THE SYREN OF GAMES

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 50, 23 November 1926, Page 16

THE SYREN OF GAMES

HOW GOLF HAS CAPTURED THE WORLD JTHE VIRTUES OF TENNIS SPORTS MISSION IN INTERNATIONAL GOOD-WILL If all' games and sports were truly international the world would be better off. Unfortunately there is a limit to truly international games. Cricket, •for instance, is confined to Britain and some of her Dominions. Football, as played in -America, is entirely different to Australian rules, and there is just about as much difference between Rugby and soccer. Lacrosse, baseball, hockey on the ground and on ice, basketball, handball, curling, and a number of other minor sports cannot be tailed international.

The above reflections are made by Mr-. Frank P. Brown in an interesting article in the “Sporting Globe” on the mission sport is playing in promoting international good-will. But there are games and sports at ,which all the world can meet on_ a common field, and these are most important. Tennis is international; so is golf. Rowing could be much more than it is at present. Boxing and wrestling, track athletics, and swimming are also international. These sports and games bring about a freemasonry that is invaluable to the World. Athletic competition brings nations closer' together and creates better sympathy and understanding kU round.

My recent tour through Europe Showed me much bitterness, but sport, by bringing political enemies together, is helping to wipe away the canker of hatred. There must be something natural and good about sports that can take a grip on the whole world.

Two Games Which Are Sweeping the World.

The two games which are spreading more rapidly than all others are tennis and golf. Both sports have gone through hard times. Those who participated in them for years suffered jeers and contempt. Tennis was looked on as a “girly” game! golf was deemed fit for old men! Things have changed. To-day these games are going ahead like giants in seven league boots. Tennis was invented about 50 years ago by 1 a British major. It was deemed suitable for garden parties. When a man volleyed at the net he was regarded as unsportsmanlike. The court was shaped like an hour-glass, but gradually conditions have changed, nntil we have the hard hitting, strenuous tennis of to-day. Young people play tennis to-day without suffering the jeers that were tost at the sport 20 years ago. Golf also is being better understood. These ’games have won through on their >_ <?wn merits. Ido not know much about tennis* but I have seen world’s champions in competition. I know that these men were in perfect physical condition. I know that fheir co-ordination was exceptional; that they had keen eyes, quick brains, light feet, and dextrous hands, besides an abundance of skill and court craft. The games held me spellbound. It seemed that only super- , men could achieve victory in a championship game. To-day a five-set game of tennis can be as severe a physical test as a 20-round boxing contests "

Golf Booming.

Golf is booming. One does not even need to go abroad to be satisfied about that, for we have here men who can turn on a brand of golf that looks like 'perfection. There is one great beauty about the Royal and ancient game. One can laugh at it, knowing that it will not suffer any ill effects. It has come through too much to be ruffled by any pnsympathetic critic. This game has won to its ranks some of the greatest athletes from all branches of sports. Gene Tanney, the new heavy-weight boxing champion, and Dave Shade, close to the middleweight title, are two boxers who do well at golf. Norman Brooks, the erstwhile tennis star, is a fine golfer. Don ■.Walker, one time crack cyclist, is another scratch man. Albert Thurgood, bld Essendon football star, is another. Frank Dempsey and Hughie Cairns, crack jockeys, are also good golfers. 'lndeed, it has drawn men from every sport. There are some who are ill-natared fenough to say that the Scotsmen invented golf so that they could grab the good jobs while other people were playing the game. It is said to be a humourless game, but it has produced more jokes than any other. One must be imperturbable to play well. Either that or a philosopher. One wonders what will happen to the present stars Such as Bobby Jones and Ivo Whitton, if the Chinese ever take to it. According to theory, there are' 400,000,000 of them temperamentally fitted to play golf. It is only in recent years that golf has leaped ahead. But America has advanced more than other countries. Here are some figures that will give an idea of the game’s growth there. Nearly two million people are playing golf in U.S.A. They are using more than half a million acres of ground to play on. With the rise in land values this land and tlie club houses on them are said to be worth £150,000,000. More than 3000 concerns are producing golf supplies. There were 120,000,000 golf balls sold in 1925, and there are 480,000 caddie boys who earn up to £3 a week each. Professional golfers also make good money. £lOOO a year is not an uncommon amount for a professional plaver to make. Champions are paid up to £6OOO a year. It takes a lot of monev to belong to some of the exclusive golf clubs, and a membership certificate for one dub on the Pacific Coast advanced from £lOO to £lOOO in ten years. This, Of course, was due to the rise in land values. There are plenty of golf links where the ordinary citizen can play for a verv moderate sum. Although there are nearly 2,000.000 people nlaying golf in U.S.A, to-dav, it is believed that 1,000,000 more will be playing by this time next year There are optimists who declare that there will be 15.000,000 plaving 15 years from now. It is a game for young or bld of both sexes. A person can play until the wheel chair srets him. America is not on its own. "Everybody s doin it.”