belonging to the Burgh and entirely open to the public for recreation, whether to play golf or cricket or anything else they might choose. For instance, the racecourse has been there since 1816 and the Royal Company of Archers has met annually to shoot for the Musselburgh Arrow since 1603. To the modern golfer it would be sacrilege to find small boys playing cricket and football over the course, but in those days it was quite normal and cheerfully accepted. The condition of the course itself was of less significance than it is today: there were no special teeing areas for driving off and, indeed, it was compulsory to tee up one's ball within eight feet from the preceding hole, which can hardly have contributed to the smoothness of the greens. Originally Musselburgh consisted of seven holes, increased to eight in 1833 and it was not until 1860 that it achieved the standard nine holes. The Loretto boys took virtual possession of a more or less level playing area between the first hole and the racecourse and every half-holiday they pitched their wickets there. Also they discovered the great mass of whins that then covered the centre of the course, was a suitable place to lay out their private putting greens, where they were practically hidden from the struggling golfers. Fortunately the golfers were few during the mornings and afternoons and even the Honourable Company, which at that time had no clubhouse, beyond a large room on the ground floor at the west end of the then grandstand, restricted their main activities to three days a week. Accordingly the boys had the course very much to themselves and it is hardly surprising that in spite of cricket and football and other games they played on the links, it was emphatically golf that was most regarded as their principal sport.

Some Notable Loretto Golfers

By 1900 Old Lorettonians had three captains of the Royal and Ancient, five captains of the Honourable Company and a further three at Prestwick. Remarkably, one of them, William John Muir (1853-1859) was captain of all three - Honourable Company (1878-79), Prestwick in 1883 and lastly the R&A in 1898. But the real star of Loretto golf was John Ernest Laidlay (1872-1878). Norman Mair's book Muirfield, Home of the Honourable Company 1744-1994 devotes three pages to the great man. (Norman has kindly given me permission to quote from his book.)

As a fag at Loretto School he had been compelled to carry the clubs of a prefect but, after that somewhat unwelcome introduction, he had taken to the game so quickly that in no time he had been invited to join the Headmaster's Sunday morning foursomes. The Headmaster was Dr HH Almond (1862-1903), the umpire who awarded Scotland the hotly disputed try from which the winning goal was kicked in the first ever rugby international between Scotland and England, on a Monday afternoon in March 1871. At the age of sixteen, he went round Musselburgh 'on all fours' - nine on the trot - a remarkable round of 36. His successes are almost too numerous to mention. In all, he won 131 medals, which included ten gold medals at Musselburgh, ten at Muirfield and a further nine silver medals, covering the years 1883-1919. On joining the R&A (1885) he immediately made his mark, winning the Royal Medal. This completed a remarkable treble when, having joined Luffness in 1878 at the age of eighteen, he won the Medal that year. He was elected to the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers in the Spring of 1883 and won the first Medal he entered. He won the Amateur Championship in 1889 and 1891 and was runner-up a further three times. His Open record was also not to be sneezed at, playing in thirteen Opens between 1885 and 1901. He finished second in 1893, two strokes behind the winner, Willie Auchterlonie, and in all had six top ten finishes. He played for Scotland against England ten times, was Captain of Prestwick in 1894 and the Honourable Company in 1904/5. A truly remarkable man.

It is probable that for most of the nineteenth century, golf was one of the most important games at Loretto. Dr Almond was a keen golfer and played a round in the forenoon two or three times a week, particularly in bad weather, when few, save the stalwarts from Loretto, would face the music of the storm. When he could not get any other opponent, he would play with senior boys. As a consequence of his own appreciation of the game, golf was played much more then by boys. It was not till some years later that he came to regard it as an unsuitable school game, solely because of its inherent selfishness - a view to be shared by successive Headmasters. During the 1880s a booklet of Loretto School Rules appeared. It contained no less than 217 rules including some strict rules for golf:

By the time Dr JRC Greenlees (1926-1945) became Headmaster, golf was now almost frowned upon. He also considered it a selfish game and though it was officially permitted, it was only with reluctance. The Old Links at Musselburgh had greatly deteriorated and it was difficult to reach a reasonable course except on a bicycle in summer. The Royal Musselburgh was popular, but the more expert preferred Longniddry, Luffness or Gullane, though distances limited them to Saturday afternoon expeditions.

Nevertheless, despite this, Lorettonians still became captains of two of the great clubs. The following were captains of the Honourable Company: JE Laidlay (1904/5), AR Patterson (1906/7), CJG Patterson, (1914/18) and Sir AGG Asher (1919/20). Previously AR Patterson had been Captain at Prestwick in 1892. Two brothers, A Walker (1913) and JG Walker (1917), were Captains at Prestwick. In the period between the great wars there emerged two of Loretto's finest golfers. JM Dykes (1919/24) was a Scottish international on numerous occasions between 1934 and 1951, winning the Scottish Championship in 1951 and playing Walker Cup for Great Britain in 1936. His contemporary, GW (Squiggles) Mackie, (1920-1930) was a Walker Cup triallist in 1947 and a Scottish international between 1948-1958, before becoming Captain of the R&A in 1970.

Another outstanding Lorettonian was Philip Mackenzie Ross (1904-1908), a fine golfer who after World War 1, was hired by Tom Simpson in 1920. Simpson was considered to be one of the greatest golf architects between the two wars. By the mid-Twenties, Ross was a full partner in the firm of Simpson & Ross. In the late 1930s he began working on his own and developed a fine reputation as a designer in Great Britain and the Continent. After the Second World War, he demonstrated his talents to a new generation, by reconstructing or restoring many war-ravaged courses. In 1972 Ross was elected the first President of the British Association of Golf Course Architects. There are many courses that have his name beside them. Outstanding ones include Southerness, in Dumfries and Galloway (1949), The Glen, East Lothian and possibly his greatest reconstruction, the Ailsa Course, Turnberry Golf Club, Ayrshire, (1951).

It is a strange fact that it took so long for golf to be recognised once again as an official school sport at Loretto - especially team golf, considering the success and distinction which Lorettonians have achieved at the game after leaving school. In the 1970s it seems to have again been encouraged, possibly only as a minor sport. However, professionals were engaged to give lessons and representative teams were selected to play other schools.

The Halford-Hewitt

In 1927 Loretto entered for the first time, the Halford-Hewitt, the competition founded three years previously by eleven public schools. In the years following, and after the Second World War the tournament grew to 64 schools, fielding five pairs playing knockout foursomes, originally over Deal and since 1950 at Sandwich as well. The first winners were Eton, who included in their team the doyen of golf writers, Bernard Darwin; with his partner, he won 9 and 8 in the final against Winchester. Loretto was the first of the Scottish schools to take the field, and included in their team that year was Philip Mackenzie Ross. Their progress thereafter was by fits and starts. Sometimes they scratched - not in those days, the heinous offence it would be now - and from 1931-1935 they did not appear at all. Then stung by George Watson's College usurping their position as the only Scottish team, and also by that school's showing, they re-entered the fray in 1936. Once again, they fell by the wayside, unable to raise a team. It was an oddly diffident start for a school that has become so much a part of the scenery and without whom the tournament would never be the same. The early years of both Loretto and Watsons are a pointer to their different characteristics: 'Watsons looking before they leapt; Loretto leaping before they looked!' quotes Peter Ryde in his book The Halford-Hewitt - A Festival of Foursomes, (1984). He also says 'Of those schools who have yet to win the Tournament, no victory would be more warmly received, with the possible exception of Loretto, than that of Malvern'.

From 1949 onwards Loretto became ever-present and between the years of 1949 until 1982, they reached fourteen quarter-finals, six semi-finals and one final. The 1951 team consisted of JL Mitchell, JAH Barrett, G Robertson-Durham, WG McCulloch, DH McIntosh, G Morton, JM Dykes, C Carlow, GW Mackie and AD Baxter. The 1957 semi-finalists were G Robertson-Durham, AR McInroy, J Morton-Dykes, AD Foulis, C Carlow, JG Salvesen, GW Mackie, WR Alexander, IM Stewart and WG McCulloch. From these two teams, six members were to become captains of the R&A, two of Prestwick and one of the Honourable Company. In 1952 Ronnie Alexander made his first of many appearances as did Johnny Salvesen, standing in for WG McCulloch, playing the first of his one hundred matches for Loretto. It was to be another fourteen years before another semi-final was reached and by then most of the good 50s side had been replaced, the team being PM Bucher, RM Burns, JG Salvesen, HMJ Ritchie, RHJ Mackie, JL Gray, P Stott, WR Alexander and MV Agnew.

In 1973 Loretto reached the final for the first time, with some changes from the 1971 team - PM Bucher, RM Burns, the brothers PWJ and DM Greenhough, GM Simmers, JL Gray, RHJ Mackie, MV Agnew, HMJ Ritchie and JG Salvesen. They lost to Rossall by three matches to two. In his report in Country Life - 1973, Donald Steel wrote:

Thirty years after the event, David Greenhough continues to have nightmares of having lost at the Nineteenth - rather like Doug Sanders, with his missed putt at St Andrews on the final green in the 1970 Open. Two further semi-finals were reached in 1979 and 1982 with similar teams.

The good sides of the fifties and seventies have provided very successful teams in the Mellin Salver, a similar tournament to the Hewitt for its second sixteen entrants. It is a senior tournament for over 55s, with three pairs per team. The fifties side won in '64, '66 and '78 and were beaten finalists in '63, '73 and '81. The seventies side won six times in seven years between '82 and '88 and were beaten finalists in '91 and '95. In recent years the teams in both tournaments have not been successful, but with the advent of the Golf Academy in 2002, there are hopes for the future.

The Loretto Golf Academy

Times have certainly changed, for if you are a member of Craigielaw Golf Club, at least three times a week you will see one or two minibuses, with Loretto emblem on the side, parked next to the practice ground with upwards of 35 full time Academy pupils practising under the eagle eye of the Master of Golf, Rick Valentine. Rick is grandson of the famous Jessie Valentine who won three British Ladies Championships and six Scottish Ladies Championships. He had a successful amateur career in the Far East, before turning professional in 2003. He is assisted by the Head Professional at Craigielaw, Derek Scott and the teaching resident, Johnathan Porteous. The Loretto Golf Academy, established in 2002 is unique amongst the schools in the United Kingdom. It offers pupils an outstanding opportunity to develop their golfing talents in tandem with a first class, all-round Loretto education and attracts pupils from all over the world. It operates from school using the school's practice facilities on campus, Musselburgh Old Course and Craigielaw Golf Club. The Academy brochure says:

Success has come quite quickly for the Academy. Emma Fernie has twice won the Borders County Championship; Roseanne Niven, the Perth and Kinross Ladies' Championship; Kelly Brotherton, the East Lothian Ladies' Match Play; and Ross Noon and Nick Heather have gained golf scholarships to USA. In 2006, the Golf Academy had another excellent season, where they finished having played 22, won 19, lost 2 and drawn 1. The highlight of the season was Loretto winning the HMC Foursomes Championship, to become British Champions, having entered for the first time. Playing four rounds in the Northern Region qualifying and a further three they defeated Eton by 2 matches to 1, when Loretto's Peter Atkins, from the Scottish Borders, holed a winning three-footer on the last hole. For the first time, three former Academy students - Michael Alan, Blair Mackay and James Moran played for Loretto in the Halford-Hewitt, beating Whitgift 3 matches to 2 in the first round, but losing by 1/2 match to 41/2 to Malvern, the eventual winners, in the second.

Loretto's historic links with golf are unparalleled. Over the years former pupils have captained three of the greatest clubs in Scotland - ten at the R&A; thirteen at the Honourable Company and twenty four at Prestwick. Forty-seven in all - quite some record! Recent captains have included AR Cole Hamilton (1948-53), at both Prestwick in 1987 and R&A 2004, and his contemporary, Graeme Simmers (1948-53), R&A 2001. AD Foulis (1939-44) master-minded the 250th anniversary celebrations of The Honourable Company in 1994 and rather unusually captained the club for the three years to 1995. Professor JAA Hunter (1952-57), captained The Honourable Company 1997-99.

The present Headmaster, Michael Mavor, was quoted in The Scotsman on the 18th of January 2006:

My thanks are to John Pearson for encouraging me to write this article and to the following others for their help: Douglas Foulis, Archie Baird, Johnny Salvesen, Michael Mavor, Graham McDowall, Norman Mair, Donald Steel, Rick Valentine, Michael Scott,Robert Brown and David Greenhough.

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Archived Articles

The following articles were first published in American Golfer in 1930 and 1931

The Greatest of Golfers

by Robert T. Jones Jr.

Ordinarily I would never take advantage of a friendly round of golf by making the play of a person kind enough to go around with me, the subject of an article. I realize that everyone likes to play occasionally a round of golf when reputations can be forgotten, with nothing more at stake than the outcome of the match and a little friendly bantering afterwards.

Just before the British Amateur Championship at St. Andrews, Miss Joyce Wethered allowed herself to be lead away from her favorite trout stream in order to play eighteen holes of golf over the old course in company with her brother Roger, Dale Bourne, then recently crowned English Champion, and myself. At the time, I fully appreciated that Miss Wethered had not had a golf club in her hand for over a fortnight, and I certainly should have made no mention of the game had she not played so superbly.

We started out by arranging a four-ball match - Roger and Dale against Miss Wethered and myself - on a best and worst ball basis. I don't know why we didn't play an ordinary fourball match, unless we fancied that the lady would be the weakest member of the four, and that in a best-ball match he ball would not count for very much. If any of us had any such idea at the start of the match it is now quite immaterial, for there is not the slightest chance that we should admit it.

We played the old course from the very back, or the championship tees, and with a slight wind blowing off the sea. Miss Wethered holed only one putt of over 5 feet, took three putts rather half-heartedly from four yards at the seventeenth after the match was over, and yet she went round St. Andrews in 75. She did not miss one shot; she did not even half-miss a shot; and when we finishedI could not help saying that I had never played golf with anyone, man or woman, amateur or professional, who made me feel so utterly outclassed.

It was not so much the score she made as the way she made it. Diegel, Hagen, Smith, Von Elm and several other male experts would likely have made a better score, but one would all the while been expecting them to miss shots. It was impossible to expect that Miss Wethered would ever miss a shot - and she never did.

To describe her manner of playing is almost impossible. She stands quite close to the ball, she places the club once behind, takes one look to wards the objective, and strikes. Her swing is not long - surprisingly short, indeed, when one considers the power she develops - but it is rythmatic in the last degree. She makes ample use of her wrists, and her left arm within the striking area is firm and active. This, I think, distinguishes her swing from that of any other woman golfer, and it is the one thing that makes her the player she is.

Men are always interested in the distance which a first-class woman player can attain. Miss Wethered, of course, is not as long with any clubs as the good male player. Throughout the round, I found that when I hit a good one I was out in front by about twenty yards - by not so much when I failed to connect. It was surprising, though, how often on a fine championship course fine iron play by the lady would make up the difference. I kept no actual count, but I am certain that her ball was nearest to the hole more often than any of the other three.

I have no hesitancy in saying that, accounting for the unavoidable handicap of a woman's lesser physical strength, she is the finest golfer I have ever seen.

Competitive Golf

by Joyce Wethered

Miss Wethered's thoughts on match play, and on controlling one's mental state during the course of a game show her to well ahead of her time. A modern textbook on sport's psychology could not put it any better. However there is one line which shows that she was on a different plane from us mere mortals. In this paragraph:

does not apply to most of us. We have to figure out how to win with a swing that is falling apart, and woods and long irons that are unpredictable in the execution. As has been pointed out by Bobby Jones though this problem does not appear to have applied to Miss Wethered. As he wrote elsewhere "It was impossible to expect that Miss Wethered would ever miss a shot - and she never did."

The strain of competitive golf can mean one thing and one thing only, a call upon the tensely-strung nerves. However much a player may apparently be blessed with a calm and placid exterior, appearances are generally deceptive; the odds are that there are a tumult of emotions surging beneath the surface that onlookers rarely suspect.

The consolation is that this is an experience common to the majority of those who have to face what is generally and erroneously termed, "the music". The music may be felt, if not expressed, when one steps off the last green. But while the ordeal is in progress, the discords are various and numerous. Yet I am certain that no one can excel in any game without having to suffer from the sensations in separable from "nerves".

The only resource one has to fall back on is to try and understand and develop a philosophy which will cope with them, and here experiences will naturally differ. I know perfectly well the two qualities which have helped me most: the first is honesty with oneself and the other is a sense of humor. We have to recognize our weaknesses, and unless we realize them and refuse to make allowances for them they will catch us out every time in a crisis. When, however, we have learned them all and recognized that we are going to suffer from them always, it is worth a great deal to be able to feel amused by our own peculiar idiosyncrasies.

I know the feeling of standing on a tee with real fear in my heart, the match slipping away, the club feeling strange and useless in my hand; and yet I have fortunately been able to laugh at the ridiculous side of my feelings and the way they are apt to behave on these occasions. This refection is, after all, perfectly sane and rational, and perhaps by this method of persuading oneself of its value it may be possible to regain a more normal balance.

As the mind governs the whole of our actions, everything will go to pieces, unless it is working on the right lines. Set a thief to catch a thief: set the mind to watch the mind. It becomes in moments of excitement full of fancies, fears or useless wandering ides and it may be no easy task to tie it down to the matter in hand. Concentration is at the root of success, if the mind can be made to concentrate on the right idea. If it will persist in thinking of harmful ideas, the execution of the shot is bound to suffer. If the mind is full of the fear of failure - dread of the next approach, a persistent thought of three putts although the green is still far away - then, in my experience, there is but one thing that can at all help and that is to see the humor of the situation.

If one is really amused (and I admit one rarely is) at the absurdity of one's thoughts and anticipations, he can, and frequently does, respond by changing and coming back to a more practical and firm outlook on things. Otherwise if one cannot direct your thoughts into more suitable channels, they will grow worse and worse with the result that the horrible feeling that you are "cracking" badly becomes a certainty.

Confidence undoubtedly is a great asset, perhaps the greatest of all. But it must be genuine and based on facts. For myself I can never manufacture it; I can only keep it, if i know I am hitting the ball correctly. If my method is working rightly, then I know that I can have confidence in producing the shot - and that is everything.

Of course, confidence depends on the avoidance of distraction. Big occasions are very likely to scatter ones thoughts in every direction. The only safeguard is to create one's own little world and for the time being live in it. I used to play my matches with one definite idea, to be entirely engrossed in my own shots and to be oblivious, so far as I could be, of what my opponents were doing; also to concentrate on the first part of the game entirely on figures and to let the match take care of itself until it took a definite form. I am convinced that to play a match hole by hole right away from the first tee is an un necessarily wearing process. It will, more often than not, make you play down to your opponents if they happen to be off their game. On the other hand, if they are playing well, your best figures are all you can hope for in any case. The scramble will probably come towards the finish.

And while speaking of scrambles, it may be an unusual experience of my own, but I find the moments of greatest strain to be when I have succeeded in building up a really promising position - say two up and five to go, or one up and three to go. If at this critical moment you have two birdies shot at you, the situation is altered without any need to blame yourself. But when it is just a matter of steady figures to win, then can come the biggest strain of all.

Playing against Miss Cecil Leitch at Troon in 1925, after a most grueling and exhausting battle, I at last became two up and three to go, with an excellent chance of winning the 16th to finish the match. Instead of that, I faltered and only halved it. To make things worse, I was unable to halve either of the last two holes, dropping a stroke at each. These were the most trying holes I have ever had to play. That I won at the thirty-seventh has always seemed to me to be a most unjust tribulation for my opponent.

It is just that final clinching of a match that can, with some people, be so difficult. Here what a little philosophy one may possess is apt to desert one.. The end is just appearing in sight; one is near and yet so far from being secure. I have often wondered how Miss Glenna Collett felt during our match at St. Andrews in 1929. I wonder if at any time she felt quite as uncomfortable or unhappy as I did when I stood two up and four to play, or so utterly incompetent as when I had to run my ball up on to the narrow shelf of the road hole green to win!.

It can be the greatest fun to look back on thrilling encounters that are past. But how fortunate also it is that we cannot know what trials and ordeals the future holds for us - on the links and off!
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Book Review

Auchterlonie

"Hand-Made Clubs"

by Peter Georgiady

'Auchterlonie', 'Hand-Made Clubs' by Peter Georgiady is the story of two golf firms and six brothers from the halcyon days of St. Andrews, and is the story of the clubs they made. It makes fascinating reading.

The Auchterlonies had been established in St. Andrews for nearly a hundred years when David Auchterlonie, married his wife Margaret. David, like most St. Andreans, was almost certainly a keen golfer - his uncle David had been a founder member of the St. Andrews Mechanics Golf Club - but surely at the time of their marriage no one could have foreseen that the couple would produce one of the most famous of all St. Andrews golfing families. One of their sons, Willie, would become Open Champion; another, Lawrence, the US Open Champion; and four of them would go on to become among the finest clubmakers St. Andrews has produced.

The later 1800's were auspicious for golfers and clubmakers. Golf was transforming itself from an exclusively Scottish sport to the world wide game it has become; and clubmaking was changing from a trade carried on by a few craftsmen making bespoke clubs to larger concerns producing clubs for the masses. All clubs were still hand-finished, but the more famous club makers now employed dozens or scores of artisans, and the industry was growing by leaps and bounds.

It is therefore not surprising that, while the eldest son James carried on his fathers trade of plumbing and the second, Joe, became a plasterer, the third son David should become apprenticed to that most famous of club makers, Robert Forgan. His brother Willie, the fifth son, joined him at Forgans a few years later in 1887. The fourth son Lawrence - the future US Open Champion - also worked as a club maker but we do not know where he learned his trade. He was presumably apprenticed to one of the other fine club makers around St. Andrews. Baby of the family Tom, some 15 years younger than David was apprenticed to his elder brothers firm in 1896 (more of this later), and worked in the firm for some 23 years.

The year 1893 was an auspicious year for the Auchterlonies. David, together with another Forgan clubmaker Andrew Crosthwaite left Robert Forgan's shop to set up in business on their own, and Willie won the Open Championship at Prestwick on his third attempt. The firm was an immediate success. Not only did they hire one of St. Andrews' premier club makers George Lorimer, but the publicity accorded Willie's Open win gave the firm immediate recognition. However the firm of Auchterlonie and Crosthwaite would only last a couple of years. Presumably Willie, not unnaturally as his Open win was responsible for much of the good publicity for the firm, wanted a full partnership, and when Crosthwaite balked, they went their separate ways. Crosthwaite went into business with Lorimer as Crosthwaite and Lorimer, and the Auchterlonie brothers formed D & W Auchterlonie, an establisment that was to survive in one form or another until 1987.

In 1896 young Tom joined the family business to learn the art of club making. Over the years he became more and more involved with the business, not only from the club making aspect but he also became highly involved in the business side of the firm and ended by virtually running the company. All this time he remained an employee. After 23 years Tom felt he had paid his dues and sought a partnership in the firm. For whatever reason this was refused by his elder brothers, and the refusal brought about not only a schism in the firm, but also lead to a family feud that extended over two generations. From 1919 onwards there were two firms of Auchterlonie in St. Andrews.

Tom's business acumen and hard work led to the success of the new enterprise - Tom Auchterlonie. He immediately started producing innovative and interesting designs, rationalized the manufacturing processes and took other measures to establish the success of the firm. In 1926 Tom Auchterlonie produced what is widely regarded as the first modern iron clubs, the ITZIT series. This set of irons incorporated all the modern design principles that are still in use till today. Times were certainly changing with new designs, production and marketing methods and, of course, across the Atlantic steel shafts were being introduced. Firms that foresaw these changes survived, those that did not went under. D & W Auchterlonie was one of the firms that failed to move with the times, and in 1933 they filed for bankruptcy. The loss of Tom's business acumen certainly cannot have helped the firms fortunes. The author details all these changes with great care and sensitivity, and what results is not only a feel for an unfortunate family feud, but also a feeling of how the golf industry evolved in the 30's 40's and 50's.

Lawrence left for the United states in 1899. Most remarlably on the same boat there were three future U.S. Open champions: Lawrence himself; Fred Herd; and Willie Smith! Lawrence did not stay in the states but returned home in 1911 finally passing on in 1947 aged 80. While living he remained a fine golfer and regularly partnered his brother Joe round the Old Course. Indeed in 1935 he equaled the professional record for the Old Course set by George Duncan, with a fine 68. Joe gave up plastering and became a club maker, but was content to remain in the employ of his brothers all his life. Doubtless after the schism he had to step a fine line. James the eldest son remained a fine and steady golfer, but remained a plumber all his life. He also became bandmaster of the towns band. After the bankruptcy Willie became Honorary Professional to the R & A, the third professional they had had after Old Tom and Andra' Kirkaldy and continued in that position until his death. He was succeeded by his son Laurie in this position.

Pete Georgiady faced a difficult task in writing this book. The writer of primary historical sources does not have the luxury of glossing over detail that a later writer has, he must carefully annotate his research and jot every 'i' and cross every 't'. To do this and make the book readable requires rare skill. That the author accomplishes this task is to his great credit. He does this by mixing in anecdote with the hard facts, and also quotes freely from his primary source - Tom's grandson Eric. He is also able to add his own personal observations from his time at Dundee University and his many visits to St. Andrews. Not only does he tell a fascinating historical story well, but he excels, as is to be expected, in the field for which he is so well known, the description of the various clubs, their relevance and their markings. Your reviewer, although having some pretense to being a historian, does not possess the collectors gene in his makeup and normally finds the detailed description of marks and club minutia intensely boring. However Peter describes these details so well, the markings of Tom Stewart and Condie, and the finishing details of wooden clubs, that the reviewer found himself becoming fascinated in spite of himself. Georgiady has really done a magnificent job here.

As a young lad Tom Auchterlonie was given the head of an old lofting iron which he proceeded to have shafted. From the area around Forgans shot he would practice hitting balls over the wall on to the 18th green of the Old Course (can you imagine doing this today!!), and most of his balls landed near the pin. This got the attention of Old Tom who made him an offer for the club! 'I canna sir, it's a present' young Tom must have replied. Admiringly Old Tom told him, "You're a great wee laddie, Good luck to you. And may you always hae such good principles".

The second involved Willie, just before he left for Prestwick to win his Open championship. He was involved in a fierce tussle for the St. Andrews Clubmaker's Medal finally loosing to a young upstart - Old Tom Morris himself, then 76 years young!

The book has not been well proofed, there are several small misspelling and typos. If the reviewer can pick these up - and he is a notoriously poor proof reader- then doubtless many others exist. Whereas it does not bother this reviewer, he knows from the countless scoldings he has received from critics of his own works, that others will probably find this intensely annoying. Secondly the book is difficult to navigate. Although there is an index, there is no Table of Contents page, which makes finding a half remembered passage extremely difficult, and is certainly a fault in a reference book. An appendix containing a time line or chronicle would also have been extremely useful. With the wealth of detail this book possess there is a tendency to loose track of time, place and person. Where did this brother come in? Is this Laurie the open champion or Willie's son? A family tree would also have been useful.

These however are minor criticisms and should dissuade no one from buying this book. As with any other of Mr. Georgiady's books it belongs on the shelf of every collector, and certainly should be on the shelf of every historian, and of every one who loves the story and traditions of this great game of ours.

Notes & Queries

A question-and-answer page run by our readers. Either post a question or answer a question someone else has posted. If you have a question, or if you have an answer to a question, either e-mail us at frank@ mainspringtech.com with 'SoHG Note' in the subject line, or go online at the Hickory Golfers Web site- www.hickorygolfers.com - Notes & Queries.

Questions

Q.At trade shows, I have noticed that some craftsmen use a chemical to return the shiny metallic appearance of the hosel on irons that they have repinned to a "darker" more weathered appearance. Can anyone tell me what the chemical is? Paul Dietz

Q.When heating a shaft to work out a bow, how much heat should be applied? Any advice to avoid damaging the shaft would be appreciated. Bill Trunkhill

Q.I have a fairly old leather bag that is in excellent condition, with the exception of the carrying strap. The stitching has deteriorated, but the materials in the strap are still in quite good condition. How do I go about restitching the strap? Thanks. Paul Dietz

Q.What is the "consensus" on Otey Crisman putters - are they allowed in events where reproductions are permitted, or not? Thanks. Paul Dietz

Tid Bits and Anecdotes

Some Wisdom from Robert Jones

"I never learned anything from a match that I won; I got my golf education from drubbings."

"One of my high-handicap friends had made an eagle 2 on a par-4 hole. After telling me about it, I asked him what club he had used for his second shot. 'A 4-wood,' my friend said. 'A 4-wood?' I said in astonishment. 'Why, I've never used more than a 9-iron on that hole.' My friend said, 'You ever make a 2?'"

"I think we must agree that all a man can do is beat the people who are around at the same time he is. He cannot win from those who came before any more than he can from those who may come afterward. It is human, I suppose, for every man to think that his days were the best."

Proposed Publication Schedule for 2007: - Jan, Feb, Mar/Apr, May/June, Jul, Aug, Sept/Oct, Nov/Dec

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Announcement

Dick Donovan

Calendar

Wee Nip Contributions

Portrait

Walter Hagen

Feature Article

Walter Hagen

The Maestro of Match Play. Part I

Athlete and Golfer - Beginnings

Regional News

Carolina Hickory Golf Association

Clubhouse Leader

New 'Guttie' Balls

Preferred Lies

LORETTO SCHOOL

by Lionel Freedman

A Spartan Regime

Early Golf at Loretto

Some Notable Loretto Golfers

The Halford-Hewitt

The Loretto Golf Academy

Archived Articles

The Greatest of Golfers

by Robert T. Jones Jr.

Competitive Golf

by Joyce Wethered

Letters to the Editor

Book Review

Auchterlonie

"Hand-Made Clubs"

by Peter Georgiady

Notes & Queries

Questions

Tid Bits and Anecdotes

Some Wisdom from Robert Jones